<p>Actually the most effective thing I’ve ever heard was throwing a wallet at a person and then stealing the catcher’s “baby”.</p>
<p>like baby as in hot chick as in kidnapping? sure, if you’re into stealing people and selling them overseas in an illegal attempt at piracy and slavery. Arrrr</p>
<p>Why doesn’t the police make them go away… It’s not safe to have so many hobos around a place that gets so much foot traffic each day. Us poor students.</p>
<p>@Batman> I haven’t seen the ‘baby trick’ played in the U.S. but I saw it in Europe. I’m probably going to Hades for this one, but it was attempted on me this summer. I was walking down O’Connell Street in Dublin (the main drag) and a gypsy woman tried to push her child into my arms. I refused to accept it (I read Rick Steves’ books and know about this scam). She gave me a look like she couldn’t believe that I would let her drop her baby. She swore at me in some Eastern European language and moved on.</p>
<p>It’s the economy. Talk to some of those homeless people some time. Many are college grads. Some went to Cal. They are mostly just down on their luck. Some day, you could be one of them.</p>
<p>Food Not Bombs is one of the groups providing lunches. You might want to volunteer with them or start your own volunteer group to help feed and house the homeless.</p>
<p>if you went to Cal than you should be reasonably intelligent enough to find shelter and get a decent job someplace. the problem is if you’re also mentally ill than being a college grad doesn’t help much does it</p>
<p>There are former Berkeley students living in People’s Park. Go there and check it out. California has the highest unemployment rate in the U.S. The other night, CNN announced that the actual national rate is above 17%. They normally don’t calculate people who didn’t find a job before their unemployment ran out.</p>
<p>Buy the hobos a happy meal. I am sure some of them will appreciate it.</p>