4 ms·
I asked a panhandler what meal to order for him from the restaurant where he was begging. He ate one bite, asked me again for cash, and threw it away. Begging
by kbutler 6y ago
I asked a panhandler what meal to order for him from the restaurant where he was begging. He ate one bite, asked me again for cash, and threw it away.
Begging on the streets is unsafe for the homeless and for the public - giving that way promotes the activity. It's generally much better to give to public service organizations that can coordinate broader care.
That said, if you feel you should give to someone, do it.
(And I don't think anyone with even introductory economics knowledge thinks free markets solve everything.)
- fulafel 6y agoOf the basic needs for a person to live non-homelessly in western countries, food is probably the cheapest and easiest to come by from charity sources after water. But people unfamiliar with the life find it easiest to think about food, and if a panhandler mentions food it's often an advertising strategy. For acquiring money for living, there's a parallel to selling your services as a software developer, solving stupid programming games in the interview, even though 90% of your time is spent on things other than writing code :)
- ljf 6y agoTo be generous to that person - it may have been that they were begging for money too eat - but to eat at a time and place of their choosing.