Aussie PM a cheapskate?

You'd think Melbourne would be like Salt Lake City and end homelessness. Should Australian PM Malcolm Turbull given more money to a homeless man, given anything, or was it just a cynical photo op?

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/20/w...bate-on-best-way-to-help-homeless-people.html

 

900 dollaradoos would've been appropriate.

 

Couldn't it have been just a purely human moment? If anything, even if he's aware of the cameras, it's a good thing for a PM to be exemplifying a spirit of generosity and empathy. He said his feeling was, "There but for the grace of God go I." That's exactly the way I feel when I see these tormented souls all over the streets of Manhattan.

I get a feeling of despair, too. How do you begin to solve this? You can't give money to every homeless person you see, right? There's one guy, though, just one, to whom I give a dollar every morning on the way to my office. He sits outside the Bank of China on the NW corner of 48th and Madison.

Am I solving anything? Am I just making myself feel a little better about myself? Should I just ignore him and go get my avocado BLT at the deli?