The North Carolina Bankruptcy Information Blog

In this new “rough and tumble” economic era, 117,000 sounds like a lot.

$117,000 dollars. 117,000 shares of stock. 117,000 jobs?

Well, in all but one of those cases, you’d be right. In July, the American economy beat expectations by adding 117,000 new jobs to the current market and dropping the unemployment rate from 9.2 to 9.1%.

But what was truly great about this news of six-digit job growth was that it well eclipsed the paltry figures of positions added only one month earlier in June. Back then, economists had anticipated the June report would show about 120,000 private sector jobs added to the economy — barely enough to keep pace with population growth.…

Just when the financial experts said it was safe to call the economy “in recovery,” Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says many Americans will face hard times for a long time to come.

Geithner reemphasized in an episode of “Meet the Press” that we remain in the midst of a very tough economy in which, for a lot of people, “it’s going to feel very hard, harder than anything they’ve experienced in their lifetime now, for a long time to come.” He also revealed that he believed  President Barack Obama has rescued the United States from a second Great Depression and will continue the hard work of trying to strengthen the economy.  Unfortunately, Geithner also predicted that it would be some time before many people actually feel like the country is recovering.…

Local Businessman Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy (And You Can Too)

A North Carolina businessman recently filed sought the safe havens of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy after being hit with two civil complaints in the past year, based on a recent story by the Johnston County’s The Herald. According to the paper, “The Dueas filed for bankruptcy protection on April 29 – about two weeks after a Smithfield cardiologist sued Jody Duea. Dr. Frank Wefald, owner of Millenia Cardiovascular, leases office space in Neuse River Commons. According to the doctor’s civil complaint, Jody Duea managed Millenia’s finances and Wefald’s personal accounts as Wefald’s office manager from February 2009 to September 2010.…

According to last week’s Federal Reserve report, U.S. consumer credit rose by another $5.08 billion in May–a figure that suggested a willingness for millions to keep borrowing despite an exceptionally tight job market.

In a recap of these new figures by Reuters, the news agency said, “The May rise, coming after a revised $5.67 billion increase in April, handily topped forecasts by Wall Street economists for a $4 billion increase and marked the eighth straight month of growth in consumer credit. The total of all consumer credit outstanding in May was $2.432 trillion, up from a total of $2.427 trillion in April.…

It’s been two years since experts signaled the end of our recent Great Recession. But based on the most recent job report, it seems like only yesterday. In fact, according to last week’s surprisingly dismal government labor figures for June, a true recovery from the economic downturn of the late 2000s could be a long way off indeed.

A new article from The Huffington Post, in collaboration with Patch.com interprets the data, finding:

“Economists had anticipated the report would show about 120,000 private sector jobs added to the economy in June — barely enough to keep pace with population growth.…

It seems like only yesterday that being termed “one in a million” was a good thing.

But that was apparently before the economic crisis.

Today, there are over one million Americans (1.4 million to be exact) who have been out of work for 99 weeks or longer. Deemed as the “very long-term unemployed,” this overflowing group of unfortunate unemployed workers tends to skew more mature, with little discrimination between those with (or without) a college education.

In fact, according to an article by The Huffington Post, “The CRS report shows that very long-term unemployment is more likely to afflict older workers than younger ones.…

It’s no secret that a big reason for our country’s lingering financial malaise is the real estate market’s seemingly unending mortgage crisis—forcing many Americans out of house and home while also contributing to a bleak economic environment for home purchases, investment and spending.

But along with the knowledge that the mortgage servicing industry foreclosed on more than one million homes last year and is on track to do better in 2011, comes more bad news for the beleaguered economy: high unemployment is now further dragging down the housing market and subsequent prospects for our country’s economic recovery.

This news comes according to a new report from The Huffington Post.…

Summer is typically the time when gas prices jump, making seasonal vacations, travel and even the daily commute a bit more challenging as temps heat up. But political unrest in the Middle East fueling global insecurity about oil availability, means normally high gas prices could go even higher, leaving even less money for basic needs (and many families squeezed) during these hazy days of summer.

According to a new report from The Huffington Post, “For every $10 the typical household earns before taxes, almost a full dollar now goes toward gas, a 40 percent bigger bite than normal. Households spent an average of $369 on gas last month.…

Think high unemployment concerns have passed? Well, according to the Labor Department, these concerns are just as pressing as ever, with a paltry number of jobs added in May to keep up with the growing demand of an expanding labor force.

As Reuters is reporting, “Employment rose far less than expected in May to record its weakest reading since September, while the jobless rate rose to 9.1 percent as high energy prices and the effects of Japan’s earthquake bogged down the economy. Nonfarm payrolls increased 54,000 last month, the Labor Department said on Friday, with private employment rising 83,000, the least amount since June.…

Are You Prepared for an American Recession Turned Great Depression?

Just as many Americans had begun to believe the worst of the economic downturn had passed, some experts are saying that the nation’s reemerging job woes are signs of something more sinister afoot: a potential Great Depression.

So what could cause America’s Recession to turn into a Great Depression?

One commentator for The New Republic, Dean Baker, also co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, says our biggest problem is now ideological: more focus around the Beltway on cutting deficits rather than spurring the labor market and housing markets.…

Unrest in the Middle East has pushed gas prices sky high for the rest of us in recent months, with average American households, just beginning to recover from the recent economic recession, scrambling to fill their tanks with petrol pushing $3.60 (and higher) per gallon.

