Nickel and Dimed
by Barbara Ehrenreich
I just finished this book, which was a best seller several years ago (written in early 2000's). I had heard a lot about it, and had some serious reservations about what she did. Turned out while reading it that my reservations were totally warranted, but misplaced. She was very honest about how she 'cheated' in her experiment, but I still think there was much wrong with this experiment, book, and the
assumptions concluded. However, it was mostly an interesting story to
read, as long as you took it more as a historical fiction versus journalism,
and she did get to a very interesting point in the very last paragraphs of the
book:
"...No one ever said that you could work hard – harder even than
you ever thought possible – and still find yourself sinking ever deeper in
poverty and debt."When poor single mothers had the option of remaining out of the labor force on welfare, the middle and upper middle class tended to view them with a certain impatience, if not disgust. The welfare poor were excoriated for their laziness, their persistence in reproducing in unfavorable circumstances, their presumed addictions, and above all for their “dependency.” Here they were, content to live off “government handouts” instead of seeking “self-sufficiency,” like everyone else, through a job. They needed to get their act together, learn how to wind an alarm clock, get out there and get to work. But now that government has largely withdrawn its “handouts,” now that the overwhelming majority of the poor are out there toiling in Wal-Mart or Wendy’s -- well, what are we to think of them? Disapproval and condescension no longer apply, so what outlook makes sense?
"Guilt, you may be thinking warily. Isn’t that what we’re supposed to feel? But guilt doesn’t go anywhere near far enough; the appropriate emotion is shame – shame at our own dependency, in this case, on the underpaid labor of others. When someone works for less pay than she can live on – when, for example, she goes hungry so that you can eat more cheaply and conveniently – then she has made a great sacrifice for you, she has made you a gift of some part of her abilities, her health, and her life. The “working poor,” as they are approvingly termed, are in fact the major philanthropists of our society. They neglect their own children so that the children of others will be cared for; they live in substandard housing so that the other homes will be shiny and perfect; they endure privation so that inflation will be low and stock prices high. To be a member of the working poor is to be an anonymous donor, a nameless benefactor, to everyone else. As Gail, one of my restaurant coworkers put it, "you give and you give."
"Someday, of course- and I will make no predictions as to exactly when – they are bound to tire of getting so little in return and to demand to be paid what they’re worth. There’ll be a lot of anger when that day comes, and strikes and disruption. But the sky will not fall, and we will all be better off for it in the end."
Her last statement reminds me of the Good Earth, in speaking about revolution that happens ‘when the rich are too rich or
the poor are too poor.’ Did we see the fulfillment of this profecy with the Occupy movements? Did they not
gain enough steam because of complacency from the majority of the 99%? Could it be because our measure of poverty in the USA is 20 times higher than that of the
world’s? Or is it because although our democracy works slow, it works fast
enough to ward off revolution? Thoughts?
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posted by jjs @ 12:08 AM
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