Written by Summerville Bankruptcy Lawyer, Russell A. DeMott
One of the things I’ve noticed lately is that most of my clients have a strong sense of guilt and confusion about their financial problems. “How did I get here?” “Why is the economy so bad?” “How is it that I need to file bankruptcy?”
Several times a week I answer these questions. My answer is the same: “It’s not your fault.” To be sure, there are some clients who have made poor choices. I don’t need to tell them that. They know that before they come to my office for help. More often than not, however, they are just victims of this economic meltdown that’s been called the Great Recession.
I’ll discuss the morality of bankruptcy in future posts. For now, I wanted to post this PBS Frontline link to a program called, The G0-Go ’90s. It’s about unheeded warnings and love of financial deregulation. It’s about throwing out the lessons–and regulations–resulting from the the Great Depression. And it’s a lesson about how history repeats itself and how human nature remains the same.
Interestingly, while our “representatives” permitted our financial markets and banking system to be deregulated at record pace, Washington took aim at the American consumer by passing our pro-creditor bankruptcy law in 2005. The law passed after the credit card industry lathered politicians with millions of dollars of campaign contributions over an eight-year period. The theme of the lobbying effort was that consumers were to blame for rising bankruptcy rates and needed a lesson in responsibility. Any pro-consumer provisions were handily defeated. As a bumper sticker I saw said, “Invest wisely. Buy a Congressman.” That’s exactly what happened.
This progam is about an hour, but it’s worth spending time to watch it. I hope it will help you understand the “why” some of you have asked me about.