For most, the Great Crash of 2008 has meant troubling times. Not so for those in the flourishing poverty industry, for whom shrinking wages, pink slips, and other economic woes spell an opportunity to expand and grow. Over the years, any number of mercenary entrepreneurs have taken advantage of an era of deregulation to devise high priced products to sell to the credit-hungry ranks of the working poor, from the instant tax refund to the payday loan. In the process they’ve created an industry larger than the casino business and proven that even the country’s pawnbrokers and check cashers, if they dream big enough, can grow very, very rich off those with thin wallets. Looking back across three decades, Gary Rivlin uncovers how the poverty industry actually invented the predatory subprime loan in the 1980s—eventually inspiring the likes of Countrywide and Wells Fargo to repurpose these toxic products for the country’s middle class. As Rivlin’s tale reveals, these large chains are not only making fat profits and contributing to our current financial crisis—they are at the heart of it.
 

Broke, USA is Rivlin’s riveting report from the economic fringes. From the annual meeting of the national check cashers association in Las Vegas, to a tour of the foreclosure-riddled neighborhoods of Dayton, OH, it’s a subprime Fast Food Nation featuring an unforgettable cast of characters and memorable scenes.
 

Timely, shocking, and powerful, Broke, USA offers a much needed look at why our country is in a financial mess and gives voice to the millions of ordinary Americans left devastated in its wake.