Bankruptcy

Two Major Retailers Close, Terminate Workers

December 25, 2024 Otis Grotewohl, Workers World. Educate! Bankruptcy, Big Box Stores, Economic crisis, Worker Rights and Jobs

One week before many of their workers were planning to celebrate the winter holidays with loved ones, two major retailers announced they were officially closing all store locations. The Columbus, Ohio-based discount department store Big Lots! publicly revealed Dec. 19 they were officially closing all their shops, while Party City made a similar revelation the very next day. Most store employees learned about the news either while at work or through media coverage on their day off. Big Lots! started closing many of its locations earlier in the year. According to an article in USA Today on Dec. 20, more than 400 stores already closed in 2024, and the company also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Racist Hotel Owners File For Bankruptcy Ahead Of Civil Rights Trial

September 10, 2024 Brandy Calabaza, NDN Collective. Resist! Bankruptcy, Civil Rights, Native Americans, Racism, South Dakota

Rapid City, SD – On Saturday, September 7 the Retsel Corporation, owners of the Grand Gateway Hotel, filed for bankruptcy just before the start of the federal civil rights trial brought by NDN Collective scheduled to begin Monday. NDN Collective filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in 2022 against the Grand Gateway Hotel after it denied service to Native Americans because of their race. The Retsel Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which allows the business to remain open as it reorganizes its debts. Under this filing, all other litigation must pause until the business settles in bankruptcy court and that timeline is still to be determined. As a result, the civil rights lawsuit against the Grand Gateway is on hold.

Can’t Pay Won’t Pay

September 4, 2024 Maureen Tkacik, The American Prospect. Educate! Bankruptcy, Health Care, Miami, Profiteering

It is not entirely clear why none of the four physicians who saw Yani Rodriguez over the six days in September 2022 she spent dying at the North Shore Medical Center in Miami ever diagnosed her with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, a rare but well-established blood disorder often associated with late pregnancy whose survival rate soared from just 10 percent in the 1950s to almost 90 percent with the advent of modern plasma transfusion techniques. Rodriguez’s blood readings should have been a dead giveaway, according to expert witnesses consulted in her medical malpractice case and a physician the Prospect consulted with the medical records.

The Slow Death Of A Prison Profiteer

April 12, 2024 Dana Floberg And Morgan Duckett, Scheer Post. Strategize! Activism, Bankruptcy, Criminal Justice and Prisons, Profiteers, Securus

Last week, the nation’s largest prison and jail telecom corporation, Securus, effectively defaulted on more than a billion dollars of debt. After decades of preying on incarcerated people and their loved ones with exploitative call rates and other predatory practices that have driven millions of families into debt, Securus is being crushed under the weight of its own. In March, the company’s creditors gave the corporation an eight-month extension to pay up, urging its sale to a new owner to stave off an otherwise imminent bankruptcy.

‘The Great Taking’: How They Can Own It All

October 3, 2023 Ellen Brown, Web Of Debt. Educate! Bankruptcy, Finance and the Economy, Global Economy, Regulations

The derivatives bubble has been estimated to exceed one quadrillion dollars (a quadrillion is 1,000 trillion). The entire GDP of the world is estimated at $105 trillion, or 10% of one quadrillion; and the collective wealth of the world is an estimated $360 trillion. Clearly, there is not enough collateral anywhere to satisfy all the derivative claims. The majority of derivatives now involve interest rate swaps, and interest rates have shot up. The bubble looks ready to pop. Who were the intrepid counterparties signing up to take the other side of these risky derivative bets? Initially, it seems, they were banks –led by four mega-banks, JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America.

Returning Bankruptcy Protections Is Critical For Solving Student Debt

March 21, 2022 Alan Collinge, Student Loan Justice. Create! Bankruptcy, Education, Finance and the Economy, Student Loans

During the 1700’s, American colonists- including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Morris, and others- were being treated horribly under debt- typically to British banks, trading companies, and other investors. In fact, the issue of debt was so concerning to the nation’s Founders, that that in Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, they call for uniform bankruptcy laws ahead of the power to raise an army, declare war, and coin currency. Congress, however, began chipping this protection away, uniquely, from student loans beginning in 1976 and continuing through 2005. Today, both federal and private student loans are essentially impossible to discharge in bankruptcy.

Will US Farmers Follow India’s Lead?

January 8, 2021 Leanna First-Arai, Truthout. Organize! Bankruptcy, Farmers, Food and Agriculture, Joe Biden

Thousands of farmers in India are braving cold winter temperatures in the outskirts of New Delhi, their tractors and tents blocking traffic along three main roads leading to the capital city, in protest of new agricultural laws that farmers say leave them at the mercy of multinational corporations. The protests, which began in August, morphed into a general strike of 250 million workers on November 26, which has been called the largest-ever global demonstration. The ongoing demonstrations have struck a chord with agricultural communities in North America, where solidarity protests were held throughout December, including a march to the Indian Consulate in Toronto and a protest outside of Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California.

Iowa Farm Bankruptcies Continue To Rise, Despite Aid

January 6, 2021 Erin Jordan, The Gazette. Educate! Bankruptcy, Farmers, Iowa, Recession

There were 27 farm bankruptcies in Iowa in 2019 — more than double the 13 bankruptcies in 2018, the American Farm Bureau Federation reported. This was despite the $1.58 billion the federal government paid Iowa farmers in Market Facilitation Program payments to ease losses because of the trade dispute with China. Later this month, we’ll know how many Iowa farms went bankrupt in 2020, but Iowa State University economics professor and crop markets specialist Chad Hart said to expect another increase. “The government has provided a lot of short-term funding to help farmers get through the year,” Hart said, referring to market facilitation and coronavirus food assistance programs, which funneled two rounds of aid to farmers in 2020.

