Quote Originally Posted by Fentonite View Post
I never give to beggars. Ever.
Until today. I stopped for gas on my way to work, and there was a guy standing under a tree near the gas pumps, (out of the way), playing a guitar and singing. He really had a beautiful voice, and was a skilled guitarist. He had a sign on his guitar case, saying he could use some $ for gas. He wasn't bugging anyone, and made my time at the pump more enjoyable. So I gave him a couple bucks in change. He gave a genuine "thank you", and kept singing. I'm good with it.

but professional bums, drunks, 16th Street gutter rats, etc, never get a thing from me. They already get plenty of the money I pay in taxes, and I'm not happy about it. I find that being mean and gruff (ok, just being myself) tends to shorten the amount of time I have to listen to them.
Busking is not begging, IMO.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_performance

He provided a service and advertised that he would take compensation freely given. You provided compensation based on the value you set on the service performed. No different than contributing to any worthy cause you may find valuable to support.

Giving money to strangers without knowing where that money is going would be like donating to something invisible out of ignorance. If it is good to not feed the wildlife, than it is even more important not to pay people to play in traffic.