In this paper I will argue on how Kathryn Edin and H. Luke Shaefer’s recent studies in the book “$2.00 A Day- Living On Almost Nothing In America” directly reflects on poverty throughout America and why people that are in poverty live the way they do.
After reading this book I was not amazed as I thought I would be. I did become interested in the authors after learning that they been scholars of the poor for more than twenty years. I also like their methods and strategies on studying the poor all over the country. When I read about Edin’s visit to someone she calls Ashley, a 19 – year old mother, I felt a feeling of sympathy because of the shortage of living supplies and food in the house. On top of the shortage of supplies, there were six …show more content…
I admire Jennifer Hernandez and her effort at finding a job. Prior to finding a job with a custodial company, she had been threw three homeless shelters and her third one was getting ready to evict her and her kids because Jennifer still hadn’t found a job. Before reading any further I started to worry about how she would survive. Being on a job search for ten months and having no luck is frustrating and tough to deal with, most people would just give up but Jennifer was determined to get a job. I believe that if people who live in poverty put in the effort that Jennifer did, they would slowly but surely be on their way out of poverty. I found it harsh when Jennifer started to get sick and her hours were cut short each week she didn’t work. After a while her bi-weekly checks dropped from six hundred dollars to two hundred dollars. Wow that is a major difference if you ask me. Her monthly income was about four hundred dollars, and I know that is tough to live on for the entire month being that I am a college student. Jobs people have that live in poverty are usually temporary or part-time, and these jobs are not as flexible as a normal fulltime job because you have a bunch of people waiting to be hired. People in poverty are often fired or they quit their jobs because of impatience or simply because their job won’t work with them, so their hours are cut dramatically and so is their pay. Now the person in poverty isn’t making enough money to pay their bill, and provide for themselves. Things that happen like this tends to make people quit their current job and run the streets doing all typed of crimes that will get them quick money like prostitution, drug dealing, robbing,
After reading this book I was not amazed as I thought I would be. I did become interested in the authors after learning that they been scholars of the poor for more than twenty years. I also like their methods and strategies on studying the poor all over the country. When I read about Edin’s visit to someone she calls Ashley, a 19 – year old mother, I felt a feeling of sympathy because of the shortage of living supplies and food in the house. On top of the shortage of supplies, there were six …show more content…
I admire Jennifer Hernandez and her effort at finding a job. Prior to finding a job with a custodial company, she had been threw three homeless shelters and her third one was getting ready to evict her and her kids because Jennifer still hadn’t found a job. Before reading any further I started to worry about how she would survive. Being on a job search for ten months and having no luck is frustrating and tough to deal with, most people would just give up but Jennifer was determined to get a job. I believe that if people who live in poverty put in the effort that Jennifer did, they would slowly but surely be on their way out of poverty. I found it harsh when Jennifer started to get sick and her hours were cut short each week she didn’t work. After a while her bi-weekly checks dropped from six hundred dollars to two hundred dollars. Wow that is a major difference if you ask me. Her monthly income was about four hundred dollars, and I know that is tough to live on for the entire month being that I am a college student. Jobs people have that live in poverty are usually temporary or part-time, and these jobs are not as flexible as a normal fulltime job because you have a bunch of people waiting to be hired. People in poverty are often fired or they quit their jobs because of impatience or simply because their job won’t work with them, so their hours are cut dramatically and so is their pay. Now the person in poverty isn’t making enough money to pay their bill, and provide for themselves. Things that happen like this tends to make people quit their current job and run the streets doing all typed of crimes that will get them quick money like prostitution, drug dealing, robbing,