Amazon.com's Best of 2001
Essayist and cultural critic Barbara Ehrenreich has always specialized in turning received wisdom on its head with intelligence, clarity, and verve. With some 12 million women being pushed into the labor market by welfare reform, she decided to do some good old-fashioned journalism and find out just how they were going to survive on the wages of the unskilled--at $6 to $7 an hour, only half of what is considered a living wage. So she did what millions of Americans do, she looked for a job and a place to live, worked that job, and tried to make ends meet.
As a waitress in Florida, where her name is suddenly transposed to "girl," trailer trash becomes a demographic category to aspire to with rent at $675 per month. In Maine, where she ends up working as both a cleaning woman and a nursing home assistant, she must first fill out endless pre-employment tests with trick questions such as "Some people work better when they're a little bit high." In Minnesota, she works at Wal-Mart under the repressive surveillance of men and women whose job it is to monitor her behavior for signs of sloth, theft, drug abuse, or worse. She even gets to experience the humiliation of the urine test.
So, do the poor have survival strategies unknown to the middle class? And did Ehrenreich feel the "bracing psychological effects of getting out of the house, as promised by the wonks who brought us welfare reform?" Nah. Even in her best-case scenario, with all the advantages of education, health, a car, and money for first month's rent, she has to work two jobs, seven days a week, and still almost winds up in a shelter. As Ehrenreich points out with her potent combination of humor and outrage, the laws of supply and demand have been reversed. Rental prices skyrocket, but wages never rise. Rather, jobs are so cheap as measured by the pay that workers are encouraged to take as many as they can. Behind those trademark Wal-Mart vests, it turns out, are the borderline homeless. With her characteristic wry wit and her unabashedly liberal bent, Ehrenreich brings the invisible poor out of hiding and, in the process, the world they inhabit--where civil liberties are often ignored and hard work fails to live up to its reputation as the ticket out of poverty. --Lesley Reed
Book Description
Millions of Americans work for poverty-level wages, and one day Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them. She was inspired in part by the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform, which promised that any job equals a better life. But how can anyone survive, let alone prosper, on $6 to $7 an hour? To find out, Ehrenreich moved from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, taking the cheapest lodgings available and accepting work as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, nursing-home aide, and Wal-Mart salesperson. She soon discovered that even the lowliest occupations require exhausting mental and physical efforts. And one job is not enough; you need at least two if you intend to live indoors.Nickel and Dimed reveals low-wage America in all its tenacity, anxiety, and surprising generositya land of Big Boxes, fast food, and a thousand desperate strategies for survival. Instantly acclaimed for its insight, humor, and passion, this book is changing the way America perceives its working poor.
Customer Reviews:
Should be required reading!.......2007-10-19
Excellent book! It gives a voice to many Americans who currently are not being heard - the working poor. Should be required reading for everyone.
interesting perspective.......2007-10-17
I read this years ago but came across it again while packing. I have an awful memory but for some reason this book has stayed with me. I work and go to school so reading about her experiences with being a server and cleaning brought back memories (not good ones). I enjoyed reading about her struggles on getting by and having to deal with her family while she was away. She is a journalist so that had made me feel like jumping into that career even more so at the time. I do however feel like she cheated during her "investigation," because she had ran out of money or needed something from her "previous" life. I must also add that she made good points about working for certain big companies and how corporate places treat their employees. I don't know if her book would pertain to how things are today but I'm sure some things never change.
A Necessary Read.......2007-10-14
Some Amazon Online customers disagree with my fondness for Nickel and Dimed. Various readers consider the author to be elitist and sheltered. These people consider comments such as, "I am, of course, very different from the people who normally fill America's least attractive jobs," to be arrogant. However, these comments can also be interpreted as Ehrenreich's admittance of her obvious differences from most low-wage workers, as well as her ability to give credit to her newfound co-workers. This reader goes on to criticize the author's choice of locations; Florida and Maine especially, because as he claimed, they will always be more expensive than most places. This is not necessarily factual. It will always be difficult- virtually impossible- to squeak by when earning $2.73 per hour plus tips at a low-traffic restaurant. This is inevitable whether the restaurant is in Key West, Florida (a supposedly "rich" city) or a rural area, where the cost of living will require other fees. Yet another complaint from this reader is that Ehrenreich is racist in her statement, "My worry that the Latinos might be hogging all the crap jobs and substandard housing for themselves." On the surface, this comment absolutely sounds racist. Throughout the entire book, though, Ehrenreich systemically drops these types of comments with the intention of a) being sarcastic and b) exemplifying how easy it is to develop stereotypes of people (i.e. oppressing others) when you, yourself, are oppressed. As seen, the author cannot be blamed for these particular wrongdoings.
