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September 15, 2003
Wealth peddlers
Some eye-popping statistics can be found in "The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Mothers & Fathers Are Going Broke," a new book by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi:
* This year alone, the lending industry will have filled mailboxes with 5 billion pre-approved credit-card offers totaling more than $300,000 per family
* One-third of bankruptcy filers owe an entire year's worth of their salary on credit cards
* In 2003, it's expected 1.5 million people will file for bankruptcy -- a record
* More people will file for bankruptcy this year than those who will suffer heart attacks, more than will graduate from college and more than will be diagnosed with cancer
* Having a child is now the biggest predictor that a single woman will end up in financial ruin
Those statistics and a smattering of recent articles makes it clear that too many Americans are spending themselves into a financial death-spiral. That's also why Citibank's "Live richly" slogan seems capitalistic, but not in a particularly good way. As far as causes that help improve people's lives and make the world a better place (one of the tenets that leads to customer evangelism), Citi's efforts are out of step with the times. Liquor companies exhort customers to "drink responsibly;" why shouldn't banks do the equivalent when it comes to customers and their spending habits?
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