Personal Bankruptcy Crisis Solved

I heard this on a network news story yesterday. "Every thirty seconds in the United States, someone files bankruptcy in the aftermath of a serious health problem."

Being a numbers kind of guy, I thought I'd see just how many bankruptcies that was in a year. Here's what I came up with. Using the "every thirty seconds" number, the total medical related bankruptcies for one year would be equal to 1,051,200. (2 filings x 60 minutes = 120 an hour, x 24 hours = 2,880 a day, x 365 days = 1,051,200 a year) According to the Financial Post, the total number of bankruptcies in 2008 were 1,117,771. The Financial Post further states that of the 2008 bankruptcies, 45,546 are business filings. This means there were only 23,025 filings for reasons other than "serious health problems" if this news story's claim is true. Really? Only 2% of bankruptcies are due to financial irresponsibility or circumstances other than unpayable medical costs?

In a way I feel much better, knowing that there aren't a bunch of people out there living beyond their means and misusing credit, buying houses, cars, boats and other toys they can't afford. Maybe the government should just write checks to all the doctors and medical facilities to pay off all these health related bills that are causing the personal bankruptcies of these otherwise responsible citizens. It sure makes more sense than the billions and billions of dollars spent to bail out the banks and other companies. This simple plan would eliminate nearly 98% of the personal bankruptcies IF the numbers from this news story are correct. I saw it on TV. It's got to be true, right?

Fast Thoughts on Fast Food News

Ok, I know they don't like the "Fast Food" term and they are supposed to be called "Quick Serve Restaurants" now. But But QSR just didn't sound right in my title. Anyway, after a month off, I'm here commenting on the following.

I was watching Fox and Friends the other morning and saw an ad for Popeyes. What struck me as funny is their new ad slogan. "Louisiana Fast" Just think about that. I know, stereotyping isn't nice. But really, have you ever been to Louisiana? That slogan appears to be more of an oxymoron, doesn't it? I'm just saying, the pace of life down in that part of the country seems, um, well a bit more "relaxed" than other places I've been.

Then there was Reed Harris from New Mexico who came up with a memorable way to propose to his girlfriend. He hid the ring in her Frosty from Wendy's and then challenged her in a Frosty eating race. Having invited friends to watch the event, I'm sure he didn't quite plan on the way it turned out. His girlfriend, Kaitlin Whipple, must be very competitive. She won the race and never even noticed there was a ring somewhere in the midst of the all the Frosty she had swallowed. But it all turned out all right in the end. They are planning to wed in May or June. It made me think of Melissa from the Bachelor. I'm sure she wanted to tell Jason to stick the ring he gave to her where the sun don't shine.

And finally, we have the McNugget meltdown of Latreasa Goodman. She ordered and paid for a 10-piece, but then was told they were out of nuggets. When she was only offered alternate food items rather than a refund she called 9-1-1. Not once. Not twice. But three times. Maybe she called 3 times because she expected the police to respond in a New York minute and they were responding Louisiana Fast instead. When told by the 9-1-1 operator that 9-1-1 was for emergencies she said, "this is an emergency, my McNuggets are an emergency." I guess QT isn't the only place that has serious food.