Book: Nickel and Dimed: on (Not) Getting By in America
Author: Barbara Ehrenreich
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company, LLC (May 2001)
Reviewed by Marc Pezzell 12/7/02

Nickel and Dimed both entertained and disturbed me, with much more on the latter.  In this book, the author deliberately places herself in the position of the working poor, taking jobs that aren't fit for a slave to earn money not fit for anyone over the age of 12.  The best way to find out what a certain life would be like is to walk in the shoes of one who lives it.  She temporarily altered her entire life, so that she could work the jobs, live in the accommodations, and eat the food, or lack thereof, of one who would clearly live below the poverty line.

Although there were obvious differences between her and one who really does live this life, with no way out, the situations she placed herself in gave at least a taste of what life is like for a significant percentage of the American work force.  I can forgive any non- scientific analysis Ms. Ehrenreich made of the various situations she became involved with.  She did, after all, confess to this in various forms right from the beginning.

What struck home the hardest is that here, in the United States of America, the "land of the free", an unacceptably large percentage of people live below the poverty line.  Even for those who may live above it, there is still poverty, even if the federal government doesn't acknowledge it.  For all of these people, the wages that they earn are insufficient to obtain life's basic necessities.  Everything costs money, your shelter so you can rest and go to your job, your clothes so you can go to your job, your food so that you can survive to go to your job, to earn the money needed to pay for your clothes, your shelter, and buy your food, so that you can go to your job.

The madness goes on.  I haven't even mentioned the costs of the car yet.  This is the infernal machine that so often needed to go to your job, so that you can earn money, to pay for your car, your food, etc.  The costs that go into this car include gas, insurance, maintenance, etc.  I don't actually remember the author mentioning these details about the cost of the automobile, except for the cost of time and energy, both emotional and physical, in commuting to work.  If I am mistaken about this, I apologize to Ms. Ehrenreich.

Thus, the title, Nickel and Dimed is appropriate.  This is especially true when you add in so many of life's other, often unmentioned necessities.  The author states just how something as simple as cooking utensils or needed medication can be out of the price range of the working poor.  It puts in perspective what most of us take for granted.  To extrapolate on this, one could conceivably cut a finger, not find a band aid, then go out to the store to buy the cheapest package of bandages available, which may cost a few dollars, and have to sacrifice an entire meal to pay for it.  There are many critics out there who would say "bah" at the plight of the working poor.  They often say things like "If they really had a mind to solve their problems, they would find a way."  Sure, I suppose one could come up with a radical solution to solve their problems, such as cramming four or five grown adults into a one room apartment to save on rent.  Since when, however, is that an acceptable arrangement for a human being to exist?

Over the past several decades, we've created a society of cheap consumerism, a cheap economy, cheap cities, cheap buildings, and cheap lives.  In order to drive this system, we need cheap labor.  Those corporate profits don't come from a genie in the bottle. Large numbers of workers work for almost nothing, because they have no choice, so that a three piece suit executive can buy his Mercedes and buy his second home in Hawaii.

Don't even get me started on the workers "employed" overseas and the environmental crimes being committed there. The difference between the haves and have-nots has only grown as time passes.  The rich and the poor have become more and more disconnected with each other.  Drawing some references from the book, one of many results of this disconnection is that the rich, and also the middle class, are often oblivious as to what amount of sweat and heartache went into their nicely polished hotel rooms, their neatly arranged retail stores, their clean homes, or their food being brought to their restaurant table.  This is not a wise system, for many reasons, and cannot last forever. Unless we change, something is going to snap.

So what can be done?  We could raise the minimum wage to a "living wage" level.  That would help and I believe that it definitely should be done.  A wage of $10.00 per hour would be an improvement.  $12.00 per hour would be more like it.

There are other concerns, however.  One wonders how many companies would buckle under the stress of increasing the wages of their workers to this level.  So many of them, especially the big chains, such as Wal-Mart, depend upon that narrow profit margin of theirs, so that they can build more stores, to employ more workers, and expand some more.  Take that away and many companies might either close down shop, move operations overseas or, God forbid, change their practices to be more conducive to humane treatment of their workers or to take the wind out of the consumer-driven economy and replace it with one that supports local economies and local communities, and not be so obsessed with expansion for its own sake.

A word of caution here.  Just in case companies have a mind to take their operations out of the country, and we already know that many are capable of it, some kind of law must be passed to penalize those that do.  I know many will complain of the constraint to free enterprise and profit, but there are more important, deeper concerns here.

One is keeping U.S. jobs within U.S. borders.  Not only will this provide employment for many who have none, but will give the American worker a competitive edge when selling their services to a potential employer.  The more jobs that are available, the more employers will have to compete with each other to attract workers, because the worker to job ratio will be better for the worker.  This competition would include better wages, better benefits, better treatment and working conditions, and better job security.  So, yes.  Definitely raise the minimum wage to a "living wage", but also put mechanisms in place to nip any potential problems in the bud and to maximize the overall effect of providing more jobs and better paying jobs.

