Hypertext 2

I intend on writing about low wage workers within the restaurant setting. Drawing from my experience working in a coffee shop, I want to look at the issue as objectively as I can, studying the situations that workers are often in when they have to live on a minimum wage budget. Also, I want to look at how, perhaps mathematically like Shipler does on page 36 at how budgeting happens in contrast to how it theoretically works. More importantly, I want to look at ways that people try to and do get out of low wage situations, and what people have tried and things that haven’t worked.

It seems that the real gap in this area has to do with ways out. Ehrenreich is not actually poor; she can afford to take care of emergency medical situations, can go home when it suits her. Comparatively, Shipler points out the people who have to move from home to home, apartment to homeless, just to try to get government aid (p. 60). He also points out the cycles that people are forced into when living in poverty, where poverty keeps them from going anywhere, and anywhere they go they still suffer from the effects of poverty (p. 26, 27, 53, for examples). I will try to focus on opportunities to escape poverty, created by individuals, by organizations and by the government. I also want to see how effective each different method/genre of methods has been, whether it works, doesn’t work, temporarily works. Shipler has a few examples of people, who through being careful or through luck get out of their tough situations (p. 21, 23, 29-30, 31 for examples).

Another place to add some information and research would be examples similar to Shipler’s on H&R Block, and how the poor get “screwed” out of their money, and other companies that find ways to extort them (p. 16-19 for examples).