According to Maxed Out, the answer lies in the increasingly predatory lending practices of the country’s credit card companies. For just a generation ago, it was much more difficult to obtain a line of credit from a bank. But between the deregulation of interest rates and a revised corporate philosophy, those who could least afford debt, suddenly found themselves deluged with credit card offers.

The result is no surprise: millions of borrowers who end-up burdened by a mountain of debt they have no way of ever eliminating. The best they can do is keep making partial payments while their bills escalate exponentially. And the credit card companies are quite comfortable with this arrangement because this modern equivalent of indentured servitude simply ensures that the rich will get richer and that the poor will stay poor.

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