The Working Poor: Invisible in America
Liberal Arts Study Guide
Created by Professor Heather Harris
Question to consider through out the reading of this book: Which is the better way
to put money in the average person’s wallet: through lower prices at stores or
through higher wages at work?
Preface:
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Page ix: “Most of the people I write about in this book do not have the luxury
of rage.” What does the author mean when he says rage is a luxury? Why
would the working poor not have that luxury?
Page ix: “Nobody who works hard should be poor in America.” Do you agree?
Why does he add “in America”? Is America unique in this way? Should it be?
Why or why not?
Page x: The author writes that changing economic times have not really
affected the working poor much. Does this surprise you? Why would good
economic times not improve the lot of the working poor? Why don’t things
get proportionally worse for them in bad times?
Page x: The author writes that the working poor rarely blame the system or
those in power for their situation; they usually blame themselves. Why do
you think this is? Does assigning blame this way seem fair to you?
Page x: What do we Americans believe about ourselves? What do we tell
ourselves about our values and priorities? Do our actions line up with what
we believe? How so?
Page xi: The author notes that most of the people in this book are women as
most of the working poor are women. Why do you think this is? Does this fact
surprise you?
Page xi: The author also notes that African Americans are disproportionately
part of the working poor, and he notes “the legacy of slavery has not yet
dissipated.” Does this make you uncomfortable? Frustrated? Angry? Sad?
How do you think about this aspect of our nation’s history and the way it
affects all of us today? What is your family’s history (when did they come to
this country and under what circumstances)? How does that history affect
you today?
Introduction:
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Page 4: “An inconvenience to an affluent family…is a crisis to [the working
poor], for it can threaten their ability to stay employed.” How do you handle
car trouble, childcare issues, illness, and other personal/family emergencies?
Are you able to keep those things from affecting your job and your
schooling/classes? What would you need to better handle those issues?
Explain.
 Pages 4-5: The author lists the things necessary for success in America: “A set
of skills, a good starting wage, a job with the likelihood of promotion…clarity
of purpose, courageous self-esteem, a lack of substantial debt, the freedom
from illness and addiction, a functional family, a network of upstanding
friends, and the right help from private or governmental agencies.” Would
you add anything to this list? Subtract anything? Which of these things do
you think is most important? Which do you think is most difficult to achieve?
 Page 6: “A low wage is somehow the worker’s fault, for it simply reflects the
low value of his labor. In the American atmosphere, poverty has always
carried a whiff of sinfulness.” Is there work that is valuable yet unrewarded
with decent wages in America? If so, why? Are good, moral, hard-working
people poor in America, or will those people inevitably become at least
“comfortable”? Explain your answer.
 Page 6: Americans consider their culture as one that values life, but “Life
expectancy in the United States is lower, and infant mortality higher, than in
Japan, Hong Kong, Israel, Canada, and all the major nations of Western
Europe.” Why is this the case? What can we do to fix this? What are we
morally obligated to do, if anything?
o Research Option: Pick one of the nations listed above and research their
healthcare system. How do they keep their citizens healthy? Could we
implement any of their policies or systems?
 Page 7: “The poor have less control than the affluent over their private
decisions.” What does the author mean by this statement?
 Page 9: “Being poor in a rich country may be more difficult to endure than
being poor in a poor country, for the skills of surviving in poverty have
largely been lost in America.” What are the skills of surviving in poverty?
Why might it be easier to be poor in Africa or South America or Southeast
Asia or Eastern Europe than it is in America?
 Page 9: “In the United States, the federal government defines poverty very
simply: an annual income, for a family with one adult and three children, of
less than $22, 113 in the year 2011…approximately three times the cost of a
‘thrifty food basket.’” How does this number strike you? High? Low? Fair?
How much money does it cost to feed an adult and three children every week
or month if you are a thrifty shopper?
 Page 10: About 16% of the U.S. lives in poverty. If there are 314,000,000
Americans, that means about 50, 240, 000 live in poverty or one in every six
or seven people. How do you feel about those statistics? Is it reasonable for a
nation to set a 0% poverty goal for its citizens?
 Page 11: “The first step is to see the problems, and the first problem is the
failure to see the people.” What does the author mean by this? Who are the
poor people in your community? Who pays attention to them, and how is
attention paid to them?
Chapter One: Money and Its Opposite:
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Page 13: “You know, Mom, being poor is very expensive.” What does Sandy
Brash mean? How has the fact that it is expensive to be broke affected you or
people you know?
 Page 15: Research Option: What is a W-5? Who qualifies for it? Where does
one get the form, and with whom does one file the form in order to receive
money?
 Page 15: The poor are “more likely since 1999 to face an audit by the IRS.”
Why is this so? Why wouldn’t the IRS audit the wealthy more often, since the
wealthy usually owe more in taxes? Does this fact relate to the author’s
earlier point about poverty and sin?
 Pages 16-18: Are H&R Block’s tax preparation policies exploitative or fair in a
capitalist system?
o Research Option: What is usury and what are usury laws? Are any still on
the books in the U.S.? Are any enforced? What are the Old Testament laws
relating to lending and borrowing? Why were those laws in place, and why,
in spite of being a country founded on Judeo-Christian values, do we not
observe those principles today?
 Page 20: What is a lifeline account? Why don’t the banks advertise them?
 When and how should the government step in and make laws protecting
people from predatory lenders and companies? When should people be left
to “learn the hard way” that there is “no free lunch”? Explain your answer in
terms of personal responsibility and societal responsibility (the
responsibility we have toward each other to behave in a fair manner so
society works).
 Page 23: Why did Ann Brash buy cross-country skis and Christmas gifts?
First think about her motivations—put yourself in her shoes. Why has
motivated you to buy something you probably couldn’t afford? Then evaluate
the decision and explain the way you arrived at your evaluation.
o Page 23: Research Option: What does it mean if your credit record is
“subprime”? How are subprime loans different from other loans? What
would motivate a financial institution to label a record subprime and then
give that person a loan anyway?
