Dont feed the squirrels

Nextdoor Post on cause and effect, and feeding the homeless...

Nextdoor Post I made on cause and effect. I pointed out that if we want to incentivize helping the homeless, we need to make sure there's an upside (and no negatives) for doing it. E.g. donate to your neighboring community, and draw the problem away from your own. Of course, I outraged the mob by using my brain for intellect instead of feelings.

ℹ️ Info

~ Aristotle Sabouni
Created: 2022-04-17

I tried to point out negative incentives with the following next-door post:

There are many reasons for homelessness. But there’s a truism — they’re like really smart squirrels: if you feed/house them, they will come, and you will get more. Since no one actually wants them around (despite their claims to the contrary) — everyone has a disincentive to help for any length of time. You do something nice, and in return, you find needles, refuse, and a few smelly crazies screaming at your kids. So the money dries up, the programs decay, and then they get shooed off somewhere else. My solution is, “I give generously to the town next to mine”. The pied piper. We should start programs in each other's communities to help the homeless, and to try to get free-market competition going. The more you donate to your neighbors, the cleaner your neighborhood will be.

The bay-area snowflakes lost their nut at what a heartless bastard I was. But I was trying to explain that being a heartless bastard is better than being a brainless bastard.

If you have rich communities, donating heavily to other areas to lure the problem away (instead of seeing suffering as the payback for their donations), they see a net ROI of fewer refuse/homeless and crazies. That will incentivize them to donate more. (You get what you incentivize). So they will give more over time, instead of less -- which is how the system works now. It fixes NIMBY with BMNBY (Better my neighbor's back yard).

You would end up having communities fighting to donate more and more to help the homeless... go somewhere else. The amount of money you have going into helping the homeless would skyrocket.

Poor states and areas could start programs to house them, and other cities/states could sponsor them (as long as they could ship more there).

If you believe in the programs helping people, this is a net good.

The problem is you take away people’s sanctimony card: they no longer get to feel superior because they’re donating for self-interest. (The housing values or safety in their neighborhoods). And some prefer the sanctimony to actually helping more. So they went apoplectic over what a cruel bastard I was to use my brain, and improve a program that would net more money and support.

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