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Looking Up At The Bottom Line
Remarkable! An energizing, engaging book that can lead to the end of homelessness for over 1,000,000 minimum wage workers. This book takes off where all the other minimum wage, living wage books end. Michael Stoops
National Civil Rights Organizer for the
National Coalition for the Homeless
"... the only book on the subject that combines in such depth both personal stories of low wage workers and their families, on the one hand, and analytic arguments about the costs and benefits of living wages, on the other. The idea of indexing wages to housing costs just may be the right way to think about this." Robert Pollin
Author of The Living Building a Fair Economy
Troxell's accounts of the homeless point to a profound break down in our culture - a society that grows more rootless and disconnected with each passing year. After reading this book your next experience at a highway intersection will be radically changed. The bedraggled figure holding a cardboard sign will not be a complete stranger. You won't be looking at a bum; you'll be seeing another human being and into the brokenness of our culture. Tom Spencer
CEO Austin Area Interreligious Ministries
Compassion means to suffer (pati) with (com) another. To suffer with! Unfortunately in today's world the idea of compassion is confused with the liberal notion of charity as opposed to a genuine call to justice. Richard Troxell has shared and taken on the pain of others and battled like a great warrior the institutional mindset that prevents humans from simply doing what is right. Alan Graham
President Mobile Loaves & Fishes
Finally, someone with some common sense! Troxell lays out a plan that will end homelessness for over 1,000,000 minimum wage workers- without costing tax payers a dime. Plus, this is a great read - a compelling activist's tell. Jim Hightower
Radio commentator and editor of The Hightower Lowdown
... the inspiration and key to Bringing America Home for millions of people through the Universal Living Wage - by indexing employment income to housing costs. Sue Watlov Phillips , M.A., C.S.P.
Executive director of Elim Transitional Housing
Founder Minnesota and National Coalition for the Homeless
Troxell's outstanding advocacy and efforts on behalf of the homeless are legend and truly appreciated by those he helps and those who admire his selfless work. Kirk Watson
Texas State Senator , District 14
National Civil Rights Organizer for the
National Coalition for the Homeless
"... the only book on the subject that combines in such depth both personal stories of low wage workers and their families, on the one hand, and analytic arguments about the costs and benefits of living wages, on the other. The idea of indexing wages to housing costs just may be the right way to think about this." Robert Pollin
Author of The Living Building a Fair Economy
Troxell's accounts of the homeless point to a profound break down in our culture - a society that grows more rootless and disconnected with each passing year. After reading this book your next experience at a highway intersection will be radically changed. The bedraggled figure holding a cardboard sign will not be a complete stranger. You won't be looking at a bum; you'll be seeing another human being and into the brokenness of our culture. Tom Spencer
CEO Austin Area Interreligious Ministries
Compassion means to suffer (pati) with (com) another. To suffer with! Unfortunately in today's world the idea of compassion is confused with the liberal notion of charity as opposed to a genuine call to justice. Richard Troxell has shared and taken on the pain of others and battled like a great warrior the institutional mindset that prevents humans from simply doing what is right. Alan Graham
President Mobile Loaves & Fishes
Finally, someone with some common sense! Troxell lays out a plan that will end homelessness for over 1,000,000 minimum wage workers- without costing tax payers a dime. Plus, this is a great read - a compelling activist's tell. Jim Hightower
Radio commentator and editor of The Hightower Lowdown
... the inspiration and key to Bringing America Home for millions of people through the Universal Living Wage - by indexing employment income to housing costs. Sue Watlov Phillips , M.A., C.S.P.
Executive director of Elim Transitional Housing
Founder Minnesota and National Coalition for the Homeless
Troxell's outstanding advocacy and efforts on behalf of the homeless are legend and truly appreciated by those he helps and those who admire his selfless work. Kirk Watson
Texas State Senator , District 14
306 pages, Paperback
First published September 16, 2010
5 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 23, 2012
Written for the KAZI Book Review (http://kazibookreview.wordpress.com/):
Part memoir, part call to action, Looking Up at the Bottom Line: The Struggle for the Living Wage provides a compelling case on how we as a nation could attempt to end homelessness as we know it today.
The book follows author Richard R. Troxell’s life, chronicling the events that have led him to championing the Universal Living Wage as a means to end homelessness. It begins with his experiences as a young man freshly home from Vietnam and how he came to be homeless for around three years. Landing in Philadelphia amongst the some of the poorest people and neighborhoods in the city, he becomes involved in consumer activism on behalf of these poor. One of the biggest efforts he made was attempting to rehabilitate over 100 homes in his neighborhood that had fallen vacant due to shifting economics and white flight. It was during this time in Philadelphia that Troxell developed what he calls a “sense of economic fairness” that would greatly inform his views on homelessness and how to address it.
Austin, where Troxell’s ailing mother lived, became his next destination. It was here where he began an organization that provided legal aid to the homeless. He chronicles the major events affecting the homeless in Austin from the late 80s to the current day, including the controversial No Camping Ordinance, attempts to secure land for homeless facilities atthe newly decommissioned Bergstrom Air Force Base, and the failed Project Fresh Start. While telling of these struggles, he also tells the personal stories of the homeless people he has known over the years. These stories put a personality on the varied issues surrounding homelessness, and reading these stories brings home the fact that, but for a few bad breaks, these homeless could be any one of us. The anecdotes underscore his points by making these issues very real.
