Would you rather drop money to a busker or a beggar with a bowl?

I do not give to beggars, however, I do not have a problem giving to the people who are sitting out in t public place playing musical instruments. At least the people playing the music are providing a service to the people walking by them. One of the best ones I have ever seen was actually a pair of old guys who used to hang out on River Street in Savannah, Georgia. River Street is right in the middle of the historic district of Savannah, Georgia, and people come from all over the country (and the world) to enjoy the culture. A night on River Street is like a walk through history, like a trip back in time to the days of colonial America. These two old black men would hang out close to the fountain on River Street at night. One had a guitar and the other had a saxophone, and they would play their instruments, sing, and dance for the people who were out there taking in the sites and enjoying the nightlife. They kept a bucket out there with them, and people would walk by and toss money into the bucket for them. They would draw quite a crowd of people who would stand there and watch them. I have personally sat on a bench close to them and watched them for half an hour or more. They would put on quite a show for the crowd. I never asked them, but I would like to know how much money they would make on a weekend being out there. I would be willing to bet that they made quite a good bit of money out there. I wish I could play an instrument, because I would go down to the beach here and see if I could make some money playing for people...LOL

Yes, I agree with you. Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

At home, neither. There's some people here who live outside society so to say, but they usually don't beg. The ones begging here (Mid-Norway) are often coming in big busses from Eastern Europe, or they actually get quite a lot of money from social security but beg anyway. The ones one the busses often have to give most of the money they earn to some administrator or other shady figure, so giving them money will just mean they that come back at some other point. Usually without proper winter clothes and with some stupid idea that they can sleep outside in Norway without proper equipment. It doesn't seem like the arranging know anything about the weather here either. When I was studying in Austria I didn't really have a lot of money to share, but if I stopped to listen someone I usually gave them some money too. That's just polite I think, and there's some really good street musicians in Austria. Most of the time they needed a permit but every Thursday it was "free", so lot of music students were playing. It was very nice to walk along the main street, listening to the music and eating an ice-cream. I only gave money to musicians then, not the other ones.

Carpediem I do not believe in the saying, "God help those who are able to help themselves." Otherwise, I too would have been giving alms to the able bodied beggars. God helps those who need his help the most. I would rather alms to those who are unable to earn, who are sick, weak and old.

Well in my place , there are beggars and street performance too. However some beggars are old folks and some are handicap persons.I prefer to give donations of gifts to handicaps , however sometime street performance also give but seldom because i guess people in my place don give to street performance.Maybe those who can perforamce can apply for more reguarly work while those handicap has no choise.

What an interesting topic! I find myself giving to buskers when I admire the music they play or something. For beggars, I would tend to observe more clearly and I would only give to those handicapped. Others who are able bodied I usually are more suspicious and tend not to give.