Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/ebdj/vol40/iss2/1
Abstract:
This Article focuses on how the law’s relationship with economic and political systems has dire effects upon communities at the local level. By challenging the ineffectiveness of these existing systems, this Article spotlights the stark inequalities in our society. This Article recognizes the bankruptcy system’s limitation as a remedy for debt relief and observes that bankruptcy is not a substitute for effective policies and programs that help the poor navigate financial crises. Part I analyzes a case study of a single household to illustrate two central problems at issue in this Article: first, the barriers erected by public- and private benefit system balkanization; second, low-income families’ lack of power in their housing, credit, and transportation transactions. Part II discusses the financial challenges faced by low-income families as they struggle to pay for housing, health care, and transportation with inadequate wages. This Part also articulates the relationship between the markets for housing, health care, transportation, and consumer credit with the inevitable consequence of low income families incurring high levels of high-cost debt when they cannot pay their bills. Part III asks an important question: Whose interests were served when the rules governing housing, credit, health care, and transportation were enacted and when the system for benefit access was designed? Part IV explores the extent to which lawyers can aid people in dire financial circumstances. Part V scrutinizes the role of the bankruptcy system through the LPE lens. Part VI offers suggestions for recalibrating the power imbalances that harm many low-income families in exigent financial circumstances. Part VII then discusses programs and strategies that can help stabilize families who emerge from financial crises. Finally, this Article concludes by reiterating the importance of challenging existing political and economic structures to smooth out the uneven landscape of inequality.
Commentary:
Bankruptcy can be a solution for too much debt, but it is not a solution for too little income.
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