Follow the money

The homeless problem, particularly in California, was always blamed on the lack of affordable housing but other see things differently. Many feel that the homeless are mostly people with drug problems or mental illness and that giving them a home would not solve things. California spent $24 billion on the homeless over the past five years and the problem remains and the money disappeared. The homeless represent what is called in political parlance a cash cow. It is not uncommon for problems to be treated in ways that allow for the transfer of funds from one group to another while the government decides who gets what and this often ends up in reelecting incumbents. This happens on a national scale when congress allocates funds to agencies and doesn’t follow up on how the money is spent. Some funds are returned in the form of campaign contributions while other cases show elected officials getting wealthy. Billions have been handed out to various solar panel companies which have gone broke and the money just vanished. The congress seems unwilling or unable to follow the money.