You come across a person sitting begging for money in the street

[Savanphil 3]

I never give them money.

I will offer them food, becuse I always carry snacks.

If they don't want it and insist money...I walk away and ignore them when I see them again.

[peejay 327]

You come across a person sitting begging for money in the street, What do you do?

I generally have a rule not to give out any money. Recently my wife and I were in downtown Houston walking alone after leaving a restaurant and were confronted by an aggressive panhandler with a hardluck story. I probably would have told him to get lost if I was alone, but I didn't want a confrontation with my wife there. So I gave him a couple of bucks to get rid of him.

Houston has an abundance of aggressive panhandlers. I was filling my car with gasoline at a station several years ago and was confronted by an obnoxious panhandler that wouldn't take the hint and get lost. He kept insisting that I had money even though I told him I had no money to give him. I finally took the gas nozzle out of the tank and casually pointed it at him while letting him know that he wasn't getting a red cent from me. He took that hint and left after cursing me. Some people!

But I sometimes help people out when they appear to be truly needy. I stopped at a store on my way to work and a guy gave me a hardluck story about being stranded, penniless, and trying to hitch a ride home. He was bumming money for something to eat. I didn't give him money, but I took him in the store and bought him a meal. Nobody should be hungry in America.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Pretend I don't see them

[Yodrak 7]

Pauline,

It would depend on what street in what city.

Some people really need it, others make themselves a lot of money with little effort this way.

Yodrak

I think everyone would give money if they could, that's obvious. But it's a bit of fun anyway.

[Knobby_Wheezer 0]

I am in a dilemma about this issue at this time in my life. I again live in a city (only somewhat by choice) and downtown. I walk by the homeless everyday. I live around the corner from a shelter. I have occasionally given money to people when they ask and when if I have it. I don't usually have it because I might spend it.

My dilemma though is:

i) What if my boss decided not to pay me sometimes because she thought that I would spend the money on something of which she does not approve?

ii) Since the nature of capitalism demands that some people have not so that others may have I, as a currently-working-have, am a part of the masses that is the reason the person in front of me has not.

I don't make enough money to give to charities in a monetary fashion. I donate to clothing banks, instead.

As an aside: I have been homeless. I was not an addict. I was not a lunatic. I was, however, jobless. I lived in a park and slept on the court house steps overnight beside the fountain. Things got better and that was a long time ago.

Second aside: many people in the city in which I currently live are homeless because there is no place to go. There is a housing shortage here and there aren't enough tradespeople to meet the demand to build them.

[PaulineA 1]

Pauline,

It would depend on what street in what city.

Some people really need it, others make themselves a lot of money with little effort this way.

Yodrak

I think everyone would give money if they could, that's obvious. But it's a bit of fun anyway.

Very true Yodrak, I never really thought of beggers conning people out of money before, I just tend to give them the benifit of the doubt. But, if I saw a person begging with the latest fashion gear on I would definetly think twice, and not give them any money.

[DeadPoolX 9]

Like many here have said, I wouldn't give them money. Food, on the other hand, I might give them. I've seen far too many people use money on poor choices in life -- alcohol, drugs, prostitution, etc. If they're really hungry, then they'll take the food.

A little story, actually... A friend of my family's, who's a garderner, saw some homeless people and offered them a job working for him. They told him to "get lost" and that they can "make more money 'working' by panhandling."

While that doesn't mean every homeless person is like that and would turn down a job, it also doesn't mean that every homeless person is on the up-and-up either.

[Fandango 1,439]

I don't understand why everyone's so concerned with what they spend it on. Is a few dollars that vital to you? I mean ok, if you get conned out of it by someone who makes a decent living, or some homeless man is going to spend it on a bottle of hooch so he can forget the life he has...what's that really gotta do with anything? Isn't the benefit of the doubt more important that you actually could simply be helping someone? It's not going to break the bank either way, is it?

[PaulineA 1]

I don't understand why everyone's so concerned with what they spend it on. Is a few dollars that vital to you? I mean ok, if you get conned out of it by someone who makes a decent living, or some homeless man is going to spend it on a bottle of hooch so he can forget the life he has...what's that really gotta do with anything? Isn't the benefit of the doubt more important that you actually could simply be helping someone? It's not going to break the bank either way, is it?

