Bankruptcy

by Kim Krisberg In the United States, getting better often comes with an unfortunate and devastating side effect: financial bankruptcy. In fact, a 2009 study in five states found that between 2001 and 2007, medical-related bankruptcies rose by nearly 50 percent. And for those diagnosed with cancer, the risk is even worse. As if a cancer diagnosis wasn't scary enough, a group of researchers recently calculated that cancer patients are more than two-and-a-half times more likely to go bankrupt than people without cancer. And younger cancer patients faced bankruptcy rates of two to five times…
G.M. to Seek Bankruptcy and a New Start: It also places the government in uncharted territory as a business owner, as it takes a 60 percent ownership stake in the company during its restructuring. The commanding heights are back. We're socializing the means of production. Meanwhile, California is going back to the 19th century: Nearly all of the billions of dollars in cuts the administration has proposed would affect programs for poor Californians, although prisons and schools would take hits, as well. There wasn't even a mention of bankruptcy, but many American states did go into default in…
BusinessWeek, The Tough Road Ahead for GM and Chrysler: The upshot is that some 30 significant players worldwide are fighting over a pie that has shrunk by more than 30% in the past 12 months. The industry can make about 90 million cars worldwide, but it's selling only about 55 million. Not exactly a forgiving environment for a pair of wounded car companies. That, partly, is why Chrysler's rescue has struck some as misguided. Speaking of the government's decision to save the weakest and smallest Detroit player, industry consultant Michael Robinet says: "We needed to take a patsy out, and we…
Most people have probably read Edmund Andrews' piece in The New York Times, My Personal Credit Crisis (expanded into the book Busted: Life Inside the Great Mortgage Meltdown). Many raised eyebrows when reading this: We had very different ideas about money. Patty spent little on herself, but she refused to scrimp on top-quality produce, Starbucks coffee, bottled juices, fresh cheeses and clothing for the children and for me. She regularly bought me new shirts and ties to replace the frayed and drab ones in my closet. She thought it wasn't worth agonizing over nickels and dimes. I was almost…