Thanks Barack… Number of Bankruptcy Filings Rose By Nearly 1/3 In 2009
Posted by Jim Hoft on Tuesday, January 5, 2010, 5:01 AM
Thanks Barack. Personal bankruptcies rose by more than one-third in 2009.
The Wall Street Journal reported:
The number of Americans filing for personal bankruptcy rose by nearly a third in 2009, a surge largely driven by foreclosures and job losses.
And more people are filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which liquidates assets to pay off some debts and absolves the filers of others. That is significant because a 2005 overhaul of federal bankruptcy laws aimed to encourage Chapter 13 filings, which force consumers to sign onto debt-repayment plans in exchange for keeping certain assets.
The changes were designed to make it more difficult for people to shed their debt, particularly in a Chapter 7 filling. A “means” test, for example, was introduced to separate those who could afford to repay their debt from those who couldn’t. A Chapter 7 filing is off the table if the means test determines a person is able to pay back at least a portion of the debt after it is restructured.
The worst U.S. recession in a generation is testing the effectiveness of these laws. The economic downturn also has prompted more middle-class Americans to file for bankruptcy protection.
Overall, personal bankruptcy filings hit 1.41 million last year, up 32% from 2008, according to the National Bankruptcy Research Center, which compiles and analyzes bankruptcy data. It is the highest level of consumer-bankruptcy fillings since 2005. Consumers rushed to file in 2005 before the new bankruptcy laws took effect in October of that year.
Chapter 7 filings were up more than 42% as of November 2009, compared with the same period a year earlier.
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Published May 24, 2012 at 8:46 pm - 59 Comments
Corporal Vere commented:
Also thank senator Joe Biden (enriching DE credit card banks at the expense of Joe Sixpack) for pushing through the bankruptcy bill five years ago.
bill-tb commented:
Abd what did those young Obama voters get, 50% unemployment for their hopey changey supposrt. As most two bit tin pots soon figure out, people won’t do what you want, you need to force them, at the point of a gun.
Hugo Chavez and his new national police force are in the process of doing just that.
But be warned, Americans are not unarmed peasants, and forcing them can unintended consequences.
deathstar commented:
mmmmm, mmmmmm, mmmmm, Barck Hussein Obama
Simon commented:
God help those people, I fear the Dems have run off with all the disaster money.
Militant Conservative commented:
this IS the plan. Tho bankrupt the country and make the economy so bad that you’ll chose Socialism “light”
just for the relief. bill-tb, my powder is dry AND in great quantity.
crosspatch commented:
Bought a house for $650K that is now worth only $250K? You have a $650K liability and only $250K in assets. You declare bankruptcy, walk away from the mortgage, rent for 10 years and start over.
There’s a lot of that going around in California.
befuddled commented:
great give obama another chavista idea. on the agenda will be a billion dollar youth employment program, just in time for elections, hmmm. don’t worry these youths wont be confiscating farms and factories with machetes–just yet.
mrt commented:
“Overall, personal bankruptcy filings hit 1.41 million last year, up 32% from 2008″
“Chapter 7 filings were up more than 42% as of November 2009″
Wow!
And all from a lack of “health insurance”.
I sure hope none of them were hurt tripping over any of the 45,000 bodies in the street while on their way to file.
/sarc
Bushmess commented:
Thanks g.w. bush for starting all this mess. I don’t care who is president now or what his policies have been….nothing, I repeat, nothing, would have fixed what g.w. bush started in one year, or even more.