Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.
Its not my problem and I shouldn't have to pay for it, (or put up with beggars while walking down the street.).
Posted on 03/26/2011 10:12:07 AM PDT by eccentric
Is America becoming a nation of freeloaders?
It’s said that Panhandlers in America can make more than minimum wage. John Stossel tried it in Manhattan, and sure enough, I made over $11 in one hour—that would be $23,000 a year—tax free!
It’s a small example of why some said that the USA is turning into a nation of freeloaders. The Manhattan Institute’s Heather Macdonald says that beggars she’s encountered “have the most deep-seated sense of entitlement that I’ve ever come across.”
From those defaulting on their home mortgages, to those who see lawsuits as a lottery ticket, many Americans live off the hard work of others.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxbusiness.com ...
$11 in one hour does not mean an average $11 per hour over a 40-hour work week over 52 weeks.
I respect a panhandler more than I do a welfare bum.
Agree.
Extrapolating that out over a year is a bit of a stretch.
That’s the equivalent of finding a 20 bill in the road and thinking that you are going to find $7300 over the course of the year.
My son on cocaine, said her could make $40 an hour. John Stossel needed to add some layers of grub, dirty pants, beard that is dirty and teeth that are falling out, he would have gotten more.
I don’t, especially when they get aggressive about it.
Ens all welfare and entitlements.
Then start to aggressively enforce vagrancy laws.
You work and be productive in society or you starve and/or freeze in the cold. Period.
It’s possible that a beggar could make more than $11 some hours, leading to an average $11 over a year, but Mr. Stossel has in no way demonstrated this.
Right. I love in Portland OR. He must have been having an off day or he is just inexperienced.
TMI.
Love = live
That's because he does his own collection rather than letting the government do it for him at gunpoint.
LOL
“That’s because he does his own collection rather than letting the government do it for him at gunpoint.”
Most panhandlers get one or more forms of freebies from the government.
What if they can’t find a job?
“but Mr. Stossel has in no way demonstrated this.”
There have been newspaper interviews of panhandlers in our area: $11 hourly actually is a quite reasonable expectation for hourly earnings for these folks.
In reality, the estimates vary a lot:
http://www.ehow.com/info_7814173_average-yearly-income-panhandler.html
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2255/how-much-money-do-beggars-make
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadway_Rose
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC121964/
in part because only about one fifth do panhandling full-time and because of various limitations/biases in how these data are collected.
It might be kept in mind that panhandlers don’t pay income or payroll taxes. Thus, even someone earning minimum wage for 2000 hours a year ($14.5K) is probably earning the equivalent of someone earning a taxable wage of $18K.
FWIW, 10% of U.S. workers earn less than $10.8K a year.
(Table 1 in http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/105xx/doc10527/10-02-Workers.pdf) Thus, I think it’s indisputable that panhandling “beats” working (income-wise) for at least some fraction of the working population.
Actually I know people who make a lot on panhandling. Enough to pay rent, feed kids, and have a car.
This was back in the 90’s. He would go to local churches who would give his family food. Hold a sign up asking for money. Get government handouts. And guess what? He lived better than people who worked for a living.
I have no problem with beggars...I’m able to say no to them.
Some of the more aggressive panhandlers consistently make 100 dollars a day or more.
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