Pomykala's main argument is that, after literally centuries of draconian bankruptcy law in western society, including literally rending a debtor's body asunder under ancient Roman law (the origin of the phrase 'a pound of flesh'), today's consumer bankruptcy laws are far too lax, permitting debtors to run up enormous bills and escape from them, even if those same debtors have enormous incomes that could pay back the debt with the application of just a little good intention and belt tightening.

Pomykala also cited the statistics for bankruptcies in the l

Two years earlier, Clarine Nardi Riddle (1997), writing in National Real Estate Investor, suggested reform of bankruptcy laws because renters were using Chapter 7, 11 and 13 to avoid paying rent and to delay evictions. She also mentioned that bankruptcy filings had reached a record high, with consumer bankruptcies outpacing the growth rate of business bankruptcies by a substantial margin. In 1996, she noted, consumer bankruptcies had grown 22 percent over the previous calendar year.

ate 1990s. He noted that filing has surpassed 1,400,000 in 1998. Moreover, he lamented, this occurred despite the longest expansion of the economy in post-World War II history, and the lowest unemployment rate in almost 20 years. He notes that bankruptcy filings in 1998-1999 more than doubled the number of filings during the entire ten years of the Great Depression; what he fails to mention, however, is the increased population of the nation. While that would not explain all of the doubling, it would at least allow readers to compare apples and apples, rather than apples and oranges.

While apartment owners in some regions of the country have been hit for a number of years with bankruptcy-delayed evictions, increased attorney fees, lost rents and costs from resident bankruptcy filings, apartment residents in other parts of the country, especially in higher cost of living areas, have just begun to look to the bankruptcy system as a way to delay the eviction process (1997).

On a societal level, she blamed the disappearance of a stigma when declaring bankruptcy. And, like Pomykala, she mentioned that there were those who abuse the system; unlike Pomykala, she seemed to think that was an important point and not one to be simply glossed over.

That conclusion was that Congress just act to end the abuses of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code by making sure that the abusers of the system cannot continue to do so, particularly with regard to renters-whether consumer or business-getting stays of eviction, and tying up a valuable property while costing the owner legal fees as well. She sweetened her argument with the possibility that by closing loopholes that let abusers slide through, those who truly need a 'fresh start; would be more likely to get it, although she wasn't clear how this would happen if they were to be evicted as well.

Riddle's main interest was the harm that bankruptcy does to the apartment industry. She noted:

Harrell's article takes account of several other specific features of the United States Bankruptcy Code and, while he draws no ultimate conclusion concerning bankruptcy per se, it is cl

Some common words found in the essay are:
War II, Riddle Writing, Arkansas Business, Towson University, Bankruptcy Code, Estate Investor, Alvin Harrell, bankruptcy code, Joseph Pomykala, bankruptcy laws, Nardi Riddle, bankruptcy law, consumer bankruptcy, financial markets, real estate, bankruptcy filings, consumer bankruptcies, consumer debt, Mark Friedman, consumer bankruptcy laws, credit issuers, bankruptcy code prohibits,
Approximate Word count = 1761
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)