Fox News Stossel poses as homeless man: ‘You shouldn’t give to these street people’

I thought of a way to make the rich poo their pants, put a 90% across the board corporation tax on all profits, and, a 100% forfeiture clause on any company trying to sell up.
There you go, you can now raise real tax money, maybe if we feel generous let them have 1 year in 7 where they keep all profit and operate tax free, just to be fair.

When you see a guy with a "will work for food sign", offer him WORK. I know another trucker who owns his own semi, and keeps all his chrome nice and polished. he has the supplies in the truck and offers these guys cash to polish some of his chrome. none of them have ever accepted the offer....they just want money. WTF?

And i see a few people here think the government should do something about it. Huh? OMG. 99% of these people are simply lazy butts who figured out a good scam. Some of them have a freakin mercedes pick them up after "work", and they go home to half million dollar houses. Uhm? Some are actually homeless, these are the less annoying ones usually.

I love how so many of you only seem to care about making yourselves feel good about yourselves. It's all about you. Who cares if giving homeless people money only makes their situation worse, right? It makes YOU feel good and that's all that matters. Then you all start calling for the government to do something about it.

Cripes people, are you for big intrusive government or are you for individual responsibly and determination? When did everyone become such lemmings?

“I made at a rate of about $24,000 — tax free. I just did it for a couple hours.”

The sample size is too small to tell how much he would actually earn. A lot of individuals may not give money to the same person a second time decreasing potential earnings. Weather conditions may also hamper earnings. People may be less generous when they are rushing to get out of the rain. He also is ignoring the costs associated with being arrested or ticketed for panhandling in areas where it's illegal.

He should have begged at least 8 hours a day for several weeks in all weather conditions to get a better data set.

I was approached by a girl around my age one day in Sydney asking for $2 to get something to eat, she was obviously a junkie but my heart still went out to her.
I had just come out of McDonalds with my lunch and thinking she would be grateful I offered it to her, my jaw must of hit the ground when she screamed at me "I DONT WANT YOUR F'N CHARITY YOU C WORD"
I just stood there with a look of disbelief as she walked off mumbling.

Anyone who asks for money will usually have a story that goes with it, whether its a train ticket home or food etc etc, I always offer to buy them what they need, U would be surprised how many people decline when they find out you wont part with cash

Originally posted by korath
If I donate anything, it's food to a food bank. At least I know some of the people that go there need the food because they really are poor and not just getting free groceries because they spent what they had on their addictions.

I would prefer knowing the people in need personally.

I used to care for a women that used the food banks in town, she had so much canned goods she was throwing away the outdated stuff, I was taking care of her, making minimum wage and she had ten times the food I had.

They have cracked down on the panhandling in our downtown area because they were getting aggressive.

MY daughter offered a guy with an I work for food sign a job, he turned her down.

So of you know a family in need, and most of us do, give to them, sadly the scamers make it bad for those who really need it.

I am not supporting anyone's drug or alcohol abuse problem, but I do and have bought them food.

reply to post by CoolerAbdullah786

Just another example of the hateful, closed-minded Conservative agenda of Fox "News."

As opposed to the loving, open-minded liberal agenda? My experience with liberals is that
they are the most closed-minded human beings ever to exist. Never was a word so grossly misapplied as the term "liberal" when used to describe someone like Al Gore, Nancy Pelosi, Rosie O'Donnel, or Michael Moore. They despise anyone who disagrees with them. They mock and ridicule anyone and everyone with a different viewpoint. They insist on "educating" those who disagree. Why? Because you're not ALLOWED to have a differing opinion.

Well if the American people aren't doing enough to combat it, what's wrong with the government trying to solve it?

Because the government screws up everything they touch. The government declared a war on poverty, yet half the population is poor. The government's attempt to solve the many problems with our educational system has resulted in an educational system that is one of the worst in the world. The government's attempt to solve the drug problem has resulted in the imprisonment of a couple hundred thousand innocent people.
I'd laugh at your comment about the government solving a problem, but it's no laughing matter. It's an absolute tragedy. The government couldn't run a lemonade stand without screwing it up, yet you think the government can somehow resolve the biggest problem this country has ever faced?

