Jobs or Community Service?

Jobs or Community Service?

At a glance, I thought I understood it all. I knew all about welfare in America and the unemployment issues; there were no surprises. I was just reading this book for another grade. I would come to find myself truly mistaken and floored by the context of "Nickel and Dimed." It takes a humble person to degrade themselves to the sub-mediocre lifestyle of a $7-an-hour laborer, especially coming from such a comfortable career as Barbara Ehrenreich. However, I immaturely foreshadowed a humorous story of a "rich, upper-class woman being shell-shocked at the absence of limitless supply of caviar and high dollar chardonnay." I related it to my college life, apartment style living, with budget style spending. Yet I had much to learn. These people are not members of the "National Bank of Ma and Pa" where bailouts are ready at the slightest sign of not having sufficient funds to spend on the necessary round of golf.

In the first chapter, she rifles off a few rough calculations in an attempt to see if the task was even possible. I thought Ehrenreich's conclusion that "…the task would be extremely difficult, if not impossible," was slightly biased on one account, being her financial background, and from my personal calculations. I averaged it out, based on how apartment life went, to be about $500 a month, which on a $7-an-hour pay is extremely reasonable (about 2.5 hours of work a day) with good spending money left over, granted you work more than 10 hour weeks. It's easy to see I left out a few key items. Many lack roommates to split rent with, insurance, car note, start up money. Just to name a few. After reading further a realized the reality of how ill-advised my calculations actually were. Maybe it wasn't a matter of my calculations accuracy, at least after a second draft, but rather that someone could actually survive on such a budget. The answer is NO. In some cases is it possible but the lifestyle in not one to be desired, that is if you would like to completely expel any type of free time or extracurricular activities in your life. Basically nothing you want to do, and what you do accomplish is solely for the promise of your next meal, needless to say, this reading quickly put me in my place.

There is a common misconception that many Americans are guilty of, including me (WAS guilty of). It is that the homeless, "welfare leeches that are merely to lazy to get a job are anchoring the economy, and for all we care they need to be loaded up on ships and deported…probably to Madagascar, a sizeable island out of the way of mainstream society." A few people may fall into this category but for the overall majority this is not the case. You look at the current unemployment rate based of the numbers sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, "the number of unemployed persons, at 14.6 million, and the unemployment rate, at 9.5 percent." This number is derived from the millions of Americans who are applying for jobs yet are unable to find employment. This number doesn't even include the numbers that simply don't apply for jobs. Not to mention these people are not necessarily the "lazy people" most just quit trying! After so many failed attempts you lose interest in finding a job, especially one that may not even put you any better off than leeching of welfare funds! The personal queries form coworkers during Ehrenreich's "secret life" are ever more appalling.

She lands her first job, after many failed attempts, at restaurant named "Hearthside." You can understand how difficult this lifestyle is just by seeing how difficult it was for her, even after cheating a bit to make sure she started off well she still managed to find herself on a downward slope towards not being able to pay rent,