According to a Malcolm Gladwell in his new anthology What the Dog Saw (and also according to the cities of Denver and St. Louis) it is easier to cure homelessness than to manage it; in other words, giving the most incorrigibly recalcitrant homeless people their own apartments-- for free-- and providing one counselor per ten homeless people to check up on them and aid them in gaining a foothold in society is far cheaper than paying the medical bills they generate because of frequent ambulance rides, detox, dialysis, pneumonia, and head injuries (they are constantly being brought in to the emergency room, where they are given treatment despite their inability to pay . . . thus how Reno's Million Dollar Murray earned his nickname) but this solution often meets with outrage from the general populus, despite its cost effectiveness, because it just doesn't seem fair that someone might work three jobs in order to make ends meet yet someone who contributes nothing to society gets a free ride . . . but the store owners in Denver were quite happy when the crew of chronic inebriates (whose drink of choice was mouthwash) were no longer a permanent fixture on Sixteenth Street.
First: Dave, you know how I feel about your Gladwell references--enough said. My friend who is a nurse was telling me how the homeless prefer mouthwash because it is cheap, readily available, and effective, but it also completely destroys the liver, a lot faster than liquor, so they were constantly in the clinic. So it sounds like we should just give them an apartment and whiskey, and we could save a lot of money.
ReplyDeletei feel like hookers could fit into this equation somewhere as well.
ReplyDelete"IF YOU REALLY want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth."
ReplyDeleteWhere is it? I flew to your post in anticipation of reading an amazing tribute to J.D. Salinger, as only you can write. And, what do I get? It is surely not about Gladwell and mouthwash and homelessness and hookers. What a disappointment!
this is what i have to say about j.d. salinger's death: what have you done for me lately?
ReplyDeleteand if i had my druthers, i'd take gladwell over salinger any day . . .