Consumer debt crunch and division by two

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

Doug wrote:
>When I did a piece on bankruptcy for The Nation about 5 years ago, I
>interviewed a guy who did the second-highest volume of personal bankruptcy
>filings of any lawyer in Manhattan after Jacoby & Myers. He said people
>came into his office crying, miserable, having suffered to service for
>months, even years. He said he gives them a little talk, that goes
>something like this: "They're taking advantage of you. They over-promote
>credit, tempt you into using it, then you get in trouble. They're making a
>ton of money anyway. Fuck 'em! File!" He said the relief once they
>understood this basic proposition was immediate & visible.
>
>To Michael's why not more bankruptcies, I gotta add, why not?

When enough debtors begin thinking like Doug & Michael and start saying
'fuck the rentiers!' politicos will start fretting and begin yammering
about the lack of personal responsibility and the evils of greedy lawyers.
They might think of bringing back debtors' prisons, in their moments of
Dickensian excess. At least they would try to make it more difficult to
file personal bankruptcy, wouldn't they?

Yoshie