For A New Thrift

“Sixty-two scholars have signed on to a report by the Institute for American Values and other think tanks called, For a New Thrift: Confronting the Debt Culture . . . it’s one of the most important think-tank reports you’ll read this year.”

—David Brooks, The Great Seduction, June 10, 2008, The New York Times

WE ARE LAUNCHING a national campaign to confront the linked problems of high rates of personal and societal debt, low savings, and growing inequality. In this campaign, we will propose initiatives for a new thrift culture that can provide competitive alternatives to the current debt culture.

Overindebtedness has become an American way of life. The national debt has ballooned in recent years, the savings rate currently stands below zero, and roughly 2 million more Americans are likely to lose their homes in the coming year. In addition, many families are carrying high balances on a fistful of credit cards, raiding equity in their homes to pay for short-term wants and needs, and putting their faith in the lottery as the only way out of debt.

Articles:

Old School Banking Will Save Us from Debt
by David Blankenhorn and Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, New York Daily News, November 17, 2008

A Return to Thrift
by Geoff Colvin, Fortune, November 10, 2008

Thrift Is the New Fashion
by Daniel Gross, Newsweek, November 3, 2008

"Pro-thrift" Campaign Pushed
by Humberto Cruz, Chicago Tribune, August 3, 2008

Barbara Dafoe Whitehead and Rita Haynes on WBUR’s "On Point"
June 19, 2008

The Great Seduction
by David Brooks, The New York Times, June 10, 2008

A Nation in Debt
by Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, The American Interest, June 24, 2008

Give Credit Unions the Credit They Deserve
by Rita Haynes in the Dallas Morning News, June 14, 2008

Let's Make it Cool to Save
by Michelle Singletary, The Washington Post, May 11, 2008

Economy Fitful, Americans Start to Pay as They Go
by Peter S. Goodman, The New York Times, Feb. 5, 2008

Time to Make Outsaving the Joneses a Reality
by Shannon Buggs, The Houston Chronicle, Jan. 12, 2008

Forget Easy Money, Try Saving a Few Bucks
by Ray Boshara and Philip Longman, The Washington Post, Oct. 7, 2007

American Apostle of Thrift
by David Blankenhorn, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan. 17, 2006