Barbara Ehrenreich Book Review, Double-Barrel Style

Just finished up reading my second book by author Barbara Ehrenreich, this one entitled "Bait and Switch". It's about the struggles of middle-class working Americans who "did everything right", but who now find themselves strangely unemployed, cast aside, and otherwise shabbily treated by Corporate America. The other book of hers I read last year is entitled, "Nickel and Dimed", which details the struggles of America's working poor.

"Nickel and Dimed" hit much closer to home for me than did "Bait and Switch" because I worked so many low-paid, difficult jobs going through school. In this book, the author takes several different low-wage type of jobs, including Wal-Mart cashier, waitress, and retail, among other things. I did everything from cooking chicken to factory work to waiting tables to installing sprinkler systems on rooftops in the middle of summer to graveyards at a convenience store. None of these jobs paid very well at all, and I only took them because they allowed me to make some money and worked with my class schedule. I was miserable and tired all the time trying to do these jobs and complete my schoolwork, and the only thing that gave me solace was knowing there was a light at the end of the tunnel such I wouldn't have to work jobs like this ever again. Theoretically, this is the primary way in which most of these jobs are supposed to and should be filled, but sadly this is not the case.

Far too many people work one or more of these jobs to support themselves and their families, and it is very hard to make this work. Getting hired at these jobs is relatively easy, but it's much harder to advance economically from this lifestyle for a handful of reasons. Most jobs occupied by the working poor are physically strenuous and labor-intensive. That means that if they get injured, not only are they hurt, but they are out of work as well. Compounding the problem is that almost none of these jobs offer health insurance (or if they do, it's too expensive given the wages paid), so it's unlikely most of these folks get the medical care they need if they are injured. Also, if there's no health insurance, it isn't likely that unemployment insurance will be provided either. Last but not least, unless their children pull themselves up by the bootstraps (as I did), they are likely to grow up and continue in poverty, since thier parents make so little money that they can't afford to amass any savings of substance, much less pay for school. The author's struggles and learning reflected all of these truths.

In "Bait and Switch", Ehrenreich does a great job detailing the struggles of people who are stable, responsible, mostly educated, and at least up until they get downsized, are middle class or better. From there, it's a meteoric fall from grace into a world of unpaid bills, unmet responsibilities at home, and a shady world of false purveyors of "help" and hope the likes of which would make the criminal world proud. From resume coaches to personality experts to wardrobe advisors, she spends a year trying to land a decent lower middle class non-sales job in the fields in which she has expertise (PR, event planning, marketing, etc.), and nets nothing. In fact, she comes out several thousand dollars poorer and much more cynical and jaded than when she began.

The thing I like least about these books is the author's thinly disguised socialist tendencies. She uses both books as a platform to call for all manner of increased governmental intrusion and spending, including universal health care and all sorts of other things that, if mandated, would drive quite a few business bankrupt altogether. While I applaud her for trying to find solutions to problems she experienced throughout her searches, I disagree with her solutions both philosophically and practically, and I believe she does a poor job of separating her personal political beliefs from trying to solve these problems. The best thing about both books is how they bring to light, with real people and in vivid color, the struggles of the working poor and the cast aside middle class and the how hard their respective journeys to get back on track mostly are (even when they are doing the right thing and catching some breaks). I don't claim to have solutions for these problems, aside from advocating better choices and more personal responsibility of people in general (get an education, don't have children you can't support, stay out of criminal trouble, etc.). I'll post more on this later, but as far as the insurance thing goes, I think the President has it half right when he calls for a tax cut up to a certain amount for people who purchase health insurance on their own; the other half of that equation should allow people who receive health coverage from their employer a deduction for the value of the policy (or at least the premiums, like mortgage interest). That would definitely encourage more people to buy health insurance.

Anyhow, the books are a good read if you like these kinds of topics and if you can get past the socialist bent of the author; they're definitely worth the time and both books are a quick read.