So, apart from adjusting tire pressure, turning off the AC and/or driving slower, you might be wondering how to reduce the financial pain you’re likely experiencing at the pump. Well, the obvious answer is to drive less; but with many people heading back to work or still searching, cutting back on travel is just not an option.…

Just released unemployment numbers in North Carolina are showing some promising signs of post-recessionary economic improvement. Unemployment officially dropped in 93 of 100 North Carolina counties from last month’s figures.The state’s adjusted unemployment rate is at 10.1%, with 36 counties at that level and the number of workers who found jobs in February up by16,500.

But another new report reveals that these new and improved numbers touting a rebounding labor market may be a bit premature: unemployment rates may be dropping, but not necessarily for the right reasons.

According to Bloomberg, “About half of the fall in the jobless rate during the last four months was caused by Americans who gave up looking for work and left the labor force — a development that he said isn’t something to welcome….…

Tens of thousands of jobless North Carolinians are wondering when the stalemate will end between a Republican-led state legislature and the Democratic governor—both wanting to pass a state budget, but with little to agree on other than that.

According to a new article from Arthur Delaney, entitled “North Carolina Unemployment Standoff Drags Endlessly,” a reporter who has been watching the now more-than-a month-long budget boondoggle play out in front of both local and national media outlets, the disagreements between the legislative and executive branches is unchanged this week despite attempts at concessions on both sides.

“North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue (D) does not like the latest attempt by Republicans in the General Assembly to link unemployment benefits and budget cuts, which is bad news for the tens of thousands of jobless North Carolinians who want their benefits back.…

@font-face { font-family: “Times”; }@font-face { font-family: “ＭＳ 明朝”; }@font-face { font-family: “Cambria Math”; }@font-face { font-family: “Georgia”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in It’s that time of year again: baseball season. The smell of freshly-cut grass, the crack of the bat, the seventh inning stretches to the sound of the organ and the smell of a hot dog.

It’s also time for another great bankruptcy metaphor.

A personal bankruptcy can be just like a baseball game. Bankruptcy is ultimately an adversarial process during which there are many players on the field competing to achieve a fair and balanced result.…

If you’re one of the hundreds of thousands of Americans working for state and local governments or other agencies, you may be one of the many wondering why so many so-called “financial experts” are saying the economic recovery is all around us. For you, it likely feels like the same old lingering economic malaise—especially as news emerges that your job may be on the chopping block in 2011, with even more cuts slated for 2012.

In fact, according to a new report from Reuters, times may get tougher on the state and local level before they get better as even larger government layoffs are expected next year.…

Arts and cultural organizations are not immune to the economic impacts of the recent Great Recession. Falling attendance and rising costs of real estate, overhead and administration marked the decline of many museums, galleries and theatrical venues in recent years.

This same scenario appeared to be problem for the Philadelphia Orchestra, long considered one of the best in the country. This month, the world-renowned group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection—an apparent first in recent history for a major American orchestra.

According to a report by The Huffington Post, “Board chairman Richard Worley said members made a nearly unanimous vote Saturday to file for reorganization in a federal bankruptcy court in Philadelphia after a “long meeting, thoughtful meeting, emotional meeting.…

For those of you who live in North Carolina, does this story sound familiar?

Charlotte’s John Allison, 37, told HuffPost the [political] stalemate [over jobless benefits] reminds him of a game of chicken, except “the person controlling the car’s not even in it.” “It’s a remote control game of chicken and I’m tied in the seat,” he said. Allison said he lost his job as a landscaping consultant in July 2009 and has been surviving thanks to $281 a week in unemployment insurance. The checks stopped after April 16, when the federal Extended Benefits program expired in the state. Lawmakers had failed to change an eligibility trigger that activates extended benefits only if the jobless rate has risen in the past two years.…

It’s that time of year again: baseball season. The smell of freshly-cut grass, the crack of the bat, the seventh inning stretches to the sound of the organ and the smell of a hot dog.

It’s also time for another great bankruptcy metaphor.

A personal bankruptcy can be just like a baseball game. Bankruptcy is ultimately an adversarial process during which there are many players on the field competing to achieve a fair and balanced result. In the process, it’s important to understand all you can about each one—including their individual roles—in order to feel confident that you can win the game.…

While the country’s overall unemployment rate sits at 8.8 percent, the rate among white Americans is at 7.9 percent. Yet, for a host of reasons ranging from disparate levels of education to outright discrimination, national joblessness is nearly double for African Americans—even during a tepid, but true, economic recovery.

As The Huffington Post points out, joblessness has remained so critically elevated in the decade leading up to the Great Recession, that African Americans like Charlotte, North Carolina’s own Wanda Nolan witnessed a bright future quickly dimmed by an unrelenting  economic downturn:

“From an entry-level job as a fill-in bank teller, she forged a career as a commercial banking assistant, earning enough to become a homeowner.…

After political unrest in the Middle East fueled global insecurity about oil availability, Americans shuttered (and sputtered) as gas prices rose above $3.70 per gallon. Now, experts are saying that we’re in for another “crude awakening” as the price of oil is poised to push $100 a barrel after a global economic rebound sent it surging 34 percent in the past year.  This surge could send fuel prices soaring to $4 a gallon by summer in some parts of the country.

These increases will mean airfare, shipping, and food costs (not to mention commuting) will all become more expensive endeavors in the coming months.…