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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>And if her health deterioriated and her finances
diminished after the birth of those 5 children, which ones should she
kill?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Sue Hovey. </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=donovanjarnold2005@yahoo.com
href="mailto:donovanjarnold2005@yahoo.com">Donovan Arnold</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">Vision 2020</A> ; <A title=deco@moscow.com
href="mailto:deco@moscow.com">Art Deco</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, November 17, 2008 2:15
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Vision2020] Downturn Drags
More Consumers Into Bankruptcy</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
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<DIV>"Lisa Marquis, a 35-year-old mother of five in Indiana, has no
medical insurance but has undergone 21 operations in the last nine
years, some related to emphysema and other respiratory diseases, and
others related to accidents and several miscarriages."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Geesh, 5 children? Obviously she and her husband had the wrong type
of surgery. A person should be required to not have any more children
after they go on government assistance. </DIV>
<DIV>Why should we have to give up our hard earned money for
this constant breeding by couples that cannot afford the
children they have. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Best Regards,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Donovan</DIV><BR><BR>--- On <B>Mon, 11/17/08, Art Deco
<I><deco@moscow.com></I></B> wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(16,16,255) 2px solid">From:
Art Deco <deco@moscow.com><BR>Subject: [Vision2020] Downturn
Drags More Consumers Into Bankruptcy<BR>To: "Vision 2020"
<vision2020@moscow.com><BR>Date: Monday, November 17, 2008, 9:29
AM<BR><BR>
<DIV id=yiv897638797>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>From: <EM>The New York Times</EM>
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<DIV class=timestamp>November 16, 2008</DIV>
<DIV class=kicker></DIV>
<H1>Downturn Drags More Consumers Into Bankruptcy </H1>
<DIV class=byline>By <A title="More Articles by Tara Siegel Bernard"
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/tara_siegel_bernard/index.html?inline=nyt-per"
target=_blank rel=nofollow>TARA SIEGEL BERNARD</A> and <A
title="More Articles by Jenny Anderson"
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/jenny_anderson/index.html?inline=nyt-per"
target=_blank rel=nofollow>JENNY ANDERSON</A></DIV>
<DIV id=articleBody>
<DIV>The economy’s deep troubles are pushing a growing number of
already struggling consumers into bankruptcy, often with far more debt
than those who filed in previous downturns. </DIV>
<DIV>Plummeting home values, dwindling incomes and the near
disappearance of credit have proved a potent mixture. While all the
usual reasons that distressed borrowers seek bankruptcy — job loss,
medical bills, divorce — play significant roles, new economic forces
are changing the calculus of who can ride out the tough times and who
cannot. </DIV>
<DIV>The number of <A title="More articles about personal bankruptcy."
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/b/bankruptcies/personal_bankruptcies/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier"
target=_blank rel=nofollow>personal bankruptcy</A> filings jumped
nearly 8 percent in October from September, after marching steadily
upward for the last two years, said Mike Bickford, president of
Automated Access to Court Electronic Records, a bankruptcy data and
management company. </DIV>
<DIV>Filings totaled 108,595, surpassing 100,000 for the first time
since a law that made it more difficult — and often twice as expensive
— to file for bankruptcy took effect in 2005. That translated to an
average of 4,936 bankruptcies filed each business day last month, up
nearly 34 percent from October 2007.</DIV>
<DIV>Robert M. Lawless, a professor at the <A
title="More articles about University of Illinois"
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/university_of_illinois/index.html?inline=nyt-org"
target=_blank rel=nofollow>University of Illinois</A> College of Law,
pointed to the tightening of credit by banks as a significant factor
in the increase in October. As banks have pulled back on lending, he
said, consumers have been finding it more difficult, and in many cases
impossible, to use credit cards, refinance their home mortgages or
fall back on their home equity lines to get them through a rough
period.</DIV>
<DIV>“A credit crunch can drive people into bankruptcy today rather
than later as sources of lending dry up,” Professor Lawless said.
