Product Description

This groundbreaking expos brings to light the surprising financial consequences of mothers going to work, and the precarious position of today's middle class. More than two decades ago, the women's movement flung open the doors of the workplace. Although this social revolution created a firestorm of controversy, no one questioned the idea that women's involvement in the workforce was certain to improve families' financial lot. Until now. In this brilliantly argued book, Harvard Law School bankruptcy expert Elizabeth Warren and business consultant Amelia Tyagi show that today's middle-class parents are suffering from an unprecedented and totally unexpected economic meltdown. Astonishingly, sending mothers to work has made families more vulnerable than ever before. Today's two-income family earns 75 per cent more money than its single-income counterpart of a generation ago, but actually has less discretionary income once their fixed monthly bills are paid. How did this happen? Warren and Tyagi provide convincing evidence that the culprit is not "overconsumption," as many critics have charged. Instead, they point to the ferocious bidding war for housing and education that has quietly engulfed America's suburbs. Stay-at-home mothers once provided a financial safety net if disaster struck; their move into the workforce has left today's families chillingly at risk. The authors show why the usual remedies--child-support enforcement, subsidized daycare, and higher salaries for women--won't solve the problem, and propose a set of innovative solutions, from rate caps on credit cards to open-access public schools, to restore security to the middle class.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #617686 in Books
• Published on: 2003-08-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

Customer Reviews

Highly Recommended!
Mother-and-daughter authors Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi tell the frightening tale of a rising tide of bankruptcies and financial difficulties in middle-class America. Their statistics show that families with children, including single parent families, are hardest hit by this epidemic. The authors, who make no pretence of objectivity, blame corporate greed and government neglect. Their politically improbable proposals include school vouchers removing geography as a placement criteria and the re-regulation of lending. The book doesn't ever really define its pivotal audience, the "middle class." It trusts your conventional wisdom about what it means to be middle-class, while passionately questioning conventional wisdom about consumer debt. Yet, despite the book's flaws, the authors make a thought-provoking, eye-opening argument about lending practices and they issue clear warnings about debt. We recommend this book to families, and to anyone concerned about social justice, family-friendly policies and consumer debt.