Weird? It's one of the constant positions on poverty since the dawn of civilization -- from christianity and buddhism (the original, not the watered down California style) to bohemianism, communism and so on. Including the "proud, hardworking people" in most rural communities, etc.
But a lot of people had tons of money and got rid of them to be poor(er) and win some kind of freedom or normalcy that was important for them. Some did it directly, some did it through drugs, alcohol and extreme spending that showed that they didn't value the money at all.
I know a couple of people from rich families that ended up as austere monks, living in a monastery in my country. And people like Witgenstein (huge fortune, left it behind), Burroughs (of the "adding machine" family), etc.
Not paying taxes into NSA surveillance/military state or any whatever exploitive capitalism as other collared proles. Some people are far too busy than to concern themselves with financial vanity and the distractions that follow it.
Teeming masses of slum youth with linux netbooks must be high on the list of Fort Meade's threat matrix.
* You're free to do whatever you want, but I don't think that embracing poverty is a good solution to the NSA or the MIC. Mass poverty means that the government controls everybody's means of survival (foodstamps, healthcare, etc) which equals total political control. I think that creating business solutions and voluntary organizations that oppose these things is a more viable path, and having money helps with that. Start up a secure email webservice. Startup a charity organization that can help bring relief and attention to innocent civilians being bombed or harmed by governments.
* Your stance on capitalism being exploitative is a logical contradiction. A voluntary transaction can only occur in a market when both sides of a trade value what they are getting more than what they are giving up.
* What we have today as an economic system is not capitalism - governments dictate the winners and losers in the marketplace and those companies with the best lobbyists always win rather than the companies who create the most value for customers.
* You don't need to be a collared prole, to use your terminology. Software is all free and open source now. Start a business with some friends and live an alternative lifestyle to being a 9-5 corporate man. That's what a lot of people here currently do or are working towards.
* Not being poor doesn't automatically equate to financial vanity.
EDIT: I reread it twice and laughed each time. This is literally the funniest serious comment I've seen on Hacker News in weeks.
EDIT2: Yes, I thought it was funny enough to make this comment, and no I'm not being sarcastic at all.