One thing that gave me hope recently is seeing Jack Monroe campaigning for the Vimes index. I wont try and word it as well as the man himself[1]:
> “The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money, Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of okay for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles. But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.”
And to some extent, people focus on the economics, but I think it's just as important to point out - how good would your day be if you had wet feet.
[1]Monroe is a female poverty campaigner who does fantastic work, the Vimes index is based on Terry Pratchett's fiction, endorsed by his estate.
> “The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money, Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of okay for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles. But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.”
And to some extent, people focus on the economics, but I think it's just as important to point out - how good would your day be if you had wet feet.
[1]Monroe is a female poverty campaigner who does fantastic work, the Vimes index is based on Terry Pratchett's fiction, endorsed by his estate.