My boss assigned us this book as part of our mandatory summer reading. Which is surprising, considering I work at a bank and Barbara Ehrenreich is the most famous socialist in recent memory (lol).

Inarguably a touchstone in the “our shit is fucked up and capitalism is bad mmkay” canon. Barb was a great writer, and she does a great job capturing the daily indignities of being poor with her dry sense of humor. But I still question the premise of the book. I don’t know how much I get from a rich lady cosplaying as a Walmart employee for a week. It feels like a lazy gimmick compared to what she could have done — tell the stories of a handful of people who actually live this reality every day.

Regardless of approach, the messages are powerful and, unfortunately, enduring: the rent is too damn high, “outside” is too expensive, too many of us live with an economic boot on our necks. Eat the rich and tip well, y’all!