For a New Thrift. Confronting the Debt Culture: A Report to the Nation from the Commission on Thrift

Some of our colleagues are bringing increasing attention to the forces of structural violence which exercise their pernicious control through the creation of indebtedness.

The Institute for American Values and a collection of partners point out in this report, through a set of statistics and agencies not always brought together under one heading, that the collapse of mortgage lending, accelerating foreclosures, increased bankruptcy, monumental credit card and student indebtedness, widespread lottery, gambling, rental sharking, payday loan practices, when combined have an economic impact on the well-being of Americans that exceeds the impact of the cost of the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. “In a recent 2008 survey, fully 58% of the public say that their incomes are falling behind the rising cost of living.” Unregulated, underreported, largely unacknowledged the paths to an economic meltdown testing the fragile nature of free market capitalism, democratic political processes, and environmental sustainability are just below the surface. An emerging focus on the intersection between militarism, materialism and race with the growing debt culture, is a field for important organizing efforts. Start your search at www.americanvalues.org. Share work you are doing in this area with others.