…an exhaustive exposé of pawn shops, check-cashing rip-offs, payday loans, auto title loans, rent-to-own schemes, subprime mortgages and other "equity stripping" means of getting poor people into debt they can't carry, then taking their houses and cars while derivatives backed by those bad loans are sold to investors.
Journalist Rivlin (Fire on the Prairie) offers a superb exposé of the “poverty business”—the flock of companies that cater to (and prey on) the working poor. For people living paycheck to paycheck and sometimes falling behind with rent, car payments, and grocery bills, “fringe financing” and the ubiquitous Rent-A-Centers, Jackson Hewitt, payday lenders, pawnshops, and check cashers—may seem like their only safety net. These businesses may tout themselves as a necessary service and force for economic development in low-income communities, but Rivlin reveals their dark underbelly: punishing rates of interest and customer service reps explicitly trained to mislead customers who appear “gullible.” He delves into the effect of financial deregulation on “fringe financing,” predatory subprime lending, and the major players in this unsavory world, including Allan Jones, a debt collector, worth $200 million, and the activists and advocates like Bill Brennan who've faced them down in the courts. A timely, important, and deeply disturbing look at the cycle of debt of the nation's most vulnerable. (June)
[A] scathing, important book, Broke, USA ... includes one shocking anecdote after another.” — —Joe Nocera, the New York Times
“Mr. Rivlin brings to his subject a genuine gift for storytelling.” — —Wall Street Journal
“Rivlin strives to portray the people behind Poverty Inc. in a fair light…but his sympathy and the reader’s steadily evaporate with his well-chosen tales of the industry’s coercive tactics and it’s leaders’ astonishing wealth….Rivlin is the consummate tour guide, quick with a memorable anecdote or telling statistic.” — —New York Times Book Review
“An exhaustive exposé.” — —Washington Post
“[Rivlin] offers a superb expose of the ‘poverty business’... A timely, important, and deeply disturbing look at the cycle of dept in the nation’s most vulnerable.” — —Publishers Weekly
“[A] fascinating book.” — —Fortune
“Gary Rivlin rivets readers.” — —Fast Company
“[An] incisive, important new expose, Broke, USA ...is enraging, but Rivlin’s work also is scrupulously fair.... [W]hat makes Broke, USA so readable is Rivlin’s skill at telling a complex story through engaging characters.” — —Cleveland Plain Dealer
“This is a powerful analysis, detailing how the financial sector has come to its current state of crisis and including personal stories of some among the millions of working Americans who have been exploited along the way.” — —Booklist (starred review)
“To understand American finance, you need to understand Ace Cash Express as much as you need to understand Goldman Sachs. Which is why Gary Rivlin’s “Broke, USA” is a necessary companion.” — —Ezra Klein, Washington Post
“Gary Rivlin’s Broke, USA is a necessary companion...” — —Newsweek
“Broke, USA is vital reading for those seeking to deepen their understanding of the economic crash of the past few years.” — —Associated Press
“This thorough and thoughtful piece of reporting has much to teach us about the challenges the U.S. faces today, especially when it comes to improving financial literacy. It should be required reading for legislators and lenders across the land.” — —Bloomberg News
“In Broke, USA, Rivlin lays out this depressing story in rich detail.... [H]is riveting look at the calamitous effects on America demands attention.” — —Charlotte News & Observer
“A fascinating and very important work of investigation and explanation, which I hope gets the wide attention it deserves.... This is a book with the potential to stimulate outrage—and political reform.” — —James Fallows, the Atlantic author of Breaking the News
“With revealing stories, Gary Rivlin spotlights the systematic, widespread economic abuse of the poor by supposedly respectable corporations whose predatory conduct breeds misery and undoes many efforts by taxpayers to alleviate poverty.” — —David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer prize-winning author of Free Lunch and Perfectly Legal
“Broke USA will leave you mad as hell. Thanks, Gary Rivlin, for introducing us to folks like Bill Brennan, who early on saw it coming: the predatory lending that has destroyed communities. If only we had listened.” — —Alex Kotlowitz, author of There Are No Children Here and Never a City So Real
Rivlin strives to portray the people behind Poverty Inc. in a fair light…but his sympathy and the reader’s steadily evaporate with his well-chosen tales of the industry’s coercive tactics and it’s leaders’ astonishing wealth….Rivlin is the consummate tour guide, quick with a memorable anecdote or telling statistic.
New York Times Book Review
To understand American finance, you need to understand Ace Cash Express as much as you need to understand Goldman Sachs. Which is why Gary Rivlin’s “Broke, USA” is a necessary companion.
[A] fascinating book.
[A] scathing, important book, Broke, USA ... includes one shocking anecdote after another.
An exhaustive exposé.
This is a powerful analysis, detailing how the financial sector has come to its current state of crisis and including personal stories of some among the millions of working Americans who have been exploited along the way.
Booklist (starred review)
[An] incisive, important new expose, Broke, USA ...is enraging, but Rivlin’s work also is scrupulously fair.... [W]hat makes Broke, USA so readable is Rivlin’s skill at telling a complex story through engaging characters.
Mr. Rivlin brings to his subject a genuine gift for storytelling.
Gary Rivlin rivets readers.
Mr. Rivlin brings to his subject a genuine gift for storytelling.
Gary Rivlin rivets readers.
An exhaustive exposé.
Broke, USA is vital reading for those seeking to deepen their understanding of the economic crash of the past few years.
Gary Rivlin’s Broke, USA is a necessary companion...
A fascinating and very important work of investigation and explanation, which I hope gets the wide attention it deserves.... This is a book with the potential to stimulate outrage—and political reform.
In Broke, USA, Rivlin lays out this depressing story in rich detail.... [H]is riveting look at the calamitous effects on America demands attention.
Charlotte News & Observer
Broke USA will leave you mad as hell. Thanks, Gary Rivlin, for introducing us to folks like Bill Brennan, who early on saw it coming: the predatory lending that has destroyed communities. If only we had listened.
This thorough and thoughtful piece of reporting has much to teach us about the challenges the U.S. faces today, especially when it comes to improving financial literacy. It should be required reading for legislators and lenders across the land.
With revealing stories, Gary Rivlin spotlights the systematic, widespread economic abuse of the poor by supposedly respectable corporations whose predatory conduct breeds misery and undoes many efforts by taxpayers to alleviate poverty.
Gary Rivlin’s Broke, USA is a necessary companion...
Broke, USA is vital reading for those seeking to deepen their understanding of the economic crash of the past few years.
"This is a powerful analysis, detailing how the financial sector has come to its current state of crisis and including personal stories of some among the millions of working Americans who have been exploited along the way."