Perhaps if we did our part and the charities did their part and the religious organizations did their part and the government did their part and we all supported each other's efforts instead of complaining and tearing each other down, we could work to solve this growing problem!

I agree. Actually, about the only way to be a part of the solution is to help people in your immediate area. Donate food and clothing to the needy. Help out at the homeless shelter. What if we ALL did that?

Another tip, I know a lady that keeps packages of non perishable food in her car in packages for people who are panhandling,

She hands them these instead of money, so if they turn it down you know it isn't food they are looking for.

Then you don't have to feel guilty .

I'm surprised Stossel hasn't proposed taxing income from styrofoam cup money gathering.

Give a homeless person one if those Sacagawea dollar coins and they will freak out.
Last guy couldn't believe it and said he will never spend his golden dollar.
I guess gold dollars hurt the economy.

Originally posted by IkNOwSTuff
I was approached by a girl around my age one day in Sydney asking for $2 to get something to eat, she was obviously a junkie but my heart still went out to her.
I had just come out of McDonalds with my lunch and thinking she would be grateful I offered it to her, my jaw must of hit the ground when she screamed at me "I DONT WANT YOUR F'N CHARITY YOU C WORD"
I just stood there with a look of disbelief as she walked off mumbling.

Anyone who asks for money will usually have a story that goes with it, whether its a train ticket home or food etc etc, I always offer to buy them what they need, U would be surprised how many people decline when they find out you wont part with cash

Sad, isn't it? WTF? In contrast, there's a couple of homeless folks in the town I live in. One of them hangs out at a bar I go to sometimes. Well, one day some lady gave him $10. He spent it in that bar (on food).... So it's good to see that some people are honest. Sometimes I'll offer them food. Atleast then I know what they're gonna do with it.,

I've seen people wandering around truckstops with gas cans bothering truckers for money. I offer to fill it with gas. They don't want it. I knew a guy that drove a fuel tanker, he actually filled the can with gas out of the tanker when the guy sat it down for a break. the guy POURED IT OUT.

reply to post by v1rtu0s0

IDK, but if Stossel thinks he's going to live a good life that way he's kidding himself. For one, he'll never make much if anything doing that and people who're the real deal have a lot of other sh** to worry about. He has no idea. But even if he was a well off man and doing this to make a few extra bucks, eventually he'll get caught and/or mugged and/or whatever. I think for somebody to do that they'd have to be a sociopath. If I saw a rich man begging, I'd laugh and cry and feel pity.

If a guy thinks that being homeless is a good life then why is hte average life expectancy for a homeless man 49? I was homeless for a while and was among them. That's NO LIFE TO LIVE. Anybody with a couple brian cells knows that and they also know that anybody doing that is rock bottom. As I said already, the only other possibility I can think of is they're a sociopath with no humanity.

In hte end Stossel is still his old self. Selling a show that people like to watch.

Like somebody else says, one way to handle this is to give them food, if you're worried about it.

This is all very self-indulgent ot me. I'ts like picking on a retarded kid.

How many threads, posters and posts constantly stick it to the "rich"?

This is exactly the same thing that would happen if the rich were forced to redistribute their wealth.
The so called poor claim they need other people's wealth to survive, but if the wealth was redistributed these people would spend their slice of the pie on non essential liabilities.

After reading the stories of personal encounters posted here, it should be extremely obvious that the dishonest actions of the so called "poor" are just as bad if not worse than what the rich are constantly accused of.

Originally posted by FlyersFan

Originally posted by PW229

Originally posted by FlyersFan

Originally posted by CoolerAbdullah786
Just another example of the hateful, closed-minded Conservative agenda of Fox "News."

So prove that what Stossel did was 'hateful' or that the information he gathered was wrong.
Prove it. Post how his investigation was in error. Back up your statement with facts if you can.

Or, how about you disprove the ops sentiments? Actually, don't bother, you'll just come out swinging blindly for the rich again...

