Excerpted from, Squeezing the American Dream: Workers Face Diminishing Returns by Nicholas von Hoffman. The book by Steven Greenhouse is called The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker
A day seldom passes but a member of Congress takes the floor to remind us in mawkish tremolo that the hundreds of thousands of people trying to get into the U.S. are proof positive of the power of the American dream. If Greenhouse is right, and there is no reason to believe he is not, that American dream is just that -- a dream. "Northwest Airlines," Greenhouse writes, apropos of some people's dreams, "gave laid-off workers a booklet entitled '101 Ways to Save Money.' But the booklet added insult to financial injury. 'Borrow a dress for a big night out' and 'Shop at auctions or pawn shops for jewelry' were among the tips it offered. And then it suggested, 'Don't be shy about pulling something you like out of the trash.' " Dumpster diving into the American dream. You can't make stuff like that up, and this book is full of such revealing anecdotes. http://www.alternet.org/workplace/87405/ venantius
