The Fragile Middle Class: Americans in Debt

A sizable portion of the U.S. middle class--far more than pundits acknowledge--teeters on the brink of economic failure, according to this fascinating, alarming study. Noting that personal bankruptcies have hit record levels (more than one million American households file for them each year), the authors (As We Forgive Our Debtors) zero in on middle-class vulnerability through a detailed survey of 2,452 people across the nation who filed for bankruptcy during the 1990s. Included in their sample are teachers, accountants, computer engineers, sales clerks, executives, entrepreneurs, doctors and dentists--solidly middle-class folk who fell into financial disaster. Employment problems (layoffs, "skidding" to a lower-paying job, part-time work) were the biggest factor, as was the overuse of credit cards. Respondents also cited unpayable medical bills, loss of income from illness or accident, the financial burden on single-adult households that result from divorce and home buyers purchasing more than they could afford. Illustrated with tables and graphs, this crisply written report is occasionally dry, but many readers will identify with the down-to-earth case histories. A good number of the profiled personal-bankruptcy filers are full of regret, self-blame and humiliation, contradicting the popular perception that filing is an easy way out of one's economic woes. While the authors offer no comprehensive solutions to this societal malaise, their chilling diagnosis of middle-class affliction demonstrates that we all may be only a job loss, medical problem or credit card indulgence away from the downward spiral leading to bankruptcy. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Following up the authors' 1989 As We Forgive Our Debtors: Bankruptcy and Consumer Credit in America, winner of the American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award, this book considers the middle class in terms of bankruptcy. The authors seek to discover why so many families are in economic trouble. They note that while Americans during the 1990s lived in a time of prolonged economic prosperity, there was, paradoxically, a 340 percent increase in the rate of personal economic failure between 1981 and 1999. Using a 1991 study of 16 federal bankruptcy districts in five states, the authors find that, like "proverbial canaries in the mine shaft," the bankruptcies highlight five key stresses that America's middle class experiences today: unemployment, credit card and personal debt, sickness and injury, family problems, and the high cost of home ownership. Clear in purpose, this important work is highly recommended for academic and larger public libraries.
-Norman B. Hutcherson, Kern Cty. Lib., Bakersfield, CA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.