The poor, the panhandlers, the streetz is watchin

[women haze]

I am only one man....

I give the shirt off my back, Money, buy them lunch, do what I can because I am thankful that i make a living enough to support me and ride and that's it...

I see successful business men and women walking the streets everyday they couldn't care less...It's like these people don't exist to them. A sandwich and a smile could go a long way towards helping the homies. They do nothing but walk on their Iphones, Listening to their Ipods, looking beautiful and wasting their money away on a $10 dollar + tip lunch at the expensive seafood resturant...

I feel like I am the only one besides a couple of construction guys, and some people stop and give some money.

This is what our society turned into The Pauper and the poor...The Desolate and the Kings and Queens.
i'm only one man

What have you guys done to help the homeless in your area? what do you feel like in terms of how they are treated...

Homeless shelters are ****..Bed bugs, dirty sheets, all the cleaning crew businesses in this area, and they don't do a damn thing..

Crazy thing is All the tides and offerings the church makes in a year...man the homeless should be in living conditions like KINGS

We have one of the wealthiest economies in the nation and we don't do **** for the homeless...

I don't know....maybe we are United states of the damned....God is watching, the streets is watching..

thats all

 

[YAboi]

Amen

 

[Iceberg]

What are you supposed to do for the homeless?

The vast majority of people on the streets asking for money are drug addicts and alcoholics. That doesn't make them evil people, but giving them money only contributes to that problem.

It's not as if they're starving. You can get 3 square meals a day in a shelter. And it's not as if they're saving money for a house.

So what exactly are the businessmen walking by on their iPhones supposed to do? Most of the homeless don't need money. They need treatment for drug, alcohol, or mental illness. And churches and shelters can't force that upon people.

It's sad, but the honest truth is - giving a homeless guy a buck might make YOU feel better, but it's not doing anything to improve his life.

God is watching, the streets is watching..

God and the streets can watch all they want. You act as if America is the first culture to have beggars. The same stuff was happening 1000 years ago. And if we're here, it'll be happening 1,000 years from now. It's just life.

 

[ArcBound]

I live in Baltimore and there is a decent amount of homeless here. But the funny thing is when I offer them my sandwich or food I just bought nearby they deny it. I don' trust giving them money but I do volunteer at charities and I think it is a better way to help the poor.

2nd. Although you have moral superiority to those businessmen you don't have any proof they don't help the poor except for the fact that they didn't in that one instance of time you saw them. For all you know they help the poor more than you do.

 

[ElChoclo]

Its hard to know. Sometimes you see a filthy guy getting his change sorted into notes at the bank, and you think, this guy is raking it in. You can't tell from the contents of his hat on the ground. I think they sprinkle some small amounts of change in there so it looks pathetic, when in fact, sometimes their take is substantial.

In the US you have more scope for genuine types to get into trouble than in countries where some socialism is found. You can be a decent citizen, lose your job, and when your social security runs out, well, then what. In other places they keep paying you even if you've never worked. Expensive for the taxpayer, but consider the alternatives. That's why some people in your country have to volunteer to go to jail just to get some medical treatment. Also gratis elsewhere in the world.

The US is a nice place for those on top. Those on the bottom though seem to have problems. Giving money probably doesn't solve any real problems for them in the medium to long term but maybe you could just see it as compensation for being on the bottom of a system which has everybody believing that they can be Donald Trump. As for God watching, maybe somebody could explain why that Secret Santa guy Larry Stewart had to die from esophageal cancer. Was that because God works in mysterious ways?

 

[Gaucho]

being on the bottom of a system which has everybody believing that they can be Donald Trump.

haha, I once heard Che Guevara say a similar thing. That most think they are going to 'make it big', but that 99% are born into it and the other 1% have a great idea and then require a lot of luck. Everybody else is always going to be where they were going to be anyways. I think he is pretty correct. I see Finance guys all around me, they study like I've never seen before, work so hard they end up with heart attacks, mental meltdowns or a stroke (I've seen it happen multiple times), so they can hopefully be that 1% of guys who is the CEO, while the rest are paid their 100k but work 70 hour weeks. The capitalist system has pluses, but it is severely limited.

