Miscellaneous Observations on Green Cards, Homelessness and the Eviction Moratorium Extension

According to the WSJ "about 100,000 green cards are at risk of going to waste this year as the application backlog grows." Having a Green Card is what enables you to permanently live and work in the U.S. The Washington Post published an opinion piece on this last week. The problem is primarily caused by slow processing of paperwork. 

What it actually shows is that government officials excel at making pronouncements but all too frequently haven't done the heavy lifting of HOW TO IMPLEMENT their noble plans. As nearly everyone knows, the devil is in the details. 

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Businesses can be guilty of this as well. The consequences can be costly and even damage a company's future, though more often it simply produces frustration amongst internal staff. The Fed has no such concern. When too many people notice a failure to deliver, they just point to another crisis over there and this one over here to divert our attention. There are more than enough crises to go around.

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The ongoing Eviction Moratorium is a strange and convoluted story. Reason magazine published a story this week titled After Claiming It Didn't Have the Power To Impose A New Eviction Moratorium, the Biden Administration Imposes a New Eviction Moratorium.

The lead editorial of the WSJ's weekend edition succinctly addresses this matter. The first eviction moratorium was illegal, but went forward anyways because the president stated he would not do it again. The Supreme Court explicitly said "any further action would need legislative steps." In other words, you can't just do this via executive order.

Needless to say, Biden did it again but  says he didn't because it's different this time. It only applies to 87% of U.S. counties. (Including all the most crowded ones.) 

I am reminded of the Peanuts comic in which Lucy persuaded Charlie Brown that she won't pull the football away this time. She always does, of course. 

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Los Angeles does not have the highest homeless population in the world, but it certainly has a large one. Over 66,000 according to this article, which places it 2nd behind New York City. This YouTube video gives you a visual overview of the way homelessness manifests itself in L.A.

This is not just a U.S. problem. Mumbai, Moscow and Manila have massive numbers of homeless people. Is this ever-growing homeless population our new normal?  

Here are a couple comments from the YouTube video cited above:

1.  Being a Filipino, i've gotten quite used to seeing homeless people on the streets but seeing them in large numbers for the first time in an affluent and world renowned American city like L.A. is quite shocking. Makes me realize how lucky i am for having my own home in my 3rd world country, no matter how humble it is.

2. I live 15 minutes away from downtown and it’s been 5 years since I’ve been down there and two weeks ago I passed by at night and let me tell you I was so shocked at how downtown looks it’s sad

3. I wish someone would do this for Seattle (YouTube vid) to bring more awareness to how bad it's getting. Our homeless situation is headed for this as well. We used to be the clean and green city. Now I hate going into downtown. smh

4. It is insane for American government to spend money on foreign charity, while ignoring the homeless problem Americans face everyday!

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As for me, painted apartments in South Minneapolis in the early 80's and do not recall ever seeing people living in tents. Two years ago I drove through the "old neighborhood" and was quite surprised at the size of the tent city there near the freeway. 

All this raises questions such as...
What are city governments doing to alleviate this problem? 
What are the underlying causes of this problem? 
What should politicians be doing about it?

Perhaps you have suggestions. Feel free to leave a comment.

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