LETTER-MCDONALD/1stjc

Bankrupticies are bad news

I am mortified at the preposterous logic used by Tom Lieser, associate director of the Anderson/UCLA Business Forecasting Project (“Good News: Business failures on the rise,” Feb. 17) to proclaim that an 11 percent jump in business failures in Los Angeles County in 1996 is a good thing and a healthy economic sign because more people are willing to “try their luck” in starting a business.

Bankruptcy, foreclosure, receivership, and unpaid obligations result in higher cost of business for consumers and those business people who are doing it right, and create an irreparable tear in the fabric of local commerce.

I have been in business for myself since 1975. Many is the time I have had to trim the fat, tighten my belt, and bite the bullet in order to keep the doors opened and black ink in my ledgers. I’m sure many analysts would have suggested pulling the old Chapter 7, attributing failure to “bad luck” and hanging my creditors, my clients, and my bank out to dry. Massaging the stats to claim such an outrageous conclusion, “Good news: Business failures on the rise,” is tantamount to gift wrapping sewage. No matter how pretty the paper and bow, it still smells bad.

Meg McDonald

McDonald Media Services

Studio City