Shortchanged: Life and Debt in the Fringe Economy

by Howard Jacob Karger

Every day, this alluring come-on entices unsuspecting consumers into the depths of the "fringe economy"—a parallel economic universe of pawnshops, payday lenders, check cashers, and other businesses that prey on the financially desperate. These people are duped by clever slogans that promise to alleviate their financial woes and help them gain access to the American Dream. Instead they find themselves in an economic netherworld of spiraling, sky-high interest rates and ever-increasing debt. Once there, the road out is nearly impossible to navigate.

This compelling look at the dark side of the American economy chronicles how these predatory businesses ruthlessly and systematically exploit the poor and middle classes. And it proposes practical reforms that could prevent the ruination of millions of lives.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology, Economics

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Ridzwan]

How is it that Americans have gotten into so much debt in so little time?

Most would point the finger at the credit card culture that has engulfed the America way of life. But there is so much more than just credit cards in this current equation.

Professor of Social Policy at the University of Houston Howard Karger sheds light on a parallel economic universe of credit card users, payday lenders and pawnshops who lure the poor and middle class of America into a constant diet of debt.

Karger argues that the highly deregulated financial sector in the US, coupled with mindless consumerism has brought about the current debt generation. By all accounts, the crisis is set to worsen with little being done to alleviate the situation.

The work is an essential reading for anyone who wants to see for themselves how predatory economic practices have plunged the nation into a spiral of debt and poverty.

[Jon Stanton]

A good explanation and real-life examples of people affected by America's growing income inequality.

[Monzenn]

I liked the stories inside the book and am treating it as a sort of pre-global financial crisis book. It also focuses on the fringe economy, which is often not given a spotlight.

[Jim]

This is a good introduction for people interested in how consumers with lower incomes and bad credit finance purchases and emergencies. Karger's approach is very broad, so by neccessity, it seemed shallow to me. Moreover, the conclusion that all of these industries prey maliciously on the poor is, to me, quite overstated.

[Devon]

BAM. Everyone must read. I need to read it like 10 more times to soak in all the info that is here. If you think the fringe economy doesn't affect you, you're wrong. If you want to understand the whole "subprime mortgage" deal, read this. Karger did his homework, and you can tell. This is a must-have handbook of economics, and it's totally accessible and easy to read.

[Terri]

Great book - really illuminates just how sinister the fringe economy is and how it works to keep people poor. It's scary how some of these companies operate - I read this book a couple of years ago and it was easy to see the economic meltdown coming a mile away. Subprime loans are just the tip of the iceberg that is the fringe economy.

[Mike Jewitt]

This book is really interesting to read in the post 2008 world. It gets a lot of things that came to pass over the past 5 years dead on. If there is an updated edition I'll probably read that to see if Karger has more recent numbers. Worth a read but it is a bit out of date, the most recent numbers (at least in the edition I had) were from 2004.

[Alexis]

Shortchanged: Life and Debt in the Fringe Economy (Bk Currents) by Howard Karger (2005)

[Mackenzie]

Eye opening!