The bums and beggars of Paris

I would use the French name for "bums", (le clochard or la clocharde).
Not all of them are beggars (mendiants).

We live in an upscale area of Paris, our broader quartier is bound
by the Blvds Raspail and Montparnasse and Vaugirad and the rue
de Sevres. The principle axis of our area is the rue de Cherche Midi
which is crossed by the rue de St. Placide. In this area we
have one homeless man, Arnaud and a woman, Yvette. They have
been around for years and never ask for money.

Arnaud does get
free meals from local cafés (he has to eat outside, he stinks)
now and then. Sometimes he heats a can of stuff over a can-fire.
One can has a conversation with him, he has some mental problem
which caused him to be pensioned off by the postal service.
Yvette is worse off, psychotic and believes rats are eating her
insides. I think she has been successfully getting medication
over the last couple of years. Yvette hangs out mostly on the
rue de Mayet. Arnaud roams around, when he is here.
Neither are drunks. She is taken care of by locals also.

Arnaud's toughest times are in the winters, since he finds a
doorway and wraps himself up in plastic. The city would kindly
house him in the foyer located at Nanterre, but it appears that
he likes the independence of life on the streets. I have never seen the
police roust him. If it gets real cold he heads off to Nanterre and comes
back, much cleaner, after the cold snap. The city has social workers in
trucks who collect the homeless, get them into sheltered are if the
temperature drops to freezing.

The quartier also has visiting beggars who want money. One stands at the
door way of the local post office on the rue Dupin and sells homeless
magazines. One Arab woman, heavy set, has been around for years. She no
longer brings a baby with her, this has been cracked down on by authorities.
The current visiting beggars appear to be foreigners, lots of Romanians in
town and they have a habit of whining and following you own the street with
a chant, ³Monsieur, si vous plait² repeated several times. Poor technique,
it irritates people. Some people do adopt a beggar, the most generous seem
to be the old Parisians. One man I always gave money to on the rue St.
Placide has not been around for a while. One older man, with his dog, use to
stake out a place across from big post office on rue de Sevres. He (like
Arnaud) made the TV news now and then.. The news said he collected about 200
francs a day in a couple of hours and headed back to his cabin next to the
Seine. One TV report had him celebrating New Years Eve with a friend,
opening a bottle of champagne.

The incoming foreign beggars don`t know the game. One game is to get a dog
or cat, just sit the and some old Parisian will give you a euro or two. The
dog or cat works. There are other gimmicks. I once saw a man who sat in a
wheel chair to beg. Once I saw him at the end of the day pushing is wheel
chair down the street, his work day was over. The most successful beggars
don`t beg, the money comes to them.

Earl

On 13/04/04 12:25, in article pofn7017j2tukmi8c38rq4qq3ovtkd3m56@,
"Mxsmanic" <mxsmanic@m> wrote:

> More often, I hear them saying "excuse me, do you speak English," to
> which I reply "no, not a word, sorry." Apparently since I dress
> unconventionally and almost always carry a camera, they assume I'm an
> American tourist. When I take people on tours I give them specific
> instructions on how to blow off these beggars. Many of them appear to
> be minors. They all seem to wear scarves on their heads (which does not
> necessarily mean they are Muslims), with flowery printed skirts, cheap
> gold or silver lamé slippers, and dark socks. They are quite
> troublesome.

I wear a Breton fishing cap, and probably come out looking Breton generally,
except when I have an American sweat shirt on. I rarely am taken for
American in any case, my French has been changing accent over the years
with something different now than early American.

I do play the same when approached of never understanding any language!
The best technique is to continue walking on, they give up in a few steps.

> For a while, they disappeared, and I assumed that the city had finally
> cracked down on them. Now they are back, although not quite as bad as
> before. But they are legion in the Latin Quarter.

I warn friends. The pickpocket types try to get into back packs
(why people wear these I don`t know, they are extremely vulnerable)

Gare du Nord had a lot of thieves at one time. The police do work hard
on these people and they change the game constantly.

