What About the Poor? Boston Globe Urges Liberal Readers to Splurge With Tax Refund on Thousand-Dollar Shoes

April 15th, 2010 1:44 PM

The Boston Globe is a proudly liberal newspaper. So it’s a little stunning for their staff writers Christopher Muther and Hayley Kaufman to suggest that tax refunds are best spent on conspicuous consumption. They suggested “you may want to put any windfall toward your credit card bill,” but they didn’t suggest liberal Globe readers redistribute their refund income to the poor in the inner cities, in Appalachia, or in earthquake-stricken Haiti. They suggested people drop a grand on looking “like a demi-goddess” in thousand-dollar shoes.

Muther and Kaufman began: “It's not exactly found money, but the tax refund that may eventually surface in your mailbox gives you a prime opportunity to indulge in those long-delayed purchases, such as the pair of shoes that have been whispering your name, or the fragrance that has been winking at you from across the cosmetics counter.” Many items on their list were under $100, but then there were these:

Clash of the Titans'' has nothing on these. Look like a demi-goddess in the Quartz Patent Leather gladiator bootie, from Jimmy Choo, $995.

Now that spring is here, you'll need chic specs for your al fresco adventures. These will have you looking like a star. Develay sunglasses in emberwood, from Paul Smith, $255.

The Globe even could have suggested that their liberal readers show their patriotism by ripping up their refund check for deficit reduction.

Then again, the Globe writers do think a little like Michelle Obama when it comes to shoes and the poor

(HT: Brian Maloney)