Tiffany K. (tiffanyak) - , reviewed on 9/8/2010 + 215 more book reviews

For anyone who thinks that it's possible to live on a minimum wage, let alone live in any sort of comfort, this book should be required reading. It honestly explores the struggles gone through by millions of people every day: Trying to find housing they can afford, and still manage to afford other essentials like food; trying to deal with severe medical problems with no insurance and no extra money to spare; attempting to secure some sort of help in a desperate state to allow you to eat; and trying to eke out some sort of real life on minimum wage. The minimum wage in this country is absolutely pathetic when combined with our poor amount of resources used to truly help the poor (particularly compared to other countries, such as much of Western Europe). Housing costs are high, while the minimum wage is not rising remotely fast enough in comparison. Forget dinners out, trips to movies, or even renting a DVD for an evening's entertainment. It's all far out of your budget. Instead, try to imagine scraping together pennies to try to come up with the money for your housing, and still possibly not having enough for even the cheapest place. So, what do you do? Get another job? Even if you can find one that fits your schedule, how many hours can you really keep going in a day? Then, add in the most basic expenses of food, essential travel, and such, and you're basically already out of money before that's even covered, with nothing to spare for emergencies or even to cover a day of missed work due to illness. Barbara Ehrenreich does a great job in this book of taking us into a world many of us have never seen, but which millions struggle in every day. A world of four people in a room, counting every penny, and working until you collapse, then getting up and getting back to work because you can't afford not to. A world where internet access or cable TV at home are luxuries that can only be dreamed of, because even a $7 Wal-Mart t-shirt is too expensive. A world where a single medical bill, or other unexpected critical expense, can literally tip you immediately over the line between just getting by and homelessness. A world that, if more of us were truly aware of it, could perhaps be changed. I highly recommend this book.

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