Oh My Elizabeth.....

In such re-assuring and gentle tones,

you rail against predatory loans.

In poise, elegance and grace,

you battle a national disgrace.......

Writing a poem about a bankruptcy law professor isn't exactly......well....poetic.


I have a schoolboy crush on her because:


1. Her definition of bankruptcy implicitly promotes the strengthening of the weaker elements in our society by encouraging the spirit of entrepreneurship, which in the end buttresses not destroys- as Republicans would have you believe- the American economy.

Interview with Frontline:


You have been studying primarily bankruptcy for the last 20 years. Why bankruptcy?

EW: Because bankruptcy is about financial death and financial rebirth. Bankruptcy is the great American story rewritten. We're a nation of debtors. Why do you think people left Europe to come to the United States? They left because they were in debt. We like to describe it as, "Oh, it was about religious freedom." No, it was about debt. They were looking for a way to escape their debts. ..... It's the way that people say: "I got out there; I borrowed the money; I did my best; I used that money to start a small business or to keep myself going in my job. ... You rolled the dice with me. ... It didn't work. You can have most of what I own, and that's it, though. We'll stop there. We'll declare the default. You write off the part of the debt I can't pay, I'll take my human energy ... and go right back into the game again." That's the whole premise behind bankruptcy. It's about death and rebirth.


It's a big form of social insurance, not for the poor, but for the middle class, for people who are starting businesses, ... people [who] are trying to hold together their families, their jobs; hardworking, play-by-the-rules people. Those are the people ultimately who end up in bankruptcy; people who took the risks we wanted them to take, but for them, it didn't work out.

+ for more of this insightfull interview about the past, present and future of debt please click here........and here.

I could read her for hours....you should try it.