Who’s Getting Rich?

NOW with Bill Moyers. Transcript. February 6, 2004 | PBS

MOYERS: The result is a doubling of household debt since 1990.

Political candidates take note — we’re not making this up — there’s an invisible crisis building out there. …

This is the book I mentioned, THE TWO INCOME-TRAP: WHY MIDDLE-CLASS MOTHERS AND FATHERS ARE GOING BROKE. Elizabeth Warren is one of the co-authors. She’s a leading expert on bankruptcy, debt, and the middle class. Cited five years ago as one of the fifty most influential women lawyers in America, she teaches at Harvard Law School. Elizabeth Warren wrote this book with her daughter, Amelia Warren Tyagi. …

You say in here that every 15 seconds some American is filing for bankruptcy?

WARREN: That’s exactly right. That’s 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. In fact, this year, more children will live through their parent’s bankruptcy than will live through their parents’ divorce.

MOYERS: Well, what are we to make of that?

WARREN: I think what we’re to make of it is the middle class has been pushed right to the edge. They are on a cliff. And increasing numbers are falling off every single day. Families live in a much more dangerous economic world than they did a generation ago. …

Also, I need to make clear here bankruptcy’s just a little piece of that iceberg. Not only will 1.6 million families file for bankruptcy this year, but in addition to that, we’ve got 9 million families who are in credit counseling already.

Interesting that the National Debt is skyrocketing while middle class debt does the same. All under the watch of the self-proclaimed ”party of fiscal responsibility” and ”family values”. BUllSHit. mjh

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