It is is interesting it is actually not a shelter, but the facility specifically works to get people off the street: provide a meal and clothing, wash clothes and get a shower, but most importantly get help getting off the street. The facility works with shelters, but is not specifically letting people spend the night. The people I see who fail to get off the street have obvious mental issues or drug problems. Many of the staff used to be on the street, and their testimonials are usually about finally giving up the drugs.

I have not talked to everyone coming through of course, nor am I in the counseling side, but I have yet to have someone tell me a story about ending up on the streets because of a medical expense. I am sure they exist, it makes sense, they just have not ended up in front of me. I have seen the losing a job and having no support cascades into ending up living out of your car and a warm meal and a shower helps until they can find work. People out of prison have a tough time getting on their feet sometimes as well, but it does seem medical care is easier to come by than housing. It does not hurt when you have nothing to your name and the emergency room by law must see you.

$42,000 a month in prescriptions is insane; glad you have it down to $5 a month in the end.
Only people I know personally with serious prescriptions are over 70, and Medicare is helping there.
Your situation is just not one I have first or second hand experience with.
I worked for medical offices most of my life, but obstetrics and gynecology, so they tend to be a lot more positive outcomes from the area.
In addition the state is very happy to pay to make sure you do not get pregnant, and more inclined to help cover the bills if you do.
The game with medical billing makes things look insane as well, one insurer will pay $5k for a procedure, while another will only cover $500 for the same procedure. So the procedure gets priced at $5k, no one pays that, but the invoice says this cost $5k, and the actually cost $250.
I had a boss in consulting who used the same trick, he never gave anything away for free exactly, it was line up $10k, and discount $10k; so the client did not get in their mind the works was worth nothing and he could ask for more handouts.
But for sure do not let anyone ever make you pay $42k for those prescriptions, nor got without them if you do not want to.

I am sure this is key to what we see out our front doors personally. Where I live has no state income tax and is very business friendly, so the story is that it attracts growth. But I am sure that will get flagged as MAGA propaganda.

When all the headlines are doom and gloom and I just see sunshine outside it really starts to make you wonder if I am being lied to.
Of course the "Good News" newspaper went broke, not because they had nothing to publish; but because it was a boring read.
You know 59 active state based conflicts today, wars, they get the headlines; not 136 nations at peace today.

Focusing specifically on the two cherry picked data points:
In 2018 two thirds of the nation cannot afford a $500 emergency expense.
I have watched too much Dave Ramsey to know this is a lie in 2018 and in 2026, it is not a number problem, it is a people problem.
They can afford $500 emergency expense if they fixed their spending, not because of some economics class issue.
But no I suspect just as many people if not more would get devastated by a $500 emergency expense.
However I am happy to believe more people have been responsible and moved into the upper middle class; however you want to define it.

In 2023 two thirds of the nation are one hospital visit away from the streets.
The hospital to the streets is hard to believe, it take a lost to end up on the street.
From what I have seen you have to pretty much have zero support and be on drugs to end up in the streets.
Medical expenses do suck though, our legal system screwed us there with malpractice insurance being insane.

So I am fine with saying those two things have not changed nor that they discredit any improvement.
But hey, still would be nice to see numbers from today to cite if I am going to try and attack an article that came out today.

Yes, if I do not look past my own nose I see I have a newer car than in 2018 or 2023, and provide for more people than in 2018 or 2023 on a modest pay increase.
I live downtown in a major US city, and things have improved from downtown to at least a 30 to 40 mile radius out.
Locally the place where I volunteer has decreased the number of unsheltered on the street.
Not just put them in a shelter, got them off drugs, go them clothes, got them an id, got them a job, got them stable.
This is important to me selfishly because that means fewer people to steal my amazon packages off my front porch, and it is sad to see them walking around like zombies on drugs; plus I can say look at me I helped the poorest people and sleep better at night pretending I am such a good person.

I have never heard the story: "I had so many medical bills that I lost my house and now me an my family our on the street".
In fact just the opposite, I was putting up a young man in my spare room who spent 10 years in prison and was headed back without a place to stay.
We both were feeling pretty sick one day so I drove us down to the urgent care.
His charge was $5 thanks to his state provided healthcare he pays nothing for, and my awesome insurance left me with a $250 bill for the same treatment.
I walked out of there with my wallet $255 lighter wondering how I get me one of those state healthcare cards.
I took that poor young man to the hospital more times than I had been in 20 years while he stayed with me, bad liver, but his little state healthcare card kept covering everything.
I am skeptical anyone can go homeless when even an ex-con can "afford" health care.

