Summary

Elon Musk has called homelessness a “lie” and “propaganda,” claiming advocacy groups profit from maintaining high homelessness rates.

Partnering with Donald Trump, Musk is pushing for drastic federal budget cuts targeting programs for vulnerable populations, including food stamps and healthcare.

Trump’s plan includes forcing unhoused individuals into treatment or institutionalization.

Critics argue these approaches criminalize homelessness while ignoring root causes like lack of affordable housing.

Homelessness in the U.S. has reached record levels, with 650,000 people affected in 2023, prompting calls for evidence-based solutions over punitive measures.

      • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        10
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        5 days ago

        It’s also interesting to think about the level of artificial unemployment. In theory everyone could work… and a lot less hours, and we would have no scarcity.

        We would never do it but I have a theory that we could set aside 20T (less than 1 year of GDP) and it would be enough money to build everyone in the U.S. a house and provide free housing for everyone in America, without ever touching the initial investment, and setting aside 3% to assure if we keep inflation below 3% a year if would cover housing indefinitely. That’s based off the 2.5 people per household average, and building a new house every 30 years at a base price of $250,000. Which at mass production, would be the equivalent of a much more costly house. Could repurpose what we have to house people until everyone got moved in over a generation.

        What that does is free up ~$1400-$1900 dollars a month for the average household, and instead of having to stash money in savings over the worries of losing a job and becoming homeless (which stunts the economy), it incentivises people to go eat at a restaurant more often, have a kid they were worried about having, buy nicer things. All of which is spending money and boosting the economy. More kids… Less/near 0 homeless… and booming economy that will offset the original investment. Stress levels down, happiness levels up… which should also mean health issues should decrease.

        Who knows…

        (That’s over 2T a year being added back into the economy, also we don’t have to build all new, refurbish/keep older homes that people want works as well, figure out solutions that have less impact on the environment, and can plan more walkable, heathier towns when building them)

        • Pieisawesome@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          5 days ago

          GDP is not taxed revenue or availability of funds.

          Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the monetary value of all finished goods and services produced within a country during a specific period. (I used gen AI for this paragraph).

          According to the CBO, they expect to collect $4.864 trillion in taxes in 2025 (source: https://www.cbo.gov/topics/taxes ).

          Unless you are going to forcibly steal assets from companies (which would lead to amass exodus from the US economy and cause a massive depression) you’d never get 20 trillion.

          This idea is a nice thought, but impossible and not how the economy works.

        • in4aPenny@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          5 days ago

          Very nice idea, but that’s assuming the 1% give a fuck about helping people and not having an army of slaves to make everything they want. Why does money have to be involved in feeding or housing human beings?

  • asteriskeverything@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    70
    ·
    5 days ago

    “What you actually have are violent drug zombies with dead eyes, and needles and human feces on the street.”

    Yo this is the most cartoonish out-of-touch shit take I’ve see. In an election that accused a disenfranchised minority group of eating people’s pets!

  • Allonzee@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    34
    ·
    edit-2
    5 days ago

    Market Capitalism needs homelessness.

    If you will not make the owner’s money through labor, You will help them make money as capitalist scarecrows. A warning to any laborer thinking of failing to comply.

    You WILL serve the owner’s greed disease, or else.

    It would literally be cheaper to house them without conditions than all the conditioned programs and homeless encampment clean up costs.

    But that doesn’t send a message of fear.

    Herp derp Freedom 🇺🇸

    • gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      4 days ago

      If there’s one homeless person on the street, people will say “they’re lazy, you need to work harder”. If there’s 100 homeless people on the street, people realize “something’s wrong with our society/system”, and demand change.

    • SulaymanF@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      36
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      5 days ago

      It’s an old old myth. Ronald Reagan said that everyone who is homeless in America is by choice since there’s so many shelters and charities already. It’s incredibly out of touch, but today people like Musk brag about their ignorance.

  • Nougat@fedia.io
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    77
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    6 days ago

    Is there going to be room in the detention camps for the homeless?

  • MagosInformaticus@sopuli.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    67
    ·
    5 days ago

    “Have they no refuge or resource?” cried Scrooge.
    “Are there no prisons?” said the Spirit, turning on him for the last time with his own words. “Are there no workhouses?”

    • Infinite@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      34
      ·
      5 days ago

      “If they would rather die, they better do it and decrease the surplus population.”

      Fuckin’ hell, fiction is a warning not a guide, you filthy-rich absolute cockwombles.

      • samus12345@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        20
        ·
        5 days ago

        I seem to recall seeing a Christmas Carol story with Trump when he was last president in which the spirits tried warning him and he didn’t get any of it, thinking that everything was just showing that he’s the greatest. Accurate.

    • jaxxed
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      5 days ago

      I love it when the educated turn up to comment

    • Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      5 days ago

      Someone should tell him that we know more about the mountain and canyons of Mars than we do about the depths of the ocean… and tell him that carbon fiber actually IS the best material for a submarine… and tell him that the best shipwrecks to go to are WW1 military shipwrecks…

    • gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      4 days ago

      If these people really think that all it takes to get wealthy is hard work then they have the chance soon to prove it by going to Mars starting from scratch and see whether they can get themselves wealthy again through hard work. If they don’t I guess they don’t deserve these riches anyways.

    • assassinatedbyCIA@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      15
      ·
      5 days ago

      Remember people Luigi didn’t do it and it’s very important that twelve people in either new york or Pennsylvania say the same. But if he did do it, which he absolutely didn’t, I think it was pretty [redacted] (not condoning it 👉👈 unless).

    • SanctimoniousApe@lemmings.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      14
      ·
      edit-2
      5 days ago

      With the insane amount of support he’s gotten, I’ve little doubt there will be copycats attempting to gain their own bit of limelight. Things might get really interesting should they organize into terrorist groups like has happened in so many other countries. Then the US will be one of those “third world shitholes” Trump was complaining about in his first term.

      Trump: Making America Galling Again

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        5 days ago

        I’ve little doubt there will be copycats attempting to gain their own bit of limelight.

        And this is what worries me. A lot. Because vigilantes get the wrong person all the time and some of them also don’t care if other people get killed. I’ve provided lots of links for this in the past, but it doesn’t seem to convince people that vigilantism can go very wrong in this case as well, so I’m not going to bother doing it again.

        The idea that everyone going after a healthcare CEO will definitely hit their target and only their target is now apparently the consensus.

  • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    34
    ·
    5 days ago

    Homelessness is a lie and propaganda? That’s news to all the homeless people I used to regularly interact with when I worked down town.