 Page 24: “College students—and now even 16-year-olds—are a new target
for subprime lenders…. even teenagers were declaring bankruptcy.” How
often are you offered loans and credit cards? Which loans (school, car, etc.)
and credit card offers seem smart, and which seem dangerous? How do you
decide what kinds of debt to take on? How do you see debt affecting your
future?
 Page 26: “Lisa did not understand the insurance rules and procedures and
did not know how to appeal.” It can be very expensive if you don’t
understand the systems you depend upon. How do you go about educating
yourself about your health insurance, student loans, rental agreements, car
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loans, legal paperwork, etc.? Who do you turn to when you don’t understand
something or receive an answer that is frustrating for you?
Page 27: Why are interest rates higher for people who need the money and
lower for people who don’t?
Page 27: Is cable television a necessity? Explain. Under what circumstances
might you cancel your cable? What are you willing to give up for it?
Page 28: Are the caseworkers’ complaints about their clients’ cable, call
waiting, and other budgeting decisions fair or insensitive and judgmental?
Should people who receive public assistance also receive assistance with
budgeting? What about people who receive student loan assistance?
Page 29: Why do so many working poor families have pets when veterinary
bills are expensive and money spent on pet food could go to the family’s
grocery bill? (Again, put yourself in the person’s shoes before you evaluate
their decision. Attempt to see the logic of their decisions first.)
Page 32: “I think this is an American problem…this advertising, you got to
have this, you got to have the newest, the latest, the best, and so on—and that
is, I think, an American problem.” Which of your things embarrass you if
they’re too old or too “dated”? What kinds of things are you willing to
postpone replacing with “newer and better”? How do your family and friends
think and talk about clothes and cars and electronics and phones and other
material things? Is this an American problem? What does that mean?
Pages 34-35: Clearly, the money Sarah spends does not make her happy, and
she and her family do not have a lot of money. So why does she keep
spending? Can you relate?
Page 37: Sarah’s caseworker suggested this: “You eat hamburger and mashed
potatoes for the week and stuff like that,” in other words, cook at home more
often. Why does Sarah reject this suggestion?
Page 38: Sarah says of her and her boyfriend/the father of her children: “It’s
like we’re still kids ourselves, so we’ve got to act like kids once in a while.”
How can/should society support “children who have children” so that
everyone involved stays safe and healthy?
Chapter Two: Work Doesn’t Work:
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Page 39: Christie “could not afford to put her own two children in the
daycare center where she worked.” Should the center simply have let Christie
bring her kids to work with her at the daycare? What if all her coworkers did
that, how would you feel if you were a paying parent? What is the ethical
thing to do here?
o Page 40: Research Option: What is the Personal Responsibility and Work
Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA)? How did it change the
welfare system? How is it judged today, almost 20 years later?
 Page 40: “Many who do find jobs lose other supports designed to help them,
such as food stamps and health insurance, leaving them no better off—and
sometimes worse off—than when they were not working.” This is a difficult
problem, creating incentives for work without punishing it by removing
supports. Do you have any ideas about how to fix this problem?
 Page 43: “One reason for Christie’s tight budget was the abundance of highpriced, well-advertised snacks, junk food, and prepared meals that provide
an easy fallback diet for a busy working mother—or for anyone who has
never learned to cook from scratch.” Why don’t families cook at home more
often? Why don’t people know how to cook like they used to? How did people
learn to cook in the past? How did people find the time to cook in the past?
How do you think about your food decisions with respect to nutrition, cost,
and social value?
o Research Option: How much do things cost at the supermarket? What is the
cost per pound (you’ll need to do conversions) of the following items:
1. Cereal
2. Chicken breast
3. Whole chicken
4. Lunchables
5. Peanut butter
6. Beans (any kind, dry or canned)
7. Frozen dinners
8. Apples (loose, any kind)
9. Individual yogurts
10. Tubs of yogurt
11. Salad bar (if the grocery store has one)
12. Cut up, packaged fruit or vegetables in the produce section
 Page 44: “It was strange that [Christie] thought of herself as lazy, because her
work was exhausting, and her low wage required enormous effort to stay
afloat.” Why did Christie think of herself as lazy? From where did she get that
idea? How do you think of Christie’s work ethic? Explain.
 Page 45: Why didn’t the Boys and Girls Club where Christie’s kids spent their
summer work with Christie and her family when they made a mistake? Why
did they take such firm and permanent action?
 Pages 45-46: “Unless employers can and will pay a good deal more for
society’s essential labor, those working hard at the edge of poverty will stay
there. And American’s rapturous hymn to work will sound a sour note.” What
is the author saying here? What kinds of labor are necessary in society
(someone must do them)? How much do we pay the people who do the jobs
you listed? Who is paid very well in our society? Is their work essential?
What does this say about us as Americans?
 Page 46: When Debra Hall got a job, “her major gain was emotional—she felt
better about herself—and so, on balance, she was tentatively glad to be
working.” People generally feel good about an honest day’s work and a job
well done. Why do so many Americans have the idea that the poor don’t want
to work?
 Page 46: “It was the birth of her daughter, when Debra was eighteen, that
launched a twenty-one-year career of welfare checks and ‘under-the-table-
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type jobs.’” This is an extremely difficult situation because children should
not be punished for the decisions of their parent, and it is in society’s best
interest to make sure its children are warm, nourished, safe, and educated.
What is the best way to address this common situation?
Page 48: How important is dignity at work? How might an employer go about
creating jobs that offer dignity to the employees? When have you felt valued,
like your work had dignity, at a job? When have you not felt that way?
Page 51: “Again and again, [Caroline] applied to manage one sales
department or another at the store, and again and again she was passed over
in favor of men—or, she observed wryly, women who were younger and
slimmer.” Why does this happen? Is there a solution?
Page 52: What is the significance and importance of healthy teeth? Think
beyond physical health.
Page 54: Caroline feels sometimes that she “deserves things” because she
“works hard.” What kinds of things do people deserve? What kinds of things
do people deserve who work hard? Are there good things that people, even
hardworking people, don’t “deserve”?
