Word: reforms
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2000
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...understand how the current system works, how it would work under "reform"--most likely the same--and how it should work if Congress were crafting a law that treated all people equally, let's consider the story of two homeowners in bankruptcy. One is James Villa, a 42-year-old onetime stockbroker who lives in a $1.4 million home in Boca Raton, Fla. The other is Allen Smith, a 73-year-old retired autoworker with throat cancer who lives in a deteriorating $80,000 home in Wilmington...
...sharp growth in filings during the 1990s. While bankruptcy cases did indeed rise through 1998, they fell in 1999. But what Congress and credit-card companies neglected to say was that the increase was largely attributable to one group--women with modest or low incomes. For this group, reform is going to be especially...
...Bankruptcy Reform Act pending in Congress were the law, Garcia would not be able to rest so easy. "Lucy wouldn't be able to obtain a discharge under this bill," says Juntikka. "Under the new standards Congress has put in the bill, she earns too much money. She could not get a discharge. She would still be stuck with some of the credit-card bills...
...sharp increase in bankruptcy filings in 1996 and 1997 to mount an intensive lobbying campaign for legislation that would make it easier to collect from borrowers who file for bankruptcy. A sophisticated public-relations blitz created the image of a bankruptcy system rife with abuse and in need of reform. That campaign told of rich people walking away from their debts, courtesy of bankruptcy court. It told of responsible families who paid their bills being forced to pick up the costs of more affluent Americans and others who were bilking the system. And it warned that bankruptcy had lost...
...apply pressure on lawmakers, the industry ran a series of ads in newspapers calling for bankruptcy reform. "What Do Bankruptcies Cost American Families?" asked a typical ad in the Washington Post on June 4, 1998. The answer: "A month's worth of groceries." Sponsored by a consortium of credit-industry trade associations, the ad showed a shopping cart filled with groceries. "Today's record number of personal bankruptcies costs every American family $400 a year. Now Congress has an opportunity to enact bankruptcy reform that reduces this burden and is fair to everyone...while ensuring that people...