Homeless guys, I play street soccer with them, most are simply guys with mental problems that society does not care about. Cut off their legs and they will get help, but mental problems and they can live in the dirt. Give them food, but even more important to them, have a chat, be interested in their life story. Take them to watch a game of football with you and buy them hot chips, they will think they have hit the jackpot. Simple things, showing interest, giving them time and a little treat.

 

[user43770]

I don't need to give away my hard earned money in order to feel good about myself. I'm glad that it gives you a sense of moral superiority, though. Why don't you go post that sh1t on facebook so everybody knows how great you are?

 

[user43770]

And you know who's watching? I am. I see the same damn beggar at the same intersection every single day. I'm sure the guy makes a killing for not doing anything except standing there with a hand out. Don't come by my window with that sad look on your face, buddy. I don't give a sh1t.

 

[Desdinova]

The homeless are quite comparable to AFCs. You can only help them if they WANT to be helped, otherwise you're just wasting your time.

I do the occasional work in homeless shelters. The places are well maintained. Overcrowded, but maintained. The government here throws tons of money into helping the homeless. I've seen what they do when they get a little bit of money... They go outside where someone who knows it's payday, and sells them weed or a bottle of cheap liquor.

We've got all kinds of fvcking programs to help them with getting a job, feeding them, clothing them, getting them into detox, and the list goes on. IMO, it's better to let them hit rock bottom. If they actually COME looking for help to get back on their feet instead of being delivered by a police car, then they might actually put effort into improving their lives.

And if they let themselves die, then they end up in a better place.

 

[Burroughs]

A thought on my part:

If we had suicide booths a la Futurama, how many folks would use them I wonder. Would there be long lines outside them?

the folks in bad marriages
the homeless
the abused
the lonely
the sad
the desperate
folks who owe money
folks who are poor
dudes who can't get girls
really ugly girls who can't get guys (hard to believe)
fatties

There is a lot of wealth in the world and yet so many are sad

 

[Bible_Belt]

Small towns don't really have beggars. Sometimes we have transients with a sign out by the Interstate, but they don't stay long, or else the church people harass them constantly with donations. My hometown had a bag lady once who pushed a shopping cart around town. It was so embarrassing that the town's churches actually built a house for the woman.

On the rare occasion that I'm in the city, I always give them money, even though I know that they are all alcoholic, drug addicted, mentally ill, and have often treated their families very poorly in the past. In Florida, I once actually bought a beer for a homeless guy who was arguing with a convenience store clerk who had just called the cops on him, so that he could get his beer he wanted and run into the woods before he got arrested. It was actually his money that I used to buy that beer. He gave it to me for that purpose, because the douchebag Circle K clerk had told him they don't serve bums. That homeless guy is the only person to ever tell me that he was "gonna go hide in them bushes and drink this beer and say a prayer for you."

 

[5string]

This brings something to mind.

Elizabeth Smart's parents hired a homeless guy to work around their house. We all know what happned there and if you don't, google her.

 

[BigJimbo]

Its hard to know. Sometimes you see a filthy guy getting his change sorted into notes at the bank, and you think, this guy is raking it in. You can't tell from the contents of his hat on the ground. I think they sprinkle some small amounts of change in there so it looks pathetic, when in fact, sometimes their take is substantial.

In the US you have more scope for genuine types to get into trouble than in countries where some socialism is found. You can be a decent citizen, lose your job, and when your social security runs out, well, then what. In other places they keep paying you even if you've never worked. Expensive for the taxpayer, but consider the alternatives. That's why some people in your country have to volunteer to go to jail just to get some medical treatment. Also gratis elsewhere in the world.

The US is a nice place for those on top. Those on the bottom though seem to have problems. Giving money probably doesn't solve any real problems for them in the medium to long term but maybe you could just see it as compensation for being on the bottom of a system which has everybody believing that they can be Donald Trump. As for God watching, maybe somebody could explain why that Secret Santa guy Larry Stewart had to die from esophageal cancer. Was that because God works in mysterious ways?

I have seen more homeless in Vancouver than in ANY city on earth. Vancouver has an amazing amount of drug addicts just outside of "Gastown". I saw more homeless in Vancouver than in Moscow, Kyiv, and Beirut combined. America has homeless, but almost all are so drugged up that nobody is going to be able to help them.

