Barbara Ehrenreich is one smart woman. A good writer too. Sure, you may know her from her books, but Ehrenreich's watchful eye is most visible in her articles.
In a brief piece at Alternet, she considers the cost of poverty. "There are people, concentrated in the Hamptons and Beverly Hills, who still confuse poverty with the simple life," she begins. As if poor people were quaint, or Buddha-wise, or part of the charming landscape of the small towns that wealthier folks vacation in. Where I grew up in southwest Michigan, the summer tourist traffic from the Chicago area is high--locals call them FIPs (Fuckin' Illinois People) while resentfully depending upon their business to keep our livelihood.
Ehrenreich's piece refers to the "ghetto tax"--that is, the hidden costs for low-income people, particularly in urban neighborhoods, that their middle-to-upper class counterparts don't have to deal with. Read it here.
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