“With the consumer credit tightening and the economy in a nosedive,
this pop could just be the beginning of a long-term rise in the
bankruptcy filing rate to levels that are even higher than we had
before the 2005 bankruptcy law.”</DIV>
<DIV>Not only are filings up, but recent filers have had much more
credit card debt, often run up in an attempt to keep current on a
mortgage that now exceeds the value of their home, bankruptcy lawyers
said in interviews.</DIV>
<DIV>A recent study found that the typical family who filed for
bankruptcy in 2007 was carrying about 21 percent more in secured
debts, like mortgages and car loans, and about 44 percent more in
unsecured debts, like credit cards and medical and utility bills, than
filers in 2001. </DIV>
<DIV>Their incomes, meanwhile, remained static over those six years,
according to the study, which used data from the 2007 Consumer
Bankruptcy Project, a joint effort of law professors, sociologists and
physicians. Researchers surveyed 2,500 households nationwide that
filed for bankruptcy in February and March 2007. </DIV>
<DIV>“Earlier downturns followed strong booms, so families went into
recessions with higher incomes and lower debt loads,” said Elizabeth
Warren, a professor at <A
title="More articles about Harvard University."
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/h/harvard_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org"
target=_blank rel=nofollow>Harvard</A> Law School and, along with
Professor Lawless, part of the Bankruptcy Project team. “But the
fundamentals are off for families even before we hit the recession
this time, so bankruptcy filings are likely to rise faster.”</DIV>
<DIV>Not surprisingly, filings are increasing most rapidly in states
where real estate values skyrocketed and then crashed, including
Nevada, California and Florida. In Nevada, bankruptcy filings in
October were up 70 percent compared with last year. In California,
bankruptcies jumped 80 percent in the same period, while Florida’s
filings rose 62 percent. </DIV>
<DIV>In those regions, some people are trying to rescue their homes
through bankruptcy proceedings, but many are just as relieved to walk
away, shedding layers of debt that otherwise would have taken decades
to pay off.</DIV>
<DIV>Tony and Carrie Forsyth, both 30, chose not to walk away from
their house in Florida. The couple said they thought their financial
situation would improve in 2006, when Mr. Forsyth accepted a promotion
from his employer, a Michigan food distributor, that required them to
move to Florida. But they could not sell their home in Ypsilanti,
Mich., so they decided to rent it out. </DIV>
<DIV>In June 2006, the couple headed south and bought a house for
$220,000 in Tamarac, Fla., with no money down. Five months later,
their tenants in Michigan stopped paying, and the family had to carry
two mortgage payments, just as the adjustable-rate mortgage on their
Michigan home reset to a higher interest rate. They lost the Michigan
home to foreclosure in February 2007. </DIV>
<DIV>By that time, however, the couple, who have two young daughters,
were using credit cards to pay for food, utilities and clothes. After
accumulating about $20,000 in debt, they said, they realized that
bankruptcy was the only way they could remain in their Florida home,
whose value, meanwhile, had plunged 25 percent. They filed for Chapter
13 bankruptcy protection this year, which permitted them to keep the
house, and they agreed to repay a portion of their debts over the next
three years. </DIV>
<DIV>A Chapter 7 bankruptcy, by contrast, provides filers with what is
known as a “fresh start” because debts are forgiven. In this case,
assets are liquidated, though the states allow for various exemptions.
To qualify for a Chapter 7, filers need to pass a means test to
determine whether they are unable to repay their debts. </DIV>
<DIV>Filers who are deemed able to repay a portion of their debts must
file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Some debtors choose Chapter 13 because
it permits them to save their primary homes from foreclosure, though
they are required to catch up on their mortgage payments.</DIV>
<DIV>Mr. Forsyth said declaring bankruptcy was a difficult step.
“Because of our Christian background, it didn’t feel right,” he said.
