This is also why I can't stand Republican approaches to medicaid and food stamps and all that shit, they are so obsessed with taking away slack from the destitute.
A long time ago, I don't even remember what social media I saw this on, but I saw somebody talking about how they grew up really poor, but had gotten a good job, and how incredible it felt the first time they bought a book because they felt like buying a book.
Because there are a lot of people out there who are going to overdraw their checking account if they spend that $8 on a paperback without carefully looking over their budget.
And I can relate to that. I cannot tell you how much it improved my mental health when I got to the point where I could buy a latte or a paperback and not have to worry that I had completely destroyed my budget for the next month.
I know at least one person who spends as much money as she gets without realizing it, but when I got the freedom to buy a latte if I felt like it?
It got easier not to buy lattes. Because it was my choice, because I could think about putting the money away as savings, not as a choice, and because I knew I could change my mind later, the decision seemed less momentous.
I mean, can you imagine if people sometimes shopped less because of a direct material need, and more as a psychological effort to exert control over their lives?
Why, if that were the case, things like restricting what you can buy with food stamps might actually be counterproductive. But fortunately we live in a world where all economic activity is rational attempts to meet material needs, so that's not a problem.
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