>The American middle class has been borrowing to make ends meet for the past twenty years. The bottom 95% of Americans have seen debt levels balloon compared to their earnings over the past twenty years or so, as falling incomes made them more dependent on credit to maintain their lifestyles.

 

In 1983, the bottom 95% of Americans had 62 cents of debt for every dollar they earned, according to research by two International Monetary Fund economists. But by 2007, the ratio had soared to $1.48 of debt for every $1 in earnings. America’s poor and middle class are in debt up to their eyeballs, and paying very high interest rates, higher than the wealthy have to pay.

 

“Rich people have more money to play with and there are only so many Armani suits they can buy. So...

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