Patterico's Pontifications

9/22/2009

Bankruptcies on the Rise

Filed under: Government — DRJ @ 8:35 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

After reading a Denver Post article about a dramatic increase in recent and impending dairy farm bankruptcies as well as reports on a political skirmish in the Texas governor’s race over Rick Perry’s recession comments, I thought it might be interesting to compare past and current U.S. bankruptcy statistics.

For the 12-month period ending March 31, 2009, business bankruptcies increased 69% from the same period ending March 2008 and non-business filings were up 33%. Similarly, for the 12-month period ending June 30, 2009, increases continued for all types of bankruptcies. Monthly bankruptcy filings have also increased, especially since February 2009.

Maybe my internet skills are lacking but I had to hunt for this data. The federal court website that historically publishes bankruptcy statistics says “[q]uarterly and 12-month statistics are available approximately 2 months after the close of a quarter.” In the past, I’ve been able to find recent statistics at that website but the most recent data there now is for the period ending December 2008. I wonder why.

— DRJ

18 Responses to “Bankruptcies on the Rise”

  1. Maybe you can’t find the stats because the current administration is trying desperately – and unsuccessfully – to hide the facts that show how badly they have screwed up.

    /I’m just sayin’

    Rusty Bill (b1bb16)

  2. Remember how the CIA had to create its own (usually incorrect) figures for the USSR economy ? The five year plans were always met and Russians knew enough not to buy a car that was made on Friday or on the last few days of the month. It’s just a transition phase. I do appreciate the effort they are making to make me feel better about my age. I feel for my kids, though.

    Mike K (addb13)

  3. this can’t be true: i keep reading and hearing all the stories on how the economy is improving and the next bull market has already started….

    redc1c4 (fb8750)

  4. Rick Perry has done ok. I loved his highway plan, actually. It was the future.

    Kay Bailey is old and stale and never distinguished herself in the Senate. She doesn’t bring anything to the table and the risk that she might have one of her episodes will always be worrisome.

    These times call for the devil you know.

    oh. I’ve watched a lot of businesses go buh bye in my little zone here and so far the only new stuff is a vegan lunch place and a vegan ice cream store. Gack. Also a new little Mediterranean place I haven’t tried. It’s supposed to have a very nice patio. Oh. Also someone is opening up one of those lawyer places where they fight your tickets and it has a big sign with big letters so you can read it from the freeway. It’s going where Steel Casey was. I so bad wanted their stuff cause it’s very cool but they got all anti-war and anti-Bush with propaganda and displays and such so when I could afford the furniture I said no you dirty socialist hippies you no get my monies. And they didn’t.

    happyfeet (6b707a)

  5. hf,

    I don’t know anything about Steel Casey but I like Perry more than Hutchison, and I don’t think his recession comments were as objectionable as the Hutchison campaign wants Texans to think. His point was that Texas hasn’t been hit as hard by the recession as other states and the bankruptcy statistics bear that out. Texas is 50th out of 51 in bankruptcies for the 12-month period ending 6/30/09. Naturally, Washington D.C. is #51.

    DRJ (b008f8)

  6. Also, I can’t imagine what vegan ice cream tastes like and I hope I never find out.

    DRJ (b008f8)

  7. I agree about “the recession comments” being inoffensive. She needs to not look so desperate this far out.

    happyfeet (6b707a)

  8. “I can’t imagine what vegan ice cream tastes like and I hope I never find out.”

    DRJ – I hear it’s supposed to be better than vegan bacon, but neither are high on my list.

    daleyrocks (718861)

  9. There is only one food I could live without and you already know what that is.

    DRJ (b008f8)

  10. happyfeet, you and I must be the only 2 folks out there who didn’t mind the idea of the Trans-Texas Corridor. I-35 just ain’t up to the task, and Texas should have used its advantage to prepare for the future. It wasn’t perfect. So what?

    I don’t want to change from one goofy but obviously competent governor for some sage and prickly senator. I understand she is not easy to work with due to an aggressive nature under pressure. Texas needs leaders who can relax and take flack while shaking hands with democrats. Like W.

    He looks like Mitt Romney and John Edwards while Kay looks like that actress who plays a politician in Walker Texas Ranger (note: this was a funny joke). Kay’s a longhorn and Rick’s an Aggie. In all other ways, such as leadership skill, policies, and grasp of what Texas is (which includes awesome place to do business compared to the rest of the USA these days), Rick’s better. I’d rather have the governor who looks stupid than one who is.

