HAH - Top 10 States Bankruptcy Filings - Red

[RamboLiberal]

Red State Blues

Bankruptcy filing rank, by households per filing:

Utah 1
Tennessee 2
Georgia 3
Nevada 4
Indiana 5
Alabama 6
Arkansas 7
Ohio 8
Mississippi 9
Idaho 10

http://atrios.blogspot.com/

http://www.abiworld.org/statcharts/HouseRank.htm

[bkcc]

1. What the hell is going on in Utah??

That's what I want to know. I didn't realize Mormons were so bad with credit cards.

;)

[hector459]

10. They know how to work the system. Most right wing conservatives

know all about getting the most from the capitalist systems they support. Laws are written only for the underclasses to have to abide by them.

[rzemanfl]

11. I think they tithe and then can't pay their bills, or maybe its having

all those wives...

[KansDem]

35. Reminds me of that old joke...

"Last month someone stole my wife's credit card"
"Oh, no! Did you report it to the police?"
"No, the thief is charging less than she did"

(rimshot)

[madmark]

13. Large families are expensive to maintain.

They also have a very aggressive small business culture that takes substantial risks, perhaps some not as wise as others.

[billkurtmeyer]

15. Mormons paying their 10% to the church before dealing with the basics -

notice that Idaho is #10 - also a Mormon majority state - I hope that in the future when these RED staters go bankrupt they get a clue and thank the Repubs that they worship as being so moral!

[rzemanfl]

47. I actually did a bankruptcy for some people who tithed. I think

I covinced them they should tithe on their net, they were tithing on their gross.

[NVMojo]

34. alot of it is gaming the system so they can keep up with their lifestyles

of breeding and looking better than the Joneses at church. It has been high for years! Hypocrites, all of them.

[hughee99]

43. So the people

who file for bankruptcy are "gaming the system" and are all hypocrites. Meanwhile, they're passing laws to make it harder to declare bankruptcy, and we're against that too. Why, to protect the hypocrites?

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

2. Can't help but laugh at this factoid...reap what they sow, eh? nt

[HootieMcBoob]

3. Once again

why am I not surprised? :silly:

[whistle]

4. Jesus, no wonder Senator Orin Hatch of Utah sponsored this...

...bill. Why is Utah number one do you suppose? That households per filing threw me at first until I looked at the chart in the link. It reads:

Utah with 1 bankruptcy for every 36.5 households in the state, so that would be about 3%. Here is the chart of Households per filing and their ranking.

Households Per Filing, Rank
During the 12-Month Period Ending March 31, 2004
State Households per Filing Rank

Nationally 72.8
Alabama 47.2 6
Alaska 171.2 51
Arizona 70.6 23
Arkansas 48.4 7
California 89.8 32
Colorado 69.8 21
Connecticut 115.1 43
DC 124.0 45
Delaware 88.1 30
Florida 79.8 26
Georgia 42.4 3
Hawaii 126.8 47
Idaho 55.3 10
Illinois 59.1 12
Indiana 46.2 5
Iowa 97.0 37
Kansas 70.4 22
Kentucky 59.7 14
Louisiana 62.2 16
Maine 140.6 48
Maryland 65.8 18
Massachusetts 144.3 49
Michigan 68.0 19
Minnesota 105.4 40
Mississippi 54.8 9
Missouri 65.2 17
Montana 94.2 36
Nebraska 84.8 29
Nevada 42.9 4
New Hampshire 122.3 44
New Jersey 78.5 25
New Mexico 83.6 27
New York 97.2 38
North Carolina 93.9 35
North Dakota 125.8 46
Ohio 53.4 8
Oklahoma 55.8 11
Oregon 59.1 13
Pennsylvania 89.2 31
Rhode Island 99.0 39
South Carolina 111.9 42
South Dakota 111.5 41
Tennessee 38.7 2
Texas 90.9 33
Utah 36.5 1
Vermont 156.2 50
Virginia 68.6 20
Washington 61.9 15
West Virginia 75.0 24
Wisconsin 84.1 28
Wyoming 93.2 34
American Bankruptcy Institute
Statistics based on data from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (2003 bankruptcies) and the U.S. Bureau of the Census (most recent household figures from 2001)

<snip>

Actual numbers of U.S. bankruptcies:

Year Total Non-Business Business
2003 1,611,268 1,573,720 37,548
2002 1,504,806 1,464,961 39,845
2001 1,307,857 1,271,865 35,992
2000 1,301,205 1,263,096 38,109
1999 1,419,199 1,378,071 41,128

<link> http://www.bankruptcylawfirms.com/National-Regional-Statistics-Bankruptcy.cfm

[Oreo]

36. Why does it not suprise me

That personal bankruptcies have skyrocketed under Bush while business ones have gone down.

[whistle]

51. I'm not at all surprised.....

[NewYorkerfromMass]

38. as a region, New England leads the pack for fiscal responsibility

Vermont, Massachusetts, and Maine 2, 3, and 4 after Alaska.
Even poor New Hampshire is in good standing at about 6th overall.

