Money Facts Archive Get the real facts that will shape your future by having them delivered to your Inbox!

Here are some mind-boggling statistics about the number of 2009 U.S. foreclosures and bankruptcies taken from the following Internet blog:

http://www.totalbankruptcy.com/blog/filing-bankruptcy-foreclosure-in-america-2009/

1. A foreclosure action is taken every 10 seconds. There were 1,528,364 total foreclosure actions taken in the first half of 2009. This is 352 houses per hour and 8,444 houses a day.

2. An individual files bankruptcy every 22 seconds. There were 699,104 total personal bankruptcy filings in the first half of 2009.

Also, according to information from ForeclosureDeals.com:

"Commercial foreclosures are also on the rise. The Dallas Business Journal reports that commercial foreclosures jumped 12 percent in the first seven months of 2009 compared to 2008. In New Jersey, foreclosed commercial properties also continued to soar. When the second quarter of 2009 was compared to 2008, the numbers had tripled. Nationwide, retail space is the biggest commercial property sector of concern, with more than $31 billion in property considered distressed, according to Real Capital Analytics, a New York-based commercial real estate analysis company."

And on the business bankruptcy front, the following was reported by Sylvia Cochran at:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1387968/nortel_bankruptcy_just_the_tip_of_the.html?cat=3

"The Denver Business Journal suggests that companies filing for Chapter 11 'die 99 percent of the time. It used to be 85, but now it's 99.' Not far behind in the doomsday prediction department is the Plain Dealer which quotes C. Britt Beemer, who is chairman of America's Research Group Ltd, and who believes that 'you'll see more retail bankruptcies in the first six months of next year than in the last five years combined.' He is referencing 2009."

As for me, I can't see ANYTHING that's really being done in Washington that will serve to reverse the current trend in the alarming rates of foreclosure and bankruptcy, both personal and business, throughout the United States.

What I can see is more government control, more government spending, more government intervention, and more government power...

...no matter what the cost.

- Ed Smith, Publisher
The EHS Letter Manual