Do you give to panhandlers?

[timbervest]

I recently had an interesting experience -- I was at a gas station, and a man and his young son were standing near their car with a sign "Need Gas". I approached him and offered him money for gas, but he refused it and said he just wanted to fill up his tank to get home, and he was out of money. He pulled up to the tank, and I paid to have him fill up. He thanked me and went on his way. Don't know if it was legit but I felt I did something good at the time.

 

[GenXguy]

Street people are 99 percent mentally ill and most have knives on their person.

This 99% figure is total B.S. It's not even close.

 

[Sunset]

I recently had an interesting experience -- I was at a gas station, and a man and his young son were standing near their car with a sign "Need Gas". I approached him and offered him money for gas, but he refused it and said he just wanted to fill up his tank to get home, and he was out of money. He pulled up to the tank, and I paid to have him fill up. He thanked me and went on his way. Don't know if it was legit but I felt I did something good at the time.

You can be sure he's not going to drink it

 

[Lewis Clark]

Years ago, I was at a gas station when a panhandler approached me. He said he was driving from Miami (southeast Florida coast) to Jacksonville (northeast Florida coast) and needed gas money.

The gas station was in Clearwater, on the west coast of Florida and at least 100 miles off the direct path from Miami to Jacksonville. I was skeptical regarding his reason and wanted to ask why he was so far off the direct path but didn't want to engage in a conversation.

 

[athena53]

Sometimes I'm gullible. I was approached at a highway rest stop by a guy who had run out of gas and needed money to buy more. He had a sob story. I gave him $20. Later I realized how stupid that was. If you're running out of gas why do you stop at a place where there are no gas pumps?

Never again.

Also- no money if you're smoking cigarettes. Cigarettes are crazy-expensive.

 

[mesnuc]

No. Giving money to panhandlers is often the worst thing you can do for them. I've worked in law enforcement long enough to know most of the SOB stories are lies and the money will almost always go towards alcohol or drugs. I give them food often and offer a ride to the shelter (they almost always decline) but never give them money.

 

[G-Money]

A lot of the "homeless industrial complex" is highly conditional and that is the reason for its continued failure. Not that the intention is wrong, but the execution is.

The expectation of public assistance to "solve the problem" is also wrong. It cannot solve the problem that capitalism and greed ultimately create, it can only try to limit the damage.

Much like the prison industrial complex isn't about true reform, it's about incarceration for profit - at taxpayer expense.

We deserve the world we create for ourselves and others.

 

[thenameiwish]

A lot of the "homeless industrial complex" is highly conditional and that is the reason for its continued failure. Not that the intention is wrong, but the execution is.

The expectation of public assistance to "solve the problem" is also wrong. It cannot solve the problem that capitalism and greed ultimately create, it can only try to limit the damage.

Much like the prison industrial complex isn't about true reform, it's about incarceration for profit - at taxpayer expense.

We deserve the world we create for ourselves and others.

I've traveled around the world and have seen homeless people in so-called non-greedy anti-captialist countries. What do you suppose was the cause?

 

[CO-guy]

A lot of the "homeless industrial complex" is highly conditional and that is the reason for its continued failure. Not that the intention is wrong, but the execution is.

The expectation of public assistance to "solve the problem" is also wrong. It cannot solve the problem that capitalism and greed ultimately create, it can only try to limit the damage.

Much like the prison industrial complex isn't about true reform, it's about incarceration for profit - at taxpayer expense.

We deserve the world we create for ourselves and others.

Interestingly, researchers have repeatedly shown that providing housing to those that don't have it actually saves money. Even with addicts. Especially for the chronically homeless. Not surprisingly, most of the cost savings comes from reductions in emergency psychiatric hospitalization.

A 20% net savings per person in the program in California

Cost savings from housing chronic alcoholics

Even more savings in rural areas

And that's all just cost of care, which ignores reductions in theft, vandalism and other opportunistic crimes in locations where these studies have been conducted.

 

[Montecfo]

It is well documented that capitalism has lifted millions out of poverty throughout history. Attempting to make it a whipping boy for homelessness is a bit rich.

I also have to wonder where all the capital used to "attack" the homeless problem in the US has come from?

 

[EastWest Gal]

We have few panhandlers in our area. They wouldn't be able to "make a living" panhandling here. I don't give to panhandlers on street corners.

When I visited family in Seattle, as I walked from the gym to the Walmart next door to get myself an energy drink, A woman standing outside the Walmart asked if I would buy her a coke. It was about 8AM. She was very thin, completely lucid, and probably in her 60s, her clothes were old sweats. I asked if I could buy her something to eat as well. I got her the coke, but also a breakfast sandwich, a couple of bananas, and a couple of meat sticks. She cried when I brought it to her. I don't want to see people starve. No money.

 

[braumeister]

Thanks for the interesting discussion.