Mar 15, 2009: Tent City

xoxoxoBruce • Mar 15, 2009 4:17 am
A tent city in Sacramento, Calif., shown here on Thursday, March 5, is growing as the worsening economy leads more
people to losing there jobs and being forced out of their homes. More than 1200 are estimated to live in the encampment,
which is growing by up to 50 people a week.


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The tent city has sprouted up in almost the same location along the American River as an earlier one inhabited by
transplanted Tennesseans who had moved West looking for work during the Great Depression.


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Although they say 1200 people, and this is just one camp, we're talking about out of over 300 million, but it's an interesting phenomenon.
In reality, there are probably more homeless on the streets that don't even have a tent.

link
spudcon • Mar 15, 2009 6:36 am
I thought homeless people were all gone after Reagan/Bush Sr.
Medic63 • Mar 15, 2009 7:07 am
Is that why I saw so many panhandlers in D.C. during the Clinton administration?
capnhowdy • Mar 15, 2009 8:41 am
Why are most people who are homeless and begging for a life sustaining morsel from those of us who are "far more fortunate" always fat and pudgy? They don't look hungry to me.
Perry Winkle • Mar 15, 2009 11:41 am
capnhowdy;545407 wrote:
Why are most people who are homeless and begging for a life sustaining morsel from those of us who are "far more fortunate" always fat and pudgy? They don't look hungry to me.


They lack self control, self respect and direction. Don't give them anything because they're just going to eat it, drink it or fuck it.
Undertoad • Mar 15, 2009 11:42 am
I admire their culinary understanding. Lady #1's jumbo size mustard is cheap and doesn't need refrigeration. Lady #2 is working the saute skills with what looks like it could be seasoned salt, preparing the nightly meal for her highly expectant, glaring spouse. Hard times don't mean you have to eat poorly, if you have some understanding of seasonings; and a simple cast iron skillet, which doesn't need to be washed between uses, is every chef's first tool.
classicman • Mar 15, 2009 11:53 am
:bites tongue:
Shawnee123 • Mar 15, 2009 11:56 am
Undertoad;545424 wrote:
I admire their culinary understanding. Lady #1's jumbo size mustard is cheap and doesn't need refrigeration. Lady #2 is working the saute skills with what looks like it could be seasoned salt, preparing the nightly meal for her highly expectant, glaring spouse. Hard times don't mean you have to eat poorly, if you have some understanding of seasonings; and a simple cast iron skillet, which doesn't need to be washed between uses, is every chef's first tool.


:lol: I noticed him too. Shouldn't he be out hunting wild game or something?
xoxoxoBruce • Mar 15, 2009 12:07 pm
I think he's glaring at the photographer.
Shawnee123 • Mar 15, 2009 12:09 pm
"You ain't leerin' at my waf, are ya?"
ukamikanasi • Mar 15, 2009 12:43 pm
They're fat because they eat mostly carbs. Meat and vegetables are expensive, but bread, noodles, and potatoes are cheap and make you fat.
chrisinhouston • Mar 15, 2009 1:31 pm
Hey, my old Boy Scout Troop still uses tents like in the 1936 photos!
capnhowdy • Mar 15, 2009 3:47 pm
Shawnee123;545432 wrote:
:lol: I noticed him too. Shouldn't he be out hunting wild game or something?


You mean hunting handouts, right? ;)
classicman • Mar 15, 2009 5:17 pm
ukamikanasi;545458 wrote:
They're fat because they eat mostly carbs. Meat and vegetables are expensive, but bread, noodles, and potatoes are cheap and make you fat.


Perhaps they live a sedentary lifestyle too.
Clodfobble • Mar 15, 2009 5:41 pm
ukamikanasi wrote:
They're fat because they eat mostly carbs. Meat and vegetables are expensive, but bread, noodles, and potatoes are cheap and make you fat.


Doesn't matter what you eat; if you eat a small enough amount, you will be skinny.
Trilby • Mar 15, 2009 5:44 pm
Let's be nice to them.
Undertoad • Mar 15, 2009 5:46 pm
Whenever I hear about a tent city, I think of that Ted Nugent live album, "Intensities in Tent Cities".
Gravdigr • Mar 15, 2009 6:30 pm
Having been homeless, and being "not skinny", let me assure you: You can be fat and hungry. I wouldn't recommend it.
Trilby • Mar 15, 2009 6:51 pm
Gravdigr;545516 wrote:
Having been homeless, and being "not skinny", let me assure you: You can be fat and hungry. I wouldn't recommend it.


/*channeling douches*/ you must be a lazy slob then. Don't expect US to help you out /*end channeling douches*/
Gravdigr • Mar 15, 2009 6:56 pm
I could be described as a lazy slob. But I ain't. I got myself up. No help from anyone, but my best friend, he let me stay with him while saving money for my own place again. No gov't help, skin's the wrong color, I have a dick, and not enough kids.
xoxoxoBruce • Mar 15, 2009 7:24 pm
From ABC news;
Garren Bratchin from the Loaves and Fishes charity says the organisation has seen a 20 per cent jump in the number of homeless people using its services.