Page 57: “Family turbulence can rarely be walled out of the workplace. An
employee with desirable skills or a powerful position may have enough value
to be tolerated through a difficult time. But Caroline had so little capital of
that sort that she could not purchase an employer’s patience for her personal
trials.” Can you think of an example from your life or a friend’s of what the
author is referencing here? What kinds of things make an employer keep an
employee who is going through a difficult personal event and becomes
perhaps less effective at work?
Page 58: What does it say about Americans’ values and priorities that our
low-income children are more likely to be diagnosed with mild mental
retardation? Explain.
Page 60: Caroline took on $17,000 in student loans for an associate’s degree
that didn’t seem to gain her opportunities to become financially stable.
Understanding that one’s financial situation is the result of many factors, and
education is just one of those factors, and associate’s degrees vary widely in
terms of the earning power they confer, how does Caroline’s situation make
you think about your educational goals?
Page 62: Caroline “wouldn’t be in on Sunday because of her back. Monday
morning the phone rang: Her services were no longer needed. So she went
back to the sewing factory and got laid off two or three times. Working at the
edge of poverty means working on the coldest side of corporate America.”
Should American workers have protections against this sort of corporate
behavior? Why or why not? If so, what kinds of protections?
Page 64: Caroline could afford the chiropractor because of Medicaid, but
when she got a job, she lost her Medicaid, her back acted up, and she was in
danger of losing her job again. Apply some common sense to this situation. Is
there a solution?
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Page 65: “If [the Wal-Mart manager] started [employees] at $8 an hour, say,
instead of $6.25, how would that change the economics of the store? [The
manager replied,] ‘Hmmm. I don’t think it would change at all.’” How does
this admission make you think about the minimum wage? About Wal-Mart’s
prices and profits? Why wouldn’t the Walton family, who are very very
wealthy, offer this modest increase? (Again, attempt to empathize before you
judge.)
Page 65: “So unpredictable were [Caroline’s] hours that she couldn’t work a
second job, which would have helped her cash flow.” To what degree, if at all,
should companies be required to have policies that support their workers’
basic wellbeing (hours and pay that provide a living wage and keep people
off public assistance who are ready to work)? Would this best be
accomplished by organizing the labor so they can negotiate on their own
behalf (unions) or by legislating laws to protect workers (government) or
some other way?
Page 67: According to Barbara Ehrenreich in her book Nickled and Dimed,
Wal-Mart “workers were warned against ‘time theft,’ which meant ‘doing
anything other than working during company time, anything at all,’ she
reported. ‘Theft of our time is not, however, an issue.” Wal-Mart has a history
of unpaid overtime, requiring employees to take unpaid breaks, and changing
employees’ schedules, regardless of whether it costs employees time in extra
travel. Why don’t companies play by the same rules they set for their
employees? Are there ways to require fairness? How?
Pages 70-71: Why do so many companies have inflexible, counter-intuitive
policies for their employees, policies that hurt the employee and seem to gain
the company very little? Is there a solution? Who is best suited to negotiate
with employers?
Chapter Three: Importing the Third World:
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Page 77: “Luxury is produced by humble hands.” What is the most luxurious,
high-end item you own? Whose humble hands touched it before it was sold
to you? (You’ll need to do a bit of research.)
Page 80: Do you own any of the brands or shop in any of the stores listed? We
are encouraged to buy items made in the U.S., in part because worker
protection laws are better here than in many developing countries, but this
chapter shows how often these laws are ignored here in the U.S. So how
should we shop? What is the best way to spend your money if you don’t want
to buy items that were made by exploited people? How do you think about
your role in the suffering of others? How do you think about your role in the
solution?
Page 81: Undocumented immigrants make these sorts of situations possible
because they are disinclined to stand up for themselves and/or report their
employers to the authorities. If we simply deport these workers and tighten
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the borders, we are still left with American employers who are willing to
exploit people and break the law. What is the solution?
Page 83: How do you feel knowing “that black strapless gown on the rack
would ultimately sell for $200 or $300, Joe figured, and he charged just $20
to sew it together”? (The same goes for your high-end sports wear and suits,
men.)
Pages 88-89: The author argues that the same capitalism that drives the
exploitation of the working poor for profit in the pocket of the wealthy
fosters opportunity and entrepreneurial risk-taking that drives a healthy
economy. Research Option: How does socialism approach the problems of
the working poor and the need for a functional economy? Is there a way to
restrict the abuses of a capitalist system while still maintaining the
advantages? Defend your answer with research. How can a system built on
the idea that everything can and should be reduced to a dollar amount
protect and respect life?
Page 89: When these employers talk about what a worker “should be” paid,
what are they referring to? Who determines or how is it determined what a
person’s work is worth?
Page 90: The disparity between the highest and lowest paid American
workers has grown, some say to unsustainable proportions. Research
Option: What is the current disparity of wages in the U.S.? What was our
wage disparity fifty years ago? What is the wage disparity in other developed
countries (Western Europe, Japan, Canada)? Have other countries through
out history had the level of disparity that we have today in the U.S.? How did
their economies fair?
Page 91: “More mobility occurs between generations than within
generations.” Why is it so difficult to move up in social class in America? Why
is it so difficult to go from working poor to middle class, or from middle class
to upper class?
Page 93: The working poor in L.A. often have to figure out how to get a car in
order to improve job prospects because public transportation there, and in
most American cities, is inadequate. Why do Americans support spending tax
money on roads, requiring us to buy cars, instead of tax money on rail,
subway, and other forms of public transit? (See also page 138, “the
limitations of the private sector’s ability to address a social problem.”)
Chapter Four: Harvest of Shame:
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Page 97: “You can hardly go through a day, much less observe a holiday,
without the fruit of [migrant] labor in your life.” What did migrant workers,
many of them undocumented, provide for you today? Would you be willing to
pay more for those products so those workers could earn a livable wage?
How much more? Why or why not?
Page 98: These farm workers rarely complained and often smiled. Why?
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Page 99: Research Option: What is a “coyote”? What kinds of changes would
need to occur in order for the predatory services of a coyote to be no longer
sought?
