The Two-Income Trap - Elizabeth Warren [2]
At the end of September, we took a deep breath. Wasn’t that exciting! Now, time to get back to life as usual—research projects, teaching classes at Harvard Law School, a demanding toddler.
Then Dr. Phil called. And Lou Dobbs. And Bill Moyers. And Senator John Edwards. And USA Today, Houston Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, Marketplace, CNN. And the calls kept coming.
Their message added up to one thing: The Two-Income Trap is a phenomenon.
Most of the time, we talked with reporters who just wanted to quiz us about our book. “How did you find out about the Two-Income Trap?” (We completed the largest study ever on financial failure in America.) “What should families do to protect themselves from the Two-Income Trap?” (Take their own Financial Fire Drill.) And so on.
But sometimes the attention was far more personal. A reporter, a secretary, a neighbor taking out her groceries, or a mom dropping off her son at preschool would lean in close, dropping her voice to a whisper. “The Two-Income Trap is my life. No one has any idea. Thank you for writing this book.”
At book signings we met retired couples who asked us to sign three copies, one for each of their grown children who, they said, were caught in the trap. On radio call-in programs we talked with pastors and rabbis who worried about families in their congregations who were sliding into debt and needed help. We received emails from stay-at-home moms who said this book helped them rethink their choices and from young couples who decided to pause before committing to an oversized mortgage that would chew through both of their incomes.
This book touched a nerve with families around the country. Perhaps we should not have been surprised. Families are facing economic stress as never before:
• This year, more women will file for bankruptcy than will graduate from college.
• Seventy percent of all Americans (roughly 140 million people) say that they are carrying so much debt that it is making their home lives unhappy.
• The number one New Year’s resolution in America in 2004 is to get out of debt (overtaking losing weight for the first time).
• This year, more children will live through their parents’ bankruptcy than their parents’ divorce.
And we heard from another group of Americans: those who shape the policies that mold this country. In a few short months, The Two-Income Trap was quoted publicly by Senators John Kerry, John Edwards, and Ted Kennedy, Representative Richard Gephardt, and former Vermont Governor Howard Dean. They told moving stories of the drastic changes that have taken the American family by storm in a few short decades. And they spoke of the need for change—and of policies that can move toward a better America. Credit industry regulation and limits on usury, which are featured prominently in this book, were endorsed by nearly all of the Democratic presidential candidates. Disability insurance has gotten a new look from legislators on both sides of the aisle. Leading thinkers in public education are considering the implications of the Two-Income Trap on school reform. The Center for American Progress, The New America Foundation, Drum Major, Demos, and The Century Fund have all turned up the volume in pressing issues related to families’ economic stability. In a remarkably short time, there are stirrings of change in the political landscape, changes that may move the economic plight of the middle class to the forefront of the national agenda.
Changes are also occurring at dinner tables across America. Families have shared their stories with us—and their plans to change. Every day we talk with mothers and fathers, grandmas and young singles, who are concerned about their futures and who are determined to make their families more secure. Families are taking to heart the lessons of the Financial Fire Drill, as they evaluate