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Barbara Ehrenreich

Tuesday 31st of March 2026

Economics In the new version of the law of supply and demand, jobs are so cheap — as measured by the pay — that a worker is encouraged to take on as many of them as she possibly can. Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed © 2015 Kwiple.com
Food This summer, Wendy's, where I often buy lunch, has introduced the verb biggiesize, as in “Would you to biggiesize that combo?” meaning double the fries and pop, and something like biggiesizing seems to have happened to the female guest population. Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed © 2016 Kwiple.com
Poverty The reason for the disconnect between the actual housing nightmare of the poor and “poverty,” as officially defined, is simple: the official poverty level is still calculated by the archaic method of taking the bare-bones cost of food for a family of a given size and multiplying this number by three. Yet food is relatively inflation-proof, at least as compared with rent. In the 1960s … food accounted for 24 percent of the average family budget … housing 29 percent. In 1999, food … 16 percent … while housing … soared to 37 percent. Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed © 2016 Kwiple.com
Poverty There are no special economies that nourish the poor; on the contrary, there are a host of special costs. If you can't put up the two month's rent you need to secure an apartment, you end up paying through the nose for rent by the week. If you have only a room, with a hot plate at best, you can't save by cooking up huge lentil stews that can be frozen for the week ahead. You eat fast food or the hot dogs and Styrofoam cups of soup that can be microwaved in a convenience store. Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed © 2016 Kwiple.com
 
Poverty The “working poor,” as they are approvingly termed, are in fact the major philanthropists of our ociety. 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. Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed © 2022 Kwiple.com