I will ignore how incredibly insulting this is to millions of minimum-wage earners, and simply point out that it’s hard to call someone “stupid” when their opportunities for education are sub-par. It’s evident from your comment that you didn’t read the book (or you would know Ehrenreich wasn’t “steered” towards waitressing, she applied for the position), but I would recommend that you read it, and also Jonathan Kozol’s “Savage Inequalities”, to get a better impression of what the choices facing poor Americans are really like.

People have choices, but those choices are often highly constrained. Some immigrants do exceptionally well, but many – more than those immigrant success stories recognize – do not (another book that deals with the “model minority/immigrant” myth is Frank Wu’s “Yellow). Those that succeed often do so because they are already well-educated and have a large support network, which isn’t the case for many poor native-born Americans.

In general, I would suggest that you refrain from condemning an entire group of people without detailed knowledge of their situation, either first-hand or from research. It makes you look not only callous, but ignorant – something you accuse working-poor Americans of being (although you used a far more insulting word). I’d like to see how easily you would be able to get some training and get a better job if you were working 80 hours a week (with hours that changed routinely) just to barely scrape by.

I seem to also remember something in the section about waitressing where Ehrenreich kept applying for hotel room-cleaning jobs but being steered towards the waitressing because she is white and speaks unaccented English. I don’t recall whether the $ was better in waitressing or cleaning hotel rooms, but it was still interesting to note the “steering” of certain demographics towards specific jobs, even when they expressed interest in other jobs.

I tend to think these issues are never black and white. I think there are plenty of people at or below poverty level who are there because of bad choices, and plenty more there because of bad luck, or flaws in “the system.”

As far as your perceptions on the book, well, we definitely disagree. I don’t think she was playing on upper-class and middle-class guilt; I think she was point out an issue that is (unfortunately, still) invisible to many people.

@Michael–the people in the book spent a lot of money, but not because they “partied,” it actually costs a lot more to be poor. No first, last, and security? Then a more expensive weekly rental for you! And this rental is nowhere near a decent grocery store and/or there is no fridge/freezer space for food, so yes, there’s money spent on convenience food.

Given the fact that she was writing about the effects of welfare reform (and a lot of people who need public assistance have kids), the situation gets untenable.

@Ginny–ITA. I’m pretty frugal, but I still tire of the special snowflakeness of people who bleat about how they made such great choices and therefore, everyone who is poor obviously deserves it. How’s the weather up there on privilege mountain, people? Jeez.

>>the places she worked at targeted working class, student, and lower middle class diners, meaning that the tips were low and some of the patrons were quite demanding.

I personally did not like the book very much at all, either. I think there are much better books about poverty and the low-wage labor market.

I’ll grant you it was well written– good thing, too. It was far more useful as poetry than financial insight.

It grated on me, too, because the author nearly completely focuses on people trying to live life working one or more low paying, low skill jobs. Like someone once said- life’s tough, but it’s tougher if you’re stupid. The author treads very lightly on the consequences of poor choices and seems focuses heavily on blaming ‘the system’ aka the shining becon of economic success that is America. Yes, there are flaws, but on the whole individuals in this country are largely responsible for their own success, or failure.

Paul Strauss
Founder & President, Windy City Round Table