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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SouthFloridaGuy who wrote (1627)	2/19/2002 2:28:13 PM
From: patron_anejo_por_favor	Respond to of 306849

Ladies and Gentlemen...a brand new Olympic and World Record! (Do we get to hear the Star-Spangled Banner again?<G>) quote.bloomberg.com 02/19 12:29 Consumer Bankruptcies Set Record, 2001 Business Filings Up 13% By Bob Gravely Washington, Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- A record 1.45 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy protection in 2001 and business filings jumped 13 percent last year, according to data released today by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. The number of personal bankruptcies last year breaks the previous high mark of 1.4 million in 1998 and represents a 19 percent jump over the previous year. Rising unemployment is the main factor in the rise, with middle-income Americans carrying record debt levels and creditors showing a greater willingness to lend to people with tarnished credit histories, analysts said. ``They'll set a new record next year,'' said Kenneth Posner, an analyst at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. Business filings increased 13 percent in 2001 over the previous year, headlined by the Enron Corp.'s filing in December, which is the largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history. The 40,099 business filings last year are the most since 1998, when there were 44,367 filings. Posner said he expects personal filings to increase this year by another 15 percent, a projection based on expectations that the unemployment rate will peak at 6.2 percent by the middle of the year. The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 5.8 percent at the end of December, a six-year high. Posner said he expects the number of personal bankruptcies in 2003 to remain steady or possibly decline. Total bankruptcy cases increased steadily to 1.4 million in 1998 from 284,517 in 1984. Filings decreased slightly in 1999 and 2000. Analysts including Posner blame the increase in business filings on the collapse of unprofitable Internet businesses and the slowing of the economy that followed an unprecedented decade of expansion.