Book, film deliver the truth about debt
By Michelle Singletary | March 4, 2007
For this month's Color of Money Book Club selection, I'm doing something a little different.
I'm recommending both a movie and a book. And both will have you rethinking the deep dependence so many of us have on credit.
The twofer this month is the feature-length documentary "Maxed Out," and a companion book, "Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lenders" (Scribner, $24).
The movie opens in select markets beginning Friday . It is set to open in Boston on March 23. I think every high school should find a way to get the film shown to its student body.
James D. Scurlock, author and director of "Maxed Out," hopes to do with the overselling of credit what former Vice President Al Gore has done for global warming -- elevate people's consciousness about a terrible threat to our existence. In this case, it's our financial well-being.
Both the book and film examine the proliferation of debt in America. Among others, Scurlock interviews debt collectors, a Harvard professor, pawnbrokers, people in debt, and the people who have watched loved ones struggle with debt. I laughed when Scurlock showed old black-and-white clips of students being taught how hard it is to qualify for credit. You have to have good character and a proven capacity to pay it back, an unnamed man tells a young boy and girl.
I was most moved by two mothers, Janne O'Donnell and Trisha Johnson, who sit side-by-side and talk about their children -- college students -- who committed suicide largely because of credit card debts. O'Donnell's son had amassed a debt of $12,000 on 10 credit cards. Johnson's daughter was a freshman when she spread her credit card bills on her bed and then hanged herself. She owed $2,500.
http://www.boston.com/business/personalfinance/articles/2007/03/04/book_film_deliver_the_truth_about_debt/
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