Why do poor people make stupid, illogical decisions to buy status symbols?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/31/13 at 11:01am

Is Elisabetch Hasselblech right? SHOULD you be allowed to have air conditioning if you're on food stamps? WHY should a poor be allowed to make the bad decision to buy expensive sneakers made buy child slaves in the developing world?


For the same reason all but only the most wealthy buy status symbols, I suppose.

Updated On: 10/31/13 at 11:01 AM

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 10/31/13 at 11:27am

That's a great blog article. The way she describes the way her mother dressed, carried herself and generally dealt with her business sounds an awful lot like my mother.

It's unfortunate that most, if not all of what she describes still goes on today.

But her final paragraph really hit the home run for me:

You have no idea what you would do if you were poor until you are poor.And not intermittently poor or formerly not-poor, but born poor, expected to be poor and treated by bureaucracies, gatekeepers and well-meaning respectability authorities as inherently poor. Then, and only then, will you understand the relative value of a ridiculous status symbol to someone who intuits that they cannot afford to not have it.

[FindingNamo]

#3Why do poor people make stupid, illogical decisions to buy status symbols?

Posted: 10/31/13 at 11:29am

Does a person HAVE to have empathy for others in order to understand this?

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 10/31/13 at 11:30am

I think logic and common sense would suffice.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/31/13 at 11:32am

Does a person who gets all Elisabetch on issues like this spend a long time building up their emotional walls until they are impenetrable, or might they be able to read something like this and find themselves responding with just a little more compassion than they usually do?

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 10/31/13 at 11:35am

Those kind of people live within the confines of those walls and can't (or don't) want to know, understand or see anything beyond them.

My answer is no.

[Kad]

Posted: 10/31/13 at 11:44am

I read this yesterday. A really, really insightful piece.

Naturally, those right-leaning folks who depend on their gut feelings of what "seems" wrong and what "seems" right will find a lot to argue against in this.

[suestorm]

Posted: 10/31/13 at 12:27pm

i think its important to treat yourself no matter what your status. even more so i would think if youre poor. to cheer yourself up. such as going to a movie, show, dinner.

but some things are just "stupid and illogical" like a panhandler with an Iphone, or buying 200$ sneakers or an expensive car when you have trouble paying the rent or feeding your family. theres really no excuse

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/31/13 at 12:39pm

Once Ronald Reagan became president and told the country that it was okay to be selfish and to only look out for themselves, it shouldn't come as a surprise to me that people today have no understanding of the concept of walking a mile in somebody else's shoes. But the success of American selfishness hinges on the self-absorbed judging others. Some sad pathetic people will never, ever learn.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 10/31/13 at 1:15pm

"I think logic and common sense would suffice."

Well, there's your problem, right there.

Posted: 10/31/13 at 2:11pm

And Reagan sold that philosophy with endless stories about welfare queens driving their Cadillac to get their welfare checks.

[Brian07663NJ]

Posted: 10/31/13 at 2:22pm

"years ago"....when I had my first job in high school at a supermarket...the people on food stamps were taking WADS of them out of their pockets and buying "better" food items than the people using cash. Instead of using coupons, buying items on sale and average items (chicken, hamburger, etc) they were buying full price shrimp, lobster and top quality steak.

On the other hand - it was awesome when a "Coupon Queen" (as we called them) would come to our register. She would pull up with 3 fully loaded shopping carts and almost every item had a non-expired coupon. The real "pros" would buy the items with both the store and manufacturer coupons too! Loved it when the total cost for them was hardly a few dollars!

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 10/31/13 at 3:09pm

"On the other hand - it was awesome when a "Coupon Queen" (as we called them) would come to our register. She would pull up with 3 fully loaded shopping carts and almost every item had a non-expired coupon. The real "pros" would buy the items with both the store and manufacturer coupons too! Loved it when the total cost for them was hardly a few dollars!"

