I feel like the author addresses most of your points well with his comparison of a survival line vs a crisis line. But re the "people in poverty don't have" a

I feel like the author addresses most of your points well with his comparison of a survival line vs a crisis line. But re the "people in poverty don't have" a few caveats, in comparison to the 60s, "public" transportation is generally of lower availability and higher priced, single earner households were the norm, and housing was cheaper (addressed). And while <$100k is pointed to as the line of dimished marginal benefits, in the context of the US median household income being $66k is an indictment of a broken system.