An Important Read.......2007-10-09
For anyone who did not have to struggle through a minimum wage job as an adult, this book is for you. Way too many Americans think people can survive on minimum wage. This will humble that opinion and identify your misconceptions.
Good read.......2007-10-05
I had to read this book for class and i must say it was a good read. extremely easy to read and equally funny.
Book Description
In this groundbreaking new history, Adam Tooze provides the clearest picture to date of the Nazi war machine and its undoing. There was no aspect of Nazi power untouched by economics—it was Hitler's obsession and the reason the Nazis came to power in the first place. The Second World War was fought, in Hitler's view, to create a European empire strong enough to take on the United States. But as The Wages of Destruction makes clear, Hitler's armies were never powerful enough to beat either Britain or the Soviet Union—and Hitler never had a serious plan as to how he might defeat the United States. The Wages of Destruction is an eye-opening and controversial account that will challenge conventional interpretations of the period and will find an enthusiastic readership among fans of Ian Kershaw and Richard Evans. BACKCOVER:
Advance praise for The Wages of Destruction:
“One of the most important and original books to be published about the Third Reich in the past twenty years. A tour de force.”
—Niall Ferguson, author of Colossus
“Unputdownable epic history . . . Transforms not only our reading of Hitler's sordid regime, but the history of the twentieth century itself. Brilliantly written, its original scholarship is telling and lightly borne on every page.”
—John Cornwell, author of Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII
Customer Reviews:
An enlightening analysis of economic factors behind the Third Reich.......2007-10-08
Tooze occasionally mentions in passing how companies or individuals benefited from fueling the Third Reich's war effort, but his real topics are far broader and more interesting: showing how economic factors drove Hitler's war goals and timing and how the continual feedback between industrial needs and war goals drove war strategy.
Tooze starts by describing the quandary which faced Germany in the late 1920's. Germany was not self sufficient in either food or raw materials and needed to be able to export in order to finance essential imports. Germany also needed to be able to sell its exports in order to obtain hard currency to pay the reparation demands from the World War I victors. Despite these difficulties, the German finance ministry was managing to navigate Germany through a slow and painful recovery from WWI. Then disaster struck with the Great Depression. First there was an inevitable shrinking in export markets and then, much more seriously, there were conscious protectionist decisions in America, Britain, and France to block German exports in order to protect home employment.
Before reading The Wages of Destruction, I had loosely understood how the Great Depression had been a key factor in Hitler's rise to power, especially due to widespread unemployment. But Tooze clarifies that Germany was facing a much deeper strategic dilemma than a simple economic depression. Germany was dependent on the goodwill of other powers for its export markets and for its essential food and material imports, but those powers were demonstrating that in a crisis they would look entirely to their own interests and would quite cheerfully close their markets and let Germany suffer. Given this behavior, the long-term economic and political future for Germany looked extremely grim. Hitler offered a radical solution to this problem: Germany needed to expand to the East and become self sufficient in resources in the same way as the British Empire or America. Given the depth of Germany's problem, it becomes easier to understand why many thinking Germans either enthusiastically or reluctantly accepted Hitler's solution.
In succeeding chapters, Tooze describes how Hitler rapidly switched the Germany economy to focus on rearmament. He argues that while the Nazi propaganda machine emphasized efforts to increase employment and visionary projects such as the autobahn system, this was really mere window dressing and the regime was massively focused on military preparations for war. More interestingly, he also highlights how the continual shortages of hard currency (and thus of key materials) continually constrained and shaped rearmament. By 1938 lack of currency and other economic constraints were limiting further military expansion. Hitler was thus faced with a situation where Germany could see its own military abilities peaking and simultaneously see other powers starting to accelerate their own rearmament, weakening Germany's relative advantage. Hitler being Hitler, this drove an impatience for war, while Germany had its best relative position. As the war progresses, Tooze revisits this theme from several angles. Hitler was continually faced with situations where enemy military production would quickly eclipse Germany's and he reacted by trying to knock particular opponents out of the war quickly.
