Are the homeless people asking for food doing it for real? (luxury, closing)

[steel7]

Originally Posted by jencam

In Texas, you can only get food stamps 3 months if you are not working and then you have to wait three years to get them again.

I think it is like that in a lot of states. I don't feel it is right & that law should change. No one should go hungry & that includes the illegals & anchor babies.

[jencam]

Originally Posted by steel7

I think it is like that in a lot of states. I don't feel it is right & that law should change. No one should go hungry & that includes the illegals & anchor babies.

It was different for a while. Obama mandate I think. Which is now gone.

[crystawaston332]

Government needs to tax the businesses and contributing members of society this is to fix the homeless issue among these type of people.

[Larry68]

Don't get me wrong. There a many reasons people are on the street begging and some are really sad cases. I do my fair share of donating and never regret doing so.


Me and my wife noticed some beggars in Bend Oregon at a local grocery store. They were there most days. It got our attention. We parked at the far end of the lot and watched. Around lunch they walked across the street and we followed. A block later they got in a nice car and drove off. We followed. They went to a Barbeque place and ate for about an hour. They then went back to their parking place got out of the car and went back to the parking lot and started begging. The question came to us was just how much do these people make?


When we arrived in Phoenix we decided to try this begging thing just to see how lucrative it is. We dressed in some older clothes, hid our jeep, and walked to the local grocery. We pulled out our hand written signs put on our hungry faces and started starring at the passerby's. At first it was awkward but soon it became a challenge. We "worked" about six hours and earned a little over $230 or $38 per hour or $1,533 per week or $79,716 per year. TAX FREE! And they qualify for Food stamps.


We also noticed how time of day meant everything. We could have worked half the time and made about the same amount of money had we known better like our professionals. I am sure some locations and some seasons could probably double or triple that amount. I am not an accountant but maybe someone could do the math and let me know how much a person would have to earn at a real job to take home $80,000. Then figure in the value of food stamps and other govt programs available to them.


If you have some money to throw away please send it to me. I will be on the corner with my sign. (Just kidding)

[jencam]

Originally Posted by Larry68

Don't get me wrong. There a many reasons people are on the street begging and some are really sad cases. I do my fair share of donating and never regret doing so.


Me and my wife noticed some beggars in Bend Oregon at a local grocery store. They were there most days. It got our attention. We parked at the far end of the lot and watched. Around lunch they walked across the street and we followed. A block later they got in a nice car and drove off. We followed. They went to a Barbeque place and ate for about an hour. They then went back to their parking place got out of the car and went back to the parking lot and started begging. The question came to us was just how much do these people make?


When we arrived in Phoenix we decided to try this begging thing just to see how lucrative it is. We dressed in some older clothes, hid our jeep, and walked to the local grocery. We pulled out our hand written signs put on our hungry faces and started starring at the passerby's. At first it was awkward but soon it became a challenge. We "worked" about six hours and earned a little over $230 or $38 per hour or $1,533 per week or $79,716 per year. TAX FREE! And they qualify for Food stamps.


We also noticed how time of day meant everything. We could have worked half the time and made about the same amount of money had we known better like our professionals. I am sure some locations and some seasons could probably double or triple that amount. I am not an accountant but maybe someone could do the math and let me know how much a person would have to earn at a real job to take home $80,000. Then figure in the value of food stamps and other govt programs available to them.


If you have some money to throw away please send it to me. I will be on the corner with my sign. (Just kidding)

I find this really difficult to believe. Phoenix is overrun with panhandlers. They don't do that well. I did know a guy who was making out like a bandit with a great story. It was after hurricane Katrina and his story was compelling - a veteran (of course, that always helps) who lost his family and his business and homes in the storm. Raked it in.

But that is not the norm.

[Scrat335]

I never give to anyone. I feel as if I'm enabling poor behavior and there'splenty of food around via charities. Money? They just buy drugs or whatever with it. No way.

If we REALLY want to help these people we'd change how we do things.

[thatguy950]

Originally Posted by Scrat335

I never give to anyone. I feel as if I'm enabling poor behavior and there'splenty of food around via charities. Money? They just buy drugs or whatever with it. No way.

If we REALLY want to help these people we'd change how we do things.

/thread

[Larry68]

Originally Posted by jencam

I find this really difficult to believe. Phoenix is overrun with panhandlers. They don't do that well. I did know a guy who was making out like a bandit with a great story. It was after hurricane Katrina and his story was compelling - a veteran (of course, that always helps) who lost his family and his business and homes in the storm. Raked it in.

But that is not the norm.

They may be making the money I quoted and the reason there are so many. I would believe also that the amount made is 1. location 2. looks 3. personality 4. Gender. Some look so intimidating people are afraid to open their windows.

[XoXSciFiGuy]

The homeless problem is REAL. If you Google the results, you get maybe 650,000 homeless people in America. According to an article in Mother Jones magazine, the actual number is closer to FOUR MILLION, because young homeless are often not included in 'official' counts, or runaways, LGBT kids, etc. who don't want to be counted or stay under the radar.

Some of this information was research concerning an upcoming movie I am involved with right now. The working title (not the FINAL title) is Homeless in Seattle.

It's a frickin' shame, too. It really is. Back in the 1990's the mantra was 'welfare is breaking the country,' when in reality a relatively reasonable amount of the Federal budget was spent on AFDC, (Aid To Families With Dependent Children) and Food Stamps. Even NASA gets screwed, receiving only $20 billion dollars a year to run everything they do, and hire some of the smartest people on Planet Earth. Our priorities as a nation are screwed up.

Listen to Jeff Daniels, if you don't buy what I'm saying. Or take a good hard look at where the money REALLY goes each year. It's a damn shame.

[jencam]

The homeless problem is real, how many of the people panhandling really want food is a different matter. I have come across many that did really want food and thanked me to the moon and back for a meal. There have been others that didn't really want the food or gas for their supposedly empty gas tank and wanted the money for other things.