The Ironic Cherry... Reads

For those of us who really don't understand why people are fussing about the minimum wage, and complain when someone on food stamps buys steak, and get touchy when a checkout clerk doesn't smile and enjoy our small talk, Linda Tirado is here to clear things up.  In Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America, Tirado takes us into her world.

For those of us fortunate enough to never have had to live without -- or need -- a safety net, or worse, to be living in an America where poverty is suspect and scorned, we are reminded (as so many have been in the last decade) that many of us are one mishap away from her world.  She reminds us that while we all talk about whether or not to raise minimum wage, there are a slew more of us who are living near enough to minimum wage to be enduring the same nightmare of trying to survive on not enough.

Barbara Ehrenreich, the author of Nickel and Dimed:  On (Not) Getting By in America, wrote the introduction, and that is as is should be.  Ehrenreich opened a lot of eyes in 2001 when she published the book describing her experiences going undercover and working several of the low-wage jobs that incredibly have only grown and gotten worse.  We apparently have a great ability in this country to hide the poor, and pretend that either they don't exist or they deserve what they got.

And Linda Tirado has had it.  The book is in the form of a rant, and it is one of the all-time great rants.  You want to know why that clerk at the dollar store is short with you?  How about she's been on her feet all day, has a sick kid at home, is in physical pain herself, is worried about how she is going to get home -- or get to her second job in time?  She describes the impossible but everyday circumstances of the working poor:  getting a car towed and then watching the cost to reclaim it skyrocket because she can't get there right away or doesn't have the money to get it back; dental problems that are ignored to the point of constant agonizing pain; juggling the demands of your children's schools and employers who demand that job comes first (to the point where you can't hold a second job because you are required to be always available even for a part-time job).

And then there are the frustrations of trying to move forward:  not being able to afford the clothes that would be acceptable at an interview; inadequate transportation; needing to take time from the job that is paying that small but necessary wage to look for those better jobs; not being able to get additional training because it would require time and money you don't have.

And then there are the legislators who we are paying a pretty decent salary (and benefits) who are passionate about not giving a dime to help those who are struggling just to try to get their heads above water.

And the anti-abortion wackos who will make it their life's work to prevent working women from attempting to have some control over whether and when to have a child, but don't want to spend a penny to help a woman who wants a child have better nutrition, better working conditions, better health care.  (Tirado talks about not having a doctor for her first child and the condemnation she received for not taking care of herself while pregnant.  The second -- planned -- pregnancy was met alternately with criticism for having a second child she couldn't afford, and anti-abortion crusaders taunting her as she walked into the Planned Parenthood clinic for her free check-up.  She gleefully recounts her brush with the protesters:

...they kept telling me, "You don't have to do this" and "You have options."  Since I was arriving at the clinic for my first ultrasound to make sure that the baby was healthy, I had a ball pretending to be outraged that they obviously wanted me to abort my baby.

Bathroom breaks.   That's right, there are jobs where employees have to ask for permission to use the bathroom.  If you find that hard to believe, you have definitely been out of the low-wage marketplace for too long.  I remember way back in 1970 doing "piece-work" in a factory (another whole way to abuse employees) and getting into trouble for going to the ladies' room before break-time.  The only way we have allowed that barbaric policy to continue is by refusing to believe that it happens.

Some reviewers of this book are a little put out by the language, others see Tirado as too strident.  I think I know what she would say to that, and I wholeheartedly agree.  This book started with an online rant, which led to a sizable amount of donations, and this book.  Some really snarky idiots have complained that that means Tirado is no longer working poor, and therefore has no business complaining that the working poor are stuck in poverty.  Yeah, that's pretty much how we ended up in a country with working poor, and no where to go but to those same dead-end jobs day in and day out.

And the future for the children of the working poor?  Well, Tirado will tell you how grim that story is too.

Trial By Food Stamps

A Day In the Life

I was heartened to hear that some members of Congress had taken the "food stamp challenge" in order to experience life on the federally funded supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP).  While most of the members of Congress who took this challenge affirmed that eating on $4.50 a day was difficult, Texas congressman Steve Stockman was unconvinced.

