There was a very interesting piece on ,em>All Things Considered this afternoon about the underground economy in poor neighborhoods, how essential it is to survival, and how limiting it is in terms of fostering conditions that would make it possible for people to move beyond survival. It was a long and complex piece that I can not summarize well, but is worth going to the archives to check out.


Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, Barbara Ehrenreich, Metropolitan Books, New York; 2001. 221 pp. is a real eye opener if you have any illusions about what it is like to try to live on low wages in America.

Read it. Then imagine what it is like to 'live' on even less.

Janie