Wednesday, October 15, 2003

Salon.com Technology | "Americans are not going broke over lattes!"

Salon.com Technology | "Americans are not going broke over lattes!": "Oct. 13, 2003 | Repossessed BMWs. Foreclosed McMansions. Pawned Rolexes.
Such is the stuff of personal bankruptcy when a go-go lifestyle built on consumer excess runs up against financial reality.

Or is it? Could it be that those tarnished icons of dead-end decadence are just as much an overhyped myth as the hordes of teenage day-traders back in 1999 who supposedly beat Wall Street's best brokers without ever leaving the comfort of their bedrooms?

The biggest predictor that a person will end up bankrupt turns out not to be a bad Prada habit or a taste for sub-zero refrigerators. It's having children, according to the mother-and-daughter authors of 'The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Mothers and Fathers are Going Broke.' "

Straight look at why more people have filed bankruptcy in this country than every in its history. A number of factors contribute to the growing practice, and there doesn't seem to be a main culprit, only a number of other factors.

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