[MADem]

44. Yeah, it would seem that the pinko commies

...in the People's Republics of New England actually PAY THEIR BILLS and don't live beyond their means! Such a concept!

[Vinca]

5. Well, boo hoo and I hope your kids are drafted, too.

That's a lie. I don't want anyone's kid drafted.

[RamboLiberal]

6. I do - I want Bush Voters and Bush Voters kids drafted

Let them live with their damn "4 More Years" of hell.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

8. Hey, Mister Compassion...who do you think is filing for bankruptcy....

...in those states...Democrats or Republicans?

Think about it...and then think about your moronic posts on this subject.

[RamboLiberal]

Well gee whiz - since more Red states are filing

I'd bet there are more Republicans filing. Besides I think Democrats are smarter.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

19. Bullshit. The people filing are people that have been pushed over the....

...edge since the 2000 selection and the collapse of the economic boom created during the Clinton years. These are people that have lost their mom-and-pop businesses, or been laid-off from corporations that have sacrificed workers in exchange for greater profits, or have had medical bills they can no longer pay, and/or no longer have health care, and/or have had their homes foreclosed out from under them.

At least 40% of every one of those so-called GOP states consist of people that either voted Democratic or are sympathetic with Democratic Party causes. Their income levels are well below the average income levels of all of those people that vote Republican every year.

You want another Great Depression? Be careful what you wish for...when my 84 year old Dad talks about those days coming again, he gets a very frightened look on his face. And this is a guy that survived combat in WWII, and pancreatic cancer in 1996.

[rzemanfl]

17. Unfortunately nowhere on the bankruptcy schedules does it

ask political preference.

[IronLionZion]

42. I want just the Bush voters, not their kids

a lot of Bush voters have liberal kids. What's the saying? If you're not liberal when you're young, you have no heart. If you're not conservative when you're old, you have no head?

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

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[Media_Lies_Daily]

12. And you really think all of the folks going bankrupt in those states....

...are rightwingers?

Incredible.

[RamboLiberal]

14. No I don't - if you don't like the topic why don't you just leave

it alone. I'll gloat cause a lot of koolaid drinkers are going to reap what they sow. It's just too damn bad they take down good people with them.

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[sandnsea]

24. Change your state

I'm sorry, I don't feel sorry for those in these right wing states who keep voting for economic policies that keep them in poverty. And want to spread this insanity to the rest of the country??? No thank you. Southerners apparently don't want northerners to come down there and tell them how to do things. Fine. That means it's up to southern state Dems I guess. Hard to say how bad things will have to get before working people wake the hell up.

I don't enjoy anybody's misery, but I'm tired of being told I'm stealing people's money and then expected to feel sorry for those same people when their own economic policies smack them in the face. It's called enabling. Blue states keep enabling red states by giving them our federal dollars, and red states keep voting for policies that puts them in a position to need those dollars.

I'm sick of it. Time for blue states to just say no.

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

27. Totally agree...

And while we support them financially, we get a lecture on how immoral we are.

"Just say no."...I like it.

[Rockholm]

32. Couldn't Agree More!

I am so sick and tired of Massachusetts not getting our fair share from the government. We so called blue states have been carrying the burden of the red states. (Actually, it is urban vs. rural, but that is a whole different conversation).
And now, the reds are attemting to take more and more from the blues. I say ENOUGH!

[rzemanfl]

48. But look what Alabama's legislature did to Bush tonight. Just

when we think we have them figured out...

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

26. This statistic is living proof that people get the government they deserve

[donheld]

29. Nobody was gloating just pointing out a fact

I think it's an interesting point too. It may not be that those going bankrupt are right wingers, but it could be that conditions in those states tend to make people more prone to bankruptcy.

[katinmn]

16. They've sure got GREAT representation is DC!

How many that will be affected even know about this bill? And I mean across the whole country.

Despite daily articles and editorials I bet half the country or more doesn't know this is being debated.

[RamboLiberal]

23. That's the problem - too many are too damned busy

following the Michael Jackson trial, etc. They don't pay attention to what the fools in DC are doing.

If Democrats don't use this in '06 they're fools.

And I wish any Dems who vote for this bill face a strong Democratic candidate in the primaries.

[katinmn]

25. absolutely no more corporate Dems!

Will we have enough progressive candidates running in each state?

I hate to compromise again.

[Jesus Saves]

18. If there was ever an issue to reach out to red states on this is it

I know this bill isn't popular, anywhere, It's unecessary and unfair. It's pathetic.

You can bring in faith, and religion too in opposing this bill.

Further, bankruptcy protection is written into the Constitution.

There are so many angles to this issues, so many ways this bill is wrong, wrong, wrong....

[Media_Lies_Daily]

21. The exact second that Herr Busch became our Fearless Leader was....

...the exact second that the US Constitution became completely useless.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of Americans don't have a clue what happened that day in December 2000 when the Supreme Court selected Herr Busch to be the winner of the 2000 election.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

22. Thanks for posting this...

From a purely political standpoint, I wonder if having this bill pass wouldn't help us in the long run. Ninety percent of people who file bankruptcy do so because of 1) Divorce, 2) Job Loss, or 3) Medical Bills.