Tooze's major focus is on the operations and outputs of the German wartime economy. Overall, he shows us an economy that was reasonably well run and efficient but where production was dominated by shortages of key resources, especially steel and skilled manpower. By making high-level decisions about reallocations of these resources the Reich leadership could cause major leaps (or declines) in production in target sectors such as aircraft or tanks or munitions. Typically these resource shifts would take about six months to work through the system. The lucky Nazi bureaucrat who happened to be in charge of a target sector at the end of the six months would then happily boast of his productivity miracle as his sector suddenly produced startling jumps in output.
Tooze does not shy away from describing and condemning the many darker aspects of the Third Reich's war economy. A major aim of the expansion to the East was to improve Germany's food supplies. But that land was already inhabited and that food was already being consumed. So the Nazi solution was the "Hunger Plan" which quite casually assumed that food would be diverted from Poland and the Western USSR to Germany and that many millions would be deliberately starved. Tooze argues that this appalling plan was widely circulated, understood and accepted among the German political and military leadership in 1941. Thankfully, it proved difficult to execute and while there was widespread suffering, the East avoided the systematic mass starvation called for in the plan. However, in subsequent years the same desire to remove what were seen as "useless mouths" and free up food supplies was one of the many input factors towards the holocaust. In parallel, Germany manpower shortages led to large drafts of forced labor from occupied countries to German factories. Tooze illustrates both the appalling conditions of the laborers and the folly of a regime that for ideological reasons oppressed and starved the very labor it was trying to exploit.
Overall, I found this book a very enlightening read. Tooze's thorough analysis of the details of exports, imports, and production constraints provides a convincing base for his explanation of how the constraints and limits of the German economy drove high level German economic and military planning.
A PROFOUND AND FAR-REACHING STUDY.......2007-09-17
I certainly agree with other reviewers who give "Wages of Destruction" highest praise. The only wonder is why it took so long to get the story out. We've been reading histories of the war for more than sixty years, and yet I cannot recall reading anything that lays out the economic choices and consequences as well as Adam Tooze has done here. My only criticisms in this regard would be that Tooze tends to look through a lens of economic determinism, as though weight of resources would inevitably result in Germany's defeat, no matter who was in charge. What Tooze does not delineate with any degree of specificity is Hitler's confidence in the risk aversiveness, if not downright cowardice, of the Western democracies. That was certainly the case with France, which went to war profoundly divided, and whose failure of leadership echos to this day. Great Britain under Nevelle Chamberlain was hardly better. As late as May, 1940, members of the Cabinet were still debating whether to try to cut a deal with Hitler. As for the Soviet Union, the idea that Germany could defeat the Red Army in the field and expect to hold onto captured territory was wishful thinking at its worst; even if Moscow had been captured, which Napoleon did in 1812, Hitler had to know that in Stalin he faced a man as ruthless as himself. The idea that he could repeat the German Imperial Army's success against Russia in 1917, and then confront the Western Allies, throws all rational calculation to the wind. The only other comment I would make about Wages of Destruction would be that Tooze tends to summarize the events between the Summer of 1943 and May, 1945, as though that 18 month period simply followed on what had been in the pipeline before.
Profound Analysis of Nazi Germany's Economic Situation.......2007-09-11
Recently, there has been a spate of excellent books arguing that Germany was a much weaker state than it has generally been thought to be, and that the tactical brilliance of its military obscured economic inadequacies and strategic incompetence. Isabel Hull's "Absolute Destruction," Ian Kershaw's "Fatal Decisions," and now Adam Tooze's "Wages of Destruction" all make a similar point in their very different ways. They also suggest something very interesting -- that given the insane premises that Germany should be a hegemonic power and that war and conquest were the means to attain that power, Germany's military decisions in World Wars I and II made sense.
Tooze points out in convincing fashion that not only was Germany an economic basket case compared to the United States (capable of produing perhaps 1,000 warplanes at the same time the United States could produce perhaps 50,000), but that even if it were matched against the British Empire alone, its long-run prospects were little better than 50-50.
Tooze goes on to show that after France fell and Britain would not make a separate peace, Hitler faced an economic and strategic dilemma. The United States was not likely to stay out of the war indefinitely; when it inevitably entered the war on the allied side, Germany would be grossly outnumbered and outproduced.
