Affluenza

Charles Dash has everything a young insurance executive rising through the ranks of Midwestern Accident and Life can hope for-a beautiful wife, a white Mustang, a townhouse, a tape deck, satin sheets, and contemporary leather furniture. As Dash climbs the corporate ladder, his superiors soon recognize his brutal skill set: denying customer claims with a ruthlessness they had seldom seen. Midwestern rewards Dash with promotions. Banks reward him with credit cards.

Soon Dash finds his spending spiraling out of control. He lives paycheck to paycheck to support his suburban lifestyle of golf on weekends, owning the first SUV in his neighborhood of luxurious McMansions, and a growing penchant for prostitutes. He applies for-and banks are more than willing to give him-more credit cards. Ensnared in the vicious cycle of spending, he finally has to remortgage his house, but soon, even that isn't enough.

Broke and desperate, Dash decides to wage a violent one-man war against the credit card companies. His spree of destruction leads him to a financial solvency that comes with a very heavy price-but it is a price he is more than willing to pay. He will do anything to keep his lifestyle intact.

Affluenza, the third novel by Michigan author David LaBounty, is a scathing critique of credit card culture, a tale of consumerism, vanity, debt, and sexual addiction torn from today's headlines. Relevant to these troubled times, Affluenza is a dire warning to those who choose to spend their way to the American Dream.