Red-Staters (and I'm talking the Blue Collar rural voters, here) are just as prone to illness as anybody else (and more prone to being uninsured); they're more prone to divorce and more vulnerable to job loss through outsourcing. Could it be that three years from now they'll be screaming like stuck pigs, and the Democrats will be able to say that we were looking out for you back then?

[VOX]

28. According to the author of "What's the Matter With Kansas," this won't...

help Democrats at all. Thomas Frank (the author, and once a conservative himself), using his home state of Kansas as a prime example, has seen jobs and farms disappear, and more people declaring BK every day, but when it comes to voting, Kansans keep lurching farther rightward, completely against their own economic interests.

Frank contends that it all turns on social issues, and that * -voters feel righteous about being "anti-coastal" -- the places that are perceived by the "common folk" as dictating their cultural universe.

If nothing else, it's an interesting theory, and perhaps not without merit.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

30. What it will take...

Is somebody from "Kansas" or another Red State to drive the message home. Frankly, John Kerry could have been giving out free $20 bills to folks in Topeka and they still would have hated his guts. He's an eastern liberal and it doesn't matter at all what he's saying, they're against it.

We need people like Harkin and Vilsak in Iowa, and Kathleen Sibelius in Kansas to make this point over and over again. Better yet, we need some churches in the Red States to close their doors because their parishioners can no longer financially support them.

[VOX]

45. Agree with you 100%

The transformation of the Red States must begin from within.
:thumbsup:

[PassingFair]

53. Er, well, 25 democrats, anyway....

:eyes:

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

54. Names have been taken...

and we're not going to forget.

[ComerPerro]

31. Fuck 'em.

[demwing]

50. WHY?

[fujiyama]

33. LOL

This is so sad.

It's the kind of thing that makes you laugh hysterically.

I am convinced that the people in those states are brain dead masochists.

Gee, I have no health care and no income, and I'll be heavilly in debt for the rest of my life...

But hey atleast the gay can't marry!

[spooky3]

37. According to the recent Harvard study, illness accounts

for a big proportion of bankruptcies. You get sick, you then can't work, and then your employer-subsidized insurance disappears because you aren't working and can't afford to maintain the COBRA payments when you can't work.

I wonder if in many red states there is less of a state or locality-provided safety net, or whether the "self-sufficient" people there are less likely to have health insurance in the first place.

[Stephanie]

39. Ohio's NOT Red

So #8 doesn't count.

[VOX]

46. Hard-fought, but went for * in 2000 and 2004 (has to be close to steal)

So, technically, Ohio is Red. Regrettably. :(

[mdguss]

40. Shows that Democrats have forgot how to speak to the working class:

Several states on that list that should be blue...

[LeftyMom]

41. And those are all low cost of living states

Imagine what the same people's rates would be if they lived in a place where a starter house costs 250K. :eyes:

[demwing]

49. It rare that I am upset by what I read on DU

But what I've read in this thread about Utah (I'm a NON-LDS resident of Utah) is sad stuff.

Thanks, though. You are solidifying my feelings that hate is ugly, and has no place in the Democratic party.

I used to think that maybe it was ok to hate Republicans a little.
I was wrong. It isn't ok.

You can disagree with some people, you can even want them jailed, or in some cases recognize that their death would be a benefit to society, but to hate is wrong.

Making blanket accusations about people because of their religious affiliation is wrong.

Inferring that people affiliated with a group (except for those rare groups that support criminal activity) are all alike, or are all bad people, is highly intolerant.

Mindless intolerence has no place in the Democratic party.

[Polemicist]

52. I've attended many hundreds of Bankruptcy hearings...

and although bankruptcy laws are federal laws and the hearings are in federal court, state laws in large measure determine the number of bankruptcy filers in each state.

I spent a number of years as a lender in Tennessee, Georgia, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. I know for a fact, that the reason Tennessee is so high on the bankruptcy list, is because of very strong garnishment laws in that state. It's relatively easy to attach a creditors paycheck after getting a judgment for a defaulted debt in Tennessee. Just as soon as a debtor gets a garnishment notice, they go to a bankruptcy attorney and seek protection. So actually what happens, is overzealous collection efforts by creditors drive the debtors to seek the protection of the court.

In South Carolina, lending is deregulated. There are no maximum interest rates that can be charged, but the collection laws are among the weakest in the nation. You can't garnish wages except for child support or federal tax liens (the feds exempt themselves from all state laws). So bankruptcy rates are a fraction of the number in Tennessee per capita.

The problem in bankruptcy lie with lender excesses, bad credit decisions by lenders, excessively oppressive collection efforts, and harassment by creditors. I have seen thousand of cases where one over reaching creditor has singlehandedly driven a debtor that was attempting to pay their defaulted debts into bankruptcy, by attempting successfully to attach their wages.

What in this bankruptcy bill is going to fix that problem?

The way for activists to mitigate the impact of these bankruptcy laws in each of their individual states, is to work with the state legislatures to weaken collection laws in your state. Then fewer people will have reason to seek bankruptcy protection. Consumer protection agencies and consumer advocates can be your allies in such an effort.