“Beggars should be abolished. It annoys one to give to them, and it annoys one not to give to them.”

There will always be a certain percentage of disadvantaged...that's nature. But 40% is artificially high. Welcome to the welfare / warfare state.

This is true, but I'm pretty sure you can't abolish them. That part is probably tongue-in-cheek.

Jim K, You actually CAN abolish them. All you have to do is rid the country of anyone who is considered to be "not poor", by making them poor. At that point with everyone being the same...no one is poor. And that's how communism works. The only thing stopping the full onslaught of communism in the land of the free right now is the 2nd Amendment.

If we arrested and jailed them they would get free food and lodging at our expense, maybe throwing them an occasional nicket is cheaper.

You will always have beggars even when all is wealthy. In actually fact its the rich beggars that are b*^g#@%

RBESRQ is on to something. There are beggars and thiefs (which is worse I guess) at all levels of society. Nietzsche is a great example of Aurelius' quote the other day about being in the majority or being insane. He went insane, but his writings while a bit voluminous did have some pithy and good advice

Robert, pretty funny, I like it.

You get it right J. Except the Constitution stuff. It is being ignored.

Yea rbesrq Obama leads the list

Someone famous said, "the poor you will have with you always." Pick any busy freeway intersection and you'll find the professional beggars. If you want to see them scatter, offer them a job.

Not once have I heard any compassion or the thought a beggar might truly be in need. The poor will always be with us and though this is no excuse to tinker with the rights of others or to force welfare laws on these same people, charity, by an individuals own choice, should rule the day in doing for the needy. The hypocrisy of religions that preach about this but then lock their doors to keep thieves and beggars out tells the story. Ken, I agree some look at that situation as a lazy mans way of acquiring money and once I have offeered a sandwich instead of money and he wouldn't take it. His loss because sometimes that single act of charity can change a beggars way of thinking after a talk with him about his predicament. But, one never knows until he tries and for so many it is easier to walk by and justify that by considering the beggar an annoyance.

" He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dung hil, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he set the world upon them." 
government, Shaphat, an act of, "to judge, deliver, rule".
Beggar, ebyown, material sense, social standing, spiritual condition. "Thou shalt not wrest the judgement of thy poor in his cause". The godly man defends the needy and defenseless.
"Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy." 
Ebyown, beggar, Divine provisions are encased in mosaic stipulations such as the seventh year reversions of ancestral hereditary lands. Which leads us to Chophshiy,(economic liberty) and the unprivileged sovereign, history does repeat itself as in Jere 34:8 thru 15, set you brothers "free" from oppression, which in turn points to Lev 25:10 Ancient liberty. For the spiritual beggar, lacking in compassion, "they pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek." "whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood." Our nation once was and "act of deliverance of which we seek to Restore to the unprivileged sovereign. pensioners scoff at the poor and needy unwisely so. beware that our Constitution protects with original intent. I am amazed at the stars to such a beggar's statement of ignorance. 
Semper Fi and God Bless
P.S. we were never designed to be a nation of pensioners privilege.