Page 99: Research Option: What is “indentured servitude”? How did people
become indentured servants in the early years of the United States? How is
the situation of people who come to the U.S. via a coyote similar, or perhaps
the same?
In 2008, Mexico calculates that 725 people died trying to cross into the U.S.
from Mexico. Research Option: Why do people sneak into the U.S. from
Mexico, but not into Mexico from the U.S.? Why isn’t the Mexican economy
more like America’s or Canada’s? The North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) allows those three countries to trade easily. How did that
agreement affect the American and Mexican economies and workers (look
particularly at corn)? Why didn’t Mexico experience more of a benefit?
Pages 102-103; 109: Mexican workers in the U.S. make low wages and still
manage to send hundreds of dollars per worker each month back home. How
do they do that when so many working poor Americans can’t get by on those
same low wages (or perhaps a bit more)?
Page 104: American farmers on small farms do not make much profit on their
crops. American farm migrant workers don’t make much money from their
work. Much of the money in farming goes to oil and seed companies and the
larger companies that buy the crops inexpensively, process them, and sell
them to consumers for a sizable profit. Is there a way to keep more money in
the pockets of farmers and farm workers so they produce quality food?
Page 107: In 1986, Ronald Reagan and the Congress granted amnesty—
forgiveness and a path to documented status—to undocumented immigrants.
Why is amnesty a “dirty” word today, as we again consider immigration
reform? Why are many Americans, corporations, and politicians opposed to
giving legal status to immigrants who are currently working illegally at low
wage jobs in the U.S.? Who would stand to lose money if those workers were
documented? (p. 112 pesticides & herbicides, birth defects; p. 113 education;
p. 114)
Page 113: Research Option: Who was Cesar Chavez? What did he work for
and accomplish?
Page 114: “Jimmy argues that since the United States grants visas liberally to
foreigners who write videogame software, it should do the same for
foreigners who harvest food.” Why does the U.S. give tech worker visas but
not farm worker visas? How much does the average tech worker make in
wages versus the average farm worker? How much would the average farm
worker be due in wages if s/he were working on a legal visa? Which is more
important, video games or food? Reconsider the question of how we pay for
essential versus nonessential labor in this country.
Page 115: The average farm laborer’s $300 “dwindles by $80 to $90 as it
travels electronically to Mexico.” Many “legitimate” businesses make a lot of
money from migrant workers. Is this exploitation fair since these people
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came to this country illegally? Ought there to be any basic human rights and
protections? Explain.
Page 116: Why does U.S. law enforcement often deport these workers
without penalizing the employers who hired them?
Page 118: Many undocumented immigrants from Mexico and other Latin
American countries are Catholic. What does the Catholic Church in America
owe them? Explain.
Chapter Five: The Daunting Workplace:
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Page 124-125: Glenda tried to help Camellia get work. Camellia was nervous.
She skipped the job orientation, didn’t call the call the employer, and didn’t
call Glenda to tell her what happened, thank her, or apologize. Why didn’t
Camellia stay in contact with people who were trying to help her? Why don’t
some students stay in contact with their professors when they have
problems?
Page 128: “Established American stereotypes hold that blacks are lazy and
incompetent, women are too obsessed with their families to be productive
employees, and welfare recipients are unwilling to work.” How should black
people, women, and people who have received public assistance combat
these perceptions? How should they respond when they feel these prejudices
in the workplace?
Page 128: Many companies receive government money for hiring workers
who are coming off public assistance and/or public job training programs,
even if those companies are making a profit. What is the difference between
the money government gives companies to support social programs and the
money government gives people on public assistance programs?
Page 129: “Americans with deficiencies cannot compete in a world where
Cambodians and Filipinos will do the same low-skilled work for much less
than a decent living standard in the United States requires.” Should we
simply ship all our low skilled and factory work overseas and focus on
making every American highly skilled? If the U.S. needs low-skilled and
skilled factory jobs, how do we keep that work here in spite of the fact that
companies can get workers in developing countries to do the work more
cheaply?
Page 130: Michael Summers, president of a rubber company in Cleveland
says this about some of his employees: “They’re not used to being
accountable. That is a problem with that group.” What does it mean to be
accountable at work, at school, at home, in a neighborhood or society? What
do people act like when they are willing to be accountable? Why might Mr.
Summers’ employees lack accountability?
Page 131: Mr. Summers goes on to talk about how his employees handle
personal emergencies and problems. He says, “That might have been an
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important family problem, but you’ve got to work around that.” How do you
handle personal problems that make it difficult for you to work and attend
school? What is Mr. Summers suggesting when he says “you’ve got to work
around that”? Is he being reasonable? Explain.
Page 133: When asked why they were quitting, low-wage workers didn’t cite
wages or boredom or bad conditions as often as they said they “didn’t feel
needed, necessary, or wanted.” Why is this important to people at work? In
what ways can an employer make a factory or service worker feel needed,
necessary, and wanted? Describe a time when you felt this way at a job.
Page 134: The manager went on to say, “It’s not what you pay people. It’s
what they cost you. You pay people what they’re worth, they don’t cost you
anything. You pay people too little, it can cost you everything.” What does he
mean by this?
Page 135: Terrence Ward of H&R Block said to executives who oppose
welfare, “You say she ought to get a job. How are you going to make it
happen? If they say, ‘We can’t hire them,’ I say, ‘So you want to perpetuate
welfare.’ ‘Well, no.’ ‘Well, take your choice. It’s one or the other.” What is
corporate America’s responsibility when it comes to efforts to reduce the
welfare rolls?
Page 135: Hazel Barkley noted “two pervasive problems among the mothers
coming from welfare. One was an absence of any belief in others, a profound
distrust. The second was a conviction that backing down meant weakness.”
How do you maintain trust in people when some people have shown
themselves to be untrustworthy? How do you stay open without letting
yourself be a target? And how do you compromise, and even apologize when
necessary, without seeming weak?
Page 139: “The [college] diploma, in Bryan’s view, does not indicate what you
know but how hard you try. ‘When I see someone with a college degree,’ he
said, ‘the first thing I think of is “ This person’s persistent. To get through
college is amazing”…That means you can be successful somewhere else.’”
