Personal bankruptcies surge 9%

[brentspeak]

No, Obama is not at fault for this. But it demonstrates how absolutely stupid and useless talk of an "ended recession" is. With a de-industrialized and outsourced United States, this is not your grandfather's recession.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/04/news/economy/October_co...

Personal bankruptcies surge 9%
Number of Americans filing for bankruptcy continues to climb. Total bankruptcies expected to top 1.4 million in 2009, highest in 4 years.

See all CNNMoney.com RSS FEEDS (close) By Hibah Yousuf, CNNMoney.com staff reporter
Last Updated: November 4, 2009: 12:50 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The number of Americans filing personal bankruptcies surged 9% in October and were on target for the highest annual total in four years, according to a report issued Wednesday.

The American Bankruptcy Institute, an industry research firm that relies on data from the National Bankruptcy Research Center, said 135,914 consumers filed for bankruptcy last month. Almost a third of the bankruptcies were filed under Chapter 13, in which consumers are put on a repayment plan of up to five years.

"The nearly 9% increase in consumer bankruptcy filings in October, together with a 7% jump reported in business cases, demonstrates the sustained stress on the U.S. economy," said ABI executive director Samuel Gerdano.

The group forecasts total bankruptcies to exceed 1.4 million in 2009, which would be the highest since 2005. It would also be an increase of at least 30% from last year.

[uponit7771]

1. This sucks, I'll put some nice money on the fact that if dems don't pivot against Wall Street...

...sKrong then the GOP will use any ties the DNC has to them against them with no perspective from the M$M.

[ShortnFiery]

2. People still wish to embrace the M$M sponsored delusion that somehow the American People

are going to financially recover. If you don't have over $350,000 in chump change, thing again buddy ... we're being punked.

[Cali_Democrat]

3. The economy is in shambles

GDP growth in the recent quarter and over the past 9 years has only benefited the top 5%.

Most Americans are actually poorer as median household income has fallen over the past decade. Not only is the income for the average American not keeping up with inflation, it's actually fallen!

Meanwhile health care costs continue to skyrocket.

It's all gonna blow up in a few years. America is screwed to put it mildly.

[Dr Robert]

4. yet another ray of sunshine from Badnews Brent...

[ProSense]

5. This isn't good, but it always look more bleak without context

The quarterly rate is at about the same level as prior to when the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA) took effect. There were over 2 million bankruptcies filed in Calendar 2005 ahead of the law change.

There have been 1.18 million personal bankruptcy filings through Oct 2009, and the American Bankruptcy Institute is predicting over 1.4 million new bankruptcy filings by year end.

link

Larger chart at the link. These levels are not atypical, and given that the economy is coming out of a recession, they're likely to continue to climb. Banruptcies are going to be one of the last indicators to change.

[treestar]

6. These can occur in a good economy

This has more to do with not having health care or auto insurance than with the overall economy. Or just having gone too far into credit card debt. Or trying a business and having it fail. This is not a sign that the economy can't recover.

[DCBob]

7. This is expected even in a recovery. Bush left the economy in a complete disaster.

We were on the verge of going into a depression. There will be more trouble ahead for individuals and for business but clearly we have averted an economic catastrophe.