In a new book, a mother and daughter team studied 2000 families filing for bankruptcy in the past year – their findings are stunning. From Salon (free ad-click registration req’d): (via Metafilter discussion)
Americans are going broke over home mortgages and health insurance. This year, more children will live through their parents’ bankruptcy than their parents’ divorce. Over the past generation mortgage costs have increased 70 times faster than a man’s wages. Virtually every civilized nation on earth has caps on interest that can be charged to consumers, except the United States. In the U.S. today, you cannot buy a toaster that has a 1 in 12 chance of burning down your house. But you can buy a home mortgage that has a 1 in 12 chance of costing you your house. The people we interviewed would not tell their parents that they had filed. These people were deeply humiliated, and most of them believed that they were the only ones.
This article really hits me between the eyes as I would love to have two bouncing baby babies of my own – as well as affording them great schools and all the rest. There’s something about this situation that seems like a huge timebomb. I know it’s overboard to use the words ‘class warfare’ – but it seems like a soft version of what’s happened in Central American countries where entire ecoN******es collapse and the place goes nuts.
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