The new Road to Serfdom

Nightline is one of the better investigative news programs on the air today. Along with PBS, they seem to be figuring out just what a mess things have turned into over the last couple decades as a result of easy money that seemingly knew no bounds.

Of course, it's kind of hard not to figure things out now, after recent developments in mortgage lending and the resulting impact on the nation's teetering housing market.

Last night's first segment featured James Scurlock, the writer/director of the 2006 documentary Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lenders, along with Elizabeth Warren of Harvard, author of The Two Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Parents are Going Broke.

With the help of some parts of the mainstream media, perhaps the tide of public opinion will begin to turn - maybe just a little.


From IMDB comes this plot summary:

When Hurricane Katrina ravaged America's Gulf Coast, it laid bare an uncomfortable reality-America is not only far from the world's wealthiest nation; it is crumbling beneath a staggering burden of individual and government debt. Maxed Out takes us on a journey deep inside the American debt-style, where everything seems okay as long as the minimum monthly payment arrives on time. Sure, most of us may have that sinking feeling that something isn't quite right, but we're told not to worry. After all, there's always more credit! Maxed Out shows how the modern financial industry really works, explains the true definition of "preferred customer" and tells us why the poor are getting poorer and the rich getting richer. By turns hilarious and profoundly disturbing, Maxed Out paints a picture of a national nightmare which is all too real for most of us.

From last night's interviews here are a few thoughts:

Elizabeth Warren: The ideal customer is the one who is in serious financial trouble - stumbling, making the payment, missing a payment and staying in this sweatbox for years and years and years.
...
Vicki Mayberry: What about government? Where is government in all of this?

James Scurlock: Yeah, where is the government? That's an interesting question. Congress gets a lot of money from the credit card industry in contributions. More than that though, I think politicians are really terrified of what would happen if they came down too hard and all this easy credit was suddenly snatched away and the economy dried up. That is the fear we have in this country. We've got to keep buying and we've got to keep spending.

Warren: You know, you can't buy a toaster in America that has a one-in-five chance of bursting into flames and burning down your house. But you can buy a mortgage that has a one-in-five chance of moving you out on the street, ending up in foreclosure, wiping out everything you put into that house.

Here's the trailer for the movie.

Hopefully, this won't ruin your weekend.

If it does, just go out and buy something - you'll not only feel better as a result, but you'll be helping the nation's economy.