2. Were your perceptions of the blue collar Americans transformed or reinforced by nickel and dimmed? Have your notions of poverty and prosperity changed since reading the book? What about your own treatments of waiters, maids, salespeople?
My perception of the blue collar Americans was transformed as a result of the book. Previously I had always felt that is someone wanted to find a job, they could. If a hard working American went out into the work force looking for a job that could support them, then they would certainly find one. However after reading the book, I now understand that it is not always this easy. Sometimes the jobs that are offered to the blue collar Americans are not good enough to support themselves or their
So many of them, especially the big chains, such as Wal-Mart, depend upon that narrow profit margin of theirs, so that they can build more stores, to employ more workers, and expand some more. Take that away and many companies might either close down shop, move operations overseas or, God forbid, change their practices to be more conducive to humane treatment of their workers or to take the wind out of the consumer-driven economy and replace it with one that supports local economies and local communities, and not be so obsessed with expansion for its own sake.

4. Housing costs pose the greatest obstacle for low-wage workers. Why does our society seem to resist rectifying situation? Do you believe that there are realistic solutions to the lack of affordable housing?
Our society seems to resist rectifying the housing situation because many people feel that if you change the housing system, then the whole system will have to be changed. Most people aren't willing to change the entire system because a lot of people profit from the poor workers. I do not believe that there are realistic solutions to the lack of affordable housing. Unfortunately I think that this is just a cycle that will continue for a very long time, until someone finds the grand solution to the problem of low wages. In order to change the housing prices, the entire economic system has to be restructured so that low wageworkers are not vital to the economy. At this