# LA Homeless **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 7, 2019, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-homeless/835149 "2019-06-07T00:40:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-homeless/835149/21 "2019-06-07T13:30:32Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Incidentally, Tracy Morgan is only worth $12 million, so spending $2 million on a car was ridiculous. (You’re going to say that that’s still a lot of money. 1.07% of Americans are worth more than $10 million. 0.07% are worth more than $50 million.) Let me correct one other thing in the OP. No movie has ever cost $1 billion to make. The most one has cost is $412 million. You should learn about how much money is thrown around in businesses other than entertainment. Well, I feel the same about sports and sports stars. But I don’t really see sports stars on TV bragging about how liberal they are, or being held up as examples of liberalism. It’s usually “Look how awesome I am, I bought all my teammates $30,000 watches!” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-homeless/835149/22 "2019-06-07T13:46:09Z")
And the elephant in the room, you can’t solve homelessness just by throwing money at it. A large proportion of homeless people are homeless not because they can’t afford a home, but because of various sorts of mental illnesses. Some of those mental illnesses, we can’t treat, or can only barely treat. Some of them, we can, but only with the consent and cooperation of the patient, and one manifestation of the mental illness is that they refuse treatment. And even in those relatively rare cases where the problem is as simple as lack of money, the people who need the help might not even know that it’s available, and then there are significant logistic issues in getting the help to those who need it while preventing abuse of the system. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-homeless/835149/23 "2019-06-07T14:01:54Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > No movie has ever cost $1 billion to make. And the recalcitrant three-toed sloth in the room…[oh yes there i-i-is.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_KnUi3t2JI) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-homeless/835149/24 "2019-06-07T14:27:06Z")
I don’t speak French, but shouldn’t the title be **LES Homeless**? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-homeless/835149/25 "2019-06-07T14:43:14Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Because he’s stupid? I was making a joke about the redundancy in your OP. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-homeless/835149/26 "2019-06-07T14:53:36Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > I don’t assume they are the richest people in the US. I assume they are of the liberal persuasion, since they espouse those ideals on TV and such. Instead of glamourous shots of actors at swank parties and red carpets, how about photos of them at the LA homeless camp actually doing something? > > If they don’t want to do anything, or don’t actually care, then fine. But don’t act like they do. So this is liberal bashing and you don’t really give a fuck about the homeless. You have absolutely no idea how they feel, what charity work they do, what charities they donate to, or even what political views they have. (Hint, some are actually Republicans) But never let facts get in the way of a good story. Or stupid rant. Go soak your head. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-homeless/835149/27 "2019-06-07T15:20:11Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > . . . or being held up as examples of liberalism. You know who holds up movie stars as “examples of liberalism”? Conservatives. The left does not idolize Hollywood for being a bastion of liberal good examples. Your premise here is flawed in the extreme. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-homeless/835149/28 "2019-06-07T16:05:57Z")
Tracy Morgan grew up in the projects. If he can afford a few million dollar car today, more power to him! I’d like to see a fuckwad like Trump start there, then, and be where Mr. Morgan is today. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-homeless/835149/29 "2019-06-07T16:27:24Z")
Tracy Morgan is worth way more than $12 Million after the Walmart Settlement, supposedly court documents state him and a fellow comedian got as much as $90 million, not sure if that’s for the both of them together or what. I still wouldn’t buy a car that expensive if I was that rich. This thread also makes me think about the threatened Hollywood boycotts over abortion legislation in states like Georgia. I thought about starting a thread about it. I have a friend that works on movies and tv shows in the Atlanta film industry. Georgia has been turning slowly purple especially with the recent rise of the film industry. All these lower people in the tier of movie production like set dressers, prop masters, graphic designers are for the most part hardcore liberals, they are not the ones in favor of restricting abortions but if the film industry pulls out at the behest of director, famous actors, producers and higher ups in the business, sure the state suffers but they’re probably actually hurting the people that agree with them the most. It sounds counter-productive, burning bridges with the people that agree with you, those are the ones you are putting out of work who can’t afford to relocate to California most likely. I don’t think Hollywood Actors really understand or at least care about the little people in their industry even though they are on the same side. ---
