Though the media focuses on the economic crisis of the upper middle class, this does not mean they are the only ones suffering. Now blue-collar workers are laid off and no jobs are to be found. She says in today’s economy her experiment wouldn’t work because, “I would probably never have found a job.” The unemployed deal with this loss by cutting back on things that others think are necessities: health care, food and housing. And when worst comes to worst, some commit suicide. Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) shame families who come for help, forcing them to jump through hoops in order to qualify for the assistance. To top all of this off, being poor in this country is increasingly criminalized. City ordinances and anti-sharing laws are designed to keep people off the streets, but they need help, not prison. Some cities have passed laws limiting the number of meals that can be served in food kitchens, while, elsewhere, Food not Bombs activists have been arrested for serving food to the homeless. What the laws are doing is, “kicking people when they’re down.”

Barbara Ehrenreich’s new afterward is helpful for understanding poverty in these new times.

Sarah Lane is currently an English major with a business minor at St. John’s University. She is scheduled to graduate in June.