I've long debated addressing the matter of social welfare in the United States.  Well, Senator Joe Manchin's NO to the White House about the Build Back Better Act could well be a wake up call for the nation. First, Manchin left the  door wide open for some compromise next month.  He blamed the White House staff and not the President.  So something less than $2 trillion will get through by reconciliation. But the larger point that I'll address today is:  can we build a society to motivate people?  We need to get to the root cause of what ails America.  Homelessness, poverty, racial strife...things seem to be getting worse rather than better. Starting with  homelessness , here are some numbers that will surprise, if not shock, you.  In terms of homeless/100,000 population: Syria  3753 Nigeria  1658 Somalia  1867 Central African Republic  1421 South Sudan  1378 Grenada  1300 Yemen  1294 Honduras  1235 Egypt  1200 Colombia  971 Germany  82 UK  57 France  45 Sweden  36 South Afr