According to legal services provider Epiq Systems, over 7,100 U.S. businesses sought chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2020 – as the government lockdowns and restrictions have crippled manufacturing, shut down exports, and forced consumers at home.
This number is 29% higher from 2019.
The Trends Journal additionally adds,
As business failures soared in 2020, the number of bankruptcies among individuals plunged, even as millions lost their jobs and drained their savings. Federal unemployment payments, rent suspensions, mortgage forgiveness programs, and other supports kept households afloat that otherwise would have sunk into insolvency, analysts said.
The Trends Journal gives their forecast based off this data:
TREND FORECAST: The worst is yet to come. Yes, there will be a bounce-back as more cheap money is injected into the equity markets and the general economy. However, consumer bankruptcies are a trailing indicator of national economic distress and are likely to rise significantly during the last half of this year, as Chris Kruse, Epiq’s senior vice president, said to the Journal.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
I totally agree with what the forecast given by the Trends Journal, and we are already seeing bankruptcies being filed in the first few weeks of January; and far more are on the horizon. Those at the top keep getting bigger and bigger, and the “expendables” and mom and pops get crushed.
The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
Proverbs 22:7
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