The Wall Street Journal Enjoy the tales that enliven the debate over changing the federal bankruptcy law, but disregard them. Like so many other arguments, this one is driven by outrageous anecdotes that divert attention from what is truly important. The bill that Congress will soon send to a welcoming President Bush would do nothing about the first case. It would make the second more difficult, but that's symbolic.
Few people anticipating bankruptcy have the cash to pull off that maneuver.
In most cases, the bill, which is almost identical to one President Clinton vetoed, will make filing for bankruptcy more costly and more of a hassle. The rest is noise and detail. For all but the closing years of the 20th century, bankruptcy law was uncontroversial. The 19th century was far different. After 100 years of that, the U.S. ended up with a more debtor-friendly approach than Britain, which offered the original legal model.