The US Bankruptcy Court recently released the number of Americans filing for bankruptcy and showed a steady decline in filings. While this sounds good for the economy, it will also affect a bankruptcy attorney’s career choice. Bankruptcy attorneys often struggle in a bad economy as many Americans need to use their services to get out of debt. In 2010, the US had a record 1.6 million Americans file for bankruptcy due to the 2007 financial meltdown. By the end of fiscal year 2012, that number had dropped to 1.3 million bankruptcy filings. and we are expected to end this year around 1 million. Realistically, this number is still very high compared to the 2005 record when it was around 1 million. In 2005, there were a large number of people who filed for bankruptcy before the changes to the bankruptcy code out of fear that they would not be able to qualify. When the dust settled and the bankruptcy code was changed, a means test was included which made people now qualified to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Due to the new code regulations, many Americans rushed to file their bankruptcy. before it came into force.

While I’m sure a bankruptcy attorney would be concerned about this decline, many economic experts are now saying this could be the calm before the storm. Governments around the world have their presses running at full speed, printing their own currencies. The United States is no different, having quadrupled the amount of dollars in the last five years. As history teaches us, this type of behavior ends badly for everyone involved.

Every country that was the reserve currency for the world that has followed the type of quantitative easing model, lost its global reserve status. Many experts believe this will lead to hyperinflation that will force many Americans to declare bankruptcy. So for someone who is a bankruptcy attorney, this is good news because many more people will be using bankruptcy in the years to come. It was also recently reported that nearly 5 million homes in the US were at least two months behind on their mortgage payments, in default, or in some phase of foreclosure. This is one of the things that economic professionals look at for future economic growth. With all these houses coming on the market, real estate is sure to take another hit. Only time will tell, but I don’t think many lawyers are really concerned about this. Remember the old adage that what goes up must come down and this economy is once again overheated and on the brink of boiling.