Whenever I go downtown for lunch, I get solicited for handouts. I do buy sandwiches for them sometimes, but I never hand over cash.
Honestly, I don't get it. I've been in tough financial trouble, but I never resorted to begging. Are they just too lazy to apply for govt support or go to one of the MANY shelters in the city? Seems like that would be less trouble than asking random strangers for spare change.
Anyway, I definitely need to go to NYC at least once. It's on the list.
There was this documentary on people who pan handle or beg for change. One of the people interviewed made serveral hundred dollars a day from spare change not to mention the disability he was getting every month. Homeless people are homeless because they want to be, not because they are poor.
Oh and like chris rock says, "if you see a homeless person with a funny sign, he hasn't been homeless that long. A real homeless person is too hungry to be funny."