**Author:** ![RadioWave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/91b2a8/32.png) [@RadioWave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadioWave)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-homeless/835149/30 "2019-06-07T17:38:28Z")
Robin Williams had it in his contract that any production he was involved in must hire a certain number of homeless people in the filming area to do non technical jobs. Jodie Foster is rather well known to help out with homeless charities as well as having made several documentaries raising awareness of the issue. Susan Sarandon has testified before Congress to raise funds to fight violence against homelessness. That’s just off the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-homeless/835149/31 "2019-06-07T18:19:31Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Reasonable pitting. IMO it’s always reasonable to pit rich people if/when they’re not doing enough to help those suffering around them. How much is enough though? That’s a question for which I have never seen a good answer. I mean, would we be cheering Morgan had he paid a million toward the homeless, and bought a car that only cost 1 million? What about 1.5 million and a 500k car? Or if he’d just not given any money and bought a 75k car? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-homeless/835149/32 "2019-06-07T18:24:57Z")
> [@bump](#): > > How much is enough though? That’s a question for which I have never seen a good answer. “Enough” is when there are no longer homeless and/or suffering people out there. My point is that the wealthy should always and forever be obligated (morally speaking) with a burden to use their wealth to help others. That never goes away, IMO. If I ever became wealthy, I should be continually obligated and reminded of that obligation to help those less fortunate then I am. I’ll add that I’m pretty damn fortunate (if not wealthy, at least IMO). And if someone challenged me and said I wasn’t doing enough to help the homeless and suffering people, they’d probably be correct. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-homeless/835149/33 "2019-06-07T18:50:53Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I don’t speak French, but shouldn’t the title be **LES Homeless**? Since I don’t speak Spanish either, maybe it should be **LOS Homeless**. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-homeless/835149/34 "2019-06-07T18:53:06Z")
> **[5 Hollywood Celebrities Whose Charity Work Will Shock You](https://serudsindia.org/5-hollywood-celebrities-whose-charity-work-will-shock/)** > > There are celebrities who understand the responsibility they hold in the society. I bet you will be shocked to see the hollywood celebrity charity work > [@](#): > > George Clooney is one of the actor who often seen in working for the social causes. Recently in Aug of 2017 we have seen the Gravity star, raising 1 million dollars to the southern poverty law Centre to fight hate crimes. He is also seen with his Ocean Eleven stars Matt Damon and Brad Pitt to stop the genocide occurring in Sudan > [@](#): > > Apart from making chartbuster songs, the American singer-songwriter has been doing immense charity work. At a young age of around 25, she started showing her interest in social causes and worked for the betterment of needy people. During floods in state of Louisiana, Taylor donated an amount of whopping 1 Million $. > [@](#): > > Leonardo DiCaprio is one of most active member in environment protection team at global level. When he finally won his dream, Academy award, in his speech of acceptance, he mentioned “Let’s protect earth” showed how dedicated he is for social causes. The titanic star reportedly raised 30 Million $ for environmental projects > [@](#): > > In 2008, Jolie announced plans to open an AIDS & tuberculosis clinic in Ethiopia, the country from which her daughter Zahara Marley was adopted. Already, a portion of the $2 million was donated to the Global Health Committee has gone to medications to treat these diseases, which are ravaging the country”. > > Her charity organization, Jolie-Pitt Foundation has raised more than a jaw dropping 50-60 million $ for the destitute people of the society. > [@](#): > > In 1998 he founded the Jackie Chan charitable Foundation that offers scholarships, free medical treatments and shelter for disaster driven people and disabled children. > > According to [socialworkhelper.com](http://socialworkhelper.com), > > he has raised 29 million dollars for drought relief in China > He donated 5 million dollars for earthquake victims > His foundation raised 5.2 million dollars for Singapore Thong Chai Medical institution [Celebrities Who Secretly Do A Ton Of Charity Work](https://www.ranker.com/list/celebrities-who-secretly-do-a-lot-of-charity-work/celebrity-lists) So, **manson1972** …what have _you_ done for the underprivileged? