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US corporate bankruptcies hit their highest level since the 2008 financial crisis - as Americans tighten their belts. Companies have also incresingly been grappling with high rising debts - driven by high interest rates that caused borrowing costs to spike. In 2024, 686 companies filed for bankruptcy, up 8 percent from 2023 - and almost more than 2021 and 2022 combined. It also marks the most filings since 2010, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. In addition last year, more companies tried to avoid bankruptcy through out-of-court actions, with these efforts outnumbering actual bankruptcies two to one, according...

Google on Wednesday confirmed that Google Russia is filing for bankruptcy, following the Russian government's seizure of its assets. However, Google will continue to make free services like Search, YouTube, Gmail, Maps, Android, and Play available to users in Russia, the company told ZDNet. As the Russian office closes, Google is also moving its Russia-based employees elsewhere, the Wall Street Journal first reported. "The Russian authorities' seizure of Google Russia's bank account has made it untenable for our Russia office to function, including employing and paying Russia-based employees, paying suppliers and vendors, and meeting other financial obligations," a Google spokesperson...

Filings have dropped about 50%, from 1,536,799 in 2010 to 770,846 in 2016 (see chart, below). Those years also represent the time frame when the ACA took effect. Although courts never ask people to declare why they’re filing, many bankruptcy and legal experts agree that medical bills had been a leading cause of personal bankruptcy before public healthcare coverage expanded under the ACA. Unlike other causes of debt, medical bills are often unexpected, involuntary, and large. -snip So did the rise of the ACA—which helped some 20 million more Americans get health insurance—cause the decline in bankruptcies? The many experts...

St. Francis Borgia priest cleared of wrongdoing in assault allegation CEDARBURG — Pastor Tom Eichenberger said it will take the rest of his life to restore the credibility that was called into question following an accusation that he assaulted a boy while on his first assignment as a young priest. The St. Francis Borgia Catholic Church priest returned to his parish Monday after being cleared of any wrongdoing by a retired police detective and an Archdiocese of Milwaukee review board. “The first words out of my mouth have to be thanks be to God for restoring me to the place...

The question, "Is that degree worth it?" is coming up a lot more often these days. There's little question how "Lisa S." would answer. Forbes.com tells the story of Lisa (her full name's not given), who's a 39-year-old Minnesota lawyer making about $20,000 a year and on public assistance. She is $350,000 in debt and realizes she'll probably die before paying it back. Lisa started out studying at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design, graduating with under $25,000 in student loans that she paid off in two years. The problems began when she moved to California for a master's...

Sandwich chain Quiznos is preparing to file for bankruptcy protection within weeks as it contends with declining sales and a lofty debt load, people familiar with the matter said. The company, which has about $570 million in debt, has been negotiating with creditors for weeks on a restructuring plan that would streamline its trip through bankruptcy court, these people said. A final deal on a so-called prepackaged restructuring plan hasn't yet been reached, they said.

Drat! I’m bummed—saddened by the news that the Hostess company, home of the Twinkie and other venerable sugary snacks, is shutting down. I’ll bet I haven’t eaten more than three or four Twinkies in the last 30 years, so the demise of Hostess doesn’t adversely impact my lifestyle. It’s just that, for baby boomers like me, the Twinkie has historic significance in popular culture. Being a kid in the ‘50s meant watching “The Mickey Mouse Club” and “The Lone Ranger” and snacking on Twinkies and Tootsie Rolls. Twinkies were as American as baseball. Now the company that makes them is...

A corporate bankruptcy is a paper death. The underlying assets live on. Killers of paper structures, in this light, are devalued villains, but a cry has gone up to identify the villain behind the pending liquidation of Hostess Brands, maker of Twinkies, Devil Dogs, Wonder Bread and other déclassé delights. Everyone knows the answer: It was the bakers—i.e., the branch of the AFL-CIO formally known as the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union. The bakers are guilty of a perfectly justifiable attempted homicide. Don't believe any guff about how chubby Americans are gnawing on carrot sticks. Forget...

Many Americans were upset when solar-panel maker Solyndra filed for bankruptcy last September owing taxpayers more than $500 million, but retiree Robert Grady Jr. was different. The more he read about the failed company, the more irritated he became. Finally, weeks after the bankruptcy case began, Mr. Grady did something he’d never done before. He filed a claim in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. It turned out to be the biggest single claim in the case — $535 million — but it wasn’t on behalf of himself. Rather, Mr. Grady, 57, made the claim on behalf of U.S. taxpayers because he said...

10 Signs That America Is On The Verge Of A Horrible Municipal Debt CrisisMarch 22, 2012 Is America on the verge of a horrible municipal debt crisis? Unfortunately, the answer is yes. From coast to coast there are an increasing number of cities, towns and counties that are rapidly going broke. Financial analyst Meredith Whitney took a lot of heat when her prediction of a municipal bond crash in 2011 did not happen, but she was not fundamentally wrong in her analysis. A horrifying municipal debt crisis is starting to unfold right in front of our eyes. It just did...