I have not driven to every corner of the metroplex, but there is massive growth everywhere I have been; new houses, new businesses; not a place that would have been a bad investment in 2018 or 2023.
Driving to the neighboring cities three or four hours away is about as far as I have ventured, and growth growth growth there and along the way.

I am sure my little corner of the country could be an exception; but it dose make me raise an eye brow when all I hear is doom and gloom from the news and see sun shine outside.

Friends from college I keep up with across the country are doing well, but hey they got good degrees in engineering and work hard and are responsible.

But I still have nothing to refute the article, but at best an ad hominem attack inferring that it was written by MAGA.

I might be dumb. Not sure I could claim to be part of the red hat wearing MAGA people, I did not vote for Trump or Republicans.
The "Again" part in the MAGA is what I do not much care for, plus "Great" is a bit to ambiguous for me as well.

Maybe I do not have the working braincells required; but it you provide anything I am sure someone here could confirm or dispute it and I would have something to point to and claim the Wall Street Journal lied. But pointing to you saying so on Slashdot is pretty weak.

It just seems to me you have a leftist agenda, and only name calling to back it up.

The grandfather asserted that the article sounds like good news, which is a bit rhetorical, but kind of the same question I asked myself when I read the headline.
Even more more surprising is that the first poster actually state the same question that ran through my mind; instead of immediately casting shade.
But then of course the first reply tries to set us back to Slashdot commie doom and gloom; why?

No I am claiming the citations are from 2018 and 2023 and this article is from 2026; therefore it is hard to back the claim with data that is three to eight years older.
Somehow this reply gets marked 5 informative.
If those two articles were on the front page of Slashdot I would expect everyone to say what the fuck are they doing here!
But hey cite them to counter some seemingly positive news and +5 informative?
Sorry all screams commie trolls to me.

Also your framing of the last few years is interesting.
The summary cites 1979 as the comparison to 2024, so it is really not about the last few years it seems.

Judging the economy accurately would be a valuable thing, however its seems accurate or inaccurate that the news can drive the economy.
Say the economy is good and people invest and spend, actually causing the economy to improve.
Say the economy is bad and people bury their money in the back yard and the economy stalls and becomes worse.
Self fulfilling prophecy.

However, I find mostly there is a lot of noise, and the only reliable thing to be judged is the sources agenda.
When a leftist is in power then the right screams the economy sucks, and when a right-winger is in power the left screams the economy sucks.
Generally the economy swings down, the other party gains power in response, and the cycle continues.

So you and korgitser are leftist commies, and WSJ is a right wing rag in my book today.

As for my perspective on the economy, I am glad I bought half a terabyte of RAM last summer; that is about all I know.

Shh commie troll account gwehir needs to stir up fear to get his people in power.

Waiting for some substance commie troll account.

Still no citations from the commie troll account.

Cite some reality then.

I live in a major US city and $133K a year will do pretty well.

Your citations are from 2018 and 2023, this article it from 2026. Do you have any recent sources?

Note: I think I like where you are coming from, but I need it refined so I can support it; forgive me poking it.

I do not think the leftist really work, Marx and Engels never really did.
Today the proletariat does the work while the leftist get funded by proletariat, the government, or even more ironically by daddy's private company they want to destroy.
Tomorrow the robots will do the work, and the leftist need to use fear today to drive the proletariat to socialize the industries so the leftists can control them.

That is why you see rsilvergun ranting and foaming, he needs to drum up fear in order to take power from the bourgeoisie before they get the robots figured out!
It was always ironic to me that those who spout Marxist nonsense obviously think they are the “natural superiors.”
I will use rsilvergun as an example, he cannot help but resort to insults; because he believes he is so much better than the rest of use that he does not even have to present logical arguments.

Okay, but just put red shirts on the robots then?

Your reply intrigues me, but I confess I do not understand it.
Why is the socialist/left terrified that a Star Trek post scarcity society/economy that they pointed to positively is coming?

So I am pretty naïve perhaps on unions.
But I thought the way it worked is a bunch of workers agree to strike if their demands are not met.
Why did the warehouse workers not just walk out when Amazon refused to negotiate?
What good does ruling Amazon has to negotiate do?
What stops Amazon from sending a negotiator and simply never agreeing on any terms?
I am assuming the labor board cannot mandate Amazon accept terms.
Or maybe this is just the first step toward forcing terms on Amazon?