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This article explains that the immigrants who work in our house as helpers or housekeepers today are no better off than immigrant workers hundreds of years ago. They have virtually no protection from exploitation. Whether a minority women working in a suburban home, or the immigrant working the tomato farms of Florida, laborers are bent at the will of their employer. Usually, this is not positive, as profit is usually the only goal for greedy business-people.

"Women earn less money than men, have fewer assets, and are far more likely to live in poverty. Furthermore, the gap between the rich and poor is growing wider."

The following article deals with women in the work force and more specifically their incomes. The article is relevent due to the fact Ehrenreich is a women in the work force. The article compares the wages of women and men to see discrepencies among the genders. The article deals with what women face as part of the labor force as well.

"...documents the daily tribulations of retail, housecleaning, and restaurant workers: daily humiliation from management, the inability to take time off for illness without docking pay, recriminations for promoting unions, company health insurance that is still unaffordable, etc"

This quote comes from a personal blog but highlights important points about the hardships she endures while performing the various duties.

This quote can be seen as the modern day version of The Grapes of Wrath. As the cyclical theory repeats itsself in history, the people of modern time are experiencing the same problems as the migrant workers. The author again evokes the passion to show the consequences of the poor treatment of workers

"But one of the big shocks for me, almost from the beginning, was how little privacy or rights you have in the workplace. Very early, the first or second flay of my life as a waitress, I was warned by a coworker that my purse could be searched at any time. I just didn't believe that could be legal. But I have since, of course, checked with labor lawyers, and it's true. At work, you have no privacy as to your personal effects, purse or backpack, in any state that I know of." In the workplace, you have no privacy. Instead, you're just another machine who's under the control of the bigger business. Privacy, a right we often take for granted, is almost always denied to minimum wage workers.

"...the typical middle class, like, "Well, I should look for something better," you know. And then, I began to figure out, if you're paid very little, it could be a disaster to change jobs. Because you might have to go one, two, three weeks without any paycheck at all. And that's not doable." For a low wage worker, there is not the option of finding something better. No matter how hard the work is, or how bad they're treated, they must stay in the conditions just to survive.

I can't even imagine not being able to afford a house with a kitchen. This really puts a new perspective on things, and adds to the sympathy felt for all the low wage workers.

"Ehrenreich stresses the physical difficulties in the kind of labor she performs for these experiments. Her health is often in jeopardy, and yet she cannot do everything in her power to heal and become well." For workers, a day off is not an option. No matter how bad their back pain is or how sick they feel, they must show up and give it their all, no matter what the price.

I agree, and this also shows the harsh treatment and conditions of workers in the workplace which result in these injuries. Also, a legitimate fear grips all the low class workers which prevents them from taking days off, due to the fact that they might be fired for it.

This article is about the disparity between the social classes. The article references "Nickel and Dimed" to emphasize the horrible jobs the lower class engages to make a linving. The article highlights the inequalities between the classes, and how "Nickel and Dimed" supports the theme of social inequality.

"...slamming the car into Michell and sending him to the hospital with a broken kneecap, a badly torn shoulder, and two herniated disks. Michell was so devoted to Wal-Mart that he somehow returned to work the next day, but a few weeks later... He was fired soon afterward,...to dismiss workers whose injuries run up Wal-Mart's workers' comp bills." This article shows a direct comparison to Fast Food Nation. Kenny Dobbins was also a loyal worker, and when injured on the job he was fired due to a request of compensation. Mike Mitchell caught 180 shoplifters in a two- year period, but when injured on the job, Wal-Mart did not have his back. The article shows the theme of profit over treatment of the worker. The article also has interesting facts/statistics about the middle and low class laborer of the modern day.

"Ehrenreich then examines the general social issues underlying her experiences. The constant problem of housing is caused by the rich competing with the poor for living space, with the rich inevitably coming out on top."

The following article gives a brief summary of the novel. The article tells of Ehrenreich's purpose and method of finding minimum wage jobs to support herself. Ehrenreich comes to the conclusion that the cause of the terrible conditions of the poor class is do to social inequality. Social inequality leds to competition which always ends with one side losing to benefits the other.

Barbara Ehrenreich wants to make clear that she is not a spoilsport. "No one can call me a sourpuss," she declared. "I have a big foot in the joy camp." She is the author of "Dancing in the Streets," a history of "collective joy," she notes, and a lot of fun at parties.

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The Joads are always optimistic, and they're even more impoverished than these people.

"Through her personal study, Ehrenreich sees the futility of the American dream as her various co-workers desperately attempt to break through their social strata and leave the life of the "working poor" behind. But housing and transportation costs, medical bills, and the price of basic needs create obstacles that are often insurmountable. "

This article deals with the American Dream. Many people start in the business world with the American dream of advancing through hard work. Through "The Jungle", Jurgis never succeeds by working hard. Ehrenreich also finds that working hard in America does not sustain a person. A person must struggle daily to survive.

While Barbara Ehrenreich has a powerful quote in this article, Andy Sterns is much more so, "Well, the good news is this isn't Rwanda or Darfur or some impoverished country. This is the greatest country on earth with the greatest amount of wealth. The problem isn't about the wealth. It's about distribution. And the truth is we are seeing America's growing apart instead of growing together."

This quote epitomizes the problems that the American economy faces today. The rich keep getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer. The problem is not a lack of wealth, but rather a deeper division between social classes. The ideals of this nation have not come to pass.

The rich are benefiting from the labor of the poor. The rich hardly have to work to make money anymore.

speaks to the unethical practices of many restaurant workers

The article is mostly statistics but, but it shows how widespread unethical business practices are. The fact that nearly a third of every statistic published is someone being underpaid and or forced to work unpaid overtime speaks to badly these workers are taken advantage of.

id have to disagree very stronly, im sorry

"Until comparatively recent times, most women lived in such a world, for discrimination based on gender was the rule in almost every culture. Yet even in the most repressive times and places, writers of both sexes have protested the discrimination against women that was so thoroughly woven into the fabric of society that many people simply could not recognize the inequities."

This article focuses on women in literature. The main issue in feminist literature is the inequalities between the genders. The opportunities presented to each gender skew towards the male portion of the population. "A Room of One's Own" provides prominent examples of the discrepancies between females and males.