Return of the “Hoovervilles”

From History.com “During the Great Depression, which began in 1929 and lasted approximately a decade, shantytowns appeared across the U.S. as unemployed people were evicted from their homes. As the Depression worsened in the 1930s, causing severe hardships for millions of Americans, many looked to the federal government for assistance. When the government failed to provide relief, President Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) was blamed for the intolerable economic and social conditions, and the shantytowns that cropped up across the nation, primarily on the outskirts of major cities, became known as Hoovervilles.”

Now in 2020 thanks to Covid-19 millions of people have lost their jobs
and after on dose of help (the CARES Act) those people are about to lose their homes. Those without adequate savings to tide them over to a time when their jobs will recur may be facing the same fate as the homeless of the 1930s. The National Alliance to End Homelessness says that as of January 2019, well before the virus there were an estimated 567,000 homeless people in the United States. The largest numbers are in the West Coast states.

Hoovervilles are already occurring in Los Angeles as the tented homeless live along freeways, beneath freeway underpasses, and on major boulevards. Others with motorhomes have parked along boulevards in industrial areas hoping that the police will not tell them to move their rigs.

Articles about the homeless in the Los Angeles Times are numerous. Four of those articles in November alone.

Homelessness is up in Los Angeles County for the third time in four years, a result of an ever-growing number of people who cannot afford the region’s high housing costs. This year’s homeless count is 66,433 people. That’s up 12.7% from 2019.

Proposition HHH was sold to L.A. voters as a funding mechanism to get at least 10,000 Angelenos, and likely more, off the street and into permanent housing. That housing is supposed to come with accompanying services, like counseling, to help people stay housed — it’s called “supportive housing.”

Sadly many people have no sympathy and seem to believe that the homeless are all on drugs/alcoholics, are likely to harm their children, and they are all thieves. Consequently that supportive housing was never implemented.

Solutions are using the Los Angeles Convention Center and abandoned buildings far away from residential neighborhoods to house the homeless.

Wait a minute that solution is not the answer for those who refuse to live in the provided housing for a variety of reasons including mental illness, and fear their lives are in jeopardy from other homeless people.

Society’s solution for those refusing help is chasing them away from places we see from our cars.

“And that’s the way it is.”

Homeless in a upper income neighborhood near my home.

Honoring Veterans

Hope for the Future

Donald Trump Refuses to Recognize Reality

One fourth of all COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world have been in the United States but America accounts for only 4% of the world’s population. The U.S. recorded more than 83,000 new coronavirus cases for the second day in a row on Saturday amid a surge as the weather turns colder. Experts have warned that cases could continue to rise as the weather gets colder in the coming months.

“We are not going to control the pandemic. We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigation areas,” Mark Meadows told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”

“Media is doing everything possible to create fear prior to November 3rd,” Trump tweeted. “The Cases are up because TESTING is way up, by far the most, and best, in the world. Mortality rate is DOWN 85% plus!”

Donald Trump refuses to recognize reality. The last president facing similar re-election troubles like Donald Trump’s was Jimmy Carter in 1980. Injured by recession and taking no action against Iran (Fifty-two American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for more than a year), Carter lost big.

Boat parades and road rallies buoy Trump and his supporters

Americans know when enough is enough but does political party loyalty Trump reality?

Watch the Town Hall Events Tonight

If nothing else tonight’s town hall events will be an evening of entertainment. So despite calls to boycott NBC, watching Donald Trump will be entertaining. After all Trump’s “Apprentice” was on NBC. It will be interesting to see how he responds to difficult questions or will there be any difficult questions? Who will decide which questions are asked?

Strangely at a campaign rally in Greenville, N.C., Trump repeatedly criticized NBC News, which is hosting a town hall with the president Thursday night. Why would he do this?

Reports are saying that 10 million people have already voted in this election cycle rather than waiting until November 3. Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump have avoided talking about everything except COVID-19, health care and the economy. The media has ridden along without bringing up any other issues.

