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Easier Done than Said

Mike Momany of Seattle, Wash., says his business idea isn’t “poverty tourism,” but rather, as his web site calls it, a “Course in Applied Homelessness” which will give tourists “a new respect for the folks that find themselves in this predicament.” The predicament is homelessness, and Momany’s “Real View Tours” enables folks to live the homeless life for three days — including sleeping outside. Part of the $2,000 fee goes toward helping clients get the correct “look and persona” so they can “see the seedier side of Seattle in a new light and have an experience that you will never forget.” Momany, 62, insists it’s not a joke: he’s a former computer programmer who has been homeless for two months, and says his tour is meant “to bring an experience to people they can’t get very easily.” (RC/Seattle Post-Intelligencer) ...Anyone who blows $2,000 on something like this is already one step closer to homelessness.