Could America be Hit With a "Bankruptcy Pandemic"?

We read last week that 17 million people missed making their credit card payments.  They sent in NO MONEY.  We also read that millions are now in arrears on their car and truck payments.  Today we saw this headline.

Coronavirus Could Create a 'Bankruptcy Pandemic'

With a pandemic temporarily closing many businesses and stifling consumer demand, whole industries, especially those that recently leveraged their balance sheets to take advantage of near-zero interest rates, are seeing their profits disappear virtually overnight, leaving too little cash flow to cover debt payments owed to creditors. 

This could set up the perfect storm for a huge wave of bankruptcies in the weeks and months ahead, says Stuart C. Gilson, the Steven R. Fenster Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. 

“There is a realistic probability that we could indeed see a ‘pandemic’ of bankruptcy filings in the near future,” Gilson says. “The pandemic analogy is particularly apt, in that if the number of new filings is sufficiently high, the bankruptcy courts, like hospitals treating COVID-19 patients, could be overwhelmed.” 

Several US businesses have already filed since the coronavirus started rocking the US economy in mid-March, including Neiman Marcus, J. Crew, Dean & DeLuca, CMX Cinemas, and Gold’s Gym. The latest: JCPenney on May 15 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after 118 years in business. 

As Gilson explains in this Q&A, bankruptcy doesn’t necessarily mean the death of a company, and in fact, it can actually be the very thing that saves a business, assuming the courts can handle the flood that is likely coming. 

Dina Gerdeman: What impact do you expect COVID-related bankruptcies to have on the bankruptcy system? And what does that mean for business owners who are seeking protection? 

Stuart Gilson: The global economic impact of the pandemic has already been catastrophic in terms of lost output, employment, and financial wealth. But many expect this to be followed by significant aftershocks in coming weeks and months, as quite possibly record numbers of businesses (and individuals) default on their debt, restructure, or go bankrupt. The number of US business bankruptcy filings in the first quarter of this year is already up substantially over prior years, and some believe the number of filings over the next couple of years could top what we saw during the 2008-2009 Global Financial Crisis, when there were more than 100,000 business bankruptcies. Some analysts are forecasting that by the end of 2021 up to 20 percent of high-yield corporate bonds could be in default. 

“IT IS CERTAINLY CONCEIVABLE THAT IF TOO MANY NEW CASES ARRIVE AT THE SAME TIME, COMPANIES COULD BE MUCH LESS WELL-SERVED BY THE BANKRUPTCY REORGANIZATION PROCESS.” 
What makes the current financial crisis unique is that the economic harm caused by forced shutdowns is being felt by broad swaths of the economy and the population—large public companies to be sure, but also small- and medium-sized businesses, individual households, and cities and states. And all of these entities (with the exception of US states) can in principle file for bankruptcy protection. But all such cases, whether corporate, personal, or municipal bankruptcies, are processed through the same United States Bankruptcy Court system, and are overseen by the same pool of federal bankruptcy judges, who currently number about 350 only. The bankruptcy process also requires the active participation of skilled legal and financial professionals, who are also available in only limited quantities. 

So it is certainly conceivable that if too many new cases arrive at the same time, companies could be much less well-served by the bankruptcy reorganization process, and emerge in much less sound financial condition (or not emerge at all). Overcrowding would cause cases to be processed more slowly, leading to longer stays in the bankruptcy “hospital.”

Here;  https://www.thewealthadvisor.com/article/coronavirus-could-create-bankruptcy-pandemic?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTVRkaE5XRmlaR1F3TmpabCIsInQiOiJEXC82QlwvK1lKRlA1dldQTE5ndGtFRnJIa2RwYUFieEs0WksxWkhCdVY2d1RpblRTRWhrdkNNaGxZN3lUUUt0c3dxOXRvckZsSHk5RE9pZ3V6V09JNXVnRzVTUW1ESEZpK0Z1S2dUMkNWOVpUbmpodktEaXdCY1M5T3dVUzA5Q2Q0In0%3D

Let's remember that America can't be found in Bible prophecy.  That should tell us that America has to start shrinking in power and importance if we are as close to the very Last Days as many people believe.

Is it a coincidence that America's FALSE IDOL of SPORTS has been instantly torn down at the same time our false idol of MONEY is being torn down?  I just heard a sermon that said that America has a false idol of SECURITY, and they we are willing to do almost anything to have security...including giving up our God-given rights.

Pray for America.  But more importantly pray for God's will to be done in America.  If this is the start of judgment against America for it's crime of killing babies in the womb AND forsaking the God of Israel, Isaac and Jacob while our churches preach false doctrine to the congregants that desire to have their itchy ears satisfied...then let God's will be done!!

My prayer is that my family, my readers and myself will continue to be salt and light up until the time we die or we hear the trumpet call of God and we are transformed in the twinkling of an eye to go meet Jesus in the clouds.