The only possible answer was Russia, either as an ally or as a colony. As an ally, the Soviet Union was unreliable, opportunistic, and probably treacherous. Moreover, Germany would have to bend a great deal to Stalin's wishes to keep the Soviet Union happy. As a prostrate colony, Russia might just provide the material to resist Britain and the United States. So, Tooze suggests, Hitler was not so irrational when he invaded Russia (provided, of course, one does not ask the question "If Hitler faced such a daunting situation even after France was unexpected defeated, how could he ever have figured on winning the war while France was still in the allied camp"?)
If anything, Tooze suggests, Germany got lucky -- it had no business being as successful as it was by June 1941. Even at that, so many things had to go right for Germany to come out of the war in any decent shape that total victory was an impossibility. Could he successfully invade England? Little or no chance. Could he starve England out? Not with the United States on Engalnd's side. Even if he had conquered Russia where would he be -- Facing the United States across a narrow strait with his army streched from the Bering Sea to the English Channel. This was not a winning hand.
Tooze presents plenty of evidence to show that the Nazis ran a miserable war economy; that it had no idea how to put together a coherent economic or military strategy; that its solutions were ad hoc, duplicative, inefficient, and ultimately monstrous. The famous "German efficiency" takes a terrible hit, at least on the strategic level. In sum, Tooze concludes, absent a complete collapse of allied will, Germany never had a chance. But given the fact that it never had a chance and chose to take one anyway, its seemingly irrational moves made a certain kind of mad sense.
Wages is Scholarly Blut Dull.......2007-07-21
Adam Tooze has made a great contribution to the history of Germany under Nazi party rule, breaking into territory trod by few hisorians. His scholarship is superior. Few have found a way to enliven economic history and Toonze has failed to break that barrier. This along keeps the book from a five star rating.
great book.......2007-07-07
Germany lost the Second World War was because the allies out-produced them. I've known that for a long time -- but until I read The Wages of Destruction I never really understood what that statement meant, and all that it entailed. The Wages of Destruction explains, in gripping, readable detail, how the Nazi war machine worked, how it failed, and how it shaped the strategy and some of the worst crimes of the Third Reich.
So let me add to the chorus of five-star reviews. I consider The Wages of Destruction required reading if you want to understand Nazi Germany, particularly if you have an interest in economics or business. Also, if you have read Albert Speer's Inside the Third Reich, you'll be interested in this book for the counterpoint it provides.
Amazon.com
The Working Poor examines the "forgotten America" where "millions live in the shadow of prosperity, in the twilight between poverty and well-being." These are citizens for whom the American Dream is out of reach despite their willingness to work hard. Struggling to simply survive, they live so close to the edge of poverty that a minor obstacle, such as a car breakdown or a temporary illness, can lead to a downward financial spiral that can prove impossible to reverse. David Shipler interviewed many such working people for this book and his profiles offer an intimate look at what it is like to be trapped in a cycle of dead-end jobs without benefits or opportunities for advancement. He shows how some negotiate a broken welfare system that is designed to help yet often does not, while others proudly refuse any sort of government assistance, even to their detriment. Still others have no idea that help is available at all.
"As a culture, the United States is not quite sure about the causes of poverty, and is therefore uncertain about the solutions," he writes. Though he details many ways in which current assistance programs could be more effective and rational, he does not believe that government alone, nor any other single variable, can solve the problem. Instead, a combination of things are required, beginning with the political will needed to create a relief system "that recognizes both the society's obligation through government and business, and the individual's obligation through labor and family." He does propose some specific steps in the right direction such as altering the current wage structure, creating more vocational programs (in both the public and private sectors), developing a fairer way to distribute school funding, and implementing basic national health care.
Prepare to have any preconceived notions about those living in poverty in America challenged by this affecting book. --Shawn Carkonen
Book Description
“Nobody who works hard should be poor in America,” writes Pulitzer Prize winner David Shipler. Clear-headed, rigorous, and compassionate, he journeys deeply into the lives of individual store clerks and factory workers, farm laborers and sweat-shop seamstresses, illegal immigrants in menial jobs and Americans saddled with immense student loans and paltry wages. They are known as the working poor.
They perform labor essential to America’s comfort. They are white and black, Latino and Asian--men and women in small towns and city slums trapped near the poverty line, where the margins are so tight that even minor setbacks can cause devastating chain reactions. Shipler shows how liberals and conservatives are both partly right–that practically every life story contains failure by both the society and the individual. Braced by hard fact and personal testimony, he unravels the forces that confine people in the quagmire of low wages. And unlike most works on poverty, this book also offers compelling portraits of employers struggling against razor-thin profits and competition from abroad. With pointed recommendations for change that challenge Republicans and Democrats alike,
The Working Poor stands to make a difference.
