If you don’t accept that, you are pretty much delusional.

I lived in upstate NY, where IBM packed up and all but left the Hudson Valley in the mid-90s because of the “race to the bottom” you describe. I was there when half of my friends’ parents lost their jobs because of that.

and we need corporations to feel more of a responsibility towards the communities they do business in by actually helping with the problems, but not under threat or with more taxes, because they know it’s the right thing to do.

For every Patagonia, there are a hundred BPs. This is idealistic thinking to the nth degree.

I agree 100% that we have some moral responsibility to attack social problems.

I’m less sure how to raise the money.

Economically, there are risks.

1. Countries, states, cities, and local communities all compete for investment and jobs. “Part” of the competition is the tax rate and after tax return on investment.

2. These days individuals can just pack their bags and move to a low tax state all while doing business wherever they want.

If you don’t accept that, you are pretty much delusional.

So you have to find a way to raise the money that is not damaging to investment and that doesn’t cause wealth flight. You also have to make sure you get really good bang for the buck because people and corporations will refuse to fund programs that are not working well or if they think there is corruption and/or incompetence.

Government is not particularly good at getting “bang for the buck”. There aren’t good measurements of success in government (like profit/loss, return on capital etc.. in the private sector) and it’s very difficult to stop politicians from promising things in order to get elected instead of because they actually work.

Here is where I am being way too idealistic, but I think we need a fundamental change in our value system. We need people to FEEL more of a responsibility to those with mental health issues, that were born into terrible environments at home or in their neighborhood, that were born with other disadvantages etc.. and we need corporations to feel more of a responsibility towards the communities they do business in by actually helping with the problems, but not under threat or with more taxes, because they know it’s the right thing to do.

Government is not going to fix the problems any more than doing nothing will. WE have to change.

I’m not sure why the “corporations” are responsible for a problem that is mainly (according to the video) a function of drug addiction?

Then you fail to adequately understand that the tax base cannot exclude local corporations and run efficiently. This is the essence of slash-and-starve: undertax corporations, show poor outcomes from underfunded social services, claim it’s “waste,” slash the budget further. All of this leads to further social rot.

Or we can just claim that Microsoft, Boeing and Amazon have had no effect on housing instability or sudden, rapid population growth in the Seattle metro, and therefore have no obligation to help fund critical infrastructure and services. That should fall on the taxpayers — who, haha, are paid salaries (or “contractor wages”) by those companies.

In general, when these people are convicted of a crime and are substance abusers they should be remanded to a treatment center for 30-60 days and not put in the general population in jail nor returned to the streets. If they re-offend and are still abusing substances…. back into rehab for a longer period of time.

You find me a conservative politician’s agenda that includes sufficient funding for in-patient treatment and rehabilitation for drug users, rather than the “lock ’em up and throw away the key” approach that they use in states like Arizona and Texas. I’ll wait.

Homelessness is a crisis that Seattle, Portland and San Francisco all share. Incompetent leadership and a bipartisan unwillingness to hold the massive, cash-printing companies within their metro borders financially accountable for the “fringe benefits” they introduce into the local economy.

I’m not sure why the “corporations” are responsible for a problem that is mainly (according to the video) a function of drug addiction?

I understand you violate a homeless person’s civil liberties if you attempt to force them off the street or into rehab. However it is incredibly stupid and actually heartless that once these people commit legitimate crimes to just turn them back loose on society so the cycle can repeat itself.

In general, when these people are convicted of a crime and are substance abusers they should be remanded to a treatment center for 30-60 days and not put in the general population in jail nor returned to the streets. If they re-offend and are still abusing substances…. back into rehab for a longer period of time.

The idea is to help people at the same time as protecting society. My ex – wife was an alcoholic of the most virulent type and was arrested 4 times for DUI, one house arrest and 2 separate 2 week jail stints, and also spent 12 days on a ventilator after a binge. She didn’t get better until two stints in rehab, but has now recovered and is working 60 hours a week and back as a functioning member of society. You need to get these people help…. not turn them back out into the public where they can cause more havoc to themselves and society.

Shorter bobneptune:

FAKE NEWS!1!!!11!

I understand smarm is a big part of what we do here when we don’t have a good argument but after 2 years …. were are Saint Mueller’s indictments?

As to fake news, you have to be either a ploppy or a shill not to acknowledge facts:

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/03/26/glenn_greenwald_cnn_and_msnbc_are_like_state_tv_with_ex-intel_officials_as_contributors.html

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/taibbi-trump-russia-mueller-investigation-815060/

I am guessing even you will admit Matt Taibbi and Glen Greenwald aren’t members of Team Trump or members of the “Vast Right Wing Conspiracy!”

Knox had strong game and i find myself impressed that he has played so many minutes as such an outmatched kid but isn’t playing like he’s praying for the final bell to ring.

Didn’t I say this a couple of weeks ago? The fact that he’s improved after playing heavy minutes all year is in and of itself cause for guarded optimism. And last night, his physical profile was very apparent. He’s definitely worth another look next year.

Honestly, if you think that the current brand of conservativism — with its, at best, complete misunderstanding of preventative policing, an unwillingness to attack social problems at their origins, and the naked exchange of billions between politicians and their financiers — would better serve the public in our cities, you are woefully ignorant of what the right-wing’s party has become. It would seem farcical to believe that because Democratic policy has (largely) failed, Republican policy would not. The failure of one doesn’t imply the success of the other.