The auto industry may be on its way back, but Detroit is close to bankruptcy. But as the city's fate hangs in the balance, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing is recovering from major surgery, and is out of commission for at least several days. Joining us for more on Detroit is Craig Fahle, host of The Craig Fahle Show on WDET.
Jefferson County in Alabama filed for bankruptcy last November, with approximately four billion dollars in debt. Since November, creditors have argued that Alabama law prevents Jefferson County from filing for bankruptcy. Now, a federal judge has ruled that Jefferson County’s bankruptcy is legal, allowing officials to begin drawing up plans which will address the county’s debt.
On Wednesday, American Airlines declared that it would lay off 13,000 workers or 15 percent of its workforce. The company is attempting to emerge from bankruptcy, which it filed last November. Along with the layoffs, the company is seeking to cut employee pensions and some health benefits. AA CEO Tom Horton called the decisions "painful" but said in the end, the moves would preserve tens of thousands of jobs that would have otherwise been lost.
Most college students don’t find much time in between classes, studying, and planning their own futures to solve major problems in their local communities. But when Harrisburg, Pennsylvania found itself on the brink of bankruptcy, a college student saved the day. The 23-year-old John Campbell is also the city’s treasurer. He was elected to the post on January 3 and has a step-by-step plan to save the state capital from financial collapse.
A business and tech story that has the ring of the inevitable to it. A company that practically alone, created the modern global high-tech consumer culture has declared bankruptcy. Eastman Kodak, this morning a penny stock on the New York Stock exchange. The company that invented consumer photography, more than a century ago has filed for bankruptcy, taken out a credit lifeline, put it's portfolio of storied patents on the block, and started a clock which may tick down to the total end of an American technology story that is among other things emblematic of the digital age we live in.
What do Sony Pictures, A&W Restaurants, Saab, American Apparel, Sears, Kellogg's Corn Pops, MySpace, Soap Opera Digest, and Nokia have in common? They’re ten brands that 24/7 Wall St, a Delaware-based financial news group, says won’t survive through 2012. And it looks like some of those predictions might already be coming true — on Tuesday, Sears announced it will close more than 100 stores after lackluster holiday sales.
Jefferson County, Alabama filed the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history on Wednesday after the County Commissions found its billions of dollars in debts were unsustainable. The county, which includes Alabama's largest city, Birmingham, is $4.2 billion in debt, $3.1 billion of which is owed for a out of control sewer project. The bankruptcy has been looming for years. The Takeaway first reported on the story in March.
Forty-four states and Washington, D.C. anticipate budget shortfalls of over $125 million by the end of fiscal year 2011, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Many state policymakers are blaming their budget crises on public sector employees, citing expensive pension plans. Crushing state debt has caused some federal lawmakers to consider a legislative remedy: allowing states to file for bankruptcy. But will declaring bankruptcy really solve states' pension woes? How will unions react? What other remedies exist for debt-ridden states?
_small_image.jpg)
America saw 1.53 million personal bankruptcy filings in 2010: a five-year high. The last time bankruptcies happened so frequently was in 2004, when consumers were trying to preempt strict laws that would steer them away from the financial option last resort. Why is the 2005 law failing to slow the rate of bankruptcies?
Even though a law passed five years ago was supposed to curb them, personal bankruptcies were up 9 percent in 2010. They were highest in South Florida were filings were up a staggering 40 percent. We're taking a deeper look at this for tomorrow's show and we're asking you: What is the biggest source of your debt (even if you haven't declared bankruptcy)? Here's what you told us by text (sign up by sending the word START to 69866 from your mobile phone):
We come back to an ongoing conversation as regards debt and unemployment in America. Last week we spoke with Takeaway and WDET listener Christine Tobin, from southeast Michigan. She told us she believes she was turned down for a job because her credit check came back with a prior bankruptcy.
We reported yesterday on a lawsuit brought against test-prep giant Kaplan by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, who accused the company of discriminating against African-American job applicants by using credit histories in their hiring processes. As it turns out, Kaplan is hardly the only company to do so. According to Takeaway listener Christina Tobin, her bankruptcy filing report has overshadowed her new accounting degree in her job hunt.
One year ago today, General Motors filed for bankruptcy and became the fourth largest U.S. bankruptcy on record. President Obama vowed to turn GM around and make it a profitable company once again. We look at how GM has changed in the past year with the help of Rebecca Lindland, an auto analyst for IHS Global Insights, and find out how the rest of the auto industry is doing as well.
In this weak economy, more and more Americans are filing for bankruptcy. Contrary to what you might expect, the biggest reason people are doing so isn’t excessive spending or job losses. According to a recent study, 62 percent of the people who file for bankruptcy do so because of medical debt. After legislation in 2005 removed the distinction between bankruptcy caused by credit problems and medical expenses, many more people – even those with health insurance – found themselves losing their homes after catastrophic medical events wrecked their finances. We ask bankruptcy expert Henry Sommer and The Takeaway's Washington correspondent, Todd Zwillich, to explain this phenomenon. We also speak with Kerry Burns, a social worker who is struggling to pay back medical debt.
All week long we are reviewing the year that was: the year that marked the beginning of the financial meltdown and the recession that we continue to live through. Today we are focusing on the $600 billion collapse of Lehman Brothers — the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history. It’s a moment that many believe sent the global economy into crisis. To get a sense of the forces leading up to that day we speak with a Lehman Brothers’ insider, former vice president of distressed debt and convertible securities at Lehman Brothers, Lawrence McDonald. He's the author of the new book, A Colossal Failure of Common Sense: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers.
We also talk to our contributor Louise Story, finance reporter for the New York Times, about the collapse of Lehmann and the ensuing global financial crisis. Louise also tells us about the new spate of corporate mergers that could indicate the nation's economy is making the slow turn towards recovery.
The show is a co-production of WNYC Radio and Public Radio International, in collaboration with The BBC World Service, New York Times Radio and WGBH Boston.
Major funding provided by:
