A Bailout for working families?

This article argues that policies for economic recovery need to focus on the financial crisis facing working households as much, or even more than, the problems in the financial services industry as a whole. Anglo-American households are now hugely indebted, are bearing the brunt of the economic downturn and, most likely, will disproportionately pay for the costs of recovery. Continuing to ignore the precarious financial instability of households takes for granted the socio-political importance of household consumption and its central role as the bedrock of economic growth. Taking issue with Anglo-American household indebtedness is not new, since debt levels have been consistently increasing for decades; but the recent credit and asset bubble has seriously compounded the problem and jeopardised the financial security of many working families.