``In what has become a familiar pattern, the government defunds services that might help the poor while ramping up law enforcement. Shut down public housing, then make it a crime to be homeless. Generate no public-sector jobs, then penalize people for falling into debt. The experience of the poor, and especially poor people of color, comes to resemble that of a rat in a cage scrambling to avoid erratically administered electric shocks. And if you should try to escape this nightmare reality into a brief, drug-induced high, it's "gotcha" all over again, because that of course is illegal too.'' Barbara Ehrenreich
The above occurs late in the essay, but it is reprsentative of the rest. She starts with Nickel and Dimed and revamps the general outline and then takes a look at today, noting N&D was written in the best of recent times.
CG