21 Dec 22
@techsouth saidAddicts like getting high.
I'm glad we cleared that up.
One thing we can be certain of is that the addict is not at fault for their addiction.
All of us who are NOT addicted are to blame. And the sooner we all stop trying to hold addicts responsible for their behavior, the sooner they'll be able to break free.
Having spent a good deal of time trying to help addicts, one thing I can tell yo ...[text shortened]... iously I can't escape blame so easily. I need to accept responsibility for not opposing capitalism.
It's their fault and nobody else's.
How come nobody gets addicted to eating paint or dog turds?
Because they don't get high.
Getting high feels good. That's why they do drugs.
21 Dec 22
@AThousandYoung
Let's consider one point Evidence from the past in the USA very strongly implies it is true. As taxes have gone down since the neocon/Reagan “revolution” homelessness and poverty have increased.
Do you see how different the world is now when compared to 1980? Almost everything has changed. Single parent homes have become the norm rather than the exception. More recreational drugs have been invented. The Internet has allowed instant communication to almost anywhere in the world. Population has increased. Free Trade deals have moved many low skilled but stable jobs outside the US, pornography is available for nearly everyone by one single click. Mental illness have increased through out the western world. Government spending has gone way up.
But you've looked at one single variable (Tax Cuts) and determined that's the cause of homelessness. Are you familiar with the phrase "confirmation bias"?
Do you realize that government spending as a percentage of GDP has gone up in spite of whatever tax cuts there may be. Meanwhile, state taxes have trended up and sales tax, which is percentage based has gone up almost everywhere.
@techsouth saidThe fact that the average Russian is older today than in 1980 is also different but so what?
@AThousandYoung
Let's consider one point Evidence from the past in the USA very strongly implies it is true. As taxes have gone down since the neocon/Reagan “revolution” homelessness and poverty have increased.
Do you see how different the world is now when compared to 1980? Almost everything has changed. Single parent homes have become the norm rather than t ...[text shortened]... state taxes have trended up and sales tax, which is percentage based has gone up almost everywhere.
We have more homeless and mentally ill today because we shut down the homeless shelters and mental health board and care facilities in the name of neocon budget cutting. Throw people out of their homes and you end up with homeless people. It’s very simple and the fact that we have stealth drones today, while also different than in 1980, is just as irrelevant as the rest of the variables you listed.
21 Dec 22
@AThousandYoung
If mental institutions were reopened libs and Dems would stop it so blaming conservatives about something that the libs and Dems won't bring back is pretty lame.
22 Dec 22
@athousandyoung saidSo you know for a fact that because some mental institutions were closed in the 80s that that is the reason homelessness is so high 2022?
The fact that the average Russian is older today than in 1980 is also different but so what?
We have more homeless and mentally ill today because we shut down the homeless shelters and mental health board and care facilities in the name of neocon budget cutting. Throw people out of their homes and you end up with homeless people. It’s very simple and the fact that ...[text shortened]... y, while also different than in 1980, is just as irrelevant as the rest of the variables you listed.
Sorry, your credibility is now lower than it was at the start of the day.
If you say, "I suspect that's the reason", I could respect that more.
22 Dec 22
4 edits
@techsouth saidThis is a Debates forum. We are supposed to take a position and assert it confidently.
So you know for a fact that because some mental institutions were closed in the 80s that that is the reason homelessness is so high 2022?
Sorry, your credibility is now lower than it was at the start of the day.
If you say, "I suspect that's the reason", I could respect that more.
My position is that neocon budget slashing, tax cutting, investment in housing for profit and redirection of tax funds towards the interests of the wealthy are the cause of the dramatic increase in homelessness in California in particular over the last 30 years. Reagan and Prop 13 were the start of a long process of ever increasing neocon radicalism and aggressive greed that has caused the homelessness problem.
Over the last 3-5 years it’s because of COVID.
22 Dec 22
@athousandyoung saidCurious.
This is a Debates forum. We are supposed to take a position and assert it confidently.
My position is that neocon budget slashing, tax cutting, investment in housing for profit and redirection of tax funds towards the interests of the wealthy are the cause of the dramatic increase in homelessness in California in particular over the last 30 years. Reagan and Prop 1 ...[text shortened]... ve greed that has caused the homelessness problem.
Over the last 3-5 years it’s because of COVID.
Have you ever done any volunteer work trying to help homeless people who are drug addicts that has resulted in any significant interactions with them?
22 Dec 22
@techsouth saidNot drug addicts per se but I volunteered at an HIV resource center where people dying of AIDS could go and get food and other services.
Curious.
Have you ever done any volunteer work trying to help homeless people who are drug addicts that has resulted in any significant interactions with them?
Why are you asking questions about what I’ve done and ignoring my questions about what you’ve done in Somalia? Were you supervising the dumping of radioactive waste in their coastal fishing waters or something? Do you really think the government of Somalia is overfunded and that’s why landlords shouldn’t have to pay taxes on their rental properties?
22 Dec 22
@techsouth saidI missed this post.
Let me get this straight about who's to blame.
If a capitalist named "Roger Clayton" invents an opioid and markets it for medical purposes, then another capitalist, who is also a criminal "Rudolph Kimball" gains access to the formula and begins selling the substance on the street, then there is a third capitalist named "Reginald Eugene" who is an accountant, pays his tax ...[text shortened]... le for at least 20 million deaths, are all other communists responsible for those 20 million deaths?
I’m uncertain what makes Clayton a capitalist. He sounds like a research biochemist to me. Or is Clayton the owner of the company that the biochemist works for and you’re giving him credit for the invention?
Is Kimball selling the product legally? Is it addictive? Are any of these three men politically supporting representatives who oppose Federal oversight on big business, or who opposes taxing the pharmaceutical industry and having tax funded drug rehab centers?
I don’t know why you call Eugene a capitalist either.
Is Kimball selling the product himself or is he the owner of the company that employs the salesmen?
“Socialist” is a poorly defined word and not analogous to “capitalist” which is well defined. - a capitalist is someone who gets a passive income from investments in contrast to a worker who gets paid for labor.
Define “communist”. Shav is not a communist because he’s not a member of a communist party and he doesn’t participate in attempts to overthrow the government in the name of the proletariat. He’s just a sympathizer. You cannot blame the average Soviet Russian peasant for what Stalin did either. He’s a communist because he doesn’t want to go to prison.
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22 Dec 22
@booger saidthey would overfill them
@AThousandYoung
If mental institutions were reopened libs and Dems would stop it so blaming conservatives about something that the libs and Dems won't bring back is pretty lame.
26 Dec 22
1 edit
@mott-the-hoople saidFunny how Reagan was shot by an insane person the same year he repealed the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980.
they would overfill them