Barbara Ehrenreich's intent in the book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America showed that the minimum wage is not enough for Americans to survive and that there is no hope for the lower class. His main goal was achieved by living the life of the "working poor". During the three case studies he performed many jobs done by many who simply strive to live day to day. The jobs she had did not generate enough income to avoid or help her out of poverty, in fact the six to seven dollar jobs made survival considerably difficult. Initially, he believed that the jobs did not require any skills, but during his journey he began to realize that they were stressful and consumed a lot of energy. In addition to that, he realized that it was almost impossible to get out of the rut of low-paying professions once you entered. Barbra Ehrenreich traveled to three locations trying to prove her point. In those states she found work as a waitress, hotel maid, housekeeper, nursing home assistant, and Wal-Mart sales clerk. He not only learned about the low wages but also about the treatment of workers. In Florida he almost develops a hatred for managers, one being that managers can sit for hours and get away with it and secondly because they showed no passion for the job they had. One job wasn't enough for her at that time, as she couldn't pay the rent. She tries working two jobs for one day, but gives up because she felt it would be too burdensome for her. With numerous job opportunities, Maine was next on his list. The jobs there were no better than in Key West because the pay was the same. Barbra started living at Motel 6 but it became too expensive, so she took a f...... middle of paper ...... survival gives a political perspective to the book. He states his socialist views which create controversy among some reviewers. Whether or not he exaggerated his results or perhaps distorted them to fit his argument did not mask the fact that he still got credible results in the end. Although he met the criteria that made everything realistic, he still failed to speak to both points of view on the government's course of action. He specifically belittled our capitalism and promoted socialism. She refused to use all the resources she had at hand and denied the best care that could be provided. Ehrenreich familiarizes upper-class Americans with the plight of the working poor and succeeds in demonstrating that the task was difficult. It made it obvious that employees with this status are not paid based on their worth, but what the solution is??