What is Bryan saying about college? Put his idea in your own words. Do you
agree?
Page 139: “43 percent [of American adults] cannot summarize the experience
required in a job ad.” Find a job advertisement on-line or in a newspaper.
Print or cut that add, write a summary of the experience required, and attach
your summary to the original ad.
Chapter Six: Sins of the Fathers:
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Page 142: The author writes that we have an “epidemic of sexual abuse that
infests uncounted homes in America.” Research Option: Why do researchers
think that some adults prey on children sexually instead of partnering with
another adult? How does sexual abuse affect children? In what ways are
therapists and other professionals attempting to treat both the child and the
perpetrator?
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Page 143: “A surprising number of women at the edge of poverty turn out to
be survivors of sexual abuse.” Think about why this might be. Brainstorm as
many possible reasons for this as you can. (See page 144 for some ideas.)
Page 148: Wendy had her daughter Kiara while she was homeless. In the
hospital, she felt ignored and neglected by the staff. She said, “See, that’s the
way they treat people who don’t have money.” The staff was probably
frustrated that she was bringing a child into her unstable environment.
Defend both parties. What is the most responsible thing for all parties to do
in this situation? Do poor people deserve to have children? Explain.
Pages 149-150: Wendy’s controlling boyfriend tried to hit her, and instead
she “‘beat the snot out of him,’ she said, laughing angrily.” How do you think
about Wendy’s response to her boyfriend? What were her alternatives, if she
had any?
Page 152: Peaches had a similar problem. “Without much sense of self, she
gravitated to men who enjoyed controlling her—men who evidently had no
control over anything else in their lives.” Why would someone you love,
someone who says they love you, try to control you (track where you go and
who you’re with, monitor your phone and online communication, tell you
how to dress or look or speak)? Why do some people, like Peaches, tolerate
this control?
Page 153: Peaches reports feeling invisible when she was at her lowest. “Her
neighbors looked through her.” Why do people ignore the poor and homeless
on the streets? Have you ever been in trouble and needed help and felt
ignored? How did it feel? What is the alternative to ignoring those who are in
trouble on the streets? (Keep in mind the reasons you gave for people
ignoring the poor in the first place.)
Page 154+: In this chapter you meet Marquita, and later you’ll meet a woman
with a similar history named Leary. Both women came from grandparents
who owned homes in Washington D.C. and earned a good wage. Both women
ended up with debilitating addictions and no jobs or job skills. Research
Option: Research the history of the job market for skilled labor in this
country over the past fifty or so years. Research the evolution of drugs in this
country over the same time period. Is there a systemic explanation for what
happened to these women and their family?
Page 155: The children of parents with addictions often have to take on very
grown-up roles in the household. The author writes, “Children saddled with
grown-up burdens cannot succeed, and that is often their first failure, the
root of inadequacy.” What is he saying?
There is a saying: “Hurt people hurt people.” What does this mean? How does
it apply to the people in this chapter?
Research Option: Crack had a special effect on the communities it affected.
Research the drug, why it was developed, to whom it was sold, and the
consequences for families in the poor neighborhoods of American cities. How
was the crack epidemic different from the epidemics of heroin, crystal meth,
and other highly addictive drugs?
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Page 157: Both Marquita and Leary (page 274) had close, loving
relationships with their fathers, relationships that fell apart when the women
descended into their addictions. The stereotype is that fathers are absent in
these families and situations. Research Option: What are some reasons that
a man will bond with his children and invest in them? What are some reasons
that a man will ignore that responsibility? Are there ways that society can
support the relationship between a father and his children?
Page 158: The wealthy can always pay for drug rehabilitation, even when
their sincerity is in doubt (see celebrities). There aren’t enough beds in
subsidized drug treatment centers, so the poor must apply and convince the
therapists that they truly want to get clean. Should anyone be allowed into
treatment, regardless of sincerity, or is it useful to have that standard?
Should society shift funds to create more room in subsidized treatment?
Page 159: Marquita found herself in the following situation: “The low wage
and the scattered hours produced too little cash to be worth the erratic
absences from home. She calculated that she would do better on welfare, so
she went back to ‘P.A.,’ as she called public assistance.” How can a society
create quality, reliable, living wage work so that it makes sense for people,
even people without extensive education, to work? What kinds of things
might each of us (corporations, politicians, government agencies, individuals)
have to sacrifice to make this kind of work available?
Page 159: “Had [the welfare reform act of 1996] also required [Marquita] to
study and get her G.E.D., or to train in a salable skill, the reform might have
made a more significant impact.” Why didn’t welfare reform include these
things? Why only limit the time people can be on welfare and require them to
work?
Page 162: “At the extremes of the debate, liberals don’t want to see the
dysfunctional family, and conservatives want to see nothing else.” America is
described as increasingly polarized on these sorts of issues. Why do we take
these extreme positions? Why do our elected officials in legislatures?
Page 168: “Once every three months there’s a crisis in a middle-class family,
and once a week in a poor family. Crises affect how much attention you can
pay [to your children].” Does society have a responsibility to help stabilize
these families and reduce the number of crises for the sake of the children?
Explain your answer.
Chapter Seven: Kinship:
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Page 176: Kara lost her job, in part, according to the author, because, “Kara
felt confident enough to cloak herself in a little too much integrity.” (Tom will
be in a similar situation on page 189.) Have you ever had to stand up for
something you thought was right at work? Would you ever? How do you
decide? Is there such a thing as “a little too much integrity”?
Page 177: Kara is diagnosed with cancer, and “without financial means, her
best prospect for treatment was to become part of an experiment, ‘a guinea
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pig,’ she said.” Sick people participate in trials to get free care, and healthy
people do it to earn money. Research Option: How many Americans access
healthcare through trials and studies? How safe is it to be a “guinea pig”?
Who is responsible if the “guinea pig” gets sick or has a bad reaction to the
study?
Page 179: Tom was denied Supplementary Security Income, or SSI, “on the
ground that he could lift ten pounds and stand for more than twenty
minutes.” Research Option: For whom was SSI intended? What are the
standards for receiving benefits? Can a denial be appealed? How?
