Article in the Washington post sums it up. This is form a new study by the conservative leaning Manhattan Institute. Lead author Oren Cass distills it as follows: “In 1985, the typical male worker could cover a family of four’s major expenditures (housing, health care, transportation, education) on 30 weeks of salary,” he wrote on Twitter last week. “By 2018 it took 53 weeks. Which is a problem, there being 52 weeks in a year.”

Fred emailed me, saying, "After we lost our home because of a Predatory mortgage three years ago, we had incurred debt. Instead of declaring bankruptcy as our foreclosure attorney suggested, I tried to pay off my debt and maintain a good credit score...There have been times when we could barely afford food." Fred is in his late 60's, battling medical issues, working thirty hours a week at Office Depot. Like many people, he was afraid filing bankruptcy would hurt his credit sc