Spare change, please?

We're on the eve of Christmas, and everyone is bustling around downtown, laden with shopping bags. Few seem to stop and offer spare change to the panhandlers on the streets. Some of these poor souls are fixtures, who claim a particular spot on the sidewalk and wait there day in and day out, in every season. But we're also seeing new faces among the panhandlers these days, and is it any wonder? Layoffs are spreading throughout the economy and hitting people hard. [more]