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-homeless/835149/35 "2019-06-07T19:12:48Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And the elephant in the room, you can’t solve homelessness just by throwing money at it. A large proportion of homeless people are homeless not because they can’t afford a home, but because of various sorts of mental illnesses. Some of those mental illnesses, we can’t treat, or can only barely treat. Some of them, we can, but only with the consent and cooperation of the patient, and one manifestation of the mental illness is that they refuse treatment. And even in those relatively rare cases where the problem is as simple as lack of money, the people who need the help might not even know that it’s available, and then there are significant logistic issues in getting the help to those who need it while preventing abuse of the system. While that is true, you’re talking about the eradication of homelessness. The issue now is that there are more homeless than ever, an increase that outpaces the general population increase. That suggests that there IS a solvable problem in the mix, along with the unsolvable base issue, because the situation has changed. And in the last 30 years, the entire employment sector has changed, from what jobs there are to how one acquires them; housing and education costs have risen enormously, as have individual debt burdens; many people live far away from close relatives, and in general have fewer close relatives than we did before birth control became widely available; L.A. in particular has tons of people whose roots (and thus deep social safety nets) are elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-homeless/835149/36 "2019-06-07T19:36:16Z")
Millions of people spend money on cigarettes instead of helping the homeless. Just teasing ya there, Manson. I don’t see how blaming actors helps anything. And, “liberal” far more often seems like an accusation than something people self-identity as, so appealing to “liberal values” might not be too effective. All decent people should have values. Dragging “liberalism” into it just confuses things IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-homeless/835149/37 "2019-06-07T19:54:22Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > The fault is not with Hollywood but with all of us. Not true, while some issues like inadequate mental health facilities may be partially a function of society, if someone gets hooked on crack and looses everything it sure as hell not my fault. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-homeless/835149/38 "2019-06-07T20:23:23Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > “Enough” is when there are no longer homeless and/or suffering people out there. > > My point is that the wealthy should always and forever be obligated (morally speaking) with a burden to use their wealth to help others. That never goes away, IMO. If I ever became wealthy, I should be continually obligated and reminded of that obligation to help those less fortunate then I am. > > I’ll add that I’m pretty damn fortunate (if not wealthy, at least IMO). And if someone challenged me and said I wasn’t doing enough to help the homeless and suffering people, they’d probably be correct. Not to hijack, but what’s “wealthy” in this context? I mean, anyone who’s got their needs met (meaning themselves and their family) could probably afford to give something, but nobody’s expecting anyone to buy Busch Light instead of craft beer because there are homeless people out there, and the $3 difference per six-pack could add up over time. And what does suffering mean? That’s awfully indistinct as well. That’s the problem- it’s always vague, and something of an implied guilt trip to anyone who’s not breaking even. ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-homeless/835149/39 "2019-06-07T20:49:13Z")
> [@pool](#): > > This thread also makes me think about the threatened Hollywood boycotts over abortion legislation in states like Georgia. I thought about starting a thread about it. I have a friend that works on movies and tv shows in the Atlanta film industry. Georgia has been turning slowly purple especially with the recent rise of the film industry. All these lower people in the tier of movie production like set dressers, prop masters, graphic designers are for the most part hardcore liberals, they are not the ones in favor of restricting abortions but if the film industry pulls out at the behest of director, famous actors, producers and higher ups in the business, sure the state suffers but they’re probably actually hurting the people that agree with them the most. It sounds counter-productive, burning bridges with the people that agree with you, those are the ones you are putting out of work who can’t afford to relocate to California most likely. It’s about denying massive tax revenue to governments attempting to oppress others. Costume designers and set dressers in LA lose out when movies are filmed in Georgia and elsewhere, too. Which group is larger, the 5,000 movie workers, or the 30,000 women who would be denied the right to control their own body? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-homeless/835149/40 "2019-06-07T21:05:36Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Not to hijack, but what’s “wealthy” in this context? I mean, anyone who’s got their needs met (meaning themselves and their family) could probably afford to give something, but nobody’s expecting anyone to buy Busch Light instead of craft beer because there are homeless people out there, and the $3 difference per six-pack could add up over time. > > And what does suffering mean? That’s awfully indistinct as well. > > That’s the problem- it’s always vague, and something of an implied guilt trip to anyone who’s not breaking even. This is all subjective and just my opinion; I don’t have an exact cutoff. IMO, most wealthy people should feel some guilt – that kind of guilt might motivate them to do more. Most of them aren’t bad people – they’re just people. But people with the incredible privilege of US-style (or Western-style) wealth have a moral obligation to help those less fortunate, and in my experience few of them (including my wealthy relatives who are very nice people!) feel much of this guilt or obligation, and I think they ought to. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-homeless/835149.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-homeless/835149.md?page=3)