Too often, practicing bankruptcy law feels pretty unrewarding. The money is poor, the clients often uncooperative, and the idiocy of the 2005 bankruptcy amendments overwhelming. Then there are lawyers on the other side who are mean spirited, less than honest, and indifferent about the ideals of the profession. But I just returned from the Sacramento […]
Counting on the consumer to do the wrong thing
I find a real irony in discussion of the economic stimulus package under consideration to give out money to consumers in the expectation that they will immediately spend it, to our general benefit. Prof. Elizabeth Warren started a discussion of the economy’s reliance on consumer spending. Commentators and economists consider a stimulus dollar that is […]
Chapter 13 trustee commission can skew the numbers
Peter Orville wrote about the impact of the Chapter 13 trustee’s commission The point he makes goes to the heart of the debate about whether car loans or current mortgage payments are paid by the Chapter 13 trustee or directly by the debtor. Here in California, with mortgage payments regularly in the $3,000-6,000 a month, […]
One Year of “Reform”
The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act became effective little more than a year ago. The net of our experiences thus far with the amended Bankruptcy Code is that bankruptcy relief remains widely available. What has been sacrificed is economy and predictability. Lawyers and judges struggling with applying the statutes amended by BAPCPA find […]
Plastic in the Life of our Society
In the flurry before the effective date of BAPCPA, the bankruptcy “deform” act, I encountered two articles on the role of credit cards in the economy of American familes. Borrowing to Make Ends Meet looks at the growth of credit card debt during the 90’s and concludes that the increase in housing and health care […]
Living in the Valley of the Shadow of Debt
Nearly 40% of California homeowners spend more than the target 30% of their income on housing; 15% spend more than 50%. Therein lies the start of financial instability. Liz Warren’s book on the Two Income Trap identified the quest for schools in better school districts as the reason that two income, middle class families were […]