The fact that you are so ignorant as to say that people go to prison to get medical treatment in America makes me suspect that you are American. Only an American would claim such a thing. Find me the people who are asking to go to jail for medical care. Please, find them. You can't. And if you have a lot of money you don't want to be in America. You want to find a way to get rid of your citizenship (which is almost impossible in America) and flee to Zug, Switzerland. Zug, Switzerland is where every tax dodger on earth seems to be these days. Nice town just outside of Zurich on the way to Lugano.

 

[user43770]

I have seen more homeless in Vancouver than in ANY city on earth. Vancouver has an amazing amount of drug addicts just outside of "Gastown". I saw more homeless in Vancouver than in Moscow, Kyiv, and Beirut combined. America has homeless, but almost all are so drugged up that nobody is going to be able to help them.

The fact that you are so ignorant as to say that people go to prison to get medical treatment in America makes me suspect that you are American. Only an American would claim such a thing. Find me the people who are asking to go to jail for medical care. Please, find them. You can't. And if you have a lot of money you don't want to be in America. You want to find a way to get rid of your citizenship (which is almost impossible in America) and flee to Zug, Switzerland. Zug, Switzerland is where every tax dodger on earth seems to be these days. Nice town just outside of Zurich on the way to Lugano.

Well, American hospitals will treat you - regardless of your insurance status - if it is serious enough. They will treat your poor, your tired, your huddled masses...even if they can't pay for it! This happens all the time. The problem with American healthcare is the inflated costs, which could be settled without going to a universal heathcare system, which blows from my experience. I had an allergic reaction in Prague and was turned away from an ER. "Go to a pharmacy," they said. They didn't seem to care that the pharmacies were closed on Sundays (which I'm sure they knew, the bastards). I could have went into respiratory arrest in that sh1thole of a country. Luckily, I didn't. You see, in America they would have treated my ass in a heartbeat out of fear of being sued. We have our benefits.

 

[backbreaker]

OP you have a very idealistic view of what is right and wrong.

Iceburg hit the nail on the head and to a lesser extent Desinova. I have been around drugs and the drug scene enough, DEEP enough in it to know it's players and to know how the game works, enough to have lost any amount of give a ****ness for just about 99% of all homless people i run into.

you have to understand it's their hustle. the drug game has it's normal players. the end goal to stay drunk / high, the people who do not have normal jobs, have their own hustle which is generally a few things. the pretty girl, or pretty enough girl knows how to hook men and get them going and run them out of cash. you got the guy who knows where to get everything and knows all the people who don't know where to get anything but yet want to get high. you got the guy whose house is always the dope spot where you can go. then you got the homeless broke hustle. oh it's a hustle.

most of these people are actually quite content with being in their situations make no mistake. they know the system like the back of their hands, kthey know where to get fed, where to sleep, to the point that the only real money they need is usually bus fare to get to the place that is serving food / shelter.

all that money they are panhandling, 9 out of 10 times it's going straight to the the liquor store.


the SECOND a homeless guy wants to get right, he can walk right in an impatient rehab and say i want tog te clean and they will keep him there for 30 days, give him food, drive his dirty ass to AA meetings everyday for 30 days, give him a bed to sleep in, detox his butt, and do it all basically free of charge because the state will pay for it if he can't. then they will shop him to a chem free house where that place will help him find a job and they will even let him get behind on his rent while staying there.

like i said, i have NO love for homeless people. they are homeless because they want to keep using and don't want to go through detox. they are just comfortable enough.

the avg crackhead can make 20-30 dollars a day panhandling. that's enough for some wild irish rose, 2 bottles actually, and a 20 piece of dope. and if's a real crack head that's a fat 20 piece that will last him 2-3 hours most likely if he smokes it right. that's a pretty damn good day for a homeless dude. and he eats and sleeps free.

about 2 years ago, actually about 3 years ago it was right after our son was born, he was about 6 months old. i like to drink every once in a while. not heavily but im' a casual drinker. so is she but im a little bit more casual than she is lol. i have no qualms drinking in the car. do it all the time. though it's usually no more than a cup o vodka and cranberry juice or something like that.

so one day we stop and get a racing form on the way to the horse track, and I decide i wanted some alize. Love me some gold passion Alize. so i crack it open and my now wife gives me this eye like "motherfvcker do y0ou want to fight in this car" look and she said oh hell no not with joe in the car. i'm like okay you know what this isn't an argument worth fighting plus she has a good point i dint' think about that. still was getting used to having a son. anyway, we are at a liquor store there is this homeless guy like a block away, i roll down the window, asks me if i had any change, i say no but do you want this i can't drink it. he said hell yes, yanked it from me and took off lol. made his damn day. it was the big bottle too not the little ****. that's like a 30 dollar bottle.

anyway, my point being, they feed off your idealism. the best thing you can do for a homeless guy is not give him anything.

