The pirate panhandler at the 7th ave. B/Q station...

I doubt it. some people are career panhandlers.

haha this guy is great.

he isnt homeless. One day he told me he had to go home and take care of his mom soon. I was like....wtf.

also I like panhandlers more than bankers and hedge funders when it comes to people leaching off others.

Hedge funds are pure evil.

Bankers are OK in my book.

Hedge funds are typically open only to a limited range of professional or wealthy investors. This provides them with an exemption in many jurisdictions from regulations governing short selling, derivative contracts, leverage, fee structures and the liquidity of interests in the fund.

In addition to being unregulated, these financial institutions also reap substantial benefits from special tax provisions that, like the regulatory framework, are no longer appropriate. The professional fund managers of these hedge funds and private equity firms are allowed to treat a substantial portion of their compensation as capital gains, meaning they are most likely taxed at 15% rather than the 35% rate that applies to ordinary income such as wages and salary. Such an exemption, however, makes little sense: in economic terms, the fund managers (also known as investment advisors) perform a professional service, much like lawyers or doctors, and receive remuneration for their labor.

Furthermore, the majority of hedge funds are offshore accounts to avoid taxes.

Pure evil in my book.

Nice copy and paste. These are just investors who are using the existing tax codes and laws to their advantage as much as they can. That is what everyone does - including me when I do my taxes. If I have an option of one way I can declare something and pay $5000 in taxes, or another way to declare it and pay $1000, and both are legal, I'm going to choose the cheaper option of course.

If anything, you can blame the politicians for not closing up the loopholes. A lot of them are investors in the hedge funds themselves.

willregistersoon wrote: Nice copy and paste.

http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/pm120/

Maybe he just has a similar writing style.

...the above would be sarcasm.

so why are we mad at this pirate guy?

he is just asking people for money and they're giving it to him.

so what if he has nice sneakers.

willregistersoon wrote: Nice copy and paste. These are just investors who are using the existing tax codes and laws to their advantage as much as they can. That is what everyone does - including me when I do my taxes. If I have an option of one way I can declare something and pay $5000 in taxes, or another way to declare it and pay $1000, and both are legal, I'm going to choose the cheaper option of course.

If anything, you can blame the politicians for not closing up the loopholes. A lot of them are investors in the hedge funds themselves.

I'm not sure I buy this argument...You neglect to mention that the financial industry is one of the largest lobby groups, who spread lots of money around Washington and various state capitals to make sure these "special" tax rules are in place...To extend your analogy, if I could spend an additional $1000 on lobbying and political fundraising to get the rules changed to permit savings of $3000, I'd do it...

Anyway, back to the guy outside the B/Q station...

He has a cell phone too. On occasion I've seen him duck around the corner and use it.

MeredithB wrote: Hedge funds are typically open only to a limited range of professional or wealthy investors. This provides them with an exemption in many jurisdictions from regulations governing short selling, derivative contracts, leverage, fee structures and the liquidity of interests in the fund.

In addition to being unregulated, these financial institutions also reap substantial benefits from special tax provisions that, like the regulatory framework, are no longer appropriate. The professional fund managers of these hedge funds and private equity firms are allowed to treat a substantial portion of their compensation as capital gains, meaning they are most likely taxed at 15% rather than the 35% rate that applies to ordinary income such as wages and salary. Such an exemption, however, makes little sense: in economic terms, the fund managers (also known as investment advisors) perform a professional service, much like lawyers or doctors, and receive remuneration for their labor.

Furthermore, the majority of hedge funds are offshore accounts to avoid taxes.

Pure evil in my book.

Go MeredithB!

Wait, isn't it fair (or at least "darwinist") to take a sucker's money?

I support the panhandlers in my neighborhood.

There is one guy who tells me if the train is coming. He doesn't even ask for money but I give him some, not sure why, but he takes it and is very polite to everyone.

Oh ... I forgot that there is a guy in my building and he's always asking if you have a few dollars or some smokes. It makes me crazy because he's been in the building for a million years and his rent is like $300.

People .... stop asking for money. We dont want to give it to you. And stop getting pissed when we dont.

A woman (the usual, "I'm broke, my family is in a shelter, I lost my temp job, please give, God bless you.") on the N train panhandling one morning actually chastised the entire car because no one gave her anything. She told us that she ALWAYS gives to poor people. Which kinda confused me.

Niner wrote: He has a cell phone too. On occasion I've seen him duck around the corner and use it.

He's probably calling his fund manager