Atlanta's New Panhandling Law - Bad Karma or Good Practice?

It always starts with the same two words..."Hey man." It never starts any other way. Ever. Night or day, Atlanta or Seattle. Same beginning. It's like there is some giant, centralized school that trains people on how to pander for money. How else would they know to all start the same way? So, I'm walking down the road yesterday and this guy walks up and says it, "Hey man." I didn't even have to look up, I knew what was coming next. Note: this part of the conversation has some variation, but it usually goes something like this: "Let me ask you somethin' or 'You won't believe what happened to me'" or something like that. Well, when I was younger, I would always give them whatever was in my pocket. I always figured...I have change, they need change, no problem, I will give them my change. I never once felt bad for giving away the change in my pocket. I never thought about the consequences. It only mattered that someone asked something of me and I was able to help. Well, I'm older now and maybe more cynical. I think differently now. I work really hard for that change. It's not my parents' change that they gave me to go have fun with anymore. I pound out the 9-5 Monday through Friday only to get hacked to death with taxes on everything I do (Please see the Fair Tax Book link below - yea Fair Tax Book). Anyway, everywhere I look, people have their arms outstretched. At some point, you have to just say no...right? Well, I didn't give the guy my change and was even kind of a jerk about it. This really made me feel bad. I felt like I was becoming this stingy old white, male, business guy, Repuiblican (actually more like Libertarian but that doesn't quite fit the stereotype). I am all for helping those that need help and increasing the good karma in the world, but does it actually benefit anyone to give a panhandler change? I don't think so. I may feel like a jerk, but I really don't think this helps. On the most basic level, reinforcing helpless behavior makes a person more likely to repeat that behavior. It removes their locus of self-control and shifts it away from themselves and rests it on society. It makes a person less likely to take any intiative to improve their situation. It doesn't mean that these people don't need help or that we don't all have a duty to protect those among us, especially the poor and the needy. But our duty is not to remove any sense of self. Simply giving money is not in their best long term interest. That being said, I also believe in capitalism. I know this is a strange twist on this analysis but hear me out. People should be able to make money how they see fit as long as it doesn't harming anyone else. That being said, there are occasions where panhandlers make it very uncomfortable for me to walk down the street with my wife. I worry about her safety and some agressive guy getting up in her face and demanding that she empty her pockets for him. So I'm very torn by this. Agressively demanding change is robbery. If my wife was walking down the street and a guy demanded that she give him something, I would have no problem using force. That's just wrong, and I would look to the local government to protect her right to walk down the street free from intimidation or fear. However, a street performer with a hat on the ground that you could put change in, no problem. I actually like that. I wish we had more of that. Saxophone is cool, and who knows the blues better than someone who plays their instrument to eat? So I'm looking for some feedback here. What do you think? Is Atlanta's new panhandling law a good idea - protecting the innocent people of our city from intimidation or is it making criminals out of the people that really just need help? M