Do the hard working poor have a chance?
Barbara Ehrenreich decided to try and find out. She moved from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, taking jobs as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, nursing-home aide, and Wal-Mart salesperson paying $6 to $7 and hour. It was impossible to pay for housing and eat on this salary. Let’s do the math $7x40hrs=$280 a week, which equals $1,120 a month before taxes.
Nickel and Dimed reveals the difficult lifestyle of the people who struggle constantly in order to have the basic need of food and shelter, the blindness and the arrogance of those of us who have not experienced it and the continuing growth of our socioeconomic divide.
This book is a real eye opener.
I have to admit I often forget how fortunate I am and it's intentional. Sometime I have to stop myself to remind myself the person who is serving me at some local eatery probably was up since 7AM, been on his/her feet for 8 hours or more just making $7.50 an hour. I'd be a bet unhappy too.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good read, not too depressing and the author is honest what she experience was only an experiment; she couldn't possible imagine how it really would feel to be those living on the poverty line.