Nickel and Dimed is a journalist expose by Barbara Eherenreich into to the world of the working poor. I’ve been meaning to read the book for over 4 years now. It’s sat at my desk at work for nearly three of those years, even making the move to the new office. It was first recommended by the bookstore clerk who rung up my purchase of Fast Food Nation, a similarly but somewhat more broadly veined book which I liked quite a bit. I only got around to reading Nickel and Dimed this past vacation as I sat 11 hours in the back of economy, traveling alone.
I’ll acknowledge, I read Nickel and Dimed with the intention of picking it apart. I have tendencies to read most journalistic treaties on topic of money with the eyes and teeth of an attack dog. My reaction to Nickel and Dimed ended up being a magnified version of my reaction to the Millionaire Next Door. They are written with the same intent on proving only what they want to prove despite allegations of being objective. Politically they are at opposite ends of the spectrum, but in practice they speak with a similar voice.

Foremost Nickel and Dimed reminded me how lucky I am, and how easy my own life is. A grueling 12 hours (which I rarely do) at my desk job is far easier than pulling two server shifts at any restaurant. My legs are not tired when I crawl into my warm bed in a spacious apartment in a nice part of town, an apartment that I would never be able to afford if I earned anything near minimum wage or even twice as much.
My biggest problem with Nickel and Dimed is not that I think it’s inaccurate. It’s not, but rather Barbara Eherenreich approaches the whole exercise without any intention examining what the working poor can do to lift themselves out of poverty, but merely to pay a visit to what is without argument or contention a wretched existence. Barbara succeeds best when she tells the story of her coworkers and their struggles and forced when she betrays her determination to fail.

The biggest flaw with her exercise is that she only stays in any one town for a month. By being at one place for such a short period time, it’s impossible to do anything but to live in relative poverty as a wage slave. Nobody rises from minimum wage to a better life in a month’s time. If she wanted to make that conclusion, she could’ve made it without a single day spent cleaning toilets, or serving tourists. While $7 an hour is enormous amount of money in some countries, in the U.S. $7/hour translates to about $14,000 a year. That’s hardly enough to live on which Barbara clearly demonstrates.

The thing is - it’s not supposed to be easy. Being uneducated and unskilled is not a way to go about life. The fact is for many individuals who are struggling to make ends meet are paying the price for poor choices made earlier in life. The mistakes were made in the teens, 20s and 30s. I’m not unsympathetic to the plight. I find it unconscionable that in this great nation of ours that not every citizen is covered by some type of health plan. Nor do I believe that one needs to pay the price forever for poor choice or poor luck. I do believe its society’s responsibility to lend a helping hand to those who have fallen on hard times. But in the end I’m a fervent believer there needs to be a sense of personal responsibility and some consequence to a life led less well.

Another problem with Barbara is her attitude. She has very much an “Us vs. Them Attitude.” I don’t like that attitude amongst conservatives, and I don’t like it amongst liberals. The rich are all idle, and poorly read. Management is always out of touch and heartless. She mocks the employees who cross over to management. She effectively mocks success. Nor do I find her attitude to those who are struggling to get by much better. In her attempts to paint a bleaker picture of what life is like on less than $8 an hour, she comes off as both patronizing and condescending. I’m sympathetic to the desire to illustrate how being poor is nothing that any of us want given that sometimes we as society overly romanticize the “simple” life. However she does not need to mock whatever achievements individuals do make. Her implicit presumption is also that those toiling away will not, and are not capable of making a better life for themselves. While certainly not easy, I know it’s possible to climb the economic ladder. Immigrants to the U.S. do it every generation.

The funny thing is once she finishes chronicling her adventures as wage slave, and gets down to “objectively” detailing the problems in her epilogue, I can’t say I disagree with most of her points.

  • Housing – I do believe there is currently a dearth of affordable housing, especially in many urban area. It galls me that many apartments in New York often serve as nothing more than a hotel room for the affluent while low wage workers trek hours from less desirable areas come to clean and cook for the rich.
  • Childcare – Rising rates of single parenthood, and two income households has created a crisis in adequate childcare.
  • Healthcare – I’ve always felt that adequate healthcare insurance should be distinct from employment. This is not to say it’s as easy as the government providing it. It’s not.  The topic is complicated, but I do believe the current system needs to be adjusted.
  • Uneconomic Behavior/Education – Barbara understands many individuals who are making minimum wage or near it do not make economically rational decisions. Like Barbara, I’m not ready to fault these individuals for such behavior out of hand. It’s easy for people who’ve had more education and better circumstances to pooh pooh poor decisions. So many decisions in life are based on experience and circumstance. Psychology has a much greater role in decision making than just rational thinking.

Given that I don’t disagree in the end all that much with Barbara, you would think that I would’ve enjoyed and agreed with the book more. However, I had a hard time getting past her antagonistic attitude. Being a successful is not a bad thing, and should not something anyone should feel guilty about.