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According to data released by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the number of new bankruptcies filed in the United States during the calendar year 2001 hit 1,492,129 bankruptcy cases - an all time high. The majority of the bankruptcy cases, a whopping 97.31% of the filings, were consumer bankruptcy filings. This overall number represented a nineteen percent increase over the 1,253,444 bankruptcy cases filed in 2000 and broke the previous mark set in 1998 when what seemed like an unbreakable record of 1,442,549 bankruptcy cases were filed. Ironically, over the last six years, during what was has supposedly been one of the strongest economies in the history of our country, over eight million bankruptcy cases have been filed (8,090,287 to be exact). When you look at the statistical data going back over the preceding decade from 1992 through 2001, the number of bankruptcy cases filed reaches a mind numbing 11,696,436. Coupled with the available figures from the U.S. Census 2000 showing that there are just over 209 million adults in the country over age eighteen, this works out to about 5.6% of the adult population or one bankruptcy for every 17.8 adults in this country. Bankruptcy filings have grown 450% since 1980 and there are no signs that the bankruptcy boondoggle is letting up. So what in the heck is going on here? Even with the recent legislation that was aimed at shoring up loopholes and abuses of America’s bankruptcy laws, something is definitely amiss. The root of the problem is basically threefold. Number one, consumer debt in America has soared to stratospheric levels. More and more people are using more and more credit to live the lifestyle that they in all likelihood cannot realistically afford. In the instant gratification society that is America today, people want what they want and they want it right now. With the advent of the non-solicited pre-approved credit cards that have proliferated in recent years and seem to pop up in nearly everyone’s mailbox at least once a week, people quickly run up debt which strains the family budget to merely pay the monthly minimum fee. When you throw in the relatively new expenses that are now considered by many to be essential staples that didn’t exist a few generations back - cell phones, video rentals, cable TV, dining out several times a week - consumers can find themselves upside down and drowning in a sea of debt. Expecting people to be fiscally responsible doesn’t seem to working out too well nowadays. As a result, consumer debt has shot off the charts and today’s bankruptcy laws give these irresponsible consumers a way out.
The field of bankruptcy law is bustling with business. Pick up a local telephone book and look up bankruptcy lawyers. You’ll find them lurking under the heading of “Attorneys”. Lodged somewhere in between the seedy personal injury opportunists and the criminal defense shysters, you’ll find the bankruptcy lawyers extolling their virtues. The yellow pages are loaded with lawyers trumpeting their abilities to wipe out your debts and help you get a fresh start. These miscreants, ever mindful of the financial stress their clients are feeling, ply their trade with dexterous underhanded efficiency. These bankruptcy lawyers masterfully manipulate the bankruptcy laws as a mechanism for creating great wealth - for themselves. An individual being relentlessly hounded by creditors is prime for the picking. Bankruptcy lawyers nationwide have mastered the technique of convincing these worn down and worn out clients to give the lawyers money at the precise moment the client is generally out of money. If the people had the money to pay their bills, they wouldn’t be in this financial mess in the first place. The bankruptcy lawyer couldn’t care less whether the client has to beg, borrow or steal the money to pay his fee, just as long as the fee is paid. There now seems to be a growing trend toward abusing the bankruptcy laws as a device for fling bankruptcies for convenience sake. A number of bankruptcy filings are the not the result of the normal factors we associate with bankruptcy, like loss of a job, divorce, medical hardships and the like. No, these bankruptcy filings, often the Chapter 7 variety which totally wipes out the individual’s debt, are being palpated by lawyers promoting the irresponsible use of bankruptcy laws as some sort of financial planning contrivance. Rather than suggest that their clients make an honest effort to pay back at least a portion of the debts they owe, bankruptcy lawyers in many instances direct their clients to flush them all down the toilet. The message is clear - irresponsibly rack up all the debt you can, pay the lawyer to wipe it out, and start the whole process over gain. Sweet deal, Lucille. Not that long ago, people avoided going the bankruptcy route like the plague. An individual not owning up to the bills he or she owed to others was something of a scarlet letter of sorts. It just wasn’t something that was done. Now the stigma, shame and humiliation associated with going bankrupt have been gradually eliminated in some circles. After all, with millions upon millions of Americans having gone through bankruptcy themselves, chances are good that someone’s friends, coworkers or even next door neighbors may have bitten the bullet and elected the bankruptcy route themselves. Does all of this make it A-OK to walk away from your debts? I would say of course not, but I’m probably now considered out of touch and an old relic from a bygone era. It should be noted that this misapplication of the bankruptcy laws ends up costing the wrong people. After all, somebody has to pick up the slack and absorb the losses incurred by the creditors when the folks filing bankruptcy take a hike. The responsible borrowers, those who play by the rules and pay their bills as agreed, are the ones who invariably take it in the shorts. The creditors have no choice but to recoup the losses incurred through increased costs to their paying customers. But don’t look for the lawyers to lose any sleep over these abuses of the bankruptcy laws or the problems their bankruptcy filings may have on innocent victims or even their own clients down the road. People are lining up by the millions to unload their debt by choosing to file bankruptcy. Business has never been better for bankruptcy lawyers around the country. The message is crystal clear - run up as much debt as you can then run away from paying it back as fast as you can. Bankruptcy lawyers are helping Americans go bankrupt all right, as more and more of us are becoming bankrupt of any semblance of decency, integrity and personal responsibility. What ever happened to doing the right thing because it’s the right thing to do - including paying your bills instead of running away from them? Hey, if you’ve got a goofy lawsuit you’d like to pass on to us, simply click Stupid Lawsuits and Other Funny Stuff and we’ll add yours to our ever growing list of stupid lawsuits. And while you’re at in, why not take a few moments and check out our growing collection of Funny Lawyer Quotes, Jokes and Cartoons? It’s Time to Wake Up and Smell the Lawyers Book: If you haven’t read our highly acclaimed book, you’re missing out on a load of information about America’s legal system – and a load of laughs as well. You can read excerpts taken from the book by clicking book chapter summaries here. You can sign up for our FREE newsletter by clicking subscribe in the box on the left of the page. Please tell your friends, relatives and business associates about our Lawyers Stink E-mail Newsletter. They can subscribe at our web site: http://www.power-of-attorneys.com (of course you can e-mail this newsletter to them!). If you would like to review past issues of our Lawyers Stink E-mail Newsletter, simply click view back issues of our newsletter. We always respect your privacy and will not share your e-mail address with anyone. If, at any time, you decide that you don’t want to receive this newsletter any more, simply click the unsubscribe link within the body of your newsletter. Thanks for reading this issue of the Lawyers Stink E-mail Newsletter and we’ll see you next month. As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions about our newsletter.
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America is renown for being a world leader,
regardless of whether you’re talking about product development, industry
innovation or old fashioned ingenuity. Being the biggest and best at
everything we do is part of the American mystique. However, America is
also setting a number of records of a much more dubious nature. Our
country leads the world in bankruptcy filings and seems to be working
overtime to widen the gap even further. In a nation where bankruptcy
lawyers seem to lie in wait at every corner, this shouldn’t come as any
real revelation.
Number two, personal responsibility has
been summarily tossed to the curb in America. It has become increasingly
improper conduct for people to judge others or to even hold one’s self
accountable anymore. Rather than stop spending money (that they don’t
have) like a drunken sailor on an all night binge, many Americans run up
debt like it is going out of style and then look for a way to run for
cover. America’s bankruptcy lawyers, well versed in the nuances of
America’s bankruptcy laws, lay in wait. Which leads us to the third part
of the equation - the lawyers themselves.
