Bankruptcies again on the rise.

• Position: Your Life - Brief article

On the eve of the three-year anniversary of Pres. George W. Bush's controversial bankruptcy bill becoming law, data indicates that, in the last two years, nearly 1,500,000 individuals have filed for personal bankruptcy. The data further questions the merits of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. Supporters of the bill argued that BAPCPA would decrease the number of bankruptcy filings significantly by eliminating those who were declaring 'bankruptcies of convenience." Opponents asserted that BAPCPA would lower the number of bankruptcy fliers in the short term only, as the increased costs and complexity of filing for bankruptcy under the new law would cause financially struggling families to delay filing.

Opponents of the bill proved prescient. After a sharp increase in the number of bankruptcy filings leading up to Oct. 17, 2005 (the date the law took effect), followed by a dramatic dropoff immediately following this deadline, filing rates have continued to climb--and, if statistics since enactment of BAPCPA are any guide, including numbers released by the courts, this upward...