Debtor nation
Debtor Nation: The History of America in Red Ink is a book written by Harvard economic historian Louis Hyman and published by Princeton University Press in 2011.
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What Hacker News says
- The insanity in your comment is the idea that urban density is the statist / authoritarian / corrupt central planning piece.
Try reading Louis Hyman's "Debtor Nation," particularly the bits on FHA and the creation of a national (and heavily subsidized) mortgage market.
The sub/exurbs, the essential symbiotes of car culture, are the dirigiste statist artifacts.
(yes, also a lot of the people who want to have you sell your Nissan Armada are also like that, and it's fair of you to call out statist authoritarian where you see them. But it's lunacy to suggest that suburbs and car culture just represent an organic Choice of the Free Market™)
- The Diner's Club origin story is a myth. Unsecured credit lending actually originated with retail department stores.
Louis Hyman covers this story in Debtor Nation: The History of America in Red Ink (Princeton UP, 2011).
https://www.worldcat.org/title/debtor-nation-the-history-of-...
New Books in Economics podcast interview (Duration: 50:26):
Published: Fri, 04 Mar 2011 22:58:43 -0000 Media: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/LIT7526154990.mp3
