5 ms·

But it's not everything. Goods are a pretty small part of a typical budget (rent, healthcare, food, and transport) are almost all of most low income budgets. A

But it's not everything. Goods are a pretty small part of a typical budget (rent, healthcare, food, and transport) are almost all of most low income budgets. And most goods aren't like quality workboots. You can a steak knife at walmart for nearly free. Or you buy some expensive one. Sure the later is better, but you'll never have to replace the walmart one. It's not going to break. You can go buy clothing at goodwill. It's not going to last appreciably longer than new clothes bought at H&M.

steveklabnik 11y ago
I don't think that it maps nearly as cleanly as you'd think. For example, my family didn't have rent: we had a farm. Well, it wasn't until after my childhood that we paid the land off, so we had rent in that sense, but not as it relates to the actual housing, which was a single-wide trailer. Couldn't afford a double-wide. The roof of the trailer starts leaking? Same deal, trailers are not exactly known for being quality housing. Water pump breaks? Need a new one, or you don't have running water. Healthcare? One of my medications as a child went from prescription to OTC, and we could no longer afford it, so I couldn't get it anymore. Wasn't life-threatening or anything, but shit happens. Food? Bad food is cheaper than good food, there's a reason Whole Foods is nicknamed Whole Paycheck. Living in a rural area made it easier on us personally, but for a family living in a city, it'd work that way. Transport? You can't afford a good car, so it breaks down more often, exact same as the boots. And so on, and so on...
- rhino369 11y ago
  You are no longer arguing that being poor is more expensive, but rather that living is expensive and the poor can't afford it. I certainly agree.
  - steveklabnik 11y ago
    I am not, but I doubt we'll come to an agreement, so let's stop here. :) The semantics aren't really that important, frankly.
- uremog 11y ago
  Just to add, really poor people can't afford to shop for sales. Right now, I have all kinds of stuff that will never go bad and I can use eventually, that I bought on sale (paper goods, soap, etc), sitting in my basement. And I haven't bought rice not-on-sale in forever, because I can afford to find a sale and buy a bunch at once.

steveklabnik 11y ago

I don't think that it maps nearly as cleanly as you'd think. For example, my family didn't have rent: we had a farm. Well, it wasn't until after my childhood that we paid the land off, so we had rent in that sense, but not as it relates to the actual housing, which was a single-wide trailer. Couldn't afford a double-wide. The roof of the trailer starts leaking? Same deal, trailers are not exactly known for being quality housing. Water pump breaks? Need a new one, or you don't have running water. Healthcare? One of my medications as a child went from prescription to OTC, and we could no longer afford it, so I couldn't get it anymore. Wasn't life-threatening or anything, but shit happens. Food? Bad food is cheaper than good food, there's a reason Whole Foods is nicknamed Whole Paycheck. Living in a rural area made it easier on us personally, but for a family living in a city, it'd work that way. Transport? You can't afford a good car, so it breaks down more often, exact same as the boots. And so on, and so on...

rhino369 11y ago
You are no longer arguing that being poor is more expensive, but rather that living is expensive and the poor can't afford it. I certainly agree.
- steveklabnik 11y ago
  I am not, but I doubt we'll come to an agreement, so let's stop here. :) The semantics aren't really that important, frankly.
uremog 11y ago
Just to add, really poor people can't afford to shop for sales. Right now, I have all kinds of stuff that will never go bad and I can use eventually, that I bought on sale (paper goods, soap, etc), sitting in my basement. And I haven't bought rice not-on-sale in forever, because I can afford to find a sale and buy a bunch at once.