Commercial bankruptcies soar, reflecting widening economic woes

Tony Pugh
McClatchy Newspapers
Sunday, July 20, 2008

WASHINGTON — Driven by a sour economy and skittish consumers, U.S. business bankruptcies saw their sharpest quarterly rise in two years, jumping 17 percent in the second quarter of 2008, according to an analysis by McClatchy.

Commercial filings for the first half of 2008 are up 45 percent from last year, as the national climate for commerce continues to deteriorate amid rising energy and food costs, mounting job losses, tighter credit and a reticence among consumers to part with discretionary income.

From April through June, 15,471 U.S. businesses called it quits, according to data from Automated Access to Court Electronic Records, an Oklahoma City bankruptcy management and data company.

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States that saw the biggest increase in filings were Delaware, Montana, Oregon, Maryland and Connecticut, suggesting that the economic gloom is spreading beyond large population centers.

It was the 10th straight quarter that business bankruptcy filings have increased. Nearly 29,000 companies filed in the first half of 2008.

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7 Responses to “Commercial bankruptcies soar, reflecting widening economic woes”

1. Christar Says:
   July 20th, 2008 at 9:33 am

   I read in my anthropology class that in many cultures, people only work 2-3 days a week, or put in a total of 25-30 hours towards work to maintain themselves. The rest of their time is devoted to living their life and enjoying it.
   Only in modern, so called civilized countries like America, do people have to work two jobs, 9-10 hours a day, for seven days a week, just to survive. That raises a red flag for me. We are living in slavery. The system has been engineered to make life as expensive as possible. People in America are charged for almost every conceivable thing, when so many things should be free (like a place to live, food), or much more inexpensive. Hell, we are going to be taxed for carbon soon!!

2. Anderson "The Brain" Says:
   July 20th, 2008 at 9:49 am

   Taxed to death!

3. Catman Says:
   July 20th, 2008 at 2:15 pm

   Anyone ever heard the song “Sixteen Tons”?

   Here’s a few lines:

   I loaded sixteen tons, I tried to get ahead,
   Got deeper and deeper in debt instead.
   Well they got what I made, and they wanted some more,
   And now I owe my soul at the company store.

   In Japan, they’re called “SalaryMen”.

   Here? We’re “wageslaves”.

   I’m tired of carrying the world on my back. Aren’t you?

   You pay for the people in power. You pay for the cops who oppress you. You pay for the laws that enslave you. You pay for those who break the law. You pay for the education, nutrition, and medical care of illegals and their children. You pay to support people in foreign lands who hate you.

   I’m fucking mad as hell! There ain’t enough rope in this world for everyone who needs to have their neck stretched.

4. oft Says:
   July 20th, 2008 at 2:46 pm

   In the late 60’s and early 70’s we were told in school that as a result of industrialization and improved technology and higher productivity, in the future decades we would need only work 2-3 days per week and have a higher standard of living (SOL).

   This was not compatable with globalization, where the worlds SOL would need to be compatable and the US would need a lower SOL to bring us down to the devoloping worlds level. So the TLC proceeded to trash our economy, and export manufacturing jobs abroad. Brzezinski’s book in 1970 predicted a lower SOL and the end of the USD as the worlds reserve currency.

   The Europeans found in the early 19th century there was no need for slavery when you had central banking like the BOE which could turn governments and humans into debt slaves. The actual slave trade required you to use capital to purchase men, feed them, clothe them, house them, breed them, take care of the unproductive kids, etc. With debt slaves, if they work, they eat and pay off the debt. If they don’t work due to illness or unemployment, they starve, and lose their assets to the bank which had backed up the loans they can no longer pay back. A good deal for the bankers who get tangible assets in return for money they created out of thin air in which to make loans that can not be paid back.

   The system works, for the bankers.

5. chris diminie Says:
   July 20th, 2008 at 10:41 pm

   Christar;
   If I remember right Henry David Thoreau maintained himself with 13 hours a week of labor at Walden Pond.

6. Paulson is an idiot Says:
   July 21st, 2008 at 2:49 am

   You know what’s funny Catman? Tennessee Ford created that song based upon the most exploitative coal mine in Tennessee. You know who owned that coal mine?

   Fat Albert (Al Gore) and his father. The same man who wants to stunt world development in order to lower population.

   What’s another great way to lower population? You guessed it…

   Destroy the economy.

   All this bullsh*t goes hand-in-hand. And yes, Fat Albert is very good friends with the elites of Europe, such as Prince Phillip.

7. Paulson is an idiot Says:
   July 21st, 2008 at 2:49 am

   You know what’s funny Catman? Tennessee Ford created that song based upon the most exploitative coal mine in Tennessee. You know who owned that coal mine?

   Fat Albert (Al Gore) and his father. The same man who wants to stunt world development in order to lower population.

   What’s another great way to lower population? You guessed it…

   Destroy the economy.

   All this bullshit goes hand-in-hand. And yes, Fat Albert is very good friends with the elites of Europe, such as Prince Phillip.