Buying clothes is not what makes people poor.
Depending on your financial situation and the clothes you're buying, it is most certainly a factor.
If poor people didn't buy hats they wouldn't all of a sudden be rich.
I agree entirely. Obtaining wealth is a proactive endeavor, not a reactive one.
You are completely ignoring the larger socio-economic reality of their situation.
There is a huge socio-economic factor that is incredibly complex, but this particular situation I am commenting on is a contributing factor. More than that, it's an obvious indicator due to the nature of being a physical item, rather than a social construct.
If your thesis was correct, only people that bought new hats would be poor.
This is not my entire thesis. You're extrapolating ~35 pages of my thesis on allocation of resources by the impoverished. The other ~115 pages discuses socio-economic factors and outside pressures.
Therefore, there are outside factors acting on the poor, and what they buy has nothing to do with their economic situation.
Yes there are outside factors, but what they choose to buy is also a factor. To say it is nothing is incredibly ignorant and just wrong. Wrong on the level of denying evolution. Group purchasing power is extremely influential on the economic system of any state. The housing crisis was due to purchases that couldn't be afforded by a particular group. Would you say it has nothing to do with their purchases because of outside forces?
This is a chicken and the egg scenario that you have completely backwards. Even based on your logic, a person would have to be poor first, and then waste their money on a hat. We should probably analyze the factors that created the poverty in the first place rather than blame someone for their own poverty because they bought a piece of clothing.
Again, there are socio-economic factors at play, but the end user also has a say in their economic situation. Research the Asian American financial situation of the 1960's-1970's. They were able to escape disparate discrimination due to a cultural shift within their community. They took advantages of programs setup to help them, instead of abusing them.
Additionally, why shouldn't poor people be allowed to buy hats? Clearly they are alive, so they have bought food and have shelter. If they have money left over for a hat, why can't they buy it? Is that 30 dollars going to completely solve their economic situation?
Absolutely that money is essential! After their monthly expenses, for your average impoverished American, a $30 article of clothing can constitute 10-25% of your remaining monthly income. I would hope any purchase that expensive would be an investment to escape poverty. They are welcome to buy a hat, but that's not how I would spend my money in such a situation.
Additionally, who said anything about poor people? How do you know the guy in the video is below the poverty line? Not all black people are poor.
There is a reason I used terms such as "many" instead of "all". Such fashion trends began in impoverished communities and still thrive in impoverished communities. Statistically speaking, what I say may be insensitive, but it's not false