Christmas Credit Can Lead to Bankruptcy in the New Year

Season’s greetings and all that other corporate malarkey, at least it is until the bills start rolling in during the New Year. It’s become commonplace to see most Americans overspending during the Christmas season and this year was no different. It’s hard not to when we get bombarded with television, newspaper and radio commercials for sharing the unbelievable deals that are not available at any other time of the year. Corporate America does a good job enticing Americans to buy stuff they cannot afford. If it wasn’t for credit cards, they would have no game to play. A majority of Americans these days are broke or close to it. If all their creditors had to be paid today, just about everyone would be filing bankruptcy.

Ever since the economic downturn in 2007, the US has not seen any kind of recovery that the mainstream media keeps reporting. The numbers just don’t add up. The Fed continues to print $85 billion a month with quantitative easing to hold the interest rates for corporate America down at 0%. Main St., America is not benefiting from any of these Fed policies, only the big banks and financial institutions. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting ready to file bankruptcy. There has become a greater divide between rich and poor with the middle class almost completely evaporating into thin air. Jobs are leaving and not coming back. The real estate market has recently seen a boost, but when you look at the true numbers with first-time buyers and people financing their homes you will see most of the homes sold were to investors and cash buyers.

A recent study came out saying that every American is three weeks away from filing bankruptcy. How they came up with this statistic is looking at the average debt ratios and cost of living. The average American has $16,000 in credit card debt and only makes $35,000 a year. Just add in their living expenses and this person is three weeks away from filing bankruptcy. It’s sad, but it makes sense. What happened to the old days when it was more about the thought than the cost of a gift. People used to spend time searching for the perfect gift that is within their budget that would make their family member excited on Christmas morning. Now it’s about cubic dollars, if it doesn’t cost a lot it can’t be good, at least that’s what corporate America wants you to believe. And that’s why many Americans will once again be calling a bankruptcy attorney as their New Year’s resolution. I believe that people in this situation should not feel bad about filing bankruptcy. In today’s media driven world, it’s almost impossible to not get caught up in the buy now pay for it later lifestyle. There is culpability for these creditors also. I’m not saying that people shouldn’t pay their bills, but they are not solely responsible for the debt situation they’ve gotten themselves into. As the government continues to crack down on legislation that benefits the big banks and corporations, people need to take advantage of our bankruptcy laws before they’re no longer available to them.