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I’ve had a variety of financial ups and downs, and worked with clients with very little money too. I can say with certainty that this is not only a terrible take, but the idea that poor folks with apparent “luxuries” means they’re grifting the system is incredibly cruel. THREAD. https://twitter.com/mrose1965/status/1340432088722501633
First, let’s pretend that the idiotic concept that a $40 cake is somehow “exorbitant” is in any way fair (which it absolutely is not!) and that a person should make their own cake to save money. The OP fails to take into account the value of time vs. cash. 2/17
To save $15, the OP suggests buying ingredients and baking your own cake. Having baked a few cakes in my time, I can tell you that this process can take a couple of hours, which frequently aren’t available for someone who may work several jobs and have children. 3/17
More to the point, having represented folks whose landlords may have been...problematic, they might not have a working oven or gas to bake for themselves, even if they had the ability, tools, ingredients, etc., which might be a greater cost than a single cake. 4/17
Second, “luxuries” like a $40 cake may not only be their only option to give their child, friend, family, or even just themselves a happy birthday, it may also bring them a small degree of normalcy while they’re financially stressed out. 5/17
When I had very little money, holidays were incredibly stressful...not being able to buy gifts for people during a time when everyone is expected to give can utterly wreck a persons sense of self-worth - especially if you’ve had to borrow from those same people to get by. 6/17
Third, the myth that all poor folks should be wearing sackcloth, eating thin turnip soup, and looking like the pictures of dustbowl victims is insanely out of date and destructive. 7/17
The face of poverty has changed over the years...I have worked with houseless people who put all their limited means into having a phone for their own protection, and impoverished families who dress their kids in designer clothes they got from the Goodwill/Salvation Army. 8/17
This person may have eaten ramen for a month to save for this expense, especially if it’s a gift for someone they love...or they may have decided to be late on a bill so they could give their child a happy birthday...9/17
Or maybe they just wanted to do one thing to feel good about themselves during a time when they have little means to do so and decided that this would be their splurge...and this leads to my final point... 10/17
The mental health effects of poverty are well documented and awful. So-called deaths of despair, involving self-destructive behavior, suicide, or other harms are much higher among those who have less. 11/17
A person deciding to treat themselves, even if they can’t afford much, is something we should celebrate and something we should enable. A person choosing to make a holiday or occasion special with what limited means they have is a good thing! 12/17
We live in one of the wealthiest nations on earth and this is our horrible discourse...the question *should* be “how do we help folks so that they can earn enough to not need government help?” instead of “how could someone on government aid buy a comparative luxury?” 13/17
By judging those trying to get by for the purchase of *any* small thing that falls outside of our outdated concept of “appropriate poverty”, we only increase the problem. 14/17
If the OP had any care to spare for whoever this mythical cake-and-crab-purchasing person is, they’d be asking instead how we could help folks in their situation earn enough where they wouldn’t NEED government assistance to afford small luxuries like this. 15/17
Instead of judging those who have little for their purchases, we should be judging those who have everything and refuse to pay living wages. Instead of chastising a person using an EBT card to buy cake, we should be screaming at billionaires who get tax breaks for yachts. 16/17
TL;DR - people on government aid deserve small “luxuries” if they want to, and judging them for such a purchase is ignorant and ugly. Either step up and try to help fix the system, or shut your damn mouth about what kind of cake is appropriate for poor folks to buy. END. 17/17
