Its been a while since I've read Ehrenreich's book but am curious - which decisions of hers did you find irrational?
I will say that a fundamental flaw in Nickel and Dimed, (and most likely in Shepard's book as well) - is that she ultimately had a choice. Many people in these situations have no choice. Many of them have children. Many of them have no college education to fall back on. I count myself among the lucky.
which decisions of hers did you find irrational?
As someone who lives on about $750/month [1], both the game and the book seemed not to notice major ways to save money like having a lot of housemates, commuting by bus, combining proteins, and thrift stores.
Being poor definitely sucks, but the book and game imply it is impossible, which it clearly is not.
[1] this doesn't include taxes and health insurance, which are deducted from my paycheque, but if I were making only $750/month I would have free health care from MA and negative taxes (EITC)
This saves money, but it's actually pretty small compared to other ways to be more frugal. So I probably shouldn't have brought it up.
He makes the point that knowing he could quit at any time (and carrying an emergency credit card, never used) would be a disincentive to working hard. If he did not have a safety net, he would probably work harder. Instead, he takes many hard day-labor jobs.
In less than 10 months, he moves from a homeless shelter in a town where he knows no one to an apartment with one roommate. He goes from $25 to owning his own truck and savings of almost $5000.