Five Key Takeaways From The November Jobs Report

December 6, 2020 Paul Wiseman, AP News. Educate! Bankruptcy, COVID-19, Recession, Unemployment

Washington, DC - Evidence was abundant in the November jobs report that the U.S. economy’s tentative recovery is sputtering as coronavirus cases accelerate and federal aid runs out. Hiring slowed sharply. Hundreds of thousands of people gave up looking for work. The proportion of the unemployed who have been jobless for at least six months rose. All told, the Labor Department said Friday, employers added 245,000 jobs in November — the fewest since April, the fifth straight monthly slowdown and well short of the gain economists had been expecting.

Postal Bankruptcy Would Hit Rural US The Hardest

May 5, 2020 Brian Wakamo, Scott Klinger and Sarah Anderson, Inequality.org. Educate! Bankruptcy, Congress, Rural, US Postal Service

As postal workers strain to meet demand for deliveries of medicine, food, and other essentials, the U.S. Postal Service is facing potential financial collapse due to plummeting mail revenue. Without a major cash infusion, the USPS is on track to run out of money before the end of September, according to the Postmaster General. A USPS shutdown would be devastating for the entire country, but especially for the rural communities that rely most on a public service with a universal mandate to serve every address, no matter how remote. A new Institute for Policy Studies report finds that the 15 most rural U.S. states would face heavy blows to jobs, revenue, mail and package deliveries, and voting rights.

The Cost Of This Pandemic Must Not Bankrupt The People

March 27, 2020 By Vijay Prashad and Manuel Bertoldi, Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute. Resist! Bankruptcy, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Pandemic

The global pandemic of COVID-19 has spread to almost every country on the planet earth. The virus will take many lives, disrupt communities and institutions, and leave behind trauma and a devastated world economy. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) estimates that by the end of 2020, global income will collapse by between $1 trillion and $2 trillion; the latter figure is a worst-case scenario, with falling oil prices making the problem even more acute for oil-exporting countries. Already over-inflated stock markets are now seeing deep drops. Central banks are using all their monetary resources to shore up the financial markets and to try to bail out as many sectors of the economy as possible.

UVA Suspends Medical Lawsuits In Wake Of KHN Investigation

September 14, 2019 Jay Hancock and Carmen Heredia Rodriguez, Kaiser Health News. Educate! Bankruptcy, Debt, Health Care, Hospitals

Charlottesville, Va. — Under pressure after Kaiser Health News reported Monday that it sues thousands of patients a year and sends many into bankruptcy, University of Virginia Health System suspended about a dozen patient lawsuits Thursday and said it will announce changes to its billing and collections policy Friday. Over six years, the state institution filed 36,000 lawsuits against patients seeking a total of more than $106 million in unpaid bills, a KHN analysis finds. At a weekly session at the Albemarle County Courthouse often dominated by UVA hospital litigation, UVA lawyer Melissa Riley said cases due to be heard Thursday would be withdrawn while the system takes a broader look at its long-standing practice of aggressive debt collection.

Exclusive: OxyContin Maker Prepares ‘Free-Fall’ Bankruptcy As Settlement Talks Stall

September 6, 2019 Mike Spector and Jessica DiNapoli, Reuters.com Educate! Bankruptcy, Big Pharma

(Reuters) - OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP is preparing to seek bankruptcy protection before the end of the month if it does not reach a settlement with U.S. communities over widespread opioid litigation, three people familiar with the matter said, after some states balked at the company’s $10 billion to $12 billion offer in August to end their lawsuits as part of a negotiated Chapter 11 case. On Friday, Purdue lawyers had documents prepared for a Chapter 11 filing at a moment’s notice, Reuters has learned. A federal judge, who expects plaintiffs to update him on settlement progress this week, wants 35 state attorneys general on board with a deal...

How Chicago Ticket Debt Sends Black Motorists Into Bankruptcy

July 9, 2019 By Melissa Sanchez and Sandhya Kambhampati, Features.propublica.org Educate! Bankruptcy, Chicago, Transportation

MY LAST SUMMER, Laqueanda Reneau felt like she had finally gotten her life on track. A single mother who had gotten pregnant in high school, she supported her family with a series of jobs at coffee shops, restaurants and clothing stores until she landed a position she loved as a community organizer on Chicago’s West Side. At the same time, she was working her way toward a degree in public health at DePaul University. But one large barrier stood in her way: $6,700 in unpaid tickets, late fines and impound fees.

Trump Trade War Helps Push Farmers Into Record Number Of Bankruptcies

February 12, 2019 Mary Papenfuss, Huffingtonpost.com Educate! Bankruptcy, Farmers, Trade

Dairy farmers were counting on China milk buyers before the trade war. “The problem is both nations have stubborn leaders,” an industry analyst said. Hard times for farmers got tougher with President Donald Trump’s trade war. Now Midwestern farmers are filing the highest number of bankruptcies in a decade, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of federal data. And farmers aren’t hopeful about this year. Twice as many farmers in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin declared bankruptcy last year compared to 2008, according to statistics from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, the Journal reported. Bankruptcies in states from North Dakota to Arkansas leaped 96 percent, according to figures from the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.

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