Nearly 40% of California homeowners spend more than the target 30% of their income on housing; 15% spend more than 50% . Therein lies the start of financial instability.

Liz Warren’s book on the Two Income Trap identified the quest for schools in better school districts as the reason that two income middle class families were going broke at record rates. The budget simply had no margin for error, or for illness, job loss, or divorce.

So, while the bankruptcy schedules show credit card debt, its probable those credit cards were used to provide the goods for day to day living in a housing market gone mad.