Thousands of South Carolina families are on the edge of a financial cliff. Without a president who is ready to take their side, more families will fall off. But with a president who will help those families, we can have a new era of great possibilities for all working families.

Over the last generation, we’ve seen a dangerous shift. Twenty years ago, middle-class families were saving up for the future. Today, those same families can’t afford to save, and instead they’re mired in debt. Bankruptcies have risen to a record high. And families that aren’t bankrupt worry that if something goes wrong — like losing a job or having a health care emergency — they’ll lose everything.

Part of the problem is that President Bush’s economic policies have hit working Americans hard. South Carolina has lost 55,000 manufacturing jobs since Bush took office in January 2001. And with 144,600 South Carolinians looking for work, the state’s unemployment rate stands at 7.1 percent — well above the national level.

But there is another problem quietly eating away at families’ security: the abuses of predatory lenders and credit card companies that erode families’ hard-earned savings and sometimes take away their homes.

Predatory lenders prey on families that are refinancing home mortgages and consolidating debt. They charge unsuspecting families thousands of dollars in excessive fees and insurance costs, charge higher interest rates than families’ credit ratings actually require and trick families into refinancing loans again and again. The scams can cost individuals hundreds of thousands of dollars. They cost South Carolina $107 million a year.

Predatory lending has exploded since the early 1990s, and its biggest growth market has been in African-American communities. We have to speak the truth: Racial steering is a serious problem in our lending markets. Americans of every race are victims of predatory lending far too often. Yet the truth is that homeowners in high-income African-American areas are twice as likely to get predatory loans as homeowners in low-income white neighborhoods.

We need a president who sees this crisis and will act to stop it. North Carolina passed a strong law to stop predatory lending, and South Carolina has now passed a law as well. But we need strong protections from the national level so that states don’t have to fight this battle alone. That is why I will establish penalties for predatory lenders and strengthen the government’s ability to track down and punish financial institutions that prey on unsuspecting families.

Stopping bad practices is essential, but it isn’t enough. We also need to help working American families find good jobs and build their savings.

I have a plan to create 5 million jobs in the first two years of my administration. We'll eliminate tax giveaways that encourage companies to move jobs overseas and instead cut taxes for manufacturers who create jobs here at home. I’ll bring tax credits, venture capital and management expertise to distressed communities hard-hit by job losses.

While helping families find work and dig out of debt, I will also cut taxes to help them save and invest. My plan will create a tax credit of up to $5,000 for first-time homebuyers with modest incomes, helping at least 2 million more Americans own a home. I’ll also create matching tax credits to help struggling families save. A waitress or construction worker who saves the maximum starting at age 25 will have a nest egg of $200,000 for retirement.

In America, families shouldn’t have to settle for just getting by. I want to help them get ahead. If we help families protect their homes and build their savings, we can unleash a new era of possibilities for working families and strengthen the economy for all Americans.

Mr. Edwards is a Democratic candidate for president. His Web site is http://www.johnedwards2004.com/.