With the top 1% of earners in the United States bringing home an average of $16.4 million annually, how many mortgages or student loans could the average "one percenter" erase?

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Average Household Mortgage Debt

• At the end of the second quarter of 2012, Americans had $13,216,356,000,000 in outstanding mortgage debt.
• 2011 population estimate: 311,591,917
• Homeownership rate: 66.6%
• Average household mortgage debt: $149,981

Average Student Loan Debt

• Class of 2011: average student loan debt: $26,000

Doing the Math

• At $26,000 each, the top 1%'s average income could pay off the student loans of 631 people.
• At $149,981 each, the top 1%'s average income could pay off 109.34 mortgages.

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The top 1% of Americans earn an average of $16.4 million every year. How much of the average credit card debt or the national debt could this wealth eliminate?

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<a href="http://www.totalbankruptcy.com/blog/wealth-of-few-debts-of-many-jzbdg/" target="_blank" title="The Wealth of Few, the Debts of Many"><img title="debts of many and wealth of few" src="http://assets.totalbankruptcy.com/infographics/wealth-of-few-debts-of-many.png" border="0" alt="wealth of few debt of many"></a> from <a href="http://www.totalbankruptcy.com" target="_blank" title="www.totalbankruptcy.com">Total Bankruptcy</a>

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Average Credit Card Debt

• 2012 Projected Credit Card Debt: $870 billion
• 2012 Projected Number of Credit Card Holders: 191 million
• Average Credit Card Debt per Credit Card Holder: $4,554.97

National Debt

• The national debt is $16,283,161,895,179.85
• The public holds $11,453,560,734,889.31 of this debt
• Intragovernmental holdings are responsible for $4,829,601,160,290.54 of this debt

Doing the Math

• At an average credit card debt of $4,554.97, the top 1% average wealth could pay off 3,600 credit cards.
• The average "one percenter" could pay less than 1% of the national debt.

Copyright © 2013 TotalBankruptcy, LLC. (as licensee). All rights reserved.

By Mary Ann Pekara

March Madness is in full swing now and gamblers' wallets across the country are a little lighter as they wait in anticipation to see how their brackets play out.

Whether you're a regular college hoops enthusiast or not, it has been projected that over 100 million people will take part in the "bracket" sensation that encompasses March Madness.

It has been estimated that those 100 million people will be collectively gambling approximately $12 billion on this NCAA tournament.

Based on the government's census calculations from 2012, the amount of money spent on gambling during this year's March Madness could have paid off over 2.6 million people's credit card debt at $4,554.97 each!

With approximately 191 million credit card holders in 2012, the credit card debt was projected at $870 billion.

Is it even worth asking ourselves why gamble when we could pay off some of our debt?

March Madness is its own world. It's a distraction from our lives. It brings us highs and lows. It brings people together. It pulls people apart. It pits people against each other. All in all, it is great fun.

What else could this $12 billion pay off if we didn't gamble it away?

• The