Customer Reviews:
must read.......2007-09-30
This was an excellent book. A real eye opener into a whole other world. I'm giving it to my college student daughter, to make sure that she graduates. The last book that inspired me in the same way was Barbara Ehrenreich's Nine to Five. This is journalism at its best, excellent writing, excellent research. I only hope that its message gets through.
well researched.......2007-08-06
I found Working Poor to be well-researched, and I prefer it's tone to Nickel and Dimed. Shipler was thorough and balanced in his view of the poor in America. In the various stories, Shipler takes us into the psyche of the "working poor", showing the different circumstances that allowed these individuals to remain, or get into poverty.
Phenomenal.......2007-05-14
If you've ever taken pause to consider what makes the world go round as it relates to commercial or economic pursuits, you owe it to yourself to read this book.
It's a great start, but...........2007-03-08
Let me start by saying what I liked and appreciated about this book before I go on to say what I didn't. First of all, it's great that most of the focus has been placed on individual families and circumstances. He's not just rattling off statistics; he's actually taking you to the living rooms and workplaces of real human beings and for the most part letting them tell their own story. It is also clear that Shipler does not have a political agenda; he acknowledges the failings of both the left and right to address this issue on pretty equal terms. The author is not blaming the individuals in question entirely for their situations, nor is he completely blaming society or "the system;" rather, he shows in an extrodinarily clear and sober manner the variety of circumstances which cause poverty and which continually leave those afflicted in its grasp.
The main problem that I have with this book is that I feel it left out a lot of people and a lot of problems that could have easily been addressed. For one, most of the people in the book are urban minorities, and that seems to be where most of the focus lies. There's not a lot of emphasis on the rural poor (with the notable exception of migrant farm workers) among whom circumstances are quite different and in many ways even harder than those of the urban poor. In addition, Shipler is constantly noting the lack of education among poor people but doesn't ever mention the fact that ever-rising and insane tuition costs prevent many perfectly capable *middle-class* people of getting to college in the first place, thus rendering them just as poor as the people who started out that way. (Financial aid actually favors the very poor, and the middle class are often left in the limbo of "too much income to qualify, not enough money to pay out of pocket" and the only way to go is through financially crippling student loans.)
I also wanted to say something about the Earned Income Credit, because it is something that Shipler thoroughly sings the praises of throughout the book. First of all, it's not that easy to get it. As a personal example, from 1999-2005, even though I made hardly any money and should have qualified, I did not because I was under 25 (a stipulation that Shipler neglects to mention.) This year, I am 25, but I still did not qualify because I had gotten married. (Which is another big issue Shipler neglects to mention: the marriage penalty.) If you are married you have to make an absurdly low amount of money to qualify, so if you both work full time like good Americans without taking any other government money (which you wouldn't qualify for anyway unless you have children), even if you both make minimun wage and are barely scraping by, you still wouldn't qualify. So it's really not the panacea that he makes it out to be.
There are a lot of other relevant issues that Shipler never brings up. For example, why does someone who makes $15,000 per year have to pay the same percentage of their income to Social Security as someone who makes $75,000 per year? What about all those people on Social Security, anyway? Why are people without health insurance forced to pay for someone else's Medicare? Why doesn't a high school diploma mean anything anymore? There are a billion questions that, as a poor person, I wanted answers to, which is the very reason I bought this book. But there is so much emphasis in here about one very specific type of poor person (urban minority female with way too many children) who also happens to be the most stereotypical kind of poor person, without giving everyone else who is struggling to survive a very equal voice. But like I said at the beginning, this book is a good starting point. If you are poor, or have ever been poor, you may not get as much out of it as a wealthier person. If you have a lot of money or are otherwise quite comfortable financially, please read this book. It may not give you the entire picture of poverty in America, but it will put a real human face on the problem.
YOU HAVE TO READ THIS!.......2007-01-28
This should be required reading for everyone in this country. This book does what "Nickle and Dimed" could only dream of doing. This is not some man just trying on poverty to see how it feels. Shipler gets down to the bare bones of poverty and details the web of causes and effects. Speaking as someone that's been to hell and back when it comes to poverty this book was spot on in detailing the vast array of circumstances that all rely on and influence each other. He does well to point out that poverty is a mix of bad circumstances and bad choices and that it's all a painful cycle. He also does a great job at illustrating the way the working poor live not only paycheck to paycheck, but crisis to crisis and disconnect notice to disconnect notice.
