You are spot on about so many places with hiring signs out....just in the past couple of days Ive seen three or four of those.  And you're exactly right about them not wanting to be told what to do or have to commit to anything.  And I don't want to unnecessarily pick on Houston but he's being trotted out as someone who's down on his luck, to the point of a "clever" photo under the don't panhandle sign...he actually looks like he's in pretty good shape and he has a phone, what's stopping him from going into one of the fast food joints and getting hired?  Nothing that I can see....maybe there's more to the story but if he can do "any kind of work" the jobs are out there for the taking.