I cry bullsh!t on this. I never met a cashier who thought it was "awesome" to have to deal with all those coupons. Once upon a time, I was a coupon queen. I was never met with my fistful of coupons with anything but annoyance and attitude. I've also been on food stamps, and never (as far as I can tell) was judged for it.

I've also been the cashier, and would vastly prefer dealing with the food stamps than the coupons - but hey, good for them either way.

[suestorm]

Posted: 10/31/13 at 3:31pm

So you were judged for taking the time to clip and give coupons but not for having food stamps? That is bizarre

Updated On: 10/31/13 at 03:31 PM

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 10/31/13 at 3:42pm

I never said I was judged at all, only that cashiers expressed annoyance when I used coupons. When I came with food stamps it was simply business as usual. Not much difference between food stamps and cash (back in my day) or a present day debit card to a cashier.

Coupons are more work.

Updated On: 10/31/13 at 03:42 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/31/13 at 3:44pm

Did you have air conditioning when you used food stamps? Did you waste your food stamps on junk food? Or did you blow them on good quality food? Because here in Amerika, we'll criticize you either way.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 10/31/13 at 3:45pm

It is a pain in the ass, plus it's a hassle for people waiting behind you. Like anything, it can be taken to an extreme.

[Kad]

Posted: 10/31/13 at 3:49pm

Coupons are almost always a hassle and time consuming to process, and they are typically rarely handed over at an appropriate time in the transaction.

Posted: 10/31/13 at 4:09pm

You guys have given me an idea for a new series!

EXTREME FOODSTAMPERS premiering in May on TLC!

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 10/31/13 at 4:18pm

"Did you have air conditioning when you used food stamps? Did you waste your food stamps on junk food? Or did you blow them on good quality food? "

Lol, Namo! Actually, no, I didn't have a/c, but that's largely a personal preference of mine, plus it is expensive, and I'm not a fan of junk food - but if I wanted to spend my food stamps on microgreens, steak and Himalayan Pink Salt, by God, I did! I just bought a lot of brown rice, beans and quinoa for the rest of the month.

"You guys have given me an idea for a new series!

EXTREME FOODSTAMPERS premiering in May on TLC"

Ya wanna drive a cashier completely insane? Buy all of my shopping list above, using coupons, and paying with food stamps (something else I actually did).

PS: Kad, I always presented my coupons at the appropriate time, and tried to not have more than half a dozen. Mazel tov on your engagement, btw. May you never need food stamps OR coupons!

[Addison D.]

Posted: 10/31/13 at 8:01pm

"Does a person HAVE to have empathy for others in order to understand this?"

Empathy helps. Unfortunately, empathy also leaves one vulnerable to an awareness of the shocking levels of poverty and need all around us. Even worse, empathy may also lead one to question the abundance in one's own life. Once this process starts, it makes it harder to enjoy one's own gluttonous excess.

Much better to decide that poverty is the fault of the poor. Or at the very least the result of a kind of Darwinian or--even better!--divine selection process. We are rich because we are Good. Then we can enjoy our abundance without any of that yucky guilt or sense of obligation.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/1/13 at 12:49am

Oh my god, Addison, you just nailed the worst trolls on this site to the cross, like their purported faith leader, Jesus of Nazareth, who would summarily reject them for their selfishness and lack of compassion for the poor.

[suestorm]

Posted: 11/1/13 at 8:02am

It is possible to have empathy and contributing to charity while also asking what got tgat person in that situation. Its not always "the man s" . Believe it or not it is sometimes the fault of the person who didn't work hard or take school seriously.


Maybe its time the story of the grasshopper and the ant was made into a movie for those who never read or learned from it.

[Addison D.]

Posted: 11/1/13 at 8:31am

^^^^ Your use the word "charity", your reliance on a simple, moralistic explanation for poverty--"They should work HARDER!"--and your willingness to use the word "fault" so quickly in a discussion about poverty suggests to me that--at best--you are able to muster 'sympathy' for the poor, which is a few letters but a world of meaning away from 'empathy'.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/1/13 at 8:39am

Oh Addison, I love you.