In 2006, Oprah Winfrey profiled three families, their spending habits, and their out of control debt. The episode caused a huge stir, with audience members, the public, and Oprah herself adding a level of shame and disbelief at how the families spent their money. It also launched the eight-step “debt diet” program. But the episodes didn’t get at the larger structural questions of why families end up in debt, and why it’s so hard to break free.

Special Guest: Mehrsa Baradaran, professor at UC-Irvine and author of How the Other Half Banks and The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap.

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Producer Nina Earnest, Executive Producer Jody Avirgan. Artwork by Jonathan Conda.

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