So the homeless guy (boots story) wasn't homeless...ok....

[The Straight Story]

Big companies don't need the money but we give them more anyway - from bailouts to tax breaks to buildings, etc.

Bain capital costs many american's their jobs/incomes for a quick profit for themselves, people we end up helping out with food stamps/unemployment extensions/etc.

Monsanto screws over farmers and the government quietly closes down an investigation into them.

We started a war where 5,000 soldiers and untold numbers of others died over lies. More are now ill and the scars will last a life time - and you and me paid for it and for the health care/aid/etc now needed over there and here from the war.

A cursory glance at my news aggregate sites from all over the world and I see tons of other similar stories/outrages.

And yet some guy, who's only 'crime' seems to be he is poor and needs shoes, lights up cable 'news' channels all because he isn't truly homeless and panhandles to supplement his income.

And we know the rw blogosphere is gonna be in full meltdown mode over how terrible he is and the system, etc.

Outrage. We are doing it wrong.

[WooWooWoo]

1. somebody here mentioned this right after the story broke

that the guy doesn't wear shoes on purpose.

[The Straight Story]

3. So, like a corporation, he hides assets

Good for him.

[OldDem2012]

6. So you're saying he's perfectly fine mentally? Riiiiggghhhhttt. nt.

[randome]

2. Just goes to show...

...that a picture isn't always worth a thousand words. Or at least not the thousand words we assume at first.

It's a sound-bite story for the media. Easier than talking about complicated, pesky wars.

[Scuba]

4. None of which diminish the philanthropic actions of the cop.

[OldDem2012]

5. After reading the story, it appears he still lives in the streets even though he has....

....an apartment in the Bronx paid for by "...a combination of federal Section 8 rent vouchers and Social Security disability and veterans benefits". Evidently, he doesn't actually live there if I'm reading the story correctly, and still panhandles and lives in the streets. Maybe when the weather gets really bad he stays in the apartment, but I don't really know for sure and neither does the writer of the article.

Barefoot homeless man immortalized in photo isn't actually homeless

QUOTE:

The barefoot homeless man who received new shoes from a kindhearted NYPD cop isn’t actually homeless — and has a sad history of refusing help from loved ones and the government.

For the past year, Jeffrey Hillman has had an apartment in the Bronx paid for through a combination of federal Section 8 rent vouchers and Social Security disability and veterans benefits, officials said Monday.

But nevertheless, the now-famous nomad has continued to panhandle and cling to the cold streets of Gotham.

[SummerSnow]

7. Love your post ..

I have seen articles and outrageous comments about this. This has less to do with that guy. But more to do with us as a society. Why do we hate poor people? Simple and a sad truth is that poor people feeds on our vulnerabilities and insecurities knowing that we could be one pay check or illness away from the same situation. But for some reason we love the corporate welfare folks the corporate panhandlers and award their deeds. In a nutshell were full of shit as a society.