The reason should be obvious. All those other issues are far more complicated. Politicians probably don’t have simple answers. They may not know the answers to those issues. So they resort to name calling and unsupported accusations about their opponent.

Trump says Biden is too weak to be president. He doesn’t even know he is alive. He won’t last two months. At his first rally after returning from Walter Reed hospital Trump railed against Mr. Biden, describing the Democrat’s program as “beyond socialism – Communist, that’s about right.”

For those of us that love to follow politics it will be a very interesting evening that will provide commentators with plenty of juicy evaluations and insights.

America’s Vanishing Social Security Trust Fund

This is a serious topic that neither Joe Biden not Donald Trump is interested in talking about. No wonder. It’s complicated and most people expect their elected representatives to solve the problem.

The United States Social Security Administration is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability, and survivor benefits. But you wouldn’t know it. Politicians try to use it to their advantage.

The Social Security trust fund will run out of its funds in a dozen years or so if nothing is done. Some experts say the government should tap general revenue to pay beneficiaries.

A monthly check from Social Security is the only thing keeping millions of older Americans out of poverty. Half of married senior citizens and 70% of unmarried seniors get at least half of their income from it, according to the Social Security Administration. It is the indispensable retirement solution. But the trust fund that pays old age and survivor benefits is going to run out of money sometime in the 2030s.

Those hard facts have raised a question:
Should Social Security stop depending just on payroll taxes and the trust fund to pay benefits and start supplementing those sources with general tax revenue? The debate came to a boil in August, when President Trump floated the idea of a permanent cut in payroll taxes, which would presumably necessitate a big infusion of general tax revenue to keep benefits whole.

A lot of advocates for Social Security worry that tapping general revenue will make people perceive the program as welfare rather than a mutual insurance compact among workers.

On the other hand, drawing on general funds would make it easier to pay scheduled benefits to the Baby Boom generation without big hikes in payroll taxes.

Faced with this scenario, the usual response is to choose from an unpalatable menu for fixing Social Security’s finances, such as raising the retirement age, choosing a stingier cost-of-living adjustment, or increasing the payroll tax rate. Democratic Representative John Larson of Connecticut, chairman of the Social Security subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, is sponsoring the Social Security 2100 Act, which raises benefits slightly while gradually lifting the payroll tax rate for workers and employers from 6.2% to 7.4% and subjecting wages over $400,000 a year to payroll taxation.

But none of the choices on the menu undo the core problem, which is that American society has aged. The number of beneficiaries per 100 covered workers has risen from 25 in 1965 to 29 in 2000 to 36 this year, and it’s expected to reach 45 by 2040.

Here’s what a Biden presidential win may mean for your Social Security benefits as reported on CNBC. Biden would increase the special minimum benefit, which was created to provide low-earners with adequate benefits. Biden calls for setting that figure at 125% of the federal poverty line. That would bring it to $1,301 from $886 a month as of 2019, according to an analysis by the Penn Wharton Budget Model at the University of Pennsylvania.

Donald Trump would like to cut payroll taxes to put more money in every family’s hands now to boost the economy but offers no plan on keeping the program afloat.

Walking Off The Job

Allen Rizzi is correct but but without Social Security and Medicare many people would be homeless. The United States provides only limited social services. Rizzi is an expatriate living in Italy.

allenrizzi

Over the past couple of years, I’ve heard a lot in the news about people walking off the job to demand higher wages. Awhile ago there was a national protest by fast food workers who demanded that their wages be doubled. It seemed on the surface an admirable idea; very American in fact. All of this sounds great in a touchy feely way; great that is unless you are a retired person. We “seniors” usually don’t have a job to walk off of and if we demanded that our social security benefits be doubled, you would hear a laugh from Washington that could be heard around the world.

In fact, “seniors” are one of the largest demographic groups in America. Although we outspend all other groups, we are the single group in our country that is chronically ignored, taken advantage of and generally screwed, all without the benefit of any…

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White House History on Presidential Health

Sean Conley, the president’s physician:

“I release the following information with the permission of President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.

