Bankruptcy Indiana

Columbus, Indiana in Bartholomew Country has always depended on manufacturing for its economic health, the Indiana Business Review commented last fall.  I think one of the Columbus bankruptcy lawyers in my office there voiced my own sentiments when he expressed hope that unemployment benefits will be continue to be extended by Congress.

According to WSCI Radio in Columbus, "Indiana is bucking the national trend with three straight months of declining unemployment….We are encouraged by increases in manufacturing and professional and business service jobs." 

I'm encouraged, too, by these facts.  But, as a bankruptcy attorney and debt consolidation lawyer in Indiana, there are some other facts I can't help thinking of on this holiday eve. Thousands of Hoosiers in and around Columbus, Indiana were set to lose their jobless benefits just two days from now, and, by the end of January, according to Jim McDermott in USA Today, an additional million workers nationwide could have been losing theirs. Benefits have now been extended into 2010.

By way of background, state unemployment benefits normally last 26 weeks, and are financed by a tax on employers.  The situation today is that almost half the nation's unemployed have been out of work longer - some much, much longer - than that.

Just a couple of weeks ago in my Indiana bankruptcy blog employment update, I mentioned that federal legislation had extended unemployment benefits for up to 20 weeks, beginning November 23.  The problem was that unless Congress had acted this year to reinstate the current federal unemployment program, the program itself would have expired at the end of the calendar year.

What's the reason I'm so vitally interested in unemployment benefits and in offering up to date information on the state of Indiana's job markets?  I've discussed unemployment with the Columbus bankruptcy lawyers who work with me in my office there, and also talked about unemployment many times before in my Indiana bankruptcy blog posts.  Two points bear repeating:

• Without well-paid work, it's difficult to keep debt collectors at bay.
• While filing bankruptcy does bring an immediate halt to debt collection harassment, the object is not filing bankruptcy, it's emerging from it.  For the emerging part, it takes income.

All of us who provide Indiana bankruptcy services in Indiana agree:  Our wish is for a holiday season of hope for those who have lost their jobs!