Unless, perhaps, you're in entertainment or technology. By sticking with his subjects, earning their respect and engaging in painstaking research, David Shipler has connected the dots in "The Working Poor" to give us a comprehensive, emotionally powerful synopsis of the multiple causes of poverty in America. Using the life narratives of diverse subjects (all but one of whom I found entirely sympathetic), Shipler rarely points fingers but instead explains how a combination of his subjects' family histories and character traits, relative lack of formal education, living conditions, incessant agonizing over work-parenting balance, and minimal to nonexistent cash flow collide with varying policies within the public and private sectors along with the employers, coworkers and bureaucrats with whom they deal.
Reading Shipler's research, it is clear there is no "one size fits all" solution to the condition of the working poor. For that reason, the author's concise summary of key policy debates can be excused. This book is meant to elicit thought first, then understanding, then action.
Based on my own interactions with the working poor and after having read this moving work, I offer the following observations:
1) More free classes on parenting skills are needed to help create a better environment for at-risk infants and young people.
2) Government must step up its commitment to clean, safe, affordable housing in new and innovative ways. Too much is spent on defense and not enough on domestic programs. Affordable housing needs additional support from both the legislative and executive branches at the Federal and State levels. Homeownership education programs for first-time homebuyers appear in good supply, but the stock of accessible housing needs work.
3) Free financial literacy instruction in the vernacular of the street or in an immigrant's native tongue must be widely offered. Stock market board games sponsored by local companies in high schools sound nice but don't address the proper issues - needs versus wants, saving versus spending, developing a budget, etc.
4) Reading is a core foundation. "Reading aloud" and reading instruction at the preschool level is essential. It helps develop a core competency, and it (hopefully) demonstrates that someone cares.
5) Customized bundles of social services delivered by a local coalition of volunteers, nonprofits and for-profits should increasingly be built into new housing supply. Bring parenting, financial literacy, housing maintenance, etc., skills to at-risk individuals and families where they live. Gather a (somewhat) captive audience in familiar, non-threatening surroundings. The "community stability" aspect of affordable housing is starting to catch on, and this trend must be encouraged.
6) Reform school funding formulas to make the calibre of instruction more equitable across districts.
7) Place the snowballing cry for universal access to college education in the proper perspective. Where should finite government resources go - to support vulnerable children getting started in life or to those more ready to enter the halls of ivy? Fund the sons and daughters of the working poor first, and let them find their way. They may find their way through JobsCorps, an apprenticeship or some other route; perhaps college. Let's not put the cart before the horse.
Just recently, a middle-aged woman among the working poor whom I know, doing well in her job, was presented by her employer with the opportunity to open a 401K as her year-end bonus. The employer assumed this would be a good way to help her save. Her response? She needed money for new tires for her old car, and she needed it now. The employer ended up providing this woman with a scaled-back bonus and a starter 401K. Several weeks later, my friend left her car keys in the ignition as she ran into a convenience store. When she returned, she found the car gone. Reporting the incident to the police, she was cited for a section of the municipal code that states motorists may not leave keys in the ignition, and she was promptly fined $100. She wanted to fight this misdemeanor but said she couldn't afford a lawyer. A friend gave her the $100 to pay her fine. She has more recently declared bankruptcy. Her only vice is smoking.
Shipler is right on the money. We are facing a class epidemic in America. The first line of defense in this fight may not be government. It may simply be a growing number of fellow Americans who bother to take the extra five or ten minutes necessary to read to a child, caution a parent on his or her attitudes, run down the street and buy basic groceries, or make a forgivable loan. Micro, then macro. Macro may take too long.
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- Yang LiuReviewed in the United Kingdom on July 9, 2017
Fantastic insight into the lives of some people who are ...
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