>> The incoming foreign beggars don`t know the game.
>
> They use the methods of Third-World countries, which are too aggressive
> and distasteful for Europe.
>
>> There are other gimmicks. I once saw a man who sat in a
>> wheel chair to beg. Once I saw him at the end of the day pushing is wheel
>> chair down the street, his work day was over.
>
> It has been that way for centuries. Remember the Cour des Miracles, in
> the garment district? (It is now a nondescript and well-hidden
> intersection of tiny streets.)

Paris remains a moveable feast even for the predators.

Earl

What panhandling technique do you prefer when Earl walks by? Has he
ever donated any American social security money to your plight?

Tim K

"Mxsmanic" <mxsmanic@m> wrote in message
news:qvao70ptr2sb08j4160nace200b3doak0b@...
> Earl Evleth writes:
>
> > I wear a Breton fishing cap, and probably come out looking
> > Breton generally, except when I have an American sweat shirt
> > on.
>
> I suspect I've seen you, and you've probably seen me.
>
> --
> Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me
directly.

On 13/04/04 20:26, in article
khWec.6048$l75.4671@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.n et, "Tim Kroesen"
<tkroesen@> wrote:

> What panhandling technique do you prefer when Earl walks by? Has he
> ever donated any American social security money to your plight?


Timmy, in what direction are you trying to drag this posting sequence?

You are into non-sequiturs, social security and all.

Are you off your medication again??

Earl

Just wondering who's paying for the little pills that cure your French
socialist ills Earl...<g> The republique! OK...

But I wonder why you won't comment on who pays for the rest of your
foreign lifestyle as you sit in judgment of my (and your former)
country...

Are you really afraid you and your cronies here won't be able to just
rationalize the facts away as usual? Nothing whatsoever crazy about
asking you the question either. I have a right to know where my tax
dollars are going you know; the same right to comment on how they are
being spent too...<g>

Damn you BTW for using the same tactics you claim to eschew.

Tim K

"Earl Evleth" <evleth@wanadoo.fr> wrote in message
news:BCA2138B.2EB83%evleth@wanadoo.fr...
> On 13/04/04 20:26, in article
> khWec.6048$l75.4671@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.n et, "Tim Kroesen"
> <tkroesen@> wrote:
>
> > What panhandling technique do you prefer when Earl walks by? Has he
> > ever donated any American social security money to your plight?
>
>
> Timmy, in what direction are you trying to drag this posting sequence?
>
> You are into non-sequiturs, social security and all.
>
> Are you off your medication again??
>
> Earl
>

On 13/04/04 23:12, in article
QIYec.6245$l75.1913@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.n et, "Tim Kroesen"
<tkroesen@> wrote:

> Just wondering who's paying for the little pills that cure your French
> socialist ills Earl...<g> The republique! OK...

You wonder a lot of things but unfortunately show little capacity to learn.

At this point in time, I have no medical problems but have a monthly
medicine intake of about $30-40, completely covered (100%).
Although retired people pay nothing directly for their medical insurance
here there is a generalized tax on all income for the health
system. My input into that system exceeds my take out, so, so far
the system is still making money on me. This can change at any moment
and indeed my wife will have a cataract operation next week. What
that will cost I don¹t know.

So as usual, Timmy, you got it all wrong. I am neither a bum or a beggar
in this system. My sum total payment into the system over the years
were enormous and we took out nothing. I would prefer it remained
that way.

> But I wonder why you won't comment on who pays for the rest of your
> foreign lifestyle as you sit in judgment of my (and your former)
> country...

I thought, over the years, I have covered all of this. I do get a
French civil service pension. I also stated that American social security
payments, in my case, represent at most 10% of my total income.
We have investment income etc, like most people we have mixed
sources of income.

Timmy, we live more and more in a global economy, this also laps over
on retirement incomes. Some people have a variety of income, I am one of
them. Fortunately I have never had to seek help from a social service,
I have never been unemployed in my post student life period, I have never
been fired or laid off. I have had a good career, nothing to complain
about there. And I have been luckier than most.

> Are you really afraid you and your cronies here won't be able to just
> rationalize the facts away as usual? Nothing whatsoever crazy about
> asking you the question either. I have a right to know where my tax
> dollars are going you know; the same right to comment on how they are
> being spent too...<g>

Then you will be happy to know that our tax contribution to the USA
has far exceeded any removal! In fact you can considered yourself
subsidized by me! Having never been on welfare, tell me how it is?