Page 180: A Wal-Mart manager told a group of employees that an unnamed
coworker was having a hard time and would not have enough money for
Christmas. The workers donated several hundred dollars, and the person
who was in need also donated. Why are the poor often as or more generous
than people who are in a better position to be generous?
Page 180: The author refers to the King family as a family that could have
been called “deserving poor” (quotes are his). Who are the deserving poor?
What do they deserve, and why do they deserve it? Who makes these
judgments? Are they useful? Explain.
Page 180+: The Kings often “bartered” for what they needed. What does this
mean? What are the pros and cons of a barter economy versus a currency
economy?
Page 188: Tom loved Zach, but he didn’t know how to help him get to college
so he had more options than Tom and Kara did. How much help did you get
planning your college education? Who helped you? What kinds of resources
should society provide for these first-generation college students?
Page 191: Zach, a bright student, scored 950 on his SAT and could not afford
the books and tutoring other students could who were no brighter but had
better resources. Are standardized tests fair? Do they offer us any useful
information about students’ ability and/or the quality of the education they
are getting from their teachers? If not, how should colleges judge students’
ability to succeed in college? (more discussion of this on pages 243-247)
Page 193: “Ann Brash chose poverty. The alternative, she firmly believed,
was to sacrifice her bonds with her children by working multiple jobs days
and evenings and weekends.” How do you think about the decision she
made? Don’t jump right to a conclusion about it. Weigh the pros and cons.
How much money does it cost to have a job? What else does a job cost?
Page 193: Ann said that her “cultural capital” kept her from feeling hopeless
like others might in her position. What is social or cultural capital? How does
one get it? How does one use it?
Page 193: Ann’s daughter Sally felt different from the other poor kids at her
school because “they couldn’t imagine life any other way.” How important is
a young person’s ability to dream and be hopeful about the future? In what
important ways do you see your life changing over the next ten years? How
will those changes happen?
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Page 194: This is Ann’s list of things that contribute to a healthy human
being: “close healthy relationships, not feeling alone, fresh vegetables, not too
much sugar, thirty minutes of daily physical activity.” How do you think
about this list? Is there anything you would add or subtract? How are these
things related to one’s material resources?
Page 195: Ann’s parents “did not instill in her the value of professional selfsufficiency.” What did your parents and the other important adults in your
life tell and show you about finding meaningful work and being selfsufficient? If they did not emphasize self-sufficiency, what did they
emphasize? How have those lessons played out in your life?
Page 197: Ann, like Tom and Kara, is white. Unlike Tom and Kara, she came
from a middle-class family, and so had middle-class behaviors. “Professionals
may have viewed Ann as just like them, someone with whom they could have
traded places but for the chance roll of the dice. The results for her were
therefore very different from what they were for single black women in
urban ghettos.” Why are we more inclined to help people who seem more
like us? Why are we more inclined to help those people instead of people
who may be in greater need?
Page 199: Ann’s son was “accepted with full financial aid everywhere he
applied.” (And he applied to some very good schools.) Does this mean that
Ann made the right decision to live in poverty for a while? Consider the last
paragraph of the chapter on page 200 in making your decision.
Chapter Eight: Body and Mind:
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Page 202: Consider the list of things at the top of this page that Dr. Frank
believes would result in fewer hungry people in the U.S. Which strikes you as
most important? Most difficult? Most simple? Why don’t we put more effort
into making sure people in this wealthy country are nourished?
Page 206: Consider Becky and Brenda’s comments at the bottom of the page.
Who is responsible for these problems and how are they responsible?
Page 207: Legal immigrants may receive support that will not count against
them in their efforts to become citizens. The only support that may count
against them is cash support, not food or medical care. Many immigrants
don’t understand or believe this. Why isn’t there a public service
announcement campaign to spread the word about this so people aren’t sick
or starving?
Page 207: Why will the government pay for infant formula but not a breast
pump?
Page 209: The author references historical mistrust between the black
community and the medical establishment, particularly the Tuskegee syphilis
experiments and later the treatment of postal employees during the anthrax
attacks of 2001. Research Option: What happened during the Tuskegee
experiments? Why were they initiated? Why were black men used in the
experiment? What kind of restitution did the families of the victims receive?
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What kind of restitution did the family of the postal worker who died of
anthrax receive? Was the HMO held accountable for their decision to
withhold antibiotics?
Page 210: Medicaid does not pay for interpreters to help doctors and patients
communicate so doctors understand the patient’s problems and questions
and patients understand the doctor’s explanations and instructions. Why pay
for medical care but not the communication necessary to make it work? Why
don’t we explain medical issues to immigrants in their native languages?
Page 211: Again we see the same network of problems: “‘problems that
would be real but not overwhelming in a framework of economic security
become overwhelming and catastrophic’ in an impoverished home.” Why do
we as a society prefer to wait to offer assistance until the problems are life
threatening and life altering instead of intervening with help when the
problems are still manageable? There used to be a saying: A stitch in time
saves nine. What does this mean? Is it true? How does it apply to the issues in
this book?
Page 211: The author calls Baltimore a “desperately poor city.” What makes
cities like Baltimore, Detroit, and New Orleans poor, even though wealthy
people live there? What makes cities like New York, San Francisco, and
Seattle better off than Baltimore, even though poor people live there?
Pages 213-214: Why do parents behave in this way toward their children?
Page 216: The author cites that in 2010, “17.2 million households (14.5
percent of the country’s total) were deemed ‘food insecure’ because they
reported themselves as having been uncertain that they could afford enough
to eat.” And more people in this country are malnourished because the food
they eat is not nutritious, causing brain damage in children. Why don’t we
take this problem seriously?
Page 221: “Monkeys and rodents that were flooded with prolonged doses of
cortisol became more sensitive to stress and showed increased signs of fear
and anxiety, which did not fully abate even when the treat was removed.”
Cortisol is a hormone humans produce in response to stress. What does this
study suggest about people who are constantly under stress?