Troxell presents a compelling personal narrative of his life and work with the homeless, but he also presents what seems to be a workable attempt at reducing homelessness in the Universal Living Wage (ULW). The ULW offers an alternative to the current Federal Minimum Wage by tying minimum wage to local housing costs, which Troxell views as the main issue faced by minimum wage workers.
There are many arguments against the ULW, mainly that it would penalize businesses by increasing their costs. Troxell’s counter to these arguments is that the overall tax burden would be reduced as fewer people depend on government subsidies, and that most of the higher wages paid would come directly back into the local economy.
No matter your stance on the Universal Living Wage or homelessness in general, you would be hard-pressed not to be touched by the stories told in this book. This is a book about a cause, written by a passionate advocate with strong voice and compelling story. Troxell has produced a work on homeless advocacy that, once read, is hard to put out of your mind.
Part memoir, part call to action, Looking Up at the Bottom Line: The Struggle for the Living Wage provides a compelling case on how we as a nation could attempt to end homelessness as we know it today.
The book follows author Richard R. Troxell’s life, chronicling the events that have led him to championing the Universal Living Wage as a means to end homelessness. It begins with his experiences as a young man freshly home from Vietnam and how he came to be homeless for around three years. Landing in Philadelphia amongst the some of the poorest people and neighborhoods in the city, he becomes involved in consumer activism on behalf of these poor. One of the biggest efforts he made was attempting to rehabilitate over 100 homes in his neighborhood that had fallen vacant due to shifting economics and white flight. It was during this time in Philadelphia that Troxell developed what he calls a “sense of economic fairness” that would greatly inform his views on homelessness and how to address it.
Austin, where Troxell’s ailing mother lived, became his next destination. It was here where he began an organization that provided legal aid to the homeless. He chronicles the major events affecting the homeless in Austin from the late 80s to the current day, including the controversial No Camping Ordinance, attempts to secure land for homeless facilities atthe newly decommissioned Bergstrom Air Force Base, and the failed Project Fresh Start. While telling of these struggles, he also tells the personal stories of the homeless people he has known over the years. These stories put a personality on the varied issues surrounding homelessness, and reading these stories brings home the fact that, but for a few bad breaks, these homeless could be any one of us. The anecdotes underscore his points by making these issues very real.
Troxell presents a compelling personal narrative of his life and work with the homeless, but he also presents what seems to be a workable attempt at reducing homelessness in the Universal Living Wage (ULW). The ULW offers an alternative to the current Federal Minimum Wage by tying minimum wage to local housing costs, which Troxell views as the main issue faced by minimum wage workers.
There are many arguments against the ULW, mainly that it would penalize businesses by increasing their costs. Troxell’s counter to these arguments is that the overall tax burden would be reduced as fewer people depend on government subsidies, and that most of the higher wages paid would come directly back into the local economy.
No matter your stance on the Universal Living Wage or homelessness in general, you would be hard-pressed not to be touched by the stories told in this book. This is a book about a cause, written by a passionate advocate with strong voice and compelling story. Troxell has produced a work on homeless advocacy that, once read, is hard to put out of your mind.
May 1, 2012
Did you realize that 25% of the homeless people you walk past every day are veterans? Did you realize that our economy wastes literally billions of dollars annually retraining workers -- workers who move from job to job, trying to find employment that will pay them a living wage with only 40 hours of work a week?
Richard Troxell argues that we have no time to waste — we must recognize the need for a universal wage linked to government housing data, namely the FMR, Fair Market Rent calculations used for Section 8 government housing. Our armed forces recognize the need for different amounts for different locations – they use the FMR to determine base housing allowances.
We can’t just decide to raise the minimum wage to, say, $10.00 an hour and say that will cover expenses. That will penalize small businesses in rural America, giving a surplus of money to their entry-level workers – while doing nothing to allow urban workers a chance to secure any type of safe, affordable housing.
Richard Troxell knows what he’s talking about. He’s dedicated his life to solving the problems of homelessness in America. Troxell is the only person to ever get former Texas governor and then President George Bush to authorize a grant for a jobs component bill. The program was successful right up to the last step – and faltered because there was no safe, affordable housing for minimum wage workers.
Don’t read this book expecting a polished tale – read it for information and passion. In his idiosyncratic style, Troxell discusses the struggle for a minimum wage in America. This book picks up where others end, and is a call for change. If you want to know what is going on with over one million homeless persons in America, read this book! Then check out the web sites, www.universallivingwage.org and www.housethehomeless.org, for more information.
Richard Troxell argues that we have no time to waste — we must recognize the need for a universal wage linked to government housing data, namely the FMR, Fair Market Rent calculations used for Section 8 government housing. Our armed forces recognize the need for different amounts for different locations – they use the FMR to determine base housing allowances.
We can’t just decide to raise the minimum wage to, say, $10.00 an hour and say that will cover expenses. That will penalize small businesses in rural America, giving a surplus of money to their entry-level workers – while doing nothing to allow urban workers a chance to secure any type of safe, affordable housing.
Richard Troxell knows what he’s talking about. He’s dedicated his life to solving the problems of homelessness in America. Troxell is the only person to ever get former Texas governor and then President George Bush to authorize a grant for a jobs component bill. The program was successful right up to the last step – and faltered because there was no safe, affordable housing for minimum wage workers.
Don’t read this book expecting a polished tale – read it for information and passion. In his idiosyncratic style, Troxell discusses the struggle for a minimum wage in America. This book picks up where others end, and is a call for change. If you want to know what is going on with over one million homeless persons in America, read this book! Then check out the web sites, www.universallivingwage.org and www.housethehomeless.org, for more information.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews