What Goes around, Comes Around?

 

It seems that King County, Washington, has now been deemed ineligible for federal homelessness funding.

Reason?  The county is too wealthy to qualify! Maybe they should kick out Bill Gates, Howard Schultz, and Jeff Bezos, who skew the data.

That means that the organization known as SHARE, part of what is known as the “homeless-industrial complex” in the Seattle area, will have to find funding elsewhere, s they started a GoFundMe campaign last month.  I laughed out loud when I read how much money they had collected: about $2,000.  I guess the good people of King County aren’t very interested in replacing those federal funds with local funds to support the homeless (and that is what they are doing: supporting the homeless, not ending homelessness).  Maybe those King County residents are tired of their tax money going to homeless people instead of roads, sewers, and those other amenities that make living in the Seattle area comfortable.

And that brought to mind our own GoFundMe campaign for our friend @kayofmt, where we collected over $7,500 in just a week.  Really good causes draw funding.  Throwing taxpayer money down a rathole? Not so much.

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  1. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    RushBabe49: And that brought to mind our own GoFundMe campaign for our friend @kayofmt, where we collected over $7,500 in just a week. Really good causes draw funding. Throwing taxpayer money down a rathole? Not so much.

    It helps if you’re well-disposed toward the object of the fund drive.

    • #1
  2. aardo vozz Member
    aardo vozz
    @aardovozz

    You’ve got Bill Gates, Howard Schultz, and Jeff Bezos living in the area and the GoFundMe campaign for the homeless only raises $2,000?🤔🤔🤔

    • #2
  3. dnewlander Inactive
    dnewlander
    @dnewlander

    Hahahahahahahahaha!

    Maybe the City Council will stop spending taxpayer money actively making traffic worse? (You know, taking out traffic lanes to put in bike lanes and pedestrian lanes?)

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

    • #3
  4. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    RushBabe49: Maybe they should kick out Bill Gates, Howard Schultz, and Jeff Bezos, who skew the data.

    Just pass a wealth tax and they’ll move out on their own . . .

    • #4
  5. Kay of MT Inactive
    Kay of MT
    @KayofMT

    Up-date here from Kay of MT. Of the $7500 I still have $3500 left after paying off all the utility bills and the doctor bills, and am holding it in the bank. It appears that I am not going to be able to move out of this apt. Some social workers finally came to visit me and my situation. They recommended I stay put as there is nothing cheaper at the moment available to move into. My older daughter wanted to move me to her property in a “little” house but there are zoning issues with septic and elec, etc. She can’t even put a mobile trailer for someone to live permanently.

    I have not been able to get the manager of the apts to weatherize the place, or lower the rent. The grandson that has certification to inspect houses, did come over yesterday, inspected, told me what needed to be done, material cost, and how to do it. He did not offer to do it for me. None of my family BTW knows anything about the GFM money. I am not able to physically to do it myself after having a minor heart attack in July due to the immense stress and grief since January and February. My meds have been increased and having a bit of a problem adjusting to them. A granddaughter and husband in CA is coming to MT to visit in a couple of weeks, and her husband will probably help me. She is also bringing two of her sons, 17 year old recuperating from 2 years of chemo from cancer, the other child a delightful 7 year old who is a live wire.

    I just learned that she knows all about selling on the internet and will help me get rid of all the dolls I have. So help is on the way. Wish it was yesterday they arrived.

    Meantime, I am still shredding my life. Come across things I had long forgotten about. Some of it really good, and some of it not. Wish you all a good day.

    • #5
  6. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Kay of MT (View Comment):
    She can’t even put a mobile trailer for someone to live permanently.

    Darn it, that’s what I was going to suggest.  Is there a trailer park near by?

    • #6
  7. ctlaw Coolidge
    ctlaw
    @ctlaw

    RushBabe49: Reason? The county is too wealthy to qualify!! Maybe they should kick out Bill Gates, Howard Schultz, and Jeff Bezos, who skew the data.

    Story says it was based on “unemployment and poverty rates, which were too low for the cutoff.” Thus, you’d have to kick out their employees.

    • #7
  8. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    I expect the very wealthy might skew the poverty stats.

    • #8
  9. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    In King County, if you own a home while you are in your working years, you will not be able to retire and live there.  Financial advisers regularly tell their clients that they will have to move, once they retire.  They can’t afford the sky-high property and sales taxes.  And those taxes just keep rising.

    • #9
  10. Kay of MT Inactive
    Kay of MT
    @KayofMT

    Stad (View Comment):

    Kay of MT (View Comment):
    She can’t even put a mobile trailer for someone to live permanently.

    Darn it, that’s what I was going to suggest. Is there a trailer park near by?

    If there is, it would be in a little community called “Lakeside” which is a tourist attraction and last I heard all trailer parks are full, and they cost mega bucks. The area is Flathead Lake, 45 miles from Glacier Park. She lives on top of a mountain about 10 miles UP from Lakeside on 8+ acres, with only one small house and septic tank, with a shared well. She is in the process today filling out dozens of applications to get zoning and requirements changed. Will probably take her a year or more.

    Just looked through all RV and cabin parks in Kalispell and Lakeside, cheapest ones are 40 per night and no monthly rentals.

    • #10
  11. ctlaw Coolidge
    ctlaw
    @ctlaw

    RushBabe49 (View Comment):

    I expect the very wealthy might skew the poverty stats.

    No. Poverty is expressed as a rate. The numerator is the number of poor people. The denominator is total population. Although they often use a household based variant. 100 billionaires is the same as 100 people making $60k/year in terms of direct effect on the poverty rate. OF course, there is an indirect effect. The presence of Microsoft and Amazon means that there are a lot of people who are  making a bit more than poverty who might otherwise have been making a bit less or much less.

    The billionaires also do not directly skew “median income”.

    • #11
  12. Fritz Coolidge
    Fritz
    @Fritz

    Not to worry. The whizbang geniuses in Seattle city and King county governments have figured out how they can claim to be addressing the homelessness problem:

    Combine all the county and city agencies (that currently toss millions in public money separately to the handful of grifting nonprofits allegedly helping) into one big, gigantic bureaucratic homelessness agency (which will continue to toss millions in public money to the handful of grifting nonprofits allegedly helping).

    See? Problem solved kicked down the road apiece.

    • #12
  13. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    The Left’s answer to any problem is more government.

    • #13
  14. dnewlander Inactive
    dnewlander
    @dnewlander

    RushBabe49 (View Comment):

    The Left’s answer to any problem is more government.

    Also, “more government” is the Left’s way to create problems.

    Funny, that.

    • #14
  15. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    aardo vozz (View Comment):

    You’ve got Bill Gates, Howard Schultz, and Jeff Bezos living in the area and the GoFundMe campaign for the homeless only raises $2,000?🤔🤔🤔

    They and the others may not want to contribute to the homeless fund. But do they want to vote out the politicians who created the city and county’s massive homeless problem to begin with? I suspect most are likely to vote the same people back into office, blame Trump for the loss of federal funds and vote Democrat next November, in hopes that the next president will simply up the cutoff limit so that King County qualifies again.

    Their answer to solving the crisis will simply be to get taxpayers around the country to resume helping the county throw money at the problem, while maintaining the status quo otherwise, and then if the Democrats do regain control in Washington, wondering a few years down the line why throwing federal money at the problem again didn’t fix the problem.

    • #15
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