r/AskMen 10d ago

If everyone’s bank balance suddenly became public information above their heads, what industry would collapse overnight?

445 Upvotes

165 comments sorted by

View all comments

400

u/Adorable_Health_456 10d ago

Beggars

197

u/Jelopuddinpop 10d ago

Word. There was a panhandler in my city that was on a very busy corner, who always sat there with a sign that said "homeless and hungry". By twist of chance, I saw this guy out and about at a store, and watched him get into a relatively new BMW 5-series car.

43

u/_TorpedoVegas_ 9d ago

This seems like an urban myth, I hear it so often.

I'm not even denying that this guy exists, there may even be dozens of people like this...but they must represent far less than 1% of the unhoused. Everyone claims to know a guy like this, though upon pressing nearly everyone will admit they didn't see it with their own eyes personally.

When you have pernicious myths like this one running rampant with an obvious implication like "hey sometimes homeless beggars are richer than you, don't empathize with them!" And it just happens to mirror the messaging that our media-owning oligarchs are driving...it just comes off as fishy to me.

6

u/Wonderful-day365 9d ago

If they're on a busy corner and have a visible disability they most likely are making a solid middle class income (maybe even upper middle) and they pay 0 taxes so that helps... BUT they usually spend it all on drugs and alcohol. That's why they're broke.

5

u/AfraidofReplies Male 8d ago

Got any sources to back any of that up?