Joni Ernst's bread bag story sounds like its supposed to be about poverty, but since it's just about preserving your shoes it actually has no connection. Clearly every family wanted to do the same thing, whatever it really was.

Let me tell you about poverty and shoes.

When I'm doing well, I stock up on things, mostly food. But currently, I'm deep in debt and am putting off buying new shoes. I would have bought some in October, and even that was a wait; I was putting up with a pair of sneakers that started to fall apart within a month of buying them and are now unfit for wearing in wet weather. So for winter, I've switched to my spare pair, which are a semi-business style and seem to be holding together despite being from the same store and the same manufacturer. I wouldn't normally wear this pair because the tops aren't as high and my socks can get a little wet above the shoes.