No, he did not himself try to live on that food stamp budget, but had spokesman Donny Ferguson do it for him.  Predictably, this dude said after two days that it was "a breeze."  Well, I have to say that I have been fighting a losing battle with my weight all my life, and I can diet easily for two days.

So let me just say that I believe, Mr. Ferguson, congratulations, and you are now ready for the next level of the Poverty Game.

You work 40 hours a week -- that's 8 to 5 because you don't get paid for lunch.  You are earning a lush $10.00 an hour, well above minimum wage, but with a spouse looking for work and two school-aged children your Food Stamp Challenge is exactly that.  Your spouse drops you off at work with your one car in order to get the kids to school, limiting where and how often you shop for groceries.  Nice that the big box stores are now accepting that EBT card but you can rarely make the trip.

It's also nice that there are incentives for buying fresh fruits and vegetables, but that means getting the kids to eat the fruit and finding time to make that salad and find palatable ways to cook that broccoli.

And when you get home it's 6:00 and the kids are tired and hungry, unless your spouse has bought a frozen pizza and a bag of cookies.

A glass of wine would be nice when you can budget it in, and sometimes a glass of wine just won't do the trick.

Hey, Ferguson?  How about sharing with us what you eat (and drink) when you're not making that two-day sacrifice?

And Representative Stockman?  You've argued with your wife over the need to get the car repaired, which you've been trying to budget in for a year now along with the increasing price of gas.  And you've decided that that pain in your stomach will have to wait just a little longer before you can take the time off to see a doctor (You know after the co-pays and deductibles there are just going to be more costs and time off for tests and medications, if not appointments with specialists.).

Still feeling like you're living on "easy street?"

How about those looks you get from people like you when they see you load that cart up with those frozen pizzas?  Did you know that SNAP doesn't cover the fried chicken at your supermarket's deli counter?  So if you are in the mood for a little greasy relief, you are just going to have to cook it yourself.

And that birthday cake you bought with that EBT card?  There are some including my own South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley that concur with you that life should just not be that easy for those forced to accept government dollars.  Bake that cake your own self.  Your kids may not have seen you all day, you're asleep on your feet and still have a load of laundry to do, but that bit of extra effort will make you a better person. 

You may think you've taken the Food Stamp Challenge, Mr. Ferguson, but you haven't got a clue until you've done it day in and day out, along with all the other special experiences of living at poverty level in the US.

So perhaps you can stop feeling so smug, and perhaps you can pause a moment before you judge those whose lives are not quite so cushy as yours.

And don't forget, they may not pay a lot of income tax, but the taxes they do pay support your life on "easy street."

South Carolina Isn't Funny Anymore

I came away from a political meeting last night shaking my head.  I'm working on grasping the destructive politics of the US Congress, and I believe a good bit of it can be understood by the concept of: "Follow the Money".

But here in South Carolina, that doesn't even work.  We refuse federal dollars (that our taxes have paid into) to build infrastructure that would make our state more appealing to the businesses we claim we crave.  We join the rest of the country in mocking a governor for eight years (re-electing him just to be sure we aren't missing something), and then elect a woman who reflects the same goals and values.

I believe South Carolina operates under the assumption that, if banging your head against the wall isn't working, it's only because you aren't banging it hard enough.

Is it the "good ole boys" that just get angry because y'all in the Yankee states are trying to prove they're wrong?  Because they don't even seem to want to do what is good for big business, other than keep cutting their taxes.  And of course, the worse our schools and roads and neighborhoods get, the more tax incentives they have to offer to compete with other cheap labor (oh, I'm sorry, freedom to work) states.

And our voters, ever the product of a poor education system that teaches compliance and acceptance of minimum standards, continue to be grateful that smooth talkers like Lindsey Graham and Jim Demint defend their right to be from one of the states with the worst education system, highest level of teen pregnancy, and greatest numbers of working poor (that are lucky to be employed at all).

So how do we even begin to figure out how to change any of this mess?

Well, our neighbor, North Carolina, is having troubles of its own.  And they have figured out a way to begin to turn things around:

 

So now that we are so pathetic we don't even rise to the level of laughingstock, I guess we can either declare war on North Carolina, or wake up and start to support people and programs that will begin to dig us out of this hole.