“They haven’t been a problem. They just scare people.”

“They haven’t been a problem. They just scare people.” That's what a business owner in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, is quoted as saying about the city's homeless people, who are set to be harassed out of town. The proposed law, per the NYT: "Under the new strategy, the authorities will increase enforcement of existing vagrancy laws and offer the homeless three options: accept help at a shelter, go to jail or leave Columbia."

Well, now you know: homeless people are so repugnant — though not dangerous! even according to the horrible humans who support this law! — that they don't deserve to use the public streets. They deserve only bullying. On the plus side, the city council of Columbia has apparently found the singularity of homeless people and is able to make them disappear (because it's not like driving them out of this town will just make them homeless in another town, of course). Math! 

The article goes on to say that the councilman who wrote the proposal also suggested moving the homeless shelter up to 15 miles out of downtown, to protect business, naturally. The causal mechanism the councilman has in mind wherein people see homeless persons and then don't buy stuff because of it is unclear. If seeing homeless people scares you, I'm going to go ahead and suggest that maybe you don't deserve to have nice things and should not be allowed to shop anyway.