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Credit Cruncher
In 'Maxed Out,' filmmaker James Scurlock takes a scathing look at the lending industry and reveals the tragic consequences of excessive consumer debt.
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WEB EXCLUSIVE By By Jessica Bennett Newsweek April 13, 2006 - Americans are buying with plastic at a staggering rate. From lattes to vacation packages, car payments to home-equity loans, our reliance on credit is increasing. Even the Internal Revenue Service endorses credit cards as a "convenient" way to pay your taxes. The average American family carried about $9,300 in credit-card debt in 2005 reports the nonprofit Consumer Credit Counseling Service in Dallas. But what happens when borrowers who already have sizable debts are offered more credit? Director James Scurlock, 34, set out to tackle that question in "Maxed Out," a documentary he intended as a comic portrayal of consumer irresponsibility. What the self-described "finance geek" and former publisher of a financial newsletter ended up with however, is a much starker tale-one of struggle, suicide and desperation. "I think the people in the film would like nothing more than to pay off their bills, but they've just gotten to a point where it's not possible," says Scurlock. "And at some point, they're just being preyed on [by lenders] and manipulated and squeezed so hard that they can't ever hope to recover. And that's not right." The indie production won critical acclaim at the South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas, in March. And in 2007, Simon & Schuster plans to publish a memoir based on Scurlock's interviews and travels during the making of the film. NEWSWEEK's Jessica Bennett spoke with the director about consumer debt and the relationship between low-income Americans and the financial industry. Excerpts:  | 'Debt,' Scurlock says, 'is the one issue that affects us all.'
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NEWSWEEK: Why make a movie about credit-card debt?
James Scurlock: Debt is the one issue that affects all of us-rich or poor, black or white, gay or straight, liberal or conservative. It's such a huge issue, and at the time I just wanted to ask the question, "Why can't so many of us get out of debt? What is it about debt that's so addictive that we can't live without it?"
What do you hope to get across?
Two things: one is that the financial industry has changed a lot in the last generation, and people need to realize that ... We're in a totally different time now where we're deluged every day with offers of credit. And the second thing is that I think people need to start getting active with Congress and [pressuring them] into changing the balance that's been so weighted toward the financial industry and against the consumer. CONTINUED
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