Barbara Ehrenreich And David Brooks Essay
Different opinions from Barbara Ehrenreich and David Brooks
Barbara Ehrenreich, the author of Nickel and Dimed did an investigation about living conditions of workers who were regarded as unskilled and low-wage employees. Ehrenreich also wanted to figure out how millions of women are able to survive on $6 or $7 an hour after welfare reform (Ehrenreich 1). The article The Limits of Policy by David Brooks discusses the importance of government policy and how government policy will affect people's lives. Basically, Ehrenreich and Brooks are concerned with the same issue; however, they yield different conclusions about the issue. For example, Ehrenreich states that low income people need more help from the American government and government …show more content…
David Brooks points out that government policy will have a slight effect on living conditions of the poor. He refers a book named "What Money Can’t Buy" wrote by Susan E. Mayer of the University of Chicago to prove his argument. "what would happen if you could double the income of the poorest Americans. The results would be disappointingly small. Doubling parental income would barely reduce dropout rates of the children. It would have a small effect on reducing teen pregnancy. It would barely improve child outcomes overall"(Brooks, par.13). As a result, Brooks holds the opinion that even if American government tries to raise wages of the poor, the outcome will not be a great change. For my part, I partly agree with Brooks that even if American government doubles the income of the poor, it would barely reduce dropout rates of the children and teen pregnancy. However, at least it would improve those families' living conditions because people would have more money to buy life's necessities and promote diet quality. If I am the poorest American and the government doubles my income, I think it would not change my mind about the big issue like should I send my kids to college, but I would definitely buy my kids less hot dogs as their
Barbara Ehrenreich, the author of Nickel and Dimed did an investigation about living conditions of workers who were regarded as unskilled and low-wage employees. Ehrenreich also wanted to figure out how millions of women are able to survive on $6 or $7 an hour after welfare reform (Ehrenreich 1). The article The Limits of Policy by David Brooks discusses the importance of government policy and how government policy will affect people's lives. Basically, Ehrenreich and Brooks are concerned with the same issue; however, they yield different conclusions about the issue. For example, Ehrenreich states that low income people need more help from the American government and government …show more content…
David Brooks points out that government policy will have a slight effect on living conditions of the poor. He refers a book named "What Money Can’t Buy" wrote by Susan E. Mayer of the University of Chicago to prove his argument. "what would happen if you could double the income of the poorest Americans. The results would be disappointingly small. Doubling parental income would barely reduce dropout rates of the children. It would have a small effect on reducing teen pregnancy. It would barely improve child outcomes overall"(Brooks, par.13). As a result, Brooks holds the opinion that even if American government tries to raise wages of the poor, the outcome will not be a great change. For my part, I partly agree with Brooks that even if American government doubles the income of the poor, it would barely reduce dropout rates of the children and teen pregnancy. However, at least it would improve those families' living conditions because people would have more money to buy life's necessities and promote diet quality. If I am the poorest American and the government doubles my income, I think it would not change my mind about the big issue like should I send my kids to college, but I would definitely buy my kids less hot dogs as their