Unless we manage to die with negative net worth (or declare bankruptcy), the amount we can spend and give away during our lifetimes is limited to what we earn or receive as gifts.
Day after day, company after company files for protection under the bankruptcy laws the amount of assets is greater now than at any time since 1991, and is expected to keep growing.
G.M. and Chrysler have estimated that they would need a combined $125 billion in bankruptcy financing, an amount they are unlikely to get from the government.
As part of the watershed deal, JPMorgan and the Federal Reserve will guarantee the huge trading obligations of the troubled firm, which was driven to the brink of bankruptcy by what amounted to a run on the bank.
Mr. McCaw's planned investment in Iridium, which must be approved by a federal bankruptcy judge, would amount to so-called debtor in possession financing, or D.I.P. financing, to a company in Chapter 11 reorganizaiton.
Mr. Dimon's race to cut a deal for Bear began around 6 p.m. last Thursday, when Alan D. Schwartz, Bear's chief executive, called with startling news: Bear had been driven to the brink of bankruptcy by what amounted to a bank run.
If that's not possible, you may need to consider bankruptcy, given the amount of debt you're carrying.
Sure enough, in the first two months of this year, Mr. Volman took on some 50 bankruptcy cases, an "enormous amount," he said, given that in all of 2006 he handled 19.
This creates scarcity and a competitive system, where some amount of bankruptcy is inevitable.
But maybe the most disturbing reality about shunning bankruptcy is the significant amount of retirement income that is lost by people who avoid filing.