“But there was no other way for us to live and support our family
unless we went that route.” </DIV>
<DIV>Mrs. Forsyth added: “We are just rolling with life. You have to
eat. You have to have diapers.”</DIV>
<DIV>The Forsyths are emblematic of the new forces that have led to
the sharp rise in bankruptcy filings. “Historically, a person would
get behind in his mortgage because of a temporarily catastrophic
financial event, such as job loss, divorce, illness,” said Chip
Parker, a bankruptcy lawyer in Jacksonville, Fla. “However, when these
adjustable-rate mortgages started resetting from their teaser rate and
clients couldn’t refinance their way out of trouble, they were getting
behind even though there was no catastrophic event.”</DIV>
<DIV>Bankruptcy lawyers report that they have been having more
consultations with middle-class families with six-figure incomes —
including many who either bought a home during the boom or pulled out
most or all of their available home equity just keep to up with the
cost of living. Also caught up in the bankruptcies are real estate
investors, who hoped to flip properties they had bought near the
height of the market.</DIV>
<DIV>“There are a lot of foreclosures that haven’t taken place yet
because people still have available credit,” said Jeffrey H. Tromberg,
a bankruptcy lawyer in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “We don’t see them until
they’ve maxed out their credit cards.”</DIV>
<DIV>A similar pattern has emerged in Las Vegas, where more people are
filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection because it makes more
financial sense to walk away from their homes. Real estate values have
plummeted, and now the local economy is also suffering. Car salesmen
and casino dealers are being laid off. Valet parking attendants and
masseuses are collecting less in tips. </DIV>
<DIV>“My clients are basically good people that got into a home the
best way they could and can no longer meet their obligations because
their income has gone down,” said Roger P. Croteau, a lawyer in Las
Vegas who concentrates on bankruptcy. “There is no equity to pay off
their credit cards, and they are maxed out. They haven’t saved enough
because of housing costs.”</DIV>
<DIV>Ellen Stoebling, a bankruptcy lawyer in Las Vegas, added: “People
are using their cards to try and hold onto their property for as long
as possible in hopes they can somehow talk some sense into their
lender and stay in the property.” </DIV>
<DIV>The problems are not limited to people with adjustable-rate
mortgages and homes that are now worth less than they owe. Job losses
are also playing a role. Bankruptcies are also up sharply in Delaware,
Rhode Island and Indiana, where the unemployment rates have been
climbing. </DIV>
<DIV>And, of course, some people continue to seek bankruptcy for the
usual reasons. </DIV>
<DIV>Lisa Marquis, a 35-year-old mother of five in Indiana, has no
medical insurance but has undergone 21 operations in the last nine
years, some related to emphysema and other respiratory diseases, and
others related to accidents and several miscarriages.</DIV>
<DIV>Mrs. Marquis cannot work, but her husband earns $13.50 an hour as
a truck driver — a salary that makes them ineligible for <A
title="Recent and archival health news about Medicaid."
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/medicaid/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier"
target=_blank rel=nofollow>Medicaid</A> but unable to pay their
medical bills. Earlier this year, the family had to leave the mobile
home they owned because the mold there was making it hard for her to
breathe; they moved into a house where they paid more than $600 a
month in rent. Mr. Marquis was spending three days a week in court
fending off angry creditors, cutting down on the number of hours he
could work.</DIV>
<DIV>In April, facing more than $114,000 in medical bills and less
available overtime work, the Marquises filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy
— the third time in less than 10 years that Mrs. Marquis had to file
for protection because of medical bills. Because the latest filing is
a Chapter 13, they have agreed to pay some of their debts.</DIV>
<DIV>“We could have waited to do a 7,” Mrs. Marquis said. “I want to
pay my debts. I didn’t want to cheat people who helped to save my
life.” </DIV>
<DIV>Despite the rise in bankruptcies, academics and lawyers say they
believe that many others have been discouraged from filing because of
the 2005 bankruptcy law. </DIV>
<DIV>Ms. Warren, the Harvard law professor, said many borrowers had
been left with the mistaken impression that they could no longer file.
And, she argued, “the widespread perception that bankruptcy is not
available to help families makes this economic crisis
worse.”</DIV></DIV></FONT></DIV></DIV><PRE>=======================================================
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