Not only does Shipler highlight all the gritty details of the life of the working poor he outlines very reasonable and more importantly POSSIBLE solutions to combat poverty. His solutions are more common sense and can be done if everyone gets on board to recognize the problem and agree to work on solving it.
We will never get rid of poverty, some people will always make the negative choices that keep them poor. But there is no excuse for such a wealthy country to build it's empire on the backs of the poor and then refuse to let them in the door.
Read this book, then pass it on. You will learn more than you ever thought you could about the people that you never thought to notice.
Book Description
The 2007 Edition of PAYROLL ACCOUNTING and its accompanying CDs gives you firsthand experience in calculating payroll, completing payroll taxes, and preparing records and reports. With its cutting-edge technology package and up-to-the minute information, this accounting textbook covers payroll laws and practices makes them relevant to today's business world.
Customer Reviews:
a good foundation book for payroll accounting.......2007-09-16
This book is very thorough and not too grotesquely boring. Accounting textbooks can seem to drag on and on but the information in this book seems to all be relevant and pertinent. There are plenty of review questions and problems at the end of each chapter and the chapters do build on each other well, so the further into the book, the more questions from previous chapters. Some other nice things about this book are the continuation problems that utilize the posting of payroll accounts and ledger pages to further help the student grasp the content.
The CDs included are wonderfully useful, too. There doesn't seem to be a relevance issue with this text as I have experienced with textbooks in the past.
Good Book.......2007-03-09
Good book, but the problems in the chapter reviews could be more discriptive as to what answer the want.
Very Helpful.......2007-03-08
I have found this book to be very helpful in gaining a practical understanding in the workings of a Payroll function. This book has helped the entire department which has recently started performing the US payrolls for our organisation. I hope that a listing of courses that currently use this book as a recomemded text is included in its next edition.
Payroll Acctg.......2007-02-16
I received this book through Amazon way before my class started. I saved quite a few bucks and it came in mint condition.
Great!.......2007-02-08
The shipping speed was great! I liked that you got it out right away and it was here for my class.
Book Description
The second edition of this well-received text blends coverage of traditional topics with modern theory and developments into a superb text by one of our top Labor Economists. The author's current experience at the Kennedy School of Government allows him to incorporate new policy examples and a leaner presentation of the theory.
Customer Reviews:
Without question the BEST Labor Economics text ever!.......2002-12-19
This is truly an amazing work, which shows so many models of labor market phenomena at the undergraduate level that an undergraduate's economics education is incomplete without it. This book is essential reading for both undergraduates and policymakers who want to learn labor economics, economics in general, or have a deeper understanding of public policy issues. The best features are its unmatched explanations of human capital models, labor market discrimination models, and labor union models -- which will change the way you think of these issues and give deeper understanding. The book is both concise, deep, a quick and fun read, and makes Nobel-prize winning material accessible to any undergraduate or policy maker.
All about Labor Economics.......2001-07-30
George Borjas in this book deal the basic of de Labor Economics, it's very usefull for the pre-grade student and it's preleminary to introduce in the labor world (academic). It's good but it's necesary to complement with anothers advanced books for a improve vision.
Amazon.com
There are more high-salaried women in the workforce today than ever before, yet most females remain seriously underpaid when compared to their male counterparts. Motivational speaker and financial journalist Barbara Stanny decided to find out why by identifying the differences between those who draw the big bucks and those who don't. In Secrets of Six-Figure Women she reveals what makes the leading edge tick, as well as how others can use the information to boost their own paychecks and self-esteem. "For far too many women, financial limits have become a fact of life. The thought of making more is like climbing Mount Everest, a colossal, if not impossible task," writes Stanny. "That's exactly how I used to feel." By examining scores of top moneymakers, along with dozens of those earning below their potentials, Stanny discovered what works and what doesn't. After analyzing the subsequent lessons (i.e., you actually can boost your income without selling out, the requisite traits to do so can be developed by virtually anyone, money really can't buy happiness), she proposes specific strategies for maximizing their impact (intend from the start to succeed, stretch yourself, manage any payoff with care). Stanny professes throughout that she desires to offer "insight, hope and guidance to any of you who aspire to earn more." With this surprisingly practical and ultimately inspirational guidebook, she delivers. --Howard Rothman
Book Description
Quietly and steadily, the number of women making six figures or more is increasing and continues to rise at a rate faster than for men. From entrepreneurs to corporate executives, from white-collar professionals to freelancers and part-timers, women are forging careers with considerable financial success.
