Socialism at work in the "Bony" City of Angels

I thought Blighty might have set an unassailable lead in the global competition of demonstrating the utter fecklessness and incompetence of the state, when food parcels for the poor costing £30 were opened by their grateful recipients only to reveal a mere £5's worth of food therein.  A collosal 83.3% simply missing, gone, vamoosed, skedaddled (That's enough Americanisms to keep the cross-pond dwellers in the picture, comprendo? ... Ed).

No explanation, no sacking, no-one jailed, just airbrushed over by the statist MSM and we "move rapidly along, nothing to see here".

It had Fluffbun remarking a feeling of unwelcome nostalgia and deja vu from her times living under Ost Bloc Socialism when the supermarket shelves were empty, even in years when the harvests were good.

Well, not anymore, there's a challenger: Uncle Sam has thrown his hat in the ring (Will they be ok with that one, do you think? ... Ed)...

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/la-homeless-officials-paid-white-house-cabinet-members-crisis-rise

Phewee, salaries skyward of $150,000 for 20% of LA state's staff in the homelessness team, yet cardboard cities everywhere!

I just ran that one by Fluffbun and it reminded her of the "state officials only" supermarkets in Socialist Czechoslovakia, called "Tuzex" (pronounced "Too-zex"), and the "state officials only" parallel currency they had just for the state officials to spend therein, called "Bony" (pronounced "Bon-ee").  The "Tuzex" were always well stocked, as were the state officials salaries with "Bony", just like the state officials' salaries in LA and no doubt their sumptuous residences afforded thereby.

Well here's a Funded Libertarian take on it: -

Why not sack the state officials and give their "Bony" salaries to the homeless, and instead let the homeless go shopping in the "Tuzex" of the LA accommodation market?

$55,000,000 / 40,000 (salaries of state officials / number of homeless inside city limits) = $1375 per annum for each homeless person.

Then add to that the $1.2bn decade budget the state officials misspent so badly each apartment cost $559,000 ...

https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-virus-outbreak-homelessness-faa231cbfa0176b17c5373928475061b

$1,200,000,000 / 10 / 40,000 (decadenal budget divided by 40,000 homeless) = $3,000 per annum for each homeless person.

So a total of $4375 per homeless person per annum, or $365 per month.

Looks like rooms in a shared house and shared rooms in a shared house go for this kinda money ...

https://mobile.roomster.com/en-GB/rooms-for-rent/los-angeles

Filtering that site for $365 or less rent per month yielded 46 rooms.

Giving social buying power in the form of vouchers under-writes the rent for the landlord, thereby demand will create its own supply as landlords convert multi-room properties into what we call "HMO's" in Blighty (Houses of Multiple Occupancy) for the more secure rental income.

Shall I throw my hat in the ring and run for governor of the City of Angels - the only official's job left in the state come the Funded Libertarian revolution?

SoD

Comments

[Whitewall]

There always has been, and continues to be, fortunes to be made in the poverty business. That's why governments at all levels create so much of it. There is no poverty like government poverty. There are so many real estate angles to work, so many finance angles to play...all the while the participants claim "virtue" in doing something about poverty. I have been in real estate investing since the mid 1980s and thought I had seen everything until this morning. The stories I can tell about what I have seen and the out and out plunder that takes place...well I won't. It's too depressing. I own a lot of "multi room properties".

[Loz]

Whiters, I have a very good friend in the HMO business in Blighty. Fluffbun and I are giving serious thought to converting our place into one so I might have some chance of a retirement. Wish I done it sooner but just too much going on in IT.

Ref your comment regarding the state making people poor, I think Maggie came up with the definitive expression ...

"So long as the gap is smaller, they'd prefer the poor were poorer."

https://speakola.com/political/margaret-thatcher-on-socialism-last-speech-1990

What a nail-on-the-header. Oh those were the days. Even brings in my poor Fluffbun and her people and their struggles with Socialism.

If it wasn't for her and Ronnie and the EU Four Freedoms (her invention) I'd never have met the Love of my life.

See, when good things happen to you as an individual, go find the root cause - and that's your political worldview sorted.

SoD

[Whitewall]

SoD, that was my problem years ago-too busy working for a living to ever make any money. I knew if I wanted a good retirement I would have to do it myself. Working 9-5 for others would not do it. One night, way back then, while flying back home from Managua feeling sick I began thinking about real estate. As the pilot jerked the plane into multiple vectors, meaning Cuban air space ahead, I made up my mind that this was the last for me. And it was.

Give R/E a shot while you can. Call on your friend for help...remember, other people's know how and other people's money.

[Whyaxye]

"If it wasn't for her and Ronnie and the EU Four Freedoms (her invention) I'd never have met the Love of my life."

You should mention her sometime. Surprising that you never do. We'd love to hear her name, or even a pet name.