Homeless causes of death

Major Causes of death for the homeless:

Natural causes

Homicide

Suicide

Hypothermia

Articles Meltdown, derivatives a ticking time bomb

IMF in global 'meltdown' warning
The world financial system is teetering on the "brink of systemic meltdown", the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned in Washington.
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7665515.stm


A £516 trillion derivatives 'time-bomb'
Not for nothing did US billionaire Warren Buffett call them the real 'weapons of mass destruction'
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/a-163516-trillion-derivatives-timebomb-958699.html

Bear and Mary A Homeless Couple

Talked with Bear and Mary this afternoon. Saw them sitting with their dog near the Army recruiting office. They are two homeless people, 40ish to 50ish, living near UCF. They said they've been homeless for over a year. We talked about jobs, the economy and what it's like to be homeless. Bear had a job for about six months as a dishwasher but it ended. He said at least it enabled him buying a tent and a sleeping bag and some other things to make life a bit easier. He used to be homeless in downtown Orlando just sleeping on cardboard with a blanket.
I asked them about their camping arrangements. They have the tent and some good sleeping bags and suprisingly said winter was the best time. They use 5 gallon buckets they got from a restaurant dumpster to catch rainwater for washing. On weekends there's a place they can slip up to and get water for washing. Too much security during the week.
Bear told me he's on first name basis with some of the cops and sometimes the cops stop by their campground to see if they're allright. He had a campsite behind the restaurant he worked at but another homeless guy assaulted someone near there and the owner of the land made them move. He knew one of the the cops investigating the incident and the cop actually got him a little bit more time to move his stuff.
He wouldn't reveal where they're camping now. He said he's had too much trouble with people coming into the campsite doing drugs and other problems.
They used to get some food assistance from a charity but due to high demand the charity cut the zip code he camps in and doesn't come out any more.
He said food stamps now want you to do community service to pay for the stamps. But they don't supply transportation. Bear said he saw a lot of people abusing the system so he can understand it.
How about some of the people on Wall Street doing a bit of community service to pay for their screwing up the economy? They abused the system a bit didn't they?

Article on the Meltdown

The Woman Who Could Have Prevented This Financial Mess Was Silenced by Greenspan, Rubin and Summers
A sad tale emerges of willfully arrogant behavior designed to undermine a wise woman's good judgment.

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/102559/the_woman_who_could_have_prevented_this_financial_mess_was_silenced_by_greenspan%2C_rubin_and_summers/

Financially things are falling apart

Truly scary. Things are falling apart. Once again greed in Washington and Wall Street has produced a crisis. I talked to a friend of mine a couple of days ago. Jay said she and her husband and two children had to move and were in the middle of packing up their belongings. I asked where they were going. She said she didn't know. I called her yesterday but she hasn't called back.