Democracy has crumbled in the face of what activist and author Andrew Ross labels a “creditocracy.” Ross, a professor of social and cultural analysis at New York University, coins this term because, as he explained during his speech in Wheeler Hall on Tuesday night, an overwhelming majority of average American citizens face forms of financial “debt bondage” incurred due to an inability to acquire basic services such as education, housing and health care. In his book “Creditocracy,” Ross, an author of 12 other books on political philosophy pertaining to labor issues and human rights, reveals the twisted morality behind the elite few who control the American banking industry and enumerates the detrimental effects this system has on our society.

In a timely fashion, “Creditocracy” asserts that financial institutions no longer value reliable customers. In fact, the book argues, modern banks regard their least reliable customers as the best ones because they are the ones banks profit from most. According to Ross, good credit is a bad thing in the eyes of profit-hungry creditors. Because so many Americans are sliding further into debt of all kinds, widespread “credit slavery” leaves millions in financial “bondage.”

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