    Rick’s done a good job for a long time. Texas has plenty of state money while other states similar to ours are deeply in debt. We have crises than are run well. I recall the Houston evacuation with pride.

    Kay makes it sound like we need to be really careful, so it’s not a good time to make a change from a tested leader. Good point!

    Dustin F (0bdb72)

  11. Big fan of privatized road projects. Perry was right on with the TTC. Texas is also the best state in terms of foreclosures. Perry’s comments were taken out of context from a chamber of commerce event. Chamber events are always times to brag and boast and even exaggerate a little bit.

    Ethical Mouse (be4188)

  12. I would ask those who seem to be in favor of the TTC, have you ever been to one of TxDOTs meetings with the locals whose land would be taken? Or do you have the opinion that it’s not your land being taken, so what the hell, build it? Does it bother you that also included in the TTC plan is to make a major portion of our already existing state highways into toll roads, including Hwy. 71, a major highway from Columbus to Austin that thousands use everyday to get to work in Austin?

    So while I agree that Perry has done a good job in almost every other arena, the TTC will go down as Perry’s Folly.

    KBH is untrustworty. If there is a major bill coming up for vote, and she thinks Texans will be against it and she plans on voting for it, just try getting through her phone lines. They just ring. Yet, at no time have I ever had trouble getting through to Cornyn’s office.

    KBH can say what she wants; but time after time she has proven [with her votes] that she is big government. At least Perry understands the 9th and 10th Amendments of our U.S. Constitution, even if KBH doesn’t.

    So this fall I start my journey to accomplish two things: get Rick Perry reelected and Lloyd Doggett defeated.

    retire05 (2c004a)

  13. Maybe you can’t find the stats because the current administration is trying desperately – and unsuccessfully – to hide the facts that show how badly they have screwed up. -Rusty Bill

    Each day’s reading from multiple sources allows me to sort through a variety of “insider” anecdotal reports, under reported or unreported industry stories that are well known by those who need to know weeks and months before the public catches up, and the ever popular unabashed rumor mongering. But every so often there is that one nugget that makes the effort pay off. Here’s one plucked from the under reported column for your perusal that provides a counterpoint to the green shoots cheerleaders in the housing sector:

    From the Daily Pfennig today…

    “…I read some real disheartening news last night regarding foreclosures in the U.S. It seems that they are really backlogged… As of July, mortgage companies had not begun the foreclosure process on 1.2 million loans, according to LPS Applied Analytics. Also, 1.5 million seriously delinquent loans were still caught up in the foreclosure process… Hmmm… You don’t think the processing of these foreclosures are being held back by someone do you? I mean, what better way to get people “feeling good again” than to not have them hear “bad news”…”

    political agnostic (e74335)

  14. Can’t find recent, unfiltered data?

    Rather like France telling us they’re just 10% muslim, it’s alright to fib, fudge or spin if the end(confidence in government) is good.

    I doubt we’ll see 2009 data ’til Q4 2011.

    gary gulrud (06aaa3)

  15. Captain Capitalism was doing a data dive the other day against an OECD database and said the same thing as your 3rd paragraph about accessing data. And some months ago when I did a dive on some California data I also found the same thing.

    I wonder if the folks that own these sites don’t need to spend some time with retailers to learn their thinking on how their customers can get what they want quickly. Or maybe they don’t care.

    EBJ (2fd7f7)

  16. from the inside, I can tell you that the stats are updated WEEKLY, and they don’t look good. For instance, weekly filings in one (LARGE) CA district for the week ending 7/24 were 2,202, up 4.8% from the prior week and up 58% for the same period in 2008.

    bartbreit (8e9b7c)

  17. Transparency from the central district of CA…

    http://156.131.26.114/cacb/Welcome.nsf/homepageinternal?openframeset

    Check out the chapter 11 stats for June – up 127 percent from 2008, and that’s just Los Angeles (not Riverside, Santa Ana, etc.)! But, it’s not showing for August and September – probably just b/c it takes time to compile all the data, not sure why there’s a slight delay there.

    Here’s the district-wide stats:

    http://156.131.26.114/cacb/Welcome.nsf/homepageinternal?openframeset

    Must be a typo for March 2009 – says ch. 11 filings were up about 523% from 2008, I just don’t see how that can be accurate when the total filings are only 193.

    bartbreit (8e9b7c)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.0712 secs.