But why all this obsession with me? I don`t think my situation should
bug you that much. Do you really lose sleep over my having two
nationalities and paying two sets of taxes.

Earl

Dans l'article <1f8593bc.0404131522.25549555@com >,
Xentinc@ (PJ O'Donovan) a écrit :


> My hunch is the demeanor combined with the attire of the "victim" may
> be a contributing factor to their "victimization" becoming a "target"
> for this "spillage" scheme.

Of course. These thieves always look for weak looking people. Of course
some people don't have a choice about how they look. The victim in the case
mentioned here, whom we know personally, has not had the good luck to have
your size and build. He has a rare hereditary metabolic disease, and is
lucky to be alive at all. His disease has caused him to be nearly blind.
He is also over 70. His "demeanor" is not his fault. And the worst of it
is that this particular victimization happened right in the building where
he lives. When the weather is very cold, the front door does not always
quite latch, and this guy, with his poor eyesight, did not realize it had
happened.

I don't think it's very nice to blame the victim.

Donna Evleth

On 15/04/04 0:17, in article 1081981055.342679@irys.nyx.net, "Bill Moore"
<bmoore@blackhole.nyx.net> wrote:

>> So you finally declare that *70%* of your income as American SS...
>
> He said 10%. Not that it matters. Uh, are you obsessed?


He does have a "thing". I would be interested in how Tim came up
with 70%.

If it were 70% I would be reporting on myself on the topic "The bums and
beggars of Paris".

I did mention Arnaud our local bum, is was a defrocked French postal worker
who had, nevertheless, some sort of pension.

Another feature of French legal life is that one can not disinherit one`s
children. One man we know in prison, a lifer (probably murder) nevertheless
got his inheritance, even though his siblings put up a legal fight. So
he gets regular checks in prison which makes his life a bit softer.

At least some bums are also in this position.

The one's I have empathy for are the younger ones sitting around drunk
inside some metro stations or outside in some areas. The congregate
with one another. But the young ought to have a future and very little

Yesterday I passed a "gypsy" woman holding a baby, begging. That is suppose
to have been eliminated since they authorities will remove the children
from their parents care, at least for a while, if caught begging with
children.


Earl

On 15/04/04 1:40, in article
DZjfc.8342$zj3.655@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.ne t, "Tim Kroesen"
<tkroesen@> wrote:

> That he collects *any* SS while just announcing we're chumps in the US
> to pay SS tax proves just as well Earls usual anti-US double speak...

You must have misread something else too. I support the US social security
system and on a go around with PJ argued that other alternatives are Pied
Piper plans (401Ks etc). You may have mistaken my comments on the Pied
Piper plans in my challenge of the term Ponzi game.

The American SS system is financed up until 2040 and while originally
designed to be a "pay as you go" system did accumulate a reserve fund.
Some tried to misrepresent that that fund as not really existing, but is
does, in the form of US bonds and does have an interest income off of that.

Like all the public retirement plans in the industrial countries
there is a big demographic problem of an ageing populations. How
this coming crisis will be handled I don't know but the US system
has the most advance warning of any.

Likewise, the public retirement plans have a safety net character, many
retired people have other contributions to their income. But not all.

Lastly the US SS has reduced poverty rates of the over 65 group from
over 30% in the 1950s to below 10% now. That demonstrates some social
success. A privatized system will lead to some people not being supported
in their old age. We see now in the US a number of older people in
trouble because they went into variable annuity plans which are paying
out zilch now. Equities pay low dividends and so those dependent on
a steady flow of monthly checks from than source or bonds have seen
their incomes drop. The social security keeps paying and corrects
its payments inflation wise. It is a good performer but as I mentioned
in my case not a big deal.

Earl

Hmm, I manage, even at my costs for water to keep the vegetation green
here!
--
wf.

Earl Evleth wrote:
>
> ?? Something got garbled here. About 10% of our income is American SS.
> Thankfully, I could not live on that alone!
>
> Earl