If Economy Is Recovering, Why Are U.S. Cities Going Bankrupt? Interest-Rates / US Debt Mar 09, 2012 - 01:16 PM By: EWI As pundits chatter about an economic recovery, 80 miles east of San Francisco you'll find a city (pop. 292,000) facing bankruptcy: Stockton is on the verge of becoming the largest city in the United States to declare bankruptcy... San Francisco Chronicle (3/4) Bloomberg reports (2/25) that it costs the city $175,000 just to get a consulting firm's fiscal evaluation. Management Partners issued a report which said: ...the city took on a large amount of debt in anticipation of...

Of all Super Bowl commercials, Chrysler's latest pro-America, Imported-from-Detroit pep talk may be getting the most attention. As you've no doubt seen by now, Clint Eastwood's steely gaze and growling baritone speak of a county knocked down but not out. A country that's hurting, scared and angry. A country that's lost its AAA credit rating. A country that needs to pull together to pick itself up. The advertisers are trying to tap into the sense that all's not right in the economy. Something is fundamentally broken, and, until it's fixed, problems like chronic joblessness, bombed-out home prices and stagnant wages...

It's good news in the sense that a state going broke is one way to stop the spending. A better way, of course, is to cut the budget.Alas, Governor Moonbeam doesn't appear to have it in him: California will run out of cash by early March if the state does not take swift action to find $3.3 billion through payment delays and borrowing, according to a letter state Controller John Chiang sent to state lawmakers today.The announcement is surprising since lawmakers previously believed the state had enough cash to last through the fiscal year that ends in June.But Chiang...

All hail the wondrous Arab Spring! It is one year ago today that the protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square began, ending in the fall of the Mubarak regime. It was fitting that President Obama mentioned it at the State of the Union, since he had a major role in that "wave of change," calling for Mubarak's ouster and signaling to the Egyptian military who now control the country which way to turn. It's well worth examining how things are going. The parliamentary elections have been held, and the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and the hardcore Salafist al-Nour Party won -- surprise!...

The Collapse Of MF Global Basically Started On Corzine's Day 1 Ben Walsh Dec. 12, 2011, 8:36 AM Image: AP MF Global Client's Counsel Blasts Jon Corzine Calling His Prepared Testimony 'Cowardly' And A 'Cop-Out' Five Reasons Why Wall Street Enjoyed Today's Corzine HearingMF Global's Bankruptcy Trustee Finally Pinpointed The Shady Trades In Customer Accounts When Jon Corzine, on a visit to MF Global's Chicago office shortly after becoming CEO in 2010, Dealbook reported that he discovered that a young trader was successfully using a small account to trade the firm's capital, he was enthralled. With widening eyes, Corzine suspended...

Crystal Cathedral Ministries has chosen Chapman University to purchase its 40-acre Garden Grove, Calif., property as the megachurch tries to pull out of an estimated $50 million debt. Chapman was among several interested buyers, which included Hobby Lobby and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange. The university, which offered $50 million for the campus, will reportedly allow Crystal Cathedral to "continue serving its mission," by letting it lease, and eventually buy back its core buildings, The Los Angeles Times reported. “Chapman University is pleased and honored by the Crystal Cathedral Ministry Board’s decision to select the University as the buyer...

Bankruptcy: From Greece To Rhode Island By Frederick SheehanJuly 25, 2011 07/25/11 Central Falls, Rhode Island faces a plight that should be studied for its application elsewhere. It is nearly out of money. This is common news today, whether in Greece or California. The various parties are assumed to possess a means to carry on. This is assumed because it is generally so. The banks had the Fed; General Electric had the Fed and the FDIC; Greece has the ECB; California is prepared to launch a bridge loan. Despite the band-aids, the trend towards insolvency continues. Central Falls has reached...

Jefferson County To Lay Off One-Third Of It's Workforce To Avoid Largest-Ever Municipal Bankruptcy Grace Wyler Jun. 7, 2011, 10:36 AM Alabama's troubled Jefferson County may be forced to lay off nearly 700 employees - one-third of its workforce - as it struggles to avoid what would be the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. County officials will meet today to discuss the layoffs, which are part of a plan to reduce the county budget by $12.3 million, The Birmingham News reports. The cuts are needed to make up for a $70 million loss in occupational tax revenue this year....

Just as Vallejo, Calif., starts to pull itself out of municipal bankruptcy, Stockton, its Central Valley neighbor, hurtles towards financial collapse. Calling Stockton's fiscal problems "chronic and severe," city officials have declared a state of fiscal emergency for the second time in two years, The city is facing a $37 million budget gap this year, a 60% increase from last year's $23 million shortfall, according to Bond Buyer. City officials project the budget deficit will grow to $48 million by 2014 if nothing is done to reign in ballooning employee costs. Public safety personnel costs alone eat up 80% of...

‘The Hospital Insurance Trust Fund is projected to become exhausted in 2020.” As plain as the sun, that sentence appears on page 4 of the Congressional Budget Office’s “March 2011 Medicare Baseline,” released on March 18. Those twelve words encapsulate the gargantuan problem that undergirds today’s national yelling match over Medicare. It hardly matters whether one loves or hates Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) and his Path to Prosperity, or whether one believes Pres. Barack Obama is the reincarnation of George Washington or Karl Marx. Regardless, if America does nothing, the CBO calculates, Medicare will run dry on Sept. 30,...