[truthtechnician]

Parents. Savings. Welfare. Thrift.

The article's point is that for many poor people getting a shitty job that only pays enough for rent and food is pointless when you can get rent or food from your parents, or from welfare, or by thrift alone.

[carbocation]

You can't spend via thrift. Welfare, yes. Parents' gifts would be income if properly accounted for. It seems unlikely that these people have savings sufficient to support such expenditures.

My point is that these people have income equivalents that are being elided in this discussion, to its detriment.