In streets, they are talking to random strangers. Like I’m going to the grocery store, on the way there someone asks for money because they want money.
Online, they are usually begging their fans, or at least people who is showing some sort of interest. Like I’m watching a YouTube video, and the creator is asking for a donation, as a volunteer payment for their effort.
the way there someone asks for money because they want money.
Can you spare a dollar? I need a beer.
In reality, the people on the streets often “need” the money much more than the others, but then there’s a whole class of street beggars pretending to look needy (not as big a class as movies might have you believe), but worse than them are the people who make careers of street begging - sure, they are hard up, need the money most of the time, but they live that way intentionally, for decades. No thanks, you look miserable and by giving you money this way I’m perpetuating that picture of misery on my daily commute home.
there’s a whole class of street beggars pretending to look needy
Yep, in some areas that can actually give a middle class income.
Imagine working hard on a low income job, but you make enough to “fit in”. You have a house, you have a car, your kids can join class trips.
Then there’s a beggar that’s making more than you, but doesn’t have any kids. They have a better house, a better car, and goes to Thailand for two weeks every year.
The 79th/Biscayne street corner worker in Miami (in the winters of the 1990s) would head up to Chicago when it got too hot. He looked a mess, but in later years he had a Jack Russel terrier with him that looked like it never missed a meal or a grooming appointment. There were many of these “Snowbird street people” who would show up every fall - and some of them also did petty crime like stealing from cars, etc. It was too obvious: every year at the same time they show up, the break ins start again.
Then, on the flip side, some of those people you see genuinely can’t find any other way to get their next meal, or afford a safe place to sleep for the night.
And I don’t want to be making the judgement call there at the red light who is who. I would much rather have a system of UBI that means NONE OF THEM have a reason to be there. I’d pay taxes for that.
In streets, they are talking to random strangers. Like I’m going to the grocery store, on the way there someone asks for money because they want money.
Online, they are usually begging their fans, or at least people who is showing some sort of interest. Like I’m watching a YouTube video, and the creator is asking for a donation, as a volunteer payment for their effort.
Can you spare a dollar? I need a beer.
In reality, the people on the streets often “need” the money much more than the others, but then there’s a whole class of street beggars pretending to look needy (not as big a class as movies might have you believe), but worse than them are the people who make careers of street begging - sure, they are hard up, need the money most of the time, but they live that way intentionally, for decades. No thanks, you look miserable and by giving you money this way I’m perpetuating that picture of misery on my daily commute home.
Exactly, it’s not related to me at all.
Yep, in some areas that can actually give a middle class income.
Imagine working hard on a low income job, but you make enough to “fit in”. You have a house, you have a car, your kids can join class trips.
Then there’s a beggar that’s making more than you, but doesn’t have any kids. They have a better house, a better car, and goes to Thailand for two weeks every year.
The 79th/Biscayne street corner worker in Miami (in the winters of the 1990s) would head up to Chicago when it got too hot. He looked a mess, but in later years he had a Jack Russel terrier with him that looked like it never missed a meal or a grooming appointment. There were many of these “Snowbird street people” who would show up every fall - and some of them also did petty crime like stealing from cars, etc. It was too obvious: every year at the same time they show up, the break ins start again.
Then, on the flip side, some of those people you see genuinely can’t find any other way to get their next meal, or afford a safe place to sleep for the night.
And I don’t want to be making the judgement call there at the red light who is who. I would much rather have a system of UBI that means NONE OF THEM have a reason to be there. I’d pay taxes for that.