"It's been entire families, not just the guy that decides to leave his wife and get drunk - whole families; three or four, five people at a time," he said.

New figures show in February another 650,000 Americans lost their jobs, fuelling fears tented communities like this one will become more common.

Trilby • Mar 15, 2009 7:58 pm
from the International Herald Tribune

"American International Group, the insurer that has received more than $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money from the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve, plans to pay about $165 million in bonuses to executives in the same business unit that brought the company to the brink of collapse last year"

It's nice to know that we have our priorities straight, eh? Let your brothers and sisters starve in a tent, we've got billionaire kings to keep in shrimp and titties.
xoxoxoBruce • Mar 15, 2009 8:08 pm
Mmmmm... shrimp and titties. :yum:
Stormieweather • Mar 15, 2009 8:10 pm
There was an article in my local newspaper a few days ago about how motels are the new homeless shelters. The number of school children in my town who are living in motels jumped from 30 last year to well over 300 this year. It is so easy to get there....lose a job, get house foreclosed on...where do you go? Apartments require a job, security deposit, and decent credit. All these people losing their jobs (unemployment rate) and houses (foreclosure rate) have to find new places to live.

Having been there, in a motel room, with my 2 children, I know it's not easy. We were there for 3 months. An eternity. Mine was due to a domestic violence and divorce, but not having a 'real' place to live was rough. If I hadn't had a decent job (two of them, actually) and able to afford the motel cost, I'd have been living somewhere in a tent too.

I don't believe that all homeless people are just lazy and happily living off the system. I know too many that would give anything to not be in that situation.
ZenGum • Mar 15, 2009 8:15 pm
Prosecute the lot of them, on charges of loitering within tent.
xoxoxoBruce • Mar 15, 2009 8:18 pm
I think you're right, Stormieweather, these aren't the normal homeless and bums. This is a new class of people, newly set adrift by the world events, with nowhere to go. These tent cities are patrolled by the police, and populated by people in the same boat, giving them a smidgen more security than under a bridge somewhere.
monster • Mar 15, 2009 8:37 pm
I think the "homeless" title is misleading. These people are making new -albeit temporary- homes to help them handle the rough times in which they can no longer afford their former homes. they are neither homeless nor helpless. it's just that they might be experiencing a glitch in their american dream. They should be applauded for making the best of a really nasty situation, for having the foresight to move into a tent and give themselves a base from which to start out again, rather than selling their tents and last remaining possessions to buy food and then relying on charity to house them.
classicman • Mar 15, 2009 8:39 pm
They should all start pitching their tents in Texas....

say on Bush's front yard? That or they could occupy a few of the offices/conference rooms over at PIG, Shitibank et all..
xoxoxoBruce • Mar 15, 2009 8:41 pm
But they are also jobless which makes recovery difficult.
jinx • Mar 15, 2009 8:42 pm
Might be a good place for Radar's dog stand.
monster • Mar 15, 2009 9:08 pm
xoxoxoBruce;545556 wrote:
But they are also jobless which makes recovery difficult.


jobless =/ hopeless or homeless

many on this board are currently jobless. (Many are hopeless too, they are not necessarily the same people)

These people have put themselves in a situation where they are at least able to turn up for a job interview reasonably rested and fed, and clean. Your homeless guy who spent the night undera bridge with cardboard for bedding, not so much.
Trilby • Mar 15, 2009 9:38 pm
jinx;545557 wrote:
Might be a good place for Radar's dog stand.


They've already got the mustard.
Shawnee123 • Mar 15, 2009 9:39 pm
We could barbeque the people, making it a true IotD.
Trilby • Mar 15, 2009 9:40 pm
ZenGum;545546 wrote:
Prosecute the lot of them, on charges of loitering within tent.


Pistols at dawn. Be there!
ZenGum • Mar 15, 2009 10:51 pm
errr, huh?

Dawn who? What did she do?
spudcon • Mar 15, 2009 11:13 pm
A few more stimulus , bail outs, and recovery dollars, and we can have tent cities in every town and city in America.
ZenGum • Mar 15, 2009 11:23 pm
Those people need to relax. They're two tents.
HungLikeJesus • Mar 15, 2009 11:47 pm
Why is it that homeless, jobless and hopeless are bad, but topless is good? I'm going to be thinking about that tonight.
capnhowdy • Mar 16, 2009 8:57 am
If you are homeless, jobless and hopeless, take your top off and you're only half bad.

Hell.... it's a start.
spudcon • Mar 16, 2009 9:28 am
When I go topless, no one thinks it's good.