Yes, poor people have color TVs

[Lydia Leftcoast]

3. Right-wingers love to say that poor people aren't poor due to

1) Having refrigerators and stoves (In most places, landlords are required by law to provide refrigerators and stoves)
2) Having air conditioning (Most poor people live in apartments, and driving around Minneapolis, I see that public housing and every apartment building that is standing up straight has at least window units)
3) Having DVD players (Maybe the right-winger bought his when they were $500, but they cost $30 now, and getting a movie from Redbox makes for cheap entertainment)
4) Having cars (In most parts of the U.S., public transit is lousy, so if you want poor people to work, they need cars)
5) Having cell phones (You can get a pre-paid phone for as little as $10 a month--much cheaper than a landline--and even a free smart phone if you're willing to accept a model that's two years old or so, and smart phones are desirable to have, since they give you access to the Internet without a computer.)

Another favorite sneer is that America's poor people would be considered rich in the Third World. Well, yes, if you could live on a U.S. poverty wage and pay Third World prices, you would seem rich. But poor Americans have to pay American prices.

Then there's the "I saw someone buying steak with his EBT card."

And this bothers them because...well, I've found it's news to them that if someone really were dumb enough to blow his EBT allowance on steak, he would NOT be eligible for any more funds till the next month, so it makes no difference to the taxpayers if Joe Blow spends his EBT allowance on steak and lobster or on beans and rice.

And anyway, how do you know that Joe Blow didn't finally find a job and is buying steak to celebrate?

These are the same people, by the way, who say that we don't have the right to tell rich people what to do with their money. But poor people...no, they need some middle-class scold to keep them from enjoying life too much.