BROKE, USA From Pawnshops to Poverty, Inc.—How the Working Poor Became Big Business

For narrator Scott Sowers, the hardest part of reading this book may have been disguising his revulsion at the nefarious practices of lenders who heartlessly prey on the poor. This book explores how loan companies, check-cashing stores, and pawnshops profit from the plight and ignorance of desperate, predominantly poor borrowers. Their policies are ruthless and often underhanded. As the economy has soured, their profits have flowered. Sowers offers an even reading, letting the facts speak for themselves. He gives individuals a hint of an accent or a distinctive voice, making quoted material easier to differentiate. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2010]