Scratch Beginnings: Is the American Dream Possible?

a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061714364?ie=UTF8tag=wwwviolentkicomlink_code=as3camp=211189creative=373489creativeASIN=0061714364″img alt=”shepardcov.jpg” src=”http://www.pjmedia.com/instapundit/archives2/images/shepardcov.jpg” border=0 align=right width=”106″ height=”160″ //aOur podcast guest today, Adam Shepard, author of a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061714364?ie=UTF8amp;tag=wwwviolentkicomamp;linkCode=as2amp;camp=1789amp;creative=9325amp;creativeASIN=0061714364″iScratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream,/i/aimg style=”BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none” height=”1″ alt=”” src=”http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=wwwviolentkicomamp;l=as2amp;o=1amp;a=0061714364″ width=”1″ border=”0″ / says the American dream is alive and well. Shepard wrote his book as a response to Barbara Ehrenreich’s a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805088385?ie=UTF8amp;tag=wwwviolentkicomamp;linkCode=as2amp;camp=1789amp;creative=9325amp;creativeASIN=0805088385″emNickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America/em/aimg style=”BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none” height=”1″ alt=”” src=”http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=wwwviolentkicomamp;l=as2amp;o=1amp;a=0805088385″ width=”1″ border=”0″ / and a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805081240?ie=UTF8amp;tag=wwwviolentkicomamp;linkCode=as2amp;camp=1789amp;creative=9325amp;creativeASIN=0805081240″emBait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream/em/aimg style=”BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none” height=”1″ alt=”” src=”http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=wwwviolentkicomamp;l=as2amp;o=1amp;a=0805081240″ width=”1″ border=”0″ / in which Ehrenreich says that the pursuit of the American Dream is basically hopeless. Shepard set out with 25 bucks and a back-pack and went to a new town (Charleston, South Carolina) to see if he could make it. His book is a testament to personal responsibility, positive action and how education can play a part in keeping people employed. Shepard shares his inspirational story of living in a homeless shelter, working at a moving company and finally, getting his own place, and saving $2500.00.br /br /Listen to the podcast and find out what he learned from this experience. You can listen directly — no downloads needed — by a href=”http://politicscentral.com/2008/09/29/the_glenn_and_helen_show_adam.php”going here/a and clicking on the gray Flash player. Or you can download the file and listen at your leisure by a href=”http://gg2000.cachefly.net/pjm/audio/glenn_and_helen/20080930-Shepard.mp3″clicking right here./abr /br /Music is by a href=”http://toddsteed.com/home.html”Todd Steed and the Suns of Phere./a