Every time you swipe your credit card for a coffee or a carton of eggs, you take out a tiny loan from your bank.
In many ways, the U.S. runs on borrowed money: a mortgage for a home, financial aid for college, a loan for a car, credit cards for nearly everything else. Over just two years, Americans went from pandemic-fueled, near-record savings to today’s highest-ever levels of personal debt.
But what if you were taught to never owe anybody anything?
What may seem like an immigrant cliché actually happens every day: Foreigners arrive in the U.S. with big dreams and a few dollar bills in their wallet. That was true for both of us reporting this story. Tirzah zipped some emergency funds into a hidden compartment of her suitcase; Alina wrapped her college tuition payment into a handkerchief pinned inside her jean pocket.
Cash felt like our proverbial bootstrap, promising…
