Just two weeks before Thanksgiving, John Stossel, host of Fox Business, is loudly proclaiming that the poor homeless “slobs” in the street is responsible for their own plight. He has made these kinds of absurd claims since at least two years ago.
Stossel claims, in his mean-spirited spewings, that of the 600,000 homeless Americans, 57,000 veterans and the children comprising one-third of this amount are all lying.
Donning a fake beard, Stossel sat on a New York City sidewalk with a cardboard sign asking for help. “I just begged for an hour, but I did well,” he said. “If I did this for an eight hour day, I would’ve made 90 bucks. Twenty-three thou for a year. Tax free.”
Fox News co-host, Elizabeth Hasselbeck, hearing Stossel’s implications of “poverty fraud,” gasped in horror at the prospect of poor people earning $23,000 a year. Some people asking for money “are actually scammers,” Hasselbeck warned. Noteworthy is to mention that Hasselbeck own a $4 million home in Greenwich.
The accusation that the homeless are really just a bunch of scammers suggests that these people out in the cold with nothing to eat and nowhere to sleep are just lying about their lifestyles. An actual study of all begging activity found that 82 percent were homeless, two-thirds were disabled, earned less than $25 a day, and 94 percent of the money was used for food.
Stossel added to his claims that people who donate to the poor and homeless are contributing to and perpetuating homelessness. He further commented that most of the money was used to buy liquor and drugs, and those who donate only enable these habits.
Richard Andrew is a guest blogger for Ring of Fire.
