The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don't Need

Although written 10 years before the credit crisis, the book looks at the consumerist culture that ultimately led to the credit crisis. It looks at the reasons why Americans have become so confortable with living beyond their means. Overall a good read mainly because it makes you look at yourself

Show More

and assess the risks you're exposing yourself to by raking up more debt than you can manage.

Show Less

Juliet Schor is witty and compelling, as always, in her exploration of how Americans have come to be overburdened with debt, groaning credit cards at the ready to tackle even more spending. How did we move from being prudent to being profligate? And how do we stop? I wouldn't say this book has all

Show More

the answers, but at least it's asking the right questions.

Show Less

Here, twenty some years later, I'm rereading my notes about Schor's very interesting ideas, especially those about what kind of economy would result if we began consuming less. I must have read this book of sociology and economics some time around the turn of the century, and liked it enough to

Show More

save those notes. The process has made me want to follow her websites and find her other books.

Show Less