Flowings of Your Everlasting Taffyman

The two or three literary works I have read by Barbara Ehrenreich have always stood out as being especially well written, well thought out, provocative etc.
I have also seen her comment on a few different political, social and economic studies, trends etc which is always a treat.

Anyway, I thought I would give you an excerpt from the end of Nickel and Dimed, a book I’m fairly sure I have two copies of and have never read fully, but enjoyed thoroughly both times I looked through (approx 3/4s read, at least one full reading)

Anyway this is the second to last paragraph of the book, the previous paragraph described the fact that since welfare to work programs are now fully implemented and still have not lessened poverty among the now “working-poor,” and may have actually made their situation worse, there is no excuse left from the wealthy, law makers, citizens of our democracy that can explain why we have a huge portion of the population living in poverty within the wealthiest nation in the world, except that we are being unfair.

Guilt, you may be thinking warily. Isn’t that what we’re supposed to feel? But guilt doesn’t go anywhere near far enough; the appropriate emotion is shame-shame at our own dependency, in this case, on the underpaid labor of others. When someone works for less pay than she can live on-when, for example, she goes hungry so that you can eat more cheaply and conveniently-then she has made a great sacrifice for you, she has made you a gift of some part of her abilities, her health, and her life. The “working poor,” as they are approvingly termed, are in fact the major philanthropists of our society. 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. As Gail, one of my restaurant coworkers put it, “you give and you give.”

Its funny that we live in a society where every day we make a portion of our citizens work to the detriment of their own lives, and the lives of their families, for the sake of our own (our meaning middle class and above). Yet some amongst us say it is unfair to ask/demand middle and upper class taxes(money only), “the burden is too great” we yell and grumble, while others in our own country with the same rights, and those around the world who should technically have the same rights suffer under our burden.
When rich people give up their money to charity we say they are especially deserving of praise, as if they didn’t make that money off the backs of others. If we are to live in a society where labor and other sacrifices are underpaid, should we not demand a system of tips, kickbacks or whatever… I mean if Bill Gates or any other millionaire, gives up half their wealth to charity isn’t it really just making up for the way they and their people have benefited off the backs of others through a faulty system designed to regulate things that way. Capitalism is a faulty position; it doesn’t work without the occasional redistribution. Thus why free market capitalism never works to the benefit of the people.

I didn’t get to the place I am without help, in fact I didn’t get here on my own at all, I was born here, far above (economically speaking) so many others. I didn’t do anything to deserve this, and hopefully won’t ever claim to be deserving of it…. I do feel guilty and ashamed for being part of this system, and though I clearly don’t do a whole lot to fight it, I think it’s important to keep talking about it… to remind yourself and others.