It's almost laughable that when the Republicans overhauled the bankruptcy laws, it was due to complaints from the lenders who were concerned about borrowers getting away too easily from their debts. As if "stop getting careless with with the easy money we're giving everyone with a pulse" really made sense. As I've said before, when the tables are turned, that industry would nail you to the wall. Too many in Washington - from both parties - went too easy on Wall Street when the timing was ripe for reform. The Republican economy once again delivers.
The AP gathered data from the nation's 90 bankruptcy districts and found 1.43 million filings, an increase of 32 percent from 2008. There were 116,000 recorded bankruptcies in December, up 22 percent from the same month a year before.
While experts believe some of the increase is due to a natural recovery as consumers and attorneys become accustomed to a recent overhaul of bankruptcy laws, the numbers indicate clear correlations to recession-weary regions. Arizona saw the fastest increase, a jump of 77 percent from the year before, followed by Wyoming (60 percent), Nevada (59 percent) and California (58 percent).