In Secrets of Six-Figure Women, Barbara Stanny, journalist, motivational speaker,and financial educator, identifies the seven key strategies of female highearners: A Profit Motive, Audacity, Resilience, Encouragement, Self-Awareness, Non-attachment, and Financial Know-How.
Based on extensive research and hundreds of interviews, including more than 150 women whose annual earnings range from $100,000 to $7 million, Barbara Stanny turns each of the six-figure traits into a specific strategy for upping earnings. By rigorously fine-tuning them, readers can, step-by-step, climb the income ladder.
Customer Reviews:
You'll read this book over and over.......2007-08-26
In Secrets of Six-Figure Women, Stanny takes you through a process of recognizing why so many women underearn and what we can do to earn what we are worth. From dealing with our fears about stepping out of our comfort zone and challenging longstanding beliefs to helping readers learn to develop a profit motive, this book will help you position yourself to prosper mentally, emotionally and physically.
On a personal note - as a female business owner, whenever I'm tempted to undercharge for my services or allow fear to impact my decisions, I re-read "Secrets of Six Figure Women," to help me stay on the six figure track and remind myself that I'm worth it.
Cassandra Mack, host of The No More Drama Hour of Power and author of, "The Single Mom's Little Book of Wisdom: 42 Tidbits of Wisdom To Help You Survive, Succeed and Stay Strong."
Great advice for any career woman.......2007-06-05
Even if you're already at $100k+, this is a great book for general career advice, and even financial planning. Liked it so much I bought two for friends. Reminds you to be assertive and have confidence and to ask for things; don't get left behind. Good insight into past decision making, too; prevent future mistakes.
every woman should read this.......2007-04-12
It's going on my keeper shelf to be reread once a year.
Worth the read!.......2007-03-15
Great book for all women that want to or have crossed the six-figure line to read. It has alot of inspirational stories of women who had the very same fears, yet got through it.
Definitely a book for all women to have in their book arsenal.
the only page-turner of a self-help book I've ever read.......2007-01-21
This book is a genuinely fun read. I had trouble putting it down. Self-help books aren't supposed to page-turners, but this one is.
The point of the book is to outline the behaviors and thoughts that are common to all of the high-earning women who the author interviewed... But what makes it a fun read are all of the inspiring stories of high-earning women with diverse backgrounds and occupations. They are generally women who start off giving up their lives (and/or incomes) either for their loved ones, or for their charities, or for their boss, and then making various breakthroughs that made them start taking care of themselves first and foremost, while still caring for their friends and family as much as (if not more than) before, and of course making more money too. Their stories will leave you feeling optimistic about your own professional future, regardless of your field and rank. There are also stories about women who were always proud, positive-thinking, successful people, whose stories are equally as inspiring.
The "secrets" that the author outlines are so obviously essential to success, but so nebulous and elusive in our minds when we set personal goals, that it's invaluable that the author has pinpointed them, named them, described them, and turned them into strategies for success. And by showing the readers specific examples of how these behaviors were used in real people's lives, she gives the reader a concrete example to follow, to use as a starting point for the reader's own self-improvement.
(And a sidenote: This book is not just for women. The strategies the author outlines can be applied to anyone's life, male or female, and the stories are probably just as inspiring for a man as for a woman.)
Book Description
A practical guide to the latest trends and newest creative options in variable pay.
Variable pay systems are widely used as alternatives to traditional compensation programs. Now a recognized expert offers a timely examination of variable pay basics, the latest trends, and creative options. Readers will discover how to:
• gain a competitive advantage through variable pay plans
• create or redesign a system to meet an organization's particular needs
• evaluate traditional plans versus the three types of variable pay plans
• organize and prepare a launch team
• implement a complete 19-step process
The guide's practical slant is enhanced by numerous formulas, examples, and graphs that demonstrate how variable pay can yield impressive gains in productivity.
Customer Reviews:
Good For Design.......2006-03-14
Its a book that really guides you trough the steps of the design process.
