Unjust Debts, Melissa B. Jacoby
Unjust Debts, Melissa B. Jacoby
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Unjust Debts
How Our Bankruptcy System Makes America More Unequal

Author: Melissa B. Jacoby

Narrator: Jennifer Walden

Unabridged: 6 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 02/25/2025


Synopsis

Named one of the Best Summer Books in Economics by the Financial Times

A groundbreaking look at the hidden role of bankruptcy in perpetuating inequality in America

Bankruptcy is the busiest federal court in America. In theory, bankruptcy in America exists to cancel or restructure debts for people and companies that have way too many—a safety valve designed to provide a mechanism for restarting lives and businesses when things go wrong financially.

Legal scholar Melissa B. Jacoby shows how bankruptcy has also become an escape hatch for powerful individuals, corporations, and governments, contributing in unseen and poorly understood ways to race, gender, and class inequality in America. When cities go bankrupt, police unions enjoy added leverage while police brutality victims are denied a seat at the negotiating table; the system is more forgiving of civil rights abuses than of the parking tickets disproportionately distributed in African American neighborhoods. Unjust Debts reveals the hidden mechanisms by which bankruptcy impacts everything from sexual harassment to health care, police violence to employment discrimination, and the opioid crisis to gun violence.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jamie on May 24, 2024

We never talk about how credit card companies, and student loan companies, and the medical system, actually thrive on us not being able to pay things back. We now have "debt consolidation" companies that can be just as predatory. I was really glad to see that this book was being published. We need t......more

Goodreads review by Richard on November 02, 2024

This book is easily navigated by non-lawyers and other bankruptcy field related professionals with the simple caveat: start by consulting the appendix and memorize the definitions of the various bankruptcy code chapters. It’ll make your reading experience smoother! The gist of the book: the “system”......more

Goodreads review by Travis on August 30, 2024

This book is an informative, revealing look at the US bankruptcy system and how it privileges the rich over the poor and big businesses over small businesses and individuals. It further describes in great detail how many businesses (Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family, Johnson and Johnson, asbestos......more

Goodreads review by Joyce on August 15, 2024

Reading Unjust Debts helps one better understand the "use" of the bankruptcy laws & courts by large corporations, lawyers and those with deep pockets. The glossary was most helpful and as well as the bibliography. More bankruptcy courts and judges are needed to allow for the proper study of each com......more

Goodreads review by Jaden on August 20, 2024

A depressing but sober analysis of the U.S.' bankrupcy system, with an eye for inequities. The frequent comparisons between treatment in individual and commercial ('Fake People') bankrupcies were the most fruitful.......more