Securing Economic Justice and Sustainability from Structural Deviances: Recommendations for Consumer Credit Policy Changes

摘要

As the current financial crisis disproportionately harms the financially vulnerable and poses a great threat to the well-being of the national and global economy, unprecedented societal dependence upon unsecured consumer credits exacerbates the crisis. The author describes this dependence, unveils structural deviance and economic injustice behind it, and recommends three public policy solutions to alleviate the current financial crisis and ameliorate the systematic deviance. The three solutions include lowering credit card interest rates, resurrecting a grace period for late payments, and establishing a temporary tax break for revolving credit card holders.