Forget iPhones, this is the level of animosity Fox News has towards poor

[meadowlander]

27. Also most people don't spend their whole lives poor.

They have good times and setbacks.

I have a fridge because it came with my apartment. I don't actually own it. And before I was poor, I bought small appliances (horror of horrors!) If I pawned them used, I would get maybe $50 for the lot (microwave, rice cooker, slow cooker, breadmaker, and electric kettle). Where can I get health care for those $50?

And when you have basically nothing, every little thing you do have that makes your life easier increases in value exponentially. My small kitchen appliances have all more than paid for themselves because I cook all my meals at home instead of eating out.

For example, my breadmaker cost $200. Every time I use it, I save $2 a loaf. I use it every week. It paid for itself in 2 years and is still going strong at 5 years. So I'm actually $312 ahead on it. If I pawned it for $10, it would only be five weeks before the cost of now having to buy all my bread ate away at of the profit I made by selling it.

If I make six servings of soup in a $40 slow cooker and the ingredients cost $5, I only have to do that twice before the slow cooker has paid for itself compared with the cost of having 6 meals at a fast food joint at $5 a meal.

Likewise, having the microwave so it is easy to reheat leftovers without dirtying even more pots and pans that I have to wash by hand because I can't afford a dishwasher means that I cook at home more often instead of eating out.

And all of those things mean I eat healthier and am less likely to need health care.

Republicans pay lip service to being frugal and "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps" but this is how poor people actually do it. They gather and hang on to the tools that save them money and make their lives easier. The fact that they have them doesn't mean that they aren't poor and struggling. It just means that they aren't destitute.