高考英语《流行话题 语境识词 4500》Unit 99 The Fragile American Middle class 素材Unit 99 The Fragile American Middle class Since 1997, the number of American families filing for bankruptcy annually has exceeded one million. They are going to bankruptcy courts for protection. Those who file are members of the middle class -- a group that has long provided stability and vitality for the American economic system. This raises the troubling question: Why are unprecedented numbers of Americans e ncountering such serious financial trouble? Recently the book The Fragile Middle Class, through analyzing court records an d demographic data on thousands of bankruptcy cases as well as poignant real-life stories, answers the perplexing question of why Americans have experienced dramatic increases in bankruptcy filing in the midst of unprecedented prosperity. For many middle-class Americans financial stability is fragile -- almost any setback can be a catastrophe. The erosion of job stability, divorce and family instability, the visible and invisible costs of medical care, the burden of home owners hip, and the staggering weight of consumer debt financed with plastic combine to threaten the financial security of growing numbers of middle-class families. The authors view the bankruptcy process in the light of changing cultural and economic factors and conside r what this may signify for the future of a large, secure, and dynamic middle class. This chilling diagnosis of middl e-class affliction demonstrates that many Americans may be only a job loss, an illness or credit card indulgence away from the downward spiral leading to bankruptcy. The authors of this well designed and carefully execute study remind us that there ...
