JUST SOME "FOOD" FOR THOUGHT

With the holidays approaching, and as a stereotypical American I’m shopping. I saw a homeless man at the Passiac Valley Mall here in New Jersey, and I know this topic isn’t new, and I know we hear about it, but truthfully I too brushed it off and said “that’s a shame”.? But on the drive home, I was thinking more about it and listening to Bloomberg stock report and I began to run some numbers in my head.?

In the United States RIGHT NOW, we have a homeless population of 580,466 est. We also have a child hunger problem that affects 1:6 children. That means there are 12,166,666 Children nationwide starving and do not have enough to live on.?

So here’s the math. If Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos decided, to NOT do their space programs and make their obscure shaped rockets, they SINGLE HANDEDLY could have eradicated US homelessness and Child Hunger! And guess what, they would have become saints, Nobel prize winners, and even a holiday named after them. Maybe... who knows. But yes they could have single-handedly ended US homelessness and child hunger.?

According to NoKidHungry $50 = 500 meals. A 10x valuation. 12,166,666 starving children x 3 meals a day = $3,649,999 ($3.6M). Now for a whole year (365 Days) = $1,332,249,927 ($1.33B). That is a little over HALF of what SpaceX cost to start. So NOT ONLY did Elon END CHILD HUNGER, he S-A-V-E-D money.

USAFACTS.org indicates that we have made good efforts to combat the housing issue for the Homeless. But we can do better. According to USA TODAY, the last census data counted this population at over ? Million. The government spends an average of $35,578 per year for every person who must endure chronic homelessness. Much of this money goes toward publicly-funded crisis services, including jails, hospitalizations, and emergency departments. Permanent supportive housing costs about $12,800 per person per year on average. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (2020 Release), it would cost $20 billion to end homelessness in the United States.?

Mr. Bezos spent about half that, with the purchase of the 300K acre launch site, $2.5 B on the rocket build, another $3B on the NEW rocket being built, and it was announced Jeff Bezos offers to cover $2B more in costs as part of NASA lunar lander deal according to GEEK wire.?

It is abundantly clear that the world’s 2 richest people would rather play 10-year-old astronauts and call it science etc, than fix an ACTUAL problem. That’s their choice, their money. They could have housed the homeless and fed the hungry for THE ENTIRE COUNTRY, but… hey… rockets. So that leaves us, the rest of us. Who right now, are working, shopping, baking, sending cards, gathering, double-checking the shopping list, making sure Suzie has chicken fingers because she doesn't eat fish. You know, you and me and the everyday holiday crazed world we are in for the month of December.

We as Americans spend over $30B in crap every year. To put simply, at an “Adult” population of 258.3 Million people; and a $20B Homeless problem, and a $20B hunger problem; if we ALL mailed a check, cash, gift card, whatever of $77.42, we could pick one of the two embarrassments we refuse to acknowledge. That’s a Selfie lighting mirror, cheap pair of Jordan sneakers, a quarter of medical/recreational cannabis, RC Drone, Massage Muscle Gun. CRAP that your family will never use after you give it to them. So, I donated to both $100 to NOKIDHUNGRY.org, and $100 to Endhomelessness.org.?

You can choose to do whatever you want. It's your money, you earned it. But all I'm saying is this. I don’t need a drone, a selfie stick, a new scarf, or any of that stuff. At 33, a bottle of Scotch or Bushmills Irish Whiskey, and Cigar sampler pack and you’ve made me VERY Merry. So, with that thought in mind how about we start actually doing something about this. Since the 2 people in the world who actually COULD, don’t give a damn!

https://usafacts.org/data/topics/people-society/poverty/public-housing/homeless-population/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=ND-StatsData&gclid=Cj0KCQiAzMGNBhCyARIsANpUkzPhSloRnFC5KWGJspBiGExGe087123uym8GNTgqKAETQsUBIDEtzOsaAppOEALw_wcB

https://secure.nokidhungry.org/site/Donation2?20186.donation=form1&df_id=20186&mfc_pref=T&20186.donation=form1&s_src=googlemain&s_subsrc=220HANB1G&utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=2021_nonbrand&utm_term=cc&utm_content=paid&gclid=Cj0KCQiAzMGNBhCyARIsANpUkzNOzLLzNOn5wawafv8YBKjc2SgQ0HpJKa9S_RTYbTPzDKR5_L0P_7gaAnGFEALw_wcB

https://rootsclinic.org/how-much-would-it-cost-to-end-homelessness-in-america/#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20Department%20of,a%20year%20on%20unplugged%20appliances.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/30/climate/nyt-climate-newsletter-energy-vampires.html

https://www.feedchildreneverywhere.org/?form=givingtuesday&gclid=Cj0KCQiAzMGNBhCyARIsANpUkzNQdyWM2-VmM-Fjkmqup6ncvfIABy4Nq04uHSFOr3DabsOahFLbh6waApaWEALw_wcB

https://fortune.com/2021/07/19/jeff-bezos-space-launch-blue-origin-july-20-2021-billionaires/

https://www.geekwire.com/2021/blue-origin-offers-cover-2b-costs-part-nasa-lunar-lander-deal/

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=75+dollar+gifts&gclid=Cj0KCQiAzMGNBhCyARIsANpUkzOmooXfDKCwVPTpAAN5yPxekW2w7EZYam3L4U_0TecPzq5dA8vEL38aAgwPEALw_wcB&hvadid=410022951348&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9003583&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=b&hvrand=2930472608437948417&hvtargid=kwd-301186174453&hydadcr=7499_11110857&tag=googhydr-20&ref=pd_sl_okza4431n_b

https://endhomelessness.org/