{"id":4158,"date":"2014-09-23T09:51:37","date_gmt":"2014-09-23T08:51:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/?p=4158"},"modified":"2019-05-07T09:53:46","modified_gmt":"2019-05-07T08:53:46","slug":"stigma-of-bankruptcy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/stigma-of-bankruptcy\/","title":{"rendered":"Stigma of Bankruptcy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bankruptcy is often referred to as the option of last resort for people. <\/strong>When you are in financial trouble you are desperate to find a way out. Many people try to avoid being declared bankrupt and some opt for another solution even though bankruptcy may well be the best solution for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s hard to tell just how much the perceived stigma of bankruptcy affects their decision but it does appear that younger people are less concerned than the older generation about the stigma of bankruptcy. There are many illustrious, famous and indeed infamous people who were declared bankrupt<\/strong>, sometimes more than once, and it makes you wonder if the stigma historically linked to that status is now diminishing. Some of those people were able to rise phoenix-like from the ashes of their personal finances to achieve great things while others had achieved their fame or infamy before they were adjudged bankrupt. Making a fresh start and attaining success after suffering the stigma of bankruptcy must surely rank as an admirable achievement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bankruptcy\n\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Historically, no occupation was spared and no status or perceived \nstatus in society afforded escape from the ignominy of the label \u2018bankrupt<\/em>\u2019.\n What is remarkable is the level of achievement to which many bankrupts \naspired and their ultimate accomplishments. A key factor is the country \nwhere the bankruptcy occurred. In the USA emerging from bankruptcy is \noften perceived almost like a badge of honour and for many who were able\n to overcome that burden and go on to achieve success, it was as if \ntheir status in society was doubly enhanced in the land of the American \ndream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Businessmen who were made bankrupt<\/strong> included tyre manufacturer Charles Goodyear<\/strong> as well as automobile manufacturers Henry Ford<\/strong>, John DeLorean<\/strong> and William C. Durant<\/strong>, founder of General Motors. Henry John Heinz<\/strong>, condiment manufacturer par excellence and founder of H. J. Heinz the global food conglomerate was also made bankrupt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Famous women were also members of the bankruptcy club<\/strong>. Singers Chaka Kahn<\/strong>, Cyndi Lauper<\/strong>, Natalie Cole<\/strong>, Toni Braxton<\/strong> and Tammy Wynette<\/strong> as well as actresses Barbara Bel Geddes<\/strong>, Debbie Reynolds<\/strong> and Kim Basinger<\/strong>\n all wore the bankruptcy badge of honour at one stage or another. In the\n singing and acting professions men dominated the bankruptcy league by \nsheer weight of numbers. Singers Al Jolson<\/strong>, Andy Gibb<\/strong>, David Van Day<\/strong>, Jerry Lee Lewis<\/strong>, Marvin Gaye<\/strong>, MC Hammer<\/strong>, Meat Loaf<\/strong>, Mick Fleetwood<\/strong>, Tom Petty<\/strong> and Willie Nelson<\/strong> were made bankrupt as were actors Mickey Rooney<\/strong>, Gary Coleman<\/strong>, Don Johnson<\/strong>, Buster Keaton<\/strong>, Burt Reynolds<\/strong> and Bill Roache<\/strong>, otherwise known as Ken in Coronation Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Famous sportsmen who also suffered from this ultimate financial stigma include Bjorn Borg<\/strong>, Chris Eubank<\/strong>, George Best<\/strong>, Mike Tyson<\/strong>, Keith Gillespie<\/strong> and of course Eddie \u2018The Eagle\u2019 Edwards<\/strong>, although some might say that Eddie\u2019s claim to fame or infamy was a little spurious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The arts were not immune to bankruptcy either. If someone were to ask you what Mark Twain<\/strong>, Oscar Wilde<\/strong>, Daniel Defoe<\/strong>, Miguel de Cervantes<\/strong>, Frank Baum<\/strong>, Handel<\/strong>, Isaac Hayes<\/strong>, Rembrandt<\/strong>, James Abbot McNeil Whistler<\/strong>, Lionel Bart<\/strong> and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart<\/strong>\n had in common other than being authors, composers, artists and \npainters, would you have guessed that they also were all once bankrupt? \nHistorian David Irving<\/strong> could be included in that category also.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even royalty and presidents did not escape the scourge. Philip II King of Spain<\/strong>, Edward II<\/strong> a fourteenth century King of England and American Presidents Ulysses S. Grant<\/strong> and Abraham Lincoln<\/strong> all suffered from financial difficulties resulting in their bankruptcies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The entertainment industry furnishes us with the names of a few more famous bankrupts: Henry Saltzman<\/strong>, film producer, Larry King<\/strong>, talk show host, Jim Davison<\/strong>, comedian, Michael Barrymore<\/strong>, TV presenter, P.T.Barnum<\/strong>\n the great American circus owner were all great entertainers in their \nown right and perhaps the same accolade might be bestowed by some on Anna-Nicole Smith<\/strong> famous for being a Playboy centerfold, at least for a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the most poignant member of the big \u2018B\u2019 club was Henry Dunant<\/strong> founder of the Red Cross, whose philanthropic good works did not spare him from the ultimate financial ignominy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Ireland the recession has taken its toll. The former chairman of Anglo Irish Bank, Sean Fitzpatrick<\/strong> has been made bankrupt in Ireland while former chief executive David Drumm<\/strong> is currently in the bankruptcy courts in the USA as is developer Sean Dunne<\/strong>. Sean Quinn<\/strong>\n who was reported as being Ireland\u2019s richest person some years ago and a\n superlative entrepreneur to boot has been declared bankrupt in Ireland,\n shortly after his voluntary bankruptcy in Belfast was overturned by the\n courts. A virtual plethora of former builders and developers in Ireland\n have taken the bankruptcy route both in Ireland and in the UK, where \nthe regime is much more benign. Ivan Yates<\/strong> who was a \nformer Irish government minister and founder of Celtic Bookmakers, a \nlarge chain of betting shops, petitioned for his own bankruptcy in the \nUK and has now been discharged from bankruptcy there and is back living \nand working in Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While bankruptcy is one of those conditions that you would not wish \non your worst enemy, it is nowadays a much less severe and constricting \nprocess than it once was, particularly in the USA and in the UK. The new\n bankruptcy laws enacted in Ireland in the last few years are \nsignificantly more severe on citizens than those in the USA and in the \nUK. Consequently they are unlikely to really provide a fresh start to \nentrepreneurs but rather set out to punish financial transgressors, \nalbeit perhaps a little less harshly than the historic archaic and \ndraconian Irish legislation. It seems that the stigma of bankruptcy will\n linger on in the Emerald Isle for some time yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bankruptcy is often referred to as the option of last resort for people. When you are in financial trouble you are desperate to find a way out. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bankruptcy-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4158"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4164,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4158\/revisions\/4164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}