" What's Wrong With Traditional Reward System ? ".......1999-09-19
As asserted by Belcher "traditional approaches to compensation do not meet today's business needs and are failing American industry. As the recognition of failure grows, U.S. companies are rapidly adopting alternative reward systems in an attempt to deal with the challenges of an increasingly competitive marketplace."
What's wrong with this traditional reward system?
According to Belcher :
* tradional reward systems compensate, but do not reward.
* traditional reward systems do not reinforce teamwork.
* traditional reward systems do not support strategic business priorities.
* traditional reward systems are inflexible and are not reflective of business results.
Then, variable/alternative pay system vs. traditional pay/reward system.
Variable pay system is defined by Belcher as an alternative compensation system that ties pay to business outcomes and supports a participative management process. Cash payouts are based on a predetermined measure or measures of group or organizational performance.
This study is highly recommended for HR professionals and line managers.
See also :
* The New Pay-J. Schuster, P. Zingheim
* Strategic Pay-E. Lawler
* Aligning Pay and Results-H. Risher
* Rewards That Drive High Performance-T. Wilson
Average customer rating:
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Wages of War, 1816-1965
Joel David Singer , and
Melvin Small
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
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| Books
Social Theory
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
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Military Science
| History
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ASIN: 0471793000 |
Average customer rating:
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The Fair Labor Standards Act
Manufacturer: BNA Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Law
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Labor & Employment
| Business
| Law
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Labor & Employment
| Business
| Law
| Professional & Technical
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All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 157018108X |
Book Description
More than 60 years after its enactment, the Fair Labor Standards Act—with its labyrinth of requirements—continues to frustrate even the most experienced labor and employment law attorneys. This complex and largely unexplored area of the law is presented in a single, balanced treatise that will become your reference of first resort as you advise clients, analyze fact patterns, and litigate cases under the FLSA.
The Fair Labor Standards Act goes beyond descriptions of FLSA coverage and exemptions to help you determine why and how you should proceed on a particular course for your clients. You get:
point-by-point evaluations of each FLSA exemption
meticulous citations and footnotes—with decisions broken out by circuit
proven steps and strategies for dealing with enforcement, remedies, and litigation
special considerations for determining compensable hours, minimum wages, and overtime pay
discussions concerning Department of Labor (DOL) administration, state and local government coverage, child-labor issues, record-keeping, and more
The Fair Labor Standards Act offers practical insights on real-world questions about litigation, remedies, and more.
Product Description
This compelling and innovative book is a must read for business professionals who are tired of the counterproductive environment fostered by the conventional wage and salary system. The current pay structure is guilty of undermining organizational success in countless companies. It has led to organizations with unmotivated and uninterested employees, poor strategic alignment, and ineffective management styles. In his thought-provoking book, Dr. Abernathy identifies the roots of this problem and offers a solution.
Customer Reviews:
Pay for performance explained.......2003-10-14
I first read this book for a graduate psychology class and have since referenced it in several papers and given several copies to business people I know. Basically, it solves the problem of how to align people's personal agendas (pay), with organizational agendas (profit). It also makes the manager more efficient because they no longer have to supervise employees as closely. It is important to note that the system described in this book is better than typical commission or piece-rate systems. Switching to this system will increase the profits of any company bold enough to fully implement the switch. Even if you are not a fan of pay-for-performance, the first seven chapters provide an excellent insight into why people rarely perform to their full potencial in modern organizations.
Excellent analysis of pay in a U.S cultural context........1999-06-02
This book verbalized some of the problems that I, too, (as a compensation manager) had observed within employee populations at companies in which I worked. It was particularly effective at describing the pay for time culture that is rampant among U.S. workers. The easy to read text was divided into short chapters that described not only the problem but also provided a solution through a balanced scorecard approach. One of the best books on pay that I have ever read.
Books:
- Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
- Paying with Plastic, 2nd Edition: The Digital Revolution in Buying and Borrowing
- Principles of Economics (7th Edition) (Case/Fair Economics 7e Series)
- Principles of Macroeconomics
- Principles of Macroeconomics
- Principles of Microeconomics
- Pullman Porters and the Rise of Protest Politics in Black America, 1925-1945 (The John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture)
- Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market
- Retirement Income Redesigned: Master Plans for Distribution: An Adviser's Guide for Funding Boomers' Best Years
- Run With the Bulls Without Getting Trampled: The Qualities You Need to Stay Out of Harm's Way and Thrive at Work
Books Index
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