■ The Big Idea
Having a job and working hard do not guarantee a better life even for low-level workers in America. What is needed are fair, living wages and a government sincere in promoting sustainable development by providing generous subsidies in public services like housing, healthcare, transportation and child care.

■ About the Author
A political essayist and social critic who tackle a brave and diverse range of issues in books and magazine articles. Ehrenreich has written on the subjects of healthcare, class, families, and sex. She is the author or co-author of twelve books including Fear of Falling: The Inner Life of the Middle Class, and, most recently, Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War. She has written for dozens of magazines, including Ms. Harpers, The Nation, The Progressive, The New Republic, The Atlantic Monthly and the New York Times Magazine. Most recently, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America (Metropolitan Books, 2001). For most of the last decade, Americans havent heard much about the working poor. Out of curiosity and concern, writer Barbara Ehrenreich went under cover as an unskilled worker to see how low wage workers make ends meet. Join Juan Williams for a conversation with Barbara Ehrenreich about how the working poor are getting by in America. She recently led a workshop, Writing About Poverty, for the literary nonfiction programs Writing About series.