Hi Matt.
The sense I get in this is one of self-loathing. The “we” narrator seems to be deliberately exaggerating their nature in a way to draw others contempt. They even go so far as to indulge the others’ conspiracy theories, ie not only are “we” fat, lazy & ungrateful, “we” are secretly planning on how much more we can squeeze out of the system and hard-working folks’ pockets. “We” therefore deserve a one-way trip to the showers. Painful & disturbing.
“Purloin” (L12) is an interesting choice of words. For me it has a sense of the grandiose and ridiculous. But I note that the dictionary defines it as “to appropriate wrongfully and often by a breach of trust” which makes sense in this poem’s context.
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