Otoh, Brad's point that Ehrenreich ignores the fact that the low paying jobs she is writing about may not be suitable for PhDs like herself, but are the only jobs available to certain people (like studentsm th elederly or immigrants) who otherwise would be unemployed was also my first reaction to the book.
I may also add that I like another point that Ehrenreich raises big time - that low wages are only one part of the equation. The other part is unavailability of affordable housing and transportation - which pushes low wage earners below the poverty level. I may add that providing housing and transportation is not the responsibility of Wal Marts and fast food chains - it is the responsibility of the government and out government has miserably failed in this resepct. That dove-tails with another Brad's point - namely that the government is almost invisible in Ehrenreich's writing.
I also take Kelley's point that ranting about yuppie lifestyles is a rather minor themes in _Nickel and Dimed_ - but that point should not be mentioned at all! This is the lowest kind of populaist diatribe, similar to attacking capitalism by pointing out that some of the richest capitalists are Jews or foreigners.
But having said all that - it does not matter that much what Ehrenreich wrote and what we thing about that. A far more important point, which so far nobody addressed, is that why there are no service cooperatives that do not exploit workers in this country. After all, there are no obstacles, legal or otherwise, to form one. After all, there is a _Dollars & Sense_ collective? Why is the low paying service sector shunned by coop organizers? Where are the unions?
Wojtek