Another word here.  What if some of the larger employers close down shop because they can't afford to pay their workers a living wage?  We could possibly revert back to a nation of local economies and jobs could return to many destitute communities across the U.S.  It's become a part of our national literature when we hear about another urban neighborhood or small-town "mom and pop" store or small business being put out of operation because a large chain store opened up in the area with cheap products, made and sold by cheap labor and housed in a cheap building.  

Would returning to the small "mom and pop" business economy be so bad?  I think not.  Many hype up that these large chains provide jobs.  Well, what about the jobs that they destroyed?  Consider also that an economy that is locally based is cheaper to run.  The cost of transporting food and other goods would be less if it doesn't have to travel as far.  I admit that if these large chains suffer, our economy might suffer in the short term.  I, however, would consider it to be a type of growing pain.  It would force us to get our act together and we, and our economy, will be much stronger and more stable in the long run. I'll spare any readers my tirade about our economy's and the large company and corporate chains' dependence on cheap fuel to maintain their nationwide, or worldwide, empires and how a disruption of the fuel supply would have a similar, perhaps even larger effect.  I'll also spare any readers a similar tirade about our automobile dependency and the need of even the lowliest of workers to own and maintain a car for survival.               

What more can be done?  Here's big hot potato issue that few people want to touch.  Immigration.  Immigration has been one of America's greatest strengths.  It has given us diversity of ideas and solutions to problems that is unprecedented in human history.  We have grown into the greatest nation on earth as a result.  At the present, we are in a phase where we are undergoing a huge insurgence of immigrants into the U.S.  For all of its benefits, the result of this is taxing the ability of the nation to absorb, accommodate, and support it's population.

Overpopulation has become a huge problem across the world and predictions show that it will become worse.  In this country we, sadly, may only have a moderate effect on controlling global overpopulation.  However, we can have a much greater effect on population growth within the United States itself.  Even if immigration were to somehow stop cold, the population would still grow from the reproduction of people that are already here.  However, it would be considerably less than it would be under the present circumstances.  If the rate of population growth were to slow down within U.S. borders, it would relieve the stress of more people competing for comparatively less and less resources.  This includes jobs, also.  Eventually, a larger population may produce more jobs itself, but at the present we are not giving the machinery nearly enough time to adapt.

There is also the related issue of illegal immigration.  Even if the rate of legal immigration were only moderate, there is still the high rate of those entering this country illegally, attracted by what is, by their standards, a good wage. They keep coming and coming.  Why?  Because they can!   I absolutely refuse to believe that we can't stem the tide of illegal immigration.  We more than have the means.

What we lack is the will.  Why?  Because of our thirst for cheap labor.  Yes.  It all comes back to that.  There is obviously something going on behind closed doors, away from the prying eyes of the American public, involving some politicians, business leaders, or other unknown interest groups, that enables authorities to "look the other way".  I don't mean to sound conspiracy minded here, but if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and looks like a duck. Guess what!  Having such a porous border is also a grave security risk in these trying times, but I digress from that point for another time.

We have become a nation of consumers.  It has become more important to buy cheap products and "stuff" that we don't need in order to keep the economy going.  We need to rethink our priorities here.  We have many potential workers that are unemployed in our own borders.  Many that are can't make enough to sustain themselves or their families.  These groups include both citizens and legal residents of the U.S.  Steps need to be taken to ensure the welfare of workers in the U.S.

In the larger picture, the same needs to be done with every citizen.  We need to stop thinking of ourselves as consumers and once again call ourselves "citizens".  The economy and the people will survive and blossom if we focus on the "citizen", but both will suffer if we focus primarily on the "consumer". 

Nickel and Dimed is but a taste, but an important taste, of the world of the working poor.  I look at the people that I ride the bus or train with in a different light.  I think that when the bus doesn't show up or the train comes late, one of these people could lose their meager job to one of many others lined up to take their place.  I think of the food I eat at a restaurant in a different way.  I think of how much suffering went into producing and bringing my sandwich to my table, into cleaning the plates I eat off of, or into wiping and cleaning the table.               

This book sure made me think, and it went beyond what was actually written in the pages.  What we need now is a leader that can think, someone who has vision, innovation, and constructive imagination.  For all of those perspective Democratic challengers to president Bush for the 2004 election, I plead with thee.  If there is a man among you who has the will and the vision to step up to the plate and be a true leader, someone who will deal, in earnest, with the issues that I have mentioned here, I beg you. Save us! 

On a scale of one to four, I give it a three.

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