Candace Williams book review

After reading the second reading assignment in the Ambrasky book a few of the passages stood out to me. Specifically Chapter 5: The Wrong Side of the Tracks. On page 124, I was moved by Vicenta, the 61 year old woman who was undergoing chemotherapy for her brain tumor. Long story short, she talked about how she could barely afford some of the medication and nutritional supplements that she needed due to her lack of income and small social security checks and money she received for food stamps. Vicenta talked about waiting for several hours in the long line at a food pantry just to pick up fruits, vegetables, and other items that she needed for the week. She would do this every Saturday morning despite how much pain she was in and how sick she would be. In my opinion, it is sad to think that there are people with serious chronic illnesses who are living in poverty and who can not even afford the food and medicine that they need. Vicenta also talked about transportation and how if she needed to get somewhere she had to pay gas and it made me realize how blessed I am for the simple things in life I sometimes take for granted. It also made me wonder what all was being done by the government for individuals with chronic illnesses when they can not afford their medication. Vincenta talked about going without her medicine if she could not afford it, but surely something must be done about that or else innocent lives will be lost due to their lack of ability to afford necessities. Another passage that stood out to me was in chapter 6: Stuck In Reverse. After reading a passage in chapter 6, a line on page 186 stood out to me the most. It states "Americans born into poverty move up the income ladder less frequently than their peers do in areas of the world such as Germany, the Scandinavian countries, Canada, France, and many other advanced industrial democracies" (Ambraksy, 2013).  In my opinion, this line speaks volumes because it is sad to think that the individuals living in underdeveloped areas are receiving less pay. I thought it was interesting to read in this chapter that individuals who were skilled and educated would pack up and move to developed areas leaving behind those who were not as educated to work in places for minimum wage.

Test question: What does Ambrasky mean by Inequality is a good thing...unless you're poor"?