Download Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit, and the Era of Predatory Lenders AudioBook Free
Maxed Out exposes the recent history and culture of debt for all of its absurdities and contradictions. Through the gilded, master-planned communities of northern Las Vegas to America's Deep South and inner cities, the world's greatest finance institutions are trolling for customers - from the nouveau riche to the poorest members of society, who counter-intuitively make for the greatest profits. Another profitable group are available in and around our nation's universities, where credit-card issuers are forming "partnerships" with colleges: paying them huge amount of money for access to their students' private information and essentially setting kids up for financial ruin. Maxed Out examines a business that thrives on making people fail, then pursues them relentlessly to death's door. The industry's frontier is called "debt buying" and it's really a veritable Wild West where teenagers are hoping to make vast fortunes from the misery and misfortune of others. Their tool is a massive trove of private information that can be bought for next to nothing - as well as intimidation, guilt, and fear. By turns hilarious, fascinating, and deeply disturbing, Maxed Out is ultimately one observer's response to the question, "Why can't we get out of debt?"