“This evening I received confirmation that both President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

“The President and First Lady are both well at this time, and they plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence.

“The White House medical team and I will maintain a vigilant watch, and I appreciate the support provided by some of our our country’s greatest medical professionals and institutions. Rest assured I expect the President to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering, and I will keep you updated on any future developments.”

The White House says President Donald Trump is being treated for COVID-19 with an experimental drug cocktail. The president’s physician, Sean P. Conley, released a memo Friday afternoon saying the president has received a single 8 gram dose of Regeneron’s polyclonal antibody cocktail, “as a precautionary measure.”

Trump has now been given a “cocktail” experimental drug for the virus. Does this sound like a mild case of the flu? The fact that Trump had to be taken by helicopter for a five minute flight rather than a twenty minute car trip speaks emergency to me.

The White House has lied about the health of the presidents all the way back to 1881 and possibly earlier.

President James A. Garfield in Washington was shot on July 2, 1881. He died Sept. 19. During those intervening weeks Garfield’s doctors fed the public ‘fraudulently optimistic’ reports.

The Washington Post provides a lengthy detailed report on the positive reports that were all lies.

“The president has passed an excellent night, sleeping sweetly the greater part of the time without the aid of morphia” or other painkillers, according to the official morning bulletin from White House physicians published in the New York Tribune on Aug. 7, 1881. Garfield’s improvement over the last three days was notable, according to the Tribune. “His eyes have regained their old-time sparkle; his voice and complexion are more nearly what they were in health, and he is stronger.” Recovery seemed likely — and the worried public could relax, the newspaper assured readers.

FDR had polio. He contracted the disease in 1921 while on a vacation trip. He kept his partial paralysis a secret from the public – even when he was on the campaign trail.

John F. Kennedy had Addison’s disease. It was diagnosed when he was 30 years old. Patients with this condition have adrenal glands that fail to produce cortisol and aldosterone and can experience fatigue, dizziness, muscle weakness, weight loss, difficulty standing up, nausea and sweating as well as changes in mood and personality. How many people knew he had that illness?

Donald Trump has CORONA-19. He has now been transferred to Walter Reed Hospital. Does this sound like a mild case? Neither his wife nor others in the White House with the virus have been moved to the hospital.

Trump has had a fever since Friday morning, a person familiar with the matter said, though the fever remains consistent with the White House’s description of “mild symptoms.”

Earlier in the afternoon, Trump’s physician wrote in a memo he “remains fatigued but in good spirits.”

“He’s being evaluated by a team of experts, and together we’ll be making recommendations to the President and First Lady in regards to next best steps,” Navy Commander Dr. Sean Conley wrote.

Trump’s age, sex and weight status increase his risk of developing a severe case of COVID-19. According to a report in June from Trump’s physician, the president is 6 feet, 3 inches tall and weighs 244 pounds. That means his body mass index, or BMI, is 30.5, just over the threshold for obesity.

Why Did Trump Suddenly Visit Walter Reed Medical Center Last November? Pence was readied to assume the powers of the presidency, but we still don’t know what was ailing Trump.

Of course the doctors are not going to give an honest report.

La Niña may be Coming to California

The U.S. Climate Prediction Center said Thursday that La Niña — a phenomenon that occurs when the surface of the Pacific Ocean cools — has officially formed.

Between the two phases there is a neutral phase that’s neither El Niño nor La Niña — what climatologist Bill Patzert calls “La Nada.” That’s where we find ourselves at the moment — and where we expect to stay through the summer. But NOAA predicts that there’s a 50% to 55% chance of our current neutral phase shifting into a La Niña this fall and winter. Hence the watch. But there’s also a 40% to 45% chance, according to NOAA, that we will remain stuck in neutral for the fall and winter. In addition, there’s about a 5% to 10% chance of an El Niño developing.

Rain in Canoga Park has been decent the past two years. 18.47 inches in this past year and 23.23 inches the year before. Since 1997 when I started collecting rain data in my yard the lowest seasonal total was 4.53 inches in the 2001-2002 period.