9781422281185

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Economic Booms and Busts S tarting in 2006, Jennifer Butz struggled with health problems. She had a rare blood disorder. The Atlanta woman worked as a home loan officer. Her fragile health meant that she visited the hospital many times. This took its toll on her finances. She used credit cards to pay med- ical bills. In 2008 things got worse. She entered the hospital for more than a month. When she got out, she lost her job. She had taken out loans from banks to buy a house and a car. When she could not pay her house payment, the bank started a process to take it back. This is called foreclosure . She could not pay her car payment, either. The bank repossessed it. In 2007, David Sutton lost his job. He had worked at the same company for 30 years. He was 54 years old. He looked for work every day at first, but he could not find a job. With no health insurance, his medical bills grew. His house lost value. His retirement savings dwindled. This difficult situation per-

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