Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich

I finally got a copy of this from the library. It's a fascinating story and good read. BUT it's annoying to read something so one-sided. Politically, I'm a bit left of center, but reading this brings out the rightist in me, just like reading a Wall Street Journal editorial brings out the leftist in me.

She did three one-month stints in low-wage, full-time jobs: waitress in a cheap restaurant, house cleaner and nursing home aide, and Wal-Mart clerk. The house cleaner job, for example, pays $7 an hour from a house-cleaning company. Free lancers can charge $15 an hour, and the company charges $25 an hour. But she never tries to free-lance nor digs into why her co-workers don't do so, or start their own company (the barriers to entry are low). The question that keeps coming up to me is: why don't these workers apply for a better job? The author claims they are just as smart and hard-working as anyone.

Plus she goes on and on about the cost of an apartment. But almost all of her fellow workers live in shared housing, with room mates or family. She never checks out the room mate wanted ads. Still, the stories are fascinating and the exploitation of poor people is sad, especially in regard to health care. Our country is the only rich country in the world without universal health care.