An eight-year campaign to slash the IRS’s budget has left the agency understaffed, hamstrung, and operating with archaic equipment. The result: a hundred-billion-dollar heist.
Black Americans are far less likely than their white peers to successfully erase their debts in court—and a network of attorneys profits as a result.
The state’s low court filing fees make it hard for poorer citizens to fend off attacks on their assets.
A family that falls behind on even a small loan can find itself in a never-ending pit of payments and shame.
Outrage over payday loans, which trap millions of Americans in debt and are the best-known type of high-cost loans, has led to dozens of state laws aimed at stamping out abuses. But the industry has proved extremely resilient