Reviews for The Unaffordable Nation: Searching for a Decent Life in America

The average rating for The Unaffordable Nation: Searching for a Decent Life in America based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-05-18 00:00:00 Darren Pyles While I appreciate Jones' attempt to establish that there is (or should be) some sort of 'contract' between the nation and its workers that guarantees that if they work hard they will make at least enough to provide for the necessities of life (which is clearly not the case in the US), I do not feel that he concretely proves it. Jones does effectively show that as things have become more expensive and that wages have not kept pace and this has led to the absurd reality in the US that you can put in your 40-50 hour work weeks and still not be able to cover the necessities (much less any luxuries) of life. This is lamentable and Jones presents many examples as to why. Unfortunately, any criticism of how the US works is often immediately labeled as socialist or communist--while most Americans can't come close to accurately defining either (thanks to our woeful educational system that is focused mostly on teaching you how to sit quietly, follow instructions and be somewhere during business hours), they do realize that these labels are supposed to represent something bad--effectively ending any thought/discussion we might have about how things perhaps need to be changed.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-01-08 00:00:00 Gabriela Moraes The author posits that there is an unwritten social contract between labor and business that promises that hard work will pay off in the ability to afford a decent life. The author's take was that when non-managerial wages generally drop below the living wage then trouble is a-brewing. The book starts out with an attempt to show that the definition of a "decent life" is not as amorphous as it sounds, then continues on with details about the social contract. It involves laborers' duty is to work hard, and in return business should provide a living wage, basically. It was actually a pretty well-rounded book. It was pretty realistic about the nature of modern global economics. It didn't come off as some socialist diatribe, like you would expect from the title. The writing style was really academic, though.