The best case for giving money to the homeless was laid out to me by a college friend who is/was a self described “bleeding heart” who maintained she would always gave homeless people money whenever she could. She just wanted to help ease a homeless person’s pain. If she knew they were in pain (even from withdrawal) and that money would help them in anyway, she wanted to do that. That showed real compassion. Quite often, the homeless person does really want some food or coffee and you can buy them that if you don’t want to give them cash. fine.
Stossel’s whole pretend homeless schtick was so dehumanizing, reductive, childish and unprofessional, then to see that resident moron Doocy ask Stossel “what it felt to be like to be homeless” was one of the worst things ever. Stossel was out there for a small part of the day. He felt what it was like to be a hairy ticket scalper or a kid who skipped school on Halloween dress up day. He did not learn what it felt to be homeless.
To be fair to the (g)libertarian Stossel, you do get better holistic bang for your buck giving to charities that have established programs. But no one disputes that. But the best bang for your buck is giving your time to the homeless and Stossel never mentions that! It’s a whole choice between giving and not giving.
I’ve volunteered with The Doe Fund’s Ready, Willing and Able…it’s an awesome program. I also volunteer with Covenant House PA here in Philly. Another awesome charity. And yes, Charity Navigator is excellent, before I started walking in the PanCan walk a few years back, I checked them through that site. As someone who does pass up giving out money on the street, I find giving time is much better. Go do something about it.