Barbara Ehrenreich
Writer and activist (1941 to 2022) whose Nickel and Dimed (2001) reported her own attempt to live on low-wage work and argued that the working poor subsidise everyone else.
Barbara Ehrenreich did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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Their wordsthe official definition of poverty was way off the mark, since it defined an individual earning $7 an hour, as I did on average, as well out of poverty.
↗Nickel and Dimed (2011 Version) (TomDispatch essay, from the 10th-anniversary afterword; republished by History News Network)historynewsnetwork.org 1st of 6 in this piece
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Their wordsThe short answer is that things have gotten much worse, especially since the economic downturn that began in 2008.
↗Nickel and Dimed (2011 Version) (TomDispatch essay, from the 10th-anniversary afterword; republished by History News Network)historynewsnetwork.org 2nd of 6 in this piece
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Their wordsIt would have been impossible to repeat my Nickel and Dimed “experiment,” had I had been so inclined, because I would probably never have found a job.
↗Nickel and Dimed (2011 Version) (TomDispatch essay, from the 10th-anniversary afterword; republished by History News Network)historynewsnetwork.org 3rd of 6 in this piece
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Their wordsthe brunt of the recession has been borne by the blue-collar working class, which had already been sliding downwards since de-industrialization began in the 1980s.
↗Nickel and Dimed (2011 Version) (TomDispatch essay, from the 10th-anniversary afterword; republished by History News Network)historynewsnetwork.org 4th of 6 in this piece
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Their wordsThe ostensible goal is to prevent welfare fraud, but the psychological impact is to turn poverty itself into a kind of crime.
↗Nickel and Dimed (2011 Version) (TomDispatch essay, from the 10th-anniversary afterword; republished by History News Network)historynewsnetwork.org 5th of 6 in this piece
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Their wordsIn defiance of all reason and compassion, the criminalization of poverty has actually intensified as the weakened economy generates ever more poverty.
↗Nickel and Dimed (2011 Version) (TomDispatch essay, from the 10th-anniversary afterword; republished by History News Network)historynewsnetwork.org 6th of 6 in this piece
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Their wordsThe "working poor," as they are approvingly termed, are in fact the major philanthropists of our society.
↗Nickel and Dimed (Henry Holt, 2002 printing of the 2001 book)archive.org All 3 from this book
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Our reading
Low-wage workers sacrifice their own lives so that everyone else's are cheaper and easier
Their wordsThey 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.
↗Nickel and Dimed (Henry Holt, 2002 printing of the 2001 book)archive.org All 3 from this book
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Their wordsTo be a member of the working poor is to be an anonymous donor, a nameless benefactor, to everyone else.
↗Nickel and Dimed (Henry Holt, 2002 printing of the 2001 book)archive.org All 3 from this book