What people struggle with is that large parts of America live in what I guess you could call "hood post-scarcity"

We try to live like we're post-scarcity, even though most of us are a single misfortune away from bankruptcy and are aware and frequently reminded of this fact https://twitter.com/dbaten3/status/1317937725807484929

So, people try to spoil themselves where they can, because a single one of those misfortunes is far more devastating than the price of some "luxury" item like an AR-15 or Prada bag. That money isn't gonna cover even a fraction of your unexpected medical bill or whatever

Conversely, the basics of survival are relatively cheap. So you're left in a situation where you could save up money, but nowhere near enough to cover the cost of misfortunes. Hence, people prefer to spoil themselves, because a misfortune happening is an economic KO either way

Hence you have "welfare queens" who are otherwise broke but flex their AR-15 or Prada bag. The rate at which people can realistically save money is grossly insufficient compared to the cost of things that cause bankruptcy, and if you're fucked either way why not treat yourself

Because that's what was mentioned in the original post I quoted, but yes

People take hefty but ultimately affordable for most ticket items like guns, designer fashion, consoles etc (disingenuously) as a signifier of wealth so they can dismiss squalor https://twitter.com/PerfectGonads/status/1320109483926917123?s=19