:shk: pathetic.

1 - I don't need to disprove the OPs sentiments. It's not my job at this point. He made a statement void of facts to back it up. I'm asking him to back it up. Post some facts to go along with his anti-fox rant. It's not that hard to do.

2 - Nothing I said was in favor or against poor people, and nothing I said was in favor or against rich people. Your attack against me is nothing more than DEFLECTION from the issue presented.

2 - Looks like you came out swinging blindly against people who are more successful than you are. Jealous much? Yep.

edit on 7/7/2012 by FlyersFan because: (no reason given)

Seems you have something to prove? What interests me is point 2 - "Looks like you came out swinging blindly against people who are more successful than you are. Jealous much?"

This may annoy you but nope. I have absolutely no problem with people that are successful in their chosen fields. Indeed, I have absolutely no problem with people earning more than I do. None at all, nada, zip, zilch, not a single iota of bother. So am I "jealous much" (what an immature term)? Erm...no.

What shocks me most about your response is that you feel the need to resort to insults instead of taking a few minutes to retort my points with reasoned arguments.

Be that as it may, I will respect your opinion and will not resort to treating you in the same way you have treated me.

reply to post by v1rtu0s0


Yeah you're absolutely right man. What a f#cking joke that "survey" was. What does he think, all homeless people take home a six-figure paycheck every year but dress up like a hobo for some extra bucks on the side? And he has the audacity to call them freeloaders? If that son of a bitch didn't have a nice warm bed to sleep in that night and a nice big breakfast the next morning, he wouldn't be so quick to denounce the homeless as "freeloaders".

I've spent a lot of time on and around the streets and its dwellers, and some of them may have made bad decisions, some of them just got dealt a s#t hand and some of them might even deserve to be there, but none of them are f#cking freeloaders. They don't do it because they're lazy. Sh#t, most of them worked harder and sacrificed more than your average "successful" white-collar bum-hating swine before fate and/or sickness screwed them.

That clean and disposable styrofoam cup of his might have received some undeserved coins, but not nearly enough to live a happy life unless of course he learned to be very, very Buddhist. In short - what an out-of-context pile of rubbish. But hey, what else do you expect from a radical-Right supercapitalist Fox pig?

A little update about one of the homeless individuals I mentioned in my previous post. So I go to the corner store and I see him going about his duties. I ask him how he's doing. His response.

"Great! Today is my birthday! Can't wait to get off work! I'm going home, sitting on the couch and having a few beers to celebrate! It's the first birthday I've had in years where I wasn't on the street!"

So it's sometimes worth giving money to the homeless. You never know who's live you'll be helping to turn around. Also, never underestimate simply talking to them. If they are receptive then they want to talk because they are looking for human interaction. That little how are you whats going on in your day talk really can help these people keep their head and not fall too deep in an emotional hole. It really helps. Just a simple acknowledgement may be all that's needed to keep their heads emotionally above water so that they can focus on getting their life together. It won't happen unless they think it's possible and still believe in themselves. Talking to them helps them do just that. Ever think that a lot of homeless people end up developing the psychosis where they talk to themselves simply because they needed somebody to talk to. imaginary or not.

This guy is a renounced Libertarian. You wouldn't disagree with a Libertarian would you ATS?

History has a way of repeating itself. The final solution for dysfunctional unemployed people with drug problems will probably be FEMA camps. All those military vets returning from over seas will get hired to round up the homeless and guard them in huge segregated rehab facilities, no breeding allowed.

Originally posted by PvtHudson
I love how so many of you only seem to care about making yourselves feel good about yourselves. It's all about you. Who cares if giving homeless people money only makes their situation worse, right? It makes YOU feel good and that's all that matters. Then you all start calling for the government to do something about it.

Cripes people, are you for big intrusive government or are you for individual responsibly and determination? When did everyone become such lemmings?

Do hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts and subsidies for wealthy people count as "big, intrusive government"?

FOX news are just there to wind people up, create a bigger divide than there already is, and flat out lie for gov-corp. They make me sick and have done for years.