 

[Sir Psycho Sexy]

The vast majority of people on the streets asking for money are drug addicts and alcoholics.

Amen.

I live in a poor neighborhood in so I am oftentimes approached by the "homeless" asking for money. They always have elaborate stories on why they deserve my money. Ive even had them knock on my front door or car window....

Dont believe their lies of needing money for a bus fare, gasoline, milk, etc...

 

[Down Low]

Most homeless aren't beggars. Most of them go way out of their way to hide the fact that they cower at night (you could hardly call it a proper sleep) in a car or in the bushes.

Most of them became homeless when they lost their jobs and couldn't afford rent anymore. They mostly weren't crazy when they hit the streets. However, there's a mental illness called chronic fatigue syndrome that makes everything a blur and gives crippling pains after about 100 days of poor sleep. After that, it's hard for them to keep themselves and their clothes clean. They stay on the streets because, no matter how much they suffer, they have too much self respect to prostitute.

Of course there are alcoholics and drug abusers whose mental illnesses destroyed their relationships with their friends and families. The wacky characters on the street were crazy before homelessness, and just get worse without medical care.

 

[Gaucho]

The capitalist system is limited only by ambition and talent. What other system could possibly deliver such riches to a society?

What you point out, about how hard and how many hours a CEO works, is absolute truth. But you will not hear that from the media in general, because that suggests theya ctually work for their money. Something many people believe to be false.

And of course, many do not work at all for their money, but instead get repressive laws passed against their competition, but alas, that is not capitalism.

Western capitalist riches have been borrowed off other countries (that is far from ambition and talent, that is called leverage and debt, anybody can be rich for a period when they operate in a similar manner), most capitalist societies are driven by one thing, greedy pigs who complain when they can't pay their debt. There wouldn't be near the problem there is today and will 100 fold over the coming decades if it wasn't for this way of thinking. The US itself could well and truly go into default which would cause anarchy and the 'financial crisis' will seem like a blip compared to what could come if society and capitalism can't strike a balance.

 

[don't]

if you can CLEAR 60k a year (and know jack about investing), you can retire to a nice life in a 3rd world country after 6-7 years, or in the US in 15 years. You just have to live on 15-20k a year, like many do in the US, instead of blowing it all every year. And you SHOULD so retire, too, to make a spot for the next guy to get his money. It only takes 20k a year to have a ball in the US. That's just 10% on a mere 200k, which aint hard to get, you know. You can live well on half that in many countries.

 

[backbreaker]

if you can CLEAR 60k a year (and know jack about investing), you can retire to a nice life in a 3rd world country after 6-7 years, or in the US in 15 years. You just have to live on 15-20k a year, like many do in the US, instead of blowing it all every year. And you SHOULD so retire, too, to make a spot for the next guy to get his money. It only takes 20k a year to have a ball in the US. That's just 10% on a mere 200k, which aint hard to get, you know. You can live well on half that in many countries.

` I'M SORRy but my definition of living is a little bit more than being able to pay rent, having some food and cable and health insurance.

WTF is the point of retirement if you can't do anything, you can't travel anywhere, you can never eat anywhere nice?

the people who spun capitalism i find a riot. it's like, they know they will never be rich, so instead of just carving out a piece they try to take an utralistic approach to the whole deal and just shun money altogether and everything that comes along with it.

i do not think money is the end all be of life. but at the same time, i am not a monk and i'm not going to shun everything that is money related. i like to have fun. i like to travel to beaches. I like to wear nice clothes. I like tailgating at college football games. i like having my fish tank.

you pat yourself on the back while you are sitting there waiting on the 4:30 bus to come so you can feel good about yourself while you take a 45 minute bus transit to the mall when i can get in my car and drive there in 7 minutes.