Lisa,

I don't think it's a question of breaking the bank. It is a moral issue for most people that want to give money to the needy. They want them to spend it on something that is going to help them, not put them in a drunken or drugged state. In my opinion when a person gives money to people that really need it, then the reciever of the money can spend it on whatever they want. And if the person giving out the money doesn't want to, for whatever reason, then they are entitled to keep their money, if they find that they have problem with the person begging.

[Scott & Lai 12]

i) What if my boss decided not to pay me sometimes because she thought that I would spend the money on something of which she does not approve?

ii) Since the nature of capitalism demands that some people have not so that others may have I, as a currently-working-have, am a part of the masses that is the reason the person in front of me has not.

i)There is a difference between wages for work performed which are earned and charity which is not.

ii)The basic assumption here is incorrect.

I have only a finite amount of money available for charity. I want to make sure it goes to people who actually need it. So I'd prefer to give it to organizations which are equipped to make that determination.

[Fandango 1,439]

I don't understand why everyone's so concerned with what they spend it on. Is a few dollars that vital to you? I mean ok, if you get conned out of it by someone who makes a decent living, or some homeless man is going to spend it on a bottle of hooch so he can forget the life he has...what's that really gotta do with anything? Isn't the benefit of the doubt more important that you actually could simply be helping someone? It's not going to break the bank either way, is it?

Lisa,

I don't think it's a question of breaking the bank. It is a moral issue for most people that want to give money to the needy. They want them to spend it on something that is going to help them, not put them in a drunken or drugged state. In my opinion when a person gives money to people that really need it, then the reciever of the money can spend it on whatever they want. And if the person giving out the money doesn't want to, for whatever reason, then they are entitled to keep their money, if they find that they have problem with the person begging.

My point was, who's to say that booze or a hooker won't help? lol

It's like 'I'll help you so long as you spend that money only on things I deem appropriate' which in the case of the homeless, seems kinda sad.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I'm not so concerned with what a homeless person spends my money on. I'm more concerned with what I spend my money on.

[Knobby_Wheezer 0]

ii) This basic assumption about the nature of capitalism (in addition to other theories also about capitalism) makes sense to me from my background as a sociologist and anthropologist. I see it differently than you. It, the basic assumption, is not incorrect; just different from your experience(s).

i) The source of money doesn't differ to me. When I was looking for work, I worked harder than I do now. Not all work is paid. When I was in school, I worked bloody hard and didn't get paid. Now I work not so hard and get paid more than at any other time in my life (bar one job).

I agree with Gupt's most excellent comment: I watch where my money goes, not where someone else's goes. I have two XL spreadsheets with which I do this watching: general income and outgo and student loan payments.

[de_sjiem 0]

Every homeless person has his or her own story.. They are all human beings and all deserve respect in one way or another. We have no idea what has brought them where they are.... Yeah there are people that get a lot of money panhandling, but they are the ones that make it more difficult for those who really do need the few dollars that people would otherwise have given them. There isn't work for everyone out there.. I'm not sure what the average unemployment rate is out there, but as long as its over 0%, there are going to be people who can't afford to pay for housing or anything else.. Yes there are drug addicts and alcoholics, but they need to eat too sometimes.. Where are they even going to go to get off the booze and drugs in the first place? It is a horribly difficult thing to quit, drugs or alcohol.. others are "crazy" but those that are need help more than those who aren't, so why is it so difficult for people to help them? Why are people so afraid of being "short changed" by those who have not had the lucky breaks so many of us have.. Yeah we have worked hard, but we have also had more of a chance to work hard, to go to school, or whatever.. I dunno.. I just wish people wouldnt be so judgemental of homeless people when they spend money on so many useless items..(I know.. I do it myself..)

[de_sjiem 0]

Just wanted to add.. my brother was once homeless, so perhaps I can empathize a little more.. I just know that there are lots out there who do not choose to be homeless.. definately it is not a choice any of them make.. My brother has gotten himself off the streets and is doing very well for himself (Thank you Lord, and I am so proud of him..) but all the same.. I now think of him pretty much any time someone mentions homeless people.. I just know that it can happen to anyone and that its a very long and extremely difficult road out of it.. Its not just them being lazy.. there aren't jobs for everyone who wants one.. there are tons of people who want jobs but can't find one.. or who for whatever reason can't hold a job (ie mental illness.. being "crazy" is NOT something you can help)

Also.. I highly recommend "Street Lawyer" by John Grisham.. just lets people see a little better about how homeless people live..