Review of “$2 a Day: Living On Almost Nothing In America” by Kathryn J. Edin & Luke Shaefer
We are currently fighting our way through the COVID-19 pandemic. We are finding that the things that we felt were secure have gone away. We’re also uncovering day to day differences between the “haves and the have-nots”. We are now at 22 million people unemployed in the United States. Many of those people have received a $1200 stimulus check that will only slow the impact of financial distress. I find myself thinking about people like those covered in the book “$2.00 a Day.” With the current state of our economy, I wonder about how the most vulnerable are surviving.
This book was extremely engaging and brought to mind images of families that I’ve served in different capacities in my career. As a home visitor with Healthy Families, I was welcomed into the homes of some of the most vulnerable families in Indianapolis. They were caring for children under the age of three and often depended on a network of people to survive. Working in mental health, I saw the impacts of poverty on mental health. Poverty was a catalyst for family stress, arguments, tension, and anxiety. Because of my experience serving these kinds of families, I felt that Edin and Shaefer did an excellent job of being truthful and sensitive with the stories they shared.
The misfortunes of these individuals and their families are palpable.
I was completely enamored with the ways that history was tied into the stories. Learning about the fact that the number of families surviving on $2 a day increased 660% between 1995 and 2012 was frightening. However, it did bring some validity to the things that I have seen in my work. I’ve often thought about growing up poor myself and how the poverty that I endured is nothing like the kind of poverty I witness today. There is a sense of hopelessness that can grip you when you literally have no money. In the book, you mostly learn about single mothers doing their best to fight off homelessness and starvation. Because they lack financial means they are put in many situations where they are victimized. Most of that victimization affects their income. James Baldwin said it this way, “anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.” While reading the book you are a witness to this victimization but you have no recourse. That is probably the most powerful aspect of the book. The misfortunes of these individuals and their families are palpable.
Despite their misfortunes, the families in the book have intensely strong desires to improve their situations. Contrary to popular belief, they are not satisfied with staying at home and “collecting a check.” They are walking the streets applying for jobs in their neighborhoods. They are selling plasma as many times as they are allowed to so that they can support their families. They are picking up extra shifts at Walmart so that they can buy toys for their kids. Unfortunately, all of this tenacity doesn’t translate into financial security. You find out that an illness or lack of reliable transportation can undo months of hard work and effort. Suddenly they are back where they are started or worse. They aren’t given the benefit of the doubt, they are simply cast aside for another person who is more than willing to complete the low wage work. They learn better than others that hard work doesn’t translate into financial security. There is no American Dream for the low wage worker.
I find myself growing angered and impassioned by learning about the ways in which we blame the poor for their poverty. It’s definitely much easier to focus on individuals than to address a system. Trying to attack a system seems futile in so many ways. I think that’s why people bury their heads in the sand when you bring up racism and inequality. But books like these are so important because they cause you to challenge the ideas that you’ve been forced to believe are true. Especially that one about hard work resulting in success. There are so many nuances to success. This is especially true now in a time where so many people are without an income. I challenge you to come up with your own definition of success. And then, when you are able, read this book to inform you of the reality of our dying American Dream.
Further Reading
$2 a Day Website
http://www.twodollarsaday.com/resources
How Expensive It Is to be Poor by Charles Blow