Neither Mary nor Marie Anne could realistically have had hoped to pay back their exorbitant bills, no matter how bountiful the economy seemed. Instead, each one simply passed as middle class for a year, flaunting her new clothes and household goods. There s an odd poetic justice in the bankruptcies of Mary and Marie Anne. Banks and credit companies are, strictly speaking, the direct source of their illusory income. But considered more abstractly, it is their bosses who are lending them money.
Most households are net debtors, while only the very richest are net creditors.
In an overall sense, in other words, the working classes are forever borrowing from their employers. Lending replaces decent wages, masking income disparities even while aggravating them through staggering interest rates. If Mary s wages were higher, she might not have needed those credit cards and, of course, her boss wouldn t have quite so much money lying around to lend. But there is also something tragic about quick bankruptcy and easy credit, about the buying frenzies of folks like Mary and Marie Anne or their wealthier counterparts who are laid low by exclusive summer camps, music lessons, and private schools. Frustration with empty, boring work, a stagnant salary, and the tedium of making ends meet can be expressed as the craving for a waffle iron, a piece of lingerie, a bright plastic toy for the kid.