Page 222: “In the last twenty years or so, the biological and the
environmental, once viewed as part of a dichotomy, have come to be seen as
parts of a whole, as a complex array of ‘risk factors and protective factors’
that include not only infections, nutrients, and chromosomes but also love,
nurturing, and emotional safety.” Paraphrase the author’s point here in your
own words. Research Option: What is the “Nature/Nurture Dichotomy”?
How have the physical and social sciences studied and thought about this
dichotomy over the past twenty years?
Page 226: “Asthma now strikes 9 percent of American children…12 to 15
percent of black children in the inner cities, and higher percentages in certain
impoverished neighborhoods.” Do you or does someone you know have
asthma? What is it like to live with that disease? How does it affect the entire
family? Research Option: What causes asthma? (There is some information
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on that in this chapter.) How is asthma best treated? Why are children who
live in poorer inner city neighborhoods more susceptible to asthma?
Page 227: Here is a heartbreaking story about the death of a small child,
likely preventable. Should the landlord be held accountable in some way? If
so, how? Research Option: Is there legal precedent to hold a landlord
accountable when s/he neglects repairs on a property that negatively affect
the health of tenants?
Page 229: “The welfare cheats are the officials who design Kafkaesque
labyrinths of paperwork that force a recipient of food stamps or Medicaid or
welfare to keep elaborate files of documents and run time-consuming
gauntlets of government offices while taking off from work.” Page 230: Being
poor is a full-time job, it really is.” Respond to the author’s assertion here.
Page 230: “Blessed are the poor who have lawyers on their side.” Brainstorm
ways that the poor can have better access to legal assistance when they are
being endangered or denied help for which they qualify. What is “pro bono”
work? Are there legal organizations that advocate for the poor?
Chapter Nine: Dreams:
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Page 231-232: Why do we doubt that these children will achieve their career
dreams?
Page 238: Dreams are fostered in a functioning school system. But “some
children are hungry. Some suffer from the constant, enervating ache of teeth
decayed, abscessed, and untreated. Others need eyeglasses and cannot read
what’s projected or written in the front of the room. Others, like little Latosha
in Washington, just don’t make it to school very often.” Brainstorm ways that
public school systems can address some of these needs that prevent their
students from learning and dreaming. Research Option: Are there public
schools in America that address the nutritional, dental, and eye care needs of
their students? How do they do it?
Page 239: “If it brings deferred reward, they cannot calculate it…they lose
their imaginations about what can be.” What is deferred reward? In what
ways can deferred reward be more and less motivating? More and less
satisfying?
Page 239-240: Why did so many teachers tell the author he could write about
them when they heard he was writing about the working poor? Research
Option: How much money do public school teachers make in low-income
neighborhoods? In high-income neighborhoods?
Page 239-240: What is the significance of the fact that we fund public schools
with local taxes in the U.S.? What are the alternatives? (See pages 293-294
for more information.)
Page 251: “Schools are full of self-fulfilling prophecies. Schools are where
dreams and disappointments come together, where children are believed in
or defeated, where lights are ignited or extinguished.” What was your
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experience like in grade school? High school? Do you agree with the author’s
assessment?
Page 251-252: “I asked the math teacher at Grape Street Elementary what
problems could be solved with more money. ‘Practically everything except
the trauma the kids are exposed to,’ he said. ‘And with more money we could
provide services to deal with that better.’” Many people today assert that
more money will not fix broken schools. Read the following article:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/05/noguera.schools/What do you
think?
Page 252: In the 1800’s, Lord Acton wrote Americans “are unwilling that any
should be deprived in childhood of the means of competition.” Is this true of
us today? What does every child need in order to be able to compete in the
world?
Chapter Ten: Work Works:
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Page 255-256: In 1970, a priest started “So Others Might Eat” (SOME). How
did that organization evolve? Why did it evolve the way it did? Is this a
unique situation or a model other organizations could use? Explain.
Page 256: Through group training, SOME began to see its participants
“succeed at a crucial element of life on the job: communicating with people.”
How well do you and your coworkers, past or present, communicate with
each other? Why do you think SOME identified the ability to communicate as
a key job skill for any and every worker?
Page 261: What are “soft skills”? How are they different from “hard skills”?
Why do some employers think they are more important than “hard skills”?
(Refer back to pages 126-127.)
Page 261: “Here was a key to moving people from welfare to work: Make the
process beneficial to business.” How can this process benefit companies?
How can government and nonprofits make sure that making this process
beneficial to business doesn’t make workers vulnerable to exploitation?
Page 262-263: Should the government pay private, for-profit companies to
hire low-wage workers off the welfare rolls? Argue both sides.
Page 265: Director of Training Richard Blackmon has his trainees chant, “I
CAN MAKE CHANGES, OR I CAN MAKE EXCUSES, BUT I CAN’T MAKE BOTH.”
Why? When do you feel yourself making excuses? Is there a time and place
for an excuse? When and where?
Page 266: Blackmon went on to say, “So we ain’t doin’ too bad with the
minimum wage, right? …Don’t knock the minimum wage. It’s a starting point.
…Everything you need you already got.” In what ways do you agree and/or
disagree with his point?
Page 269: “Ricky Drake’s wife said of Ricky, “When a person as he is could
support his family then it kind of calms him down and puts him in a better
position.” What does she mean?
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Page 270: Evaluate this statement: Leary’s life fell apart because she didn’t
trust her mother enough to tell her that she had been raped.
Page 274: Velma and Leary’s ancestors had fought and worked hard. They
pulled themselves out of slavery and total poverty. They were undeniably
strong. Velma made some mistakes, but she committed to raising her
children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. What happened to Leary
and her children and grandchildren? Why did they take a different path in
life?
Page 275: Leary’s life was saved by a new program: “Instead of jailing firsttime drug offenders (meaning the first time they were caught), those who
showed judges a spark of hope were sentenced to treatment programs.”
Should this be the way we handle all offenders with addictions? Argue both
sides. Research Option: What does it mean to medicalize drug addiction?
What are the pros and cons of this approach?
