debt and bankruptcy

[Doug Henwood]

Oh yes, on Angela's bankruptcy question. Corporate bankruptcies are another
matter. There's a lot less protection of debtor corp's than individual
debtors, though U.S. law is still more indulgent than most. With corp
bankruptcy, creditors and judges do decide how much blood is left in the
body and either liquidate (if the firm has bleak prospects) or reorganize
(wipe out some debt and hope they can make a fresh go of it). Creditors
sometimes complain that the corporate law is too debtor-friendly too,
though you hear a lot less about this now than in the 1980s, when corporate
debt levels & insolvency rates were much higher.

Doug