What's your philosophy on these people?

[Silver R/T]

You don't have an option for "yes."

I seldon carry cash, but when I do, I might give them some, If I don't an I am in a position to do so, I'll buy them some food...a sandwich and chips or a big mack.

It is not my place to judge.  What they do with the money is their business. 

I am not a religious man, but this line from the book of Matthew has always stood out in my mind:

"I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
Matthew 25:40

I disagree because every time you open your wallet you are making judgements about where your money goes. Therefore, as stated in the Matthew verse above, you are required to judge whether or not the person receiving your gifts is actually in need of them. For example, I would be more apt to give money to a homeless mother with two kids rather than an able-bodied 25-year-old on the other corner. That's a judgement because I think the mother and children need it more (although I think it's interesting that I almost never see mothers out begging but I have seen hundreds of able-bodied young men).

There are different kinds of judgement, some good, some bad. I was very judgemental, subjective and discriminative when choosing a wife, a car, a house, a school, etc. Same with where I spend my money. I make judgements about where I spend it, how I spend it and how it will be used. Sometimes I don't have much choice (such as paying my water bill) but when it comes to extra spending money I have the option to decide where it goes based on the judgements I make about the information I have access to.

good point there. You can see your $5 go towards alcohol then the same hobo rapes someone etc. under the influence of alcohol. Now that would be worst $5 ever spent.

[hutch]

in Richmond Virginia, the local news outfit followed a few of them around and found they make on average 100 to 300 bucks a day doing it depending on location.   I just keep walking.

I give to the poor by two methods,  Church and Taxes.  They live on the street because they want to.

[BigBlackDodge]

They're geeting to be a problme here in our town also....

A few weeks a ago a lady was attacked downtown when she refused to 'help a guy out'.............he pulled out a hammer and attacked her! Luckily someone was near by and saved her from a beating!

On the lighter side, someone bought a few biscuits and brought them to a homeless lady on the corner. She was told to "Stick them up your ass........I want coffee!"

My wife works with several university students and one was approached for cash. As we all know students are dead broke, but he gave her 5 bucks anyways. Minutes later he's inside the a building looking outside when the woman walks by the window adding his five to a fist sized roll of cash................he went outside to ask for his money back! He didn't get of course...



BBD

[RECHRGD]

More than enough of our tax dollars go for programs to aid these people and point them in the right direction.  Yes, some are mental cases, but most have chosen to live that way and have no desire to become a productive part of society.  Giving them your hard earned cash may make you feel good about yourself, but it only perpetuates the problem.  Bob

[bull]

in Richmond Virginia, the local news outfit followed a few of them around and found they make on average 100 to 300 bucks a day doing it depending on location.

So it's an average of $200 then? Ok, so let's assume they "work" 4 days a week so 4 X 52 (wks)=208 and 208 X $200= $41,600 of tax free income, $52K if they "work" five days a week. Plus they're only at it probably 4 hrs a day, maybe 6 at most. That's an upper middle class income (about $68k gross annual income) if you figure in 30% for taxes the rest of us have to pay. Plus they often get free food and room a board and many free health care options through volunteer agencies. I'm in the wrong business.

[Mike DC]

 
I saw a TV special one time talking about top-skilled(?) panhandlers in certain areas of NYC coming home with as much as $500-900 per day.  And that was like 10 years ago.


It's really depressing when you think about how many of us work our asses off at real jobs that contribute to society without seeing that much money.

 

[Goodz]

Well, here are the stories I know of...

A woman died in Grand Central Station NYC quite a few years back.  On her body, they found a bank account worth over $500,000 and, after delving deeper into who she was, discovered that she had a family and also owned 4 houses.  Kinda makes you feel ill giving to the "homeless" after that.

and...

Just gave some food to a guy on the side of the road the other day as he was holding a sign that said "Need Money For Food.  Very Hungry!!!  God Bless."  Well, we had some donuts in the car that we bought about an hour before and decided to give it to him since he could obviously use it more than us.  He takes the bag of donuts and places it behind the wall on the side of the freeway and continues to beg for money.  I don't know about you guys, but if I was living on the streets and VERY HUNGRY, I would have ripped into that bag and devoured that stuff on the spot.  That guy must have been stockpiling food and money the whole day.  Probably has more than I do of both.   

[Brock Samson]

God forbid it ever happens to you.

[Goodz]

God forbid it ever happens to you.

Agreed.  I hope it doesnt happen to ANYONE I know, not even you Brock.   

But seriously, too many people scam about it and it hurts the people who really have nothing.  I used to give EVERY DAY on the subways when I worked for Verizon.  Too many scams going on to trust who actually NEEDS it and who just wants a handout. 

[Big Lebowski]

  The best sign I ever saw said "Why lie, I need a Beer not food"  So I laughed & gave him $2.