The Homeless
On returning back to Australia, I have noticed that inequality has really grown quite noticeable in the land of my birth. There are likely quite a few factors contributing to this, part of which is just me growing older and noticing more things... but I really did think that Australia used to be more in the social democratic vein of governance which aimed at trying to provide a better life for all... which we did lose in the last few decades, in the that we are now more focused on the bright stars of startups and entrepreneurs, and somehow ignoring the fact that they are only possible in a society that supports them before they struck it big.
Of course, I'm not at all advocating equal shares of everything or some sort of enforced Communism that has been historically shown to fail. And keep in mind that I'm writing from an Australian point of view that is coloured by decades of living in Europe... and so, there will be many things that will appear normal and centrist to me that will seem like "Communism" for some readers. Of course, I would suggest that Western Europe and Australia are more in the middle of the economic/social/political spectrum that some other first world countries...
Anyway, when I lived in Sydney, there were homeless people on the streets... and so, I don't think that this is a new phenomenon either. However, what I have noticed on subsequent visits (and the more frequent ones in this year) is the strange juxtaposition of more homeless people against the backdrop of exceedingly gaudy and flashy bars, nightclubs, and designer shops. It is really quite jarring...
... and it is not without reason either. You hear on the news that inflation is rampant... and that house and rent prices are completely off the charts in terms of affordability. Sydney is one of the most expensive places on the Earth, and you even hear of renters in regional areas being completely priced out and living in caravan parks and tents due to the enormous purchasing power of investors and multinational real-estate companies. There is a glut of money... and where does it go, into favourable investment housing that becomes the very definition of rent-seeking.
And nowhere else on Earth has real-estate become such a big thing but in Australia... people just natter on about real-estate this and that... a house is for living in, and creating a life in. Should it be about investment... should it be about finding "passive income" through over-leveraging and debt? If so, why is this a good thing?
I don't think that people should only have their own single family home... but when you hear stories of people running 70 or more investment places... well, that starts to become a bit suss. The entire field of real-estate stinks of corruption and ill-intent more than the latest hyped up NFT launch.
Anyway... back to the point. Maybe it is just my age showing... but I really start to feel that the wealth gap between top and bottom has gotten quite savage... and meanwhile, we've gotten distracted by stupid cultural and (political) tribal issues that just make things worse and worse... after all, we aren't all bad people as a nation... but if the incentives are set in a certain way, then we will all act in a self-preservation manner... or we end up at the bottom of the heap.
... and being at the bottom (or the top) of the heap has much less to do with ability or genius... and a hell of a lot to do with luck, connections, and sheer right place/time. Nothing more than that... of course, there is a minimum base level of ability/genius, but it matters far less than people think. The trouble is that people like to tell a stunning story of self-genius, and then assume that they are self-made geniuses that did it all single-handedly... and thus, failing or being homeless is just self-inflicted. Again... these are the incentives that we have built in society... that everyone thinks that the goal scorer didn't need the rest of the team to play the game!... oh wait, most people do only focus on the goal scorer!
Anyway... I figure there isn't really much that I can do on a large scale... but every time I walk past someone, my heart bleeds a bit... as it could be any one of us that is there on the ground. It is mostly through sheer luck that it isn't me...
So, I think I will do the little things... empty my pockets with whatever change I have... volunteer to work at a soup kitchen or something. I need to make myself look and feel... and remind myself that inequality exists... and it sucks.
It reminds me of a something...
If You Are Not a Liberal at 25, You Have No Heart. If You Are Not a Conservative at 35 You Have No Brain
I feel like I'm losing my brain!
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Sometimes being homeless is not always by choices but circumstances in life. I saw the trend of the people in need. We live in an era of pure speculation that home is to make money with a lot of speculation.
Definitely true... it is most often a poor set of luck and circumstances that will end up with a person being homeless through little fault of their own.
I think it's only the fact that we are getting older but in reality, it's getting harder and harder for the average guy to survive in this chaos. In Greece it's the same picture as well. The rents are crazy and that's why the vast majority of people are actually staying with their parents. Everything now with the inflation is 15%-100% up and salaries are the exact same.
Let me give you another very simple example to see what the situation is. The minimum wage for someone that has let's say a bachelor's degree is around 615 euros net. Thankfully, i am a bit above that but that doesn't change a lot. So if i use my car everyday to go to work i need to pay 300 euros for gas prices. So if someone pays 20-50% of his salary for jut getting to work how will he survive? The only option is simply not to use car and go everywhere by bus and train. In other words, 20-30 years ago mostly everyone could afford a car, now it's like we are 50+ years ago where you can't even afford to have car.
That's the main reason nobody does something i think, along with fear and boredom. Instead of focusing on how bad everything and change our politicians and everything we are distracted by the "racism,woke," card and he actually forget that we are constantly taken advantage to the point that we can't survive.
Yes, it is much more difficult to see how a regular person is supposed to survive in these economic conditions. A lot of the problem is that the people who do end up making the economic rules and incentives have very little experience with the actual impacts of the decisions.
In my country, I really felt for homeless people because I guess they are really much in Nigeria and at times I wonder what the government is really doing concerning it
Yes... and those who are in charge often have very little personal experience of the problems that they are trying to "fix".