Financial Crisis in American Households: The Basic Expenses That Bankrupt the Middle Class

More than one-third of Americans could not sustain a basic livelihood without government assistance. Almost 60 percent of seniors are dependent on the government. Why is this? This book examines how the U.S. economy's failure to deliver high-quality, universally accessible basic necessities is creating acute financial insecurity among the American middle class.

• Provides data-intensive, non-partisan analysis that focuses on presenting facts underlying U.S. households' financial precariousness, allowing readers to make their own judgments and reach their own conclusions

• Presents findings that directly contradict the diagnoses given by other sources that stress materialism, consumer spending, and the resulting private debt as the sources of the financial crises in American households

• Offers international comparisons that reveal that the United States actually has a very generous social welfare system, but one that is overwhelmingly dedicated to seniors and provides little support for the working-age population and children