Why?

You don't have to walk far in Mexico city to see their evident poverty problem first hand.
It seems like every single street is lined with ubiquitous, plastic cup toting people begging for money. Often it's a woman with children, or an entire family, sometimes even a child alone. The begging has an almost organised feel, with people evenly spaced down every busy street.

I don't know what the statistics are regarding Mexico City's poor, nor the exact situation of these unfortunate people, but adding to the feeling of organisation are those who sit throughout the city playing the accordian. They are everywhere, and whilst it could technically be classed as 'busking' there's a clear air of desperation from those involved.

I'm not sure how there are so many skilled accordian players around the city, sometimes the cumbersome instrument is even wielded by a very small child - yet no less expertly played.
Maybe the accordians are some kind of government initiative, to make the begging more palatable for tourists (or indeed the general public). Or perhaps they have to be rented, with someone in charge taking a cut of the money. Or could there simply a lot of skilled musicians in Mexico? I wish that were the answer but somehow I doubt it.

Rightly or wrongly, I felt like a terrible person taking the picture above, deliberately choosing a 'busker' to try and convince myself it wasn't as bad.
I originally tried to take a shot secretly from over the road, but the woman soon spotted me, with the small girl then running into the road and holding out her empty paper cup.
I approached and placed some money inside, doing my best to make the girl laugh - then felt genuinely dirty as I took the above picture with my $300 camera.

You can find some statistics regarding world poverty here. They are uneasy reading that will make you wonder how humanity has got it so terribly (and seemingly irrevocably) wrong.