The Meltdown of the Middle Class

Jerry Landay
January 20, 2006

Here's one of the net outcomes of the radical-right agitprop machine:

There's bankruptcy and there's bankruptcy. We learn that in 2005, more than two million Americans filed for bankruptcy -- one in every 53 American households -- many having fallen prey to excessive medical costs, and/or maxed out on their credit cards. It's the highest number of bankruptcies on record. It coincided with Congressional passage of legislation misleadingly labeled The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Law. Some protection. Simon Legree would love it. The law toughens the ground rules for declaring bankruptcy, as well as hoisting the bar to get out of it. Now, many Americans may never escape the clutches of indebtedness. We may yet re-establish the Dickensian poorhouse, where debtors can spend cold days breaking rocks while their mates and offspring shiver inside.