The Other Other 99%

...Americans of the newspaper-reading professional middle class are used to thinking of poverty as a consequence of unemployment.

It just so happened that my roommate had a copy of Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. I heard of the book when it first came out and thought, "I must read it!" A whole decade later, I finally did.

And what perfect timing, too, considering the Occupy Wall Street movement that's taking place.

In case you've never heard of the book, Barbara, who's a well-off-enough writer, moved from her comfortable home and put herself under the constraints of taking low-paying jobs and trying to make ends meet: from being a waitress in Key West to cleaning houses in Maine to working at Walmart in Minnesota. What made this story unique for me was its premise of whether it's possible to survive on a wage of $7 per hour, full-time.

There were a lot of things that I felt whilst reading this book, including a ton of misplaced indignation and, as Barbara put it in the end: shame. There was a pit of sadness inside of me to think that people -- who are not too awfully different from me and you -- are putting in their 40 to 80 hours a week of work and they can barely manage to get by financially. And it's not about not being able to get their kids an XBox, either, but more a functionality of making sure they have dinner on the table. Heartbreaking stuff that I have the luxury of being distanced from as I walk to my cushy office job, $3 latte in hand.

I walked away from the book with a thorough appreciation for my lucky lot in life. And anyone who thinks that they got where they are because of 100% pure will, sheer determination, and honest hard work, sure, putting in effort is a must-have. But without some luck on your side? Let's just say we're all one major illness/mishap away from having nothing at all.

I'll let Barbara summarize it:

When someone works for less pay than she can live on -- when, for example, she goes hungry so that you can eat more cheaply and conveniently -- then she has made a great sacrifice for you, she has made a gift of some part of her abilities, her health, and her life. The "working poor," as they are approvingly termed, are in fact the major philanthropists of our society. They neglect their own children so that the children of others will be cared for; they live in substandard housing so that other homes will be shiny and perfect; they endure privation so that inflation will be low and stock prices high. To be a member of the working poor is to be an anonymous donor, a nameless benefactor to everyone else. As Gail, one of my restaurant coworkers put it, "you give and you give."

Someday, of course -- and I will make no predictions as to exactly when -- they are bound to tire of getting so little in return and to demand to be paid what they're worth. There'll be a lot of anger when that day comes, and strikes and disruption. But the sky will not fall, and we will all be better off for it in the end.