The Boots Theory

"I'm too poor to buy cheap things" is an old wisdom. It's famously illustrated in Terry Pratchett's book "Men at Arms" where the story goes like this:

A poor man buys boots for $10. They're good enough to last for a season or two, but then they're worn out and start to leak. Meanwhile, a wealthy man buys a pair of $50 boots. Those will still be in good shape after 10 years. The end result is that the man who always buys those cheap boots will easily end up spending twice as much money as the wealthy man, and would still have wet feet.

This is called the Sam Vimes "Boots" Theory of Socioeconomic Unfairness.

Paradoxically, life is in many ways more expensive for those with lower income. Those with money can afford to buy in bulk, and so end up paying less per unit. Banking fees are lower (or free) if you have enough money, while exceeding one's balance incurs costly "insufficient funds" fees. Borrowing money is more costly if your income is low.

Housing costs tend to be higher for tenants than for homeowners. All kinds of maintenance costs are higher for those with lower income: living in an old house or driving an old clunker means something always needs fixing. If you can afford preventative maintenance, it's going to be much cheaper than dealing with a catastrophe; not only for the things you own but your health too.

Speaking of which, fresh food is more expensive than processed crap. Prescribed medicine can only help if you can afford buying it. Exercise, or having a hobby of any kind, usually costs money. Private healthcare is way out of your reach.

Being broke will severely limit your options. If you don't have a car (or a driving license, for that matter) many jobs are unavailable to you. Living in an old house? Good luck trying to sell it in order to move to an area with better job opportunities.

Time is money and public transportation is usually the slower option. Sitting in the waiting room at a public healthcare facility can take the whole day. Using laundromats instead of your own washing machine takes more time (and costs more money).

All of it takes a toll on your energy and mental and physical health. Not having enough of anything for the things you need means you live in a constant state of stress.

And yet, still we keep hearing the same message from influential, well-off people such as Riikka Purra, Björn Wahlroos and Juhana Vartiainen, who are placing the blame for our poor economic situation on our low-income residents. They're constantly accused of being lazy abusers of our social security system who are getting paid for doing nothing.

I think that's a lot coming from people who are living such privileged lives, either off the taxpayer's dime with next to zero living expenses, or getting richer by the day by means of undertaxed passive income. Instead of trying to create more opportunities for people to improve their lives, they are constantly using their positions of power to do the exact opposite.

For such highly educated people, it's remarkable how they don't seem to have the foggiest idea what they are talking about.