re: #9 Obdicut

A well-made piece of new-clothing can last longer and be a better economic deal for the family than a second-hand one.

This is typical GOP stupidity. It’s cruel and doesn’t even make economic sense.

Actually, a really high-quality piece of second-hand clothing is generally a better investment than a cheap item from Target. It’s how I always shop for myself. But that’s not the point. What matters here is saying to already marginalized kids and teen-agers, who are so vulnerable to these things, “You can wear your classmates’ cast-offs. That’s good enough for you. You can’t buy this year’s fashions.”

To be fair (which I find difficult on this subject!) I figure that this Michigan guy has never had kids, or has never clothes-shopped for them, and doesn’t realize that new clothing today is seriously cheap compared to his own childhood. He hasn’t put two and two together on those “jobs shipped overseas” and the price of jeans at Target. Americans purchase huge amounts of new clothing, compared to the past and to the rest of the world today, because it is so relatively inexpensive.