Nickel and Dimed

1a.) After reading the articles, the social class system in America appears to be a tragedy. For example: Growing up I was surrounded by people with the same background as me. Before I came to America, I was living a pretty good life and most importantly, social class did not matter as much it does in America. However, that was not the case when I moved into this country. As an African, I used to think that America is the place of equal opportunities where hard work leads to success. But after…

considered ‘untouchables’. This is similar to the American system as the citizens with economic problems are considered equal to their wealthier brothers. Evidence to support this argument can also be found in American literature, for instance Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. Her assertion in her novel is that wage slaves in America can face major problems surviving in the country due to their low wages and high expenditures. These slaves earn on the hourly bases and thus can’t even…

America does not have a shortage of money. The U.S. Treasury produces money everyday but where does it all go? People are homeless and starving and working for unfair wages while others are living easily. The one percent sits on top of the struggles of the middle and lower class. We live in the land of equality that does not seem equal. This is not “liberty and justice for all”. There is a solution to this problem; raising the minimum wage (10). It’s such a simple solution that will save…

Fuentes’ opinion is highly respected; therefore, she is a member of the Board of Contributors for USA TODAY’s Forum Page. Fuentes co-writes “Life on the Global Assembly Line” alongside Barbara Ehrenreich. Ehrenreich is the author of a book named Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America. This book explains a part of Ehrenreich’s life where she was once a hotel maid, a minimum paid waitress, a house cleaner, and a Wal-Mart clerk. In 1963, she graduated from Reed College with a degree in…

The American workforce has changed drastically since the 1970s and between the ends of the 20th century. It seems like more of a transitional stage from a more industrial economy to a service based and consumer economy siphoning all of what used to be our strong industrial economy to other countries because products are made cheaper than they are in United States production. Places such as China, Southeast Asia, and South America are all responsible for this change over time in the American…

An Ancient Evil Since the beginning of time, censorship has harvested controversy. Leaders made laws that required the government to review all artwork and literature before releasing it to the public. During World War I, Congress passed the Espionage and Sedition Acts which implemented penalties for publishing or saying anything that may discourage our participation in the war and for criticizing the government. Another big example of censorship happened in Nazi Germany where they made efforts…

distinctly different. They are distinctly different due to their level of education, but what happens when an upper class person decides to become and underemployed employee? Barbara Ehrenreich decides to put this to the test by hiding her identity in Nickel and Dimed and shows how it is like On (not) Getting By in America in their shoes. Her experience shows the daily struggle of the employees whose…

to work with the public, while Latinos and black men were pushed towards dishwasher and stockroom jobs (Pager, Western, and Bonikowski 2009). This funneling of jobs based on skin color instead of previous experience was evident in the story “Nickel-And-Dimed On (Not) Getting By in America” (2009). In the social experiment Barbara Ehrenreich lived the life of a poor single woman in Key West (2009). As she searched, and eventually found a job, she saw that she was a type: white, English…

Ehrenreich says, I am also the one who once believed that working hard is the only key to success, and efforts will never betray us. Wealthy people quite often say that the working poor is the consequence of being lazy; however, as I read the book, Nickel and Dimed, there is absolutely no working poor who tends to be lazy. Inversely, the one who is in the position where…

available to them to earn a living, and the work experience can be used as a stepping-stone to other employment opportunities. Coincidentally, my service project experience was similar to Barbara Ehrenreich experiment, chronicled in her book, Nickel and Dimed: On (not) Getting by in America. The individuals I worked with were low-wage earners, making minimum wage, and some had 2 jobs. The work, although not physically taxing, was tiresome and monotonous, and to quote an old saying, “even…