Inquiring Minds ...

This is a serious question, and I really am asking for opinions.

• What is your reaction to seeing someone purchase an expensive, luxury (think lobster or organic asparagus) food item using nutritional benefits like SNAP or WIC? 

• What is your reaction to seeing someone living in a luxury apartment complex for the winter and then traveling to their "summer home" in a million suburban home near Boston? 

• Do we have the right or responsibility to decide for others how to spend the money they have at their disposal?

Why or Why not?

=====================================

My question stems from a couple of interactions I've had recently, namely:

• an instagram thread in which the OP lambasted an individual featured in an NPR interview for purchasiing a $2000 custom advent calendar.  In this OP's opinion, someone who has that kind of money to spend should purchase a cheaper calendar and then give some portion remaining to the charitable organization of his/her choice.
• an individual who said someone using WIC benefits should not buy the more expensive raspberries, but rather the larger, less expensive container of strawberries.  Both items are approved with their benefits. 

The per capita income for the United States in just under $40,000, which is around $15,000 less than the per capita income for a person living in Southern Maine (York County, specifically).

Maine has the oldest population in the country with a median age of 44.9 years.  The poverty rate in S. Maine is 4.9% and most of those are senior citizens.  

I also work across the street from a luxury hotel where the rooms go for over $500/night with a two night minimum stay.  People who stay there for the weekend are spending more than some people in my community see in a month.

The instagrammer would, obviously, feel like that was excessive.  In her opinion (at least based on her commentary on Threads), no one has the right to purchase luxury items for themselves when people (like her) live in a converted shed with no kitchen, or worse, sleep on the park bench outside the City Hall entrance (which I've seen).

But there are plenty of people on the flip-sde of that argument, too.

There are plenty of people who might consider the instagrammer entitled, because she has some item that they feel is a luxury item, which she purchased using public money, which she received after an arduous application process.

Or even if she doesn't use her limited funds to buy a new pair of Birkenstocks (which are a great investment, but look out for that price tag!), if she's receiving any public aid, there will definitely be a long line of people who will scrutinize every purchase she makes and often will find her guilty of the same thing of which she has accused the calendar purchaser - making selfish decisions she is not entitled to make.  If we don't have enough, we shouldn't have nice things, but if we have too much, we should give our excess to those who don't have enough.  

Personally, I could not care less what other people spend their money on - even when that money originates in the public coffers.  I don't care.  

Honestly, I don't care.  

I don't even care if the money they're spending is a $5 bill I put in their hands as I walked by with my cup of coffee.  I don't care. 

And if they, like Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates, own three homes and a yacht that has more rooms than my house, great.  More power to 'em.

If it were MY money, I would make different choices, but it's not, and so I not only don't care, I can't, because it's not my place to tell other people what to do with what they have. 

What do you think?  Let's chat about it.