The Conservative Cave

8. Why do they think it's okay to strike up political conversations with strangers?
Reply to imanamerican63 (Original post)
Sun Aug 16, 2026, 06:09 PM

I am beginning to think they do it intentionally to try to spread their political beliefs to anyone who is within hearing distance.

Residents of Venice, California, have hired ex-gang members to combat the homelessness crisis impacting their city.

A group of 250 residents and businesses, including apartment owner Rick Swinger, are paying “Ghost Town Consultants” to serve as private security and protect Venice from havoc caused by the homeless encampments plaguing the city, according to the California Post. The firm was founded by Bobby Luna and Ricky Myers, both of whom have ties to the area. Luna is a reformed alcoholic, and Myers is a former homeless teen turned reformed gangster.

Residents, including Swinger, pay Luna and Myers $300 each to monitor their properties, photograph conditions, and provide updates, according to the California Post.
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“We were in a war zone. We saw everything. I got hurt, my wife got threatened. We called for help — no one showed up,” he described conditions in Venice prior to working with Luna and Myers. “It just kept getting worse.” Swinger also told the outlet he would wear a full hazmat suit during attempted cleanup efforts in the city.

Myers offered a similar sentiment.

Myers alleged that people were high on meth, and pipes and needles were found on the ground near the local Penmar Recreation Center where he was coaching children. Practice was eventually canceled because the area wasn’t safe for the children to play.

It made news a few weeks ago when someone in the U.K. did a survey, asking Brits where they thought they would rank among U.S. states economically, if they were a state. As I recall, the average response was 7th. In fact, they would rank 51st: Britain is poorer than America’s poorest state, Mississippi.

That got a lot of attention, and Europeans are waking up to the fact that the United States has been leaving them in the dust, economically. Thus, this headline in the Telegraph: “Americans are mocking the ‘Europoor’…and they mean us.”

The article acknowledges the economic facts:

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Since the global financial crisis, growth in Europe has trailed the US. Americans are now, on average, 39pc richer than Britons, even after adjusting for local prices.

World Bank data show GDP per person in the US is $90,026 compared to just $64,606 in the UK, adjusting for local prices. The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) calculates that the UK is poorer than any US state, including Mississippi.

The Telegraph story is rife with anecdotes, such as this one regarding a couple who moved from the U.S. to Britain:

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Instead of working 60 hours a week, they now work 40. They have twice as many weeks’ holiday, and they are not expected to respond to calls while they are away. They have free NHS healthcare. British public transport means they now only need one car, rather than two.

But this came at a price. Pearce’s husband initially took a pay cut of a third. Her own salary halved.

The Telegraph story says that Europeans, to make up for less income, enjoy a superior quality of life. Mostly, that superior quality of life simply consists of working less. To the extent that it involves civilized amenities, it remains to be seen whether a nation that fails to achieve at least average economic growth can long sustain such amenities.
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Contrary to the Telegraph’s headline, I don’t think many Americans are mocking the “Europoor.” I think nearly all Americans wish the Europeans well and want them to succeed. But in any era of human history–neolithic, ancient, medieval, early modern, modern–if you want to succeed, you have to compete. The U.K., and Europeans in general, need to cut taxes, reduce regulations, encourage entrepreneurship and incentivize work if they want to continue to be relevant and to protect what they consider a high quality of life.