Bailing Out Greece & Other Beggars Is a Bad Idea

One of the most distressing aspects of global travel is surely to get into certain Asian cities and be accosted by a virtual cacophony of beggars at every traffic light. Some of the worst such concentrations can be found in India and especially in the commercial capital of Mumbai (Bombay). As one's senses - sight, smell and hearing - are accosted by the armies of mangled human forms each more dastardly than the other (see Slumdog communists, Asia Times Online, February 14, 2009), the most obvious question is how this happens in an otherwise modern and even forward-looking civilization.