Page 277: Leary said this about her interview with Xerox: “I never brought
[pay] up. You understand? I never questioned her as to what none of that was
at any time. So that let her know that my first interest is becoming a member
of Xerox. And whatever Xerox had to offer me I would be gratefully inclined
to go with because I knew about the company.” Why don’t we ask about
money in job interviews? Should we, since the reason we work is to earn
money? Or is Leary right?
Page 279: Of Leary, the author wrote, “Hers was the story everyone wanted
to believe in.” Why does the author use the word “wanted”? Is it reasonable
to see Leary as evidence of hope and success? Why or why not?
Page 280: Again of Leary, “In her first year of recovery, when she thought she
could suddenly resume a parental role, she got so rough with a daughter that
a son had to pull her away.” Put yourself in Leary’s position. Why might she
respond and react this way? Why did Velma snap at Deandre?
Page 282: The author asserts that the American Dream comes true for the
poor only with “the right combination of drive, opportunity, thrift, education,
health, connections, and mutual support,” that the working poor require “a
cohesive family [that] has multiple wage-earners who believe in their own
competence, have the skills, know how to find jobs, manage their money with
care, and never retreat in the face of hardship….There is no room for mistake
or misfortune.” He goes on to write, “The model is so rare that it is no model
at all, just an exception that highlights the problems.” How can we make the
American Dream once again accessible in a realistic way to all Americans?
Chapter Eleven: Skill and Will:
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Page 286: “The first question is whether we know exactly what to do.” The
answer to that question is yes, sometimes we do know what to do to fix these
problems. “The second question is whether we have the will to exercise our
skill. Will we spend the money, make the sacrifices, restructure the hierarchy
of wealth to alleviate the hardships down below?” Up until now, we have not
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had the will. Do you see a way in your lifetime to make America a more just
nation? What has to happen? How can you be involved in the change?
Page 287: “The poor do not fight back. The lower the income, the lower the
rate of voter turnout…although nobody needs the government more than the
poor and the nearly poor, they have little influence on its policies.” Why don’t
the poor vote? Do you believe it makes a difference to vote? Will you vote in
the next round of elections for mayor, governor, president, and legislators?
Why or why not?
Page 288: “Most Americans do not vote in line with their class interests, and
there is no guarantee that the poor would do so even in a large turnout.
Balloting seems driven more by aspiration than complaint. Time magazine
found in a 2000 survey that 19 percent of Americans thought they were in
the top 1 percent of wage-earners, and another 20 percent expected to be in
the future.” We, you and I, are not in the top 1 percent of American wage
earners, and statistics say it is extremely unlikely we ever will be. Why is that
so hard for people to accept? Why do so many of us vote like we’re wealthy,
protecting those who actually are wealthy and hurting ourselves?
Page 289: “[The government] exists also to protect the weak.” Do you believe
this statement? How do you define “weak”? How do you define “protect”?
Page 290: “Marxism failed because it misinterpreted history: It saw the
stages of civilization leading inexorably to classlessness, a naïve assessment
of humankind’s capabilities.” Is it naïve to believe that human beings won’t
always try to rise unfairly on the backs of others? Research Option: Who
was Karl Marx? What was his economic philosophy? How do his ideas relate
to the themes of this book?
Page 290: “Americanism could fail, too. It is devoted to keeping government
in its place, but the question of what place that should be is the centerpiece of
our ongoing discussion.” What role should government play in the minds of
people who identify as “left-leaning”? What role should government play in
the minds of people who identify as “right-leaning”? (Both ends of the
political spectrum want government to get involved in our lives, but at
different points and for different reasons.) When do you think government
should protect and restrict?
Page 290: “Business executives have the skill but certainly not the will to
compress salary differentials by raising the bottom and making sacrifices at
the top.” Should we as a country make this—often referred to as the
redistribution of wealth—a goal? If so, how should we go about it?
Page 291: What is the difference between minimum wage and a living wage?
Which is a better system for economic stability? This debate is going on in
Washington, D.C. right now: http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-0626/local/40202663_1_tax-increases-revenue-5-3-percent-sales-tax Respond
to the ideas in this article.
Page 292: Unions have been losing power in this country for decades.
Research Option: What was the role and function of unions 100 years ago?
60 years ago? 40 years ago? Why has the government often been sympathetic
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with businesses that wanted to limit the influence of workers by dismantling
labor unions? What, if anything, did labor unions do to contribute to their
own demise? What, in your mind, is the best way for workers to avoid being
exploited by employers and corporations?
Page 292-293: The author advocates for “the revival of vocational education
in high school and a network of apprenticeships for those who don’t go to
college.” But he acknowledges, “the notion of funneling certain teenagers into
vocational school rubs again the American ethic of egalitarianism, which
touts the idea of equal opportunity without actually providing it.” The
vocational school option got the bad label of “tracking,” putting less
academically inclined students on a track that led away from college. Would
you have liked to have a vocational training in high school? Is there a way to
offer that, and treat it as a legitimate option in this country, without steering
students away from college who might want to go that route?
Page 294: One-sixth of the country’s black students now attend virtually all
non-white schools…and only one-seventh of the whites attend multiracial
schools, defined as those with 10 percent or more minority enrollment.”
Research Option: What was being argued in Brown v. The Board of
Education? Consider the current state of our schools in light of that ruling.
Page 295: Of healthcare insurance, the author writes, “Employer-based
policies may be the worst conceivable way to organize coverage.” Why?
Research Option: What are the provisions of the Affordable Care Act
(Obamacare)? What would a single-payer system look like?
Page 297-298: “The successful programs are described with recurring terms:
‘comprehensive,’ ‘intensive,’ and ‘highly professional.’…In other words, when
we do it right, it works. ‘And everywhere we’ve tried to d it on the cheap,
everywhere we’ve tried to cut a corner, we end up spending money with no
appreciable results.” What do these terms mean? Can you think of an
example from the book or from your life of a program that fits this
description?
Page 299: “It may look as if nobody is accountable. In fact, everybody is.”
How are you accountable?
Epilogue: The epilogue tells you what happened to a few of the characters in this
book after the author finished writing it. Whose outcome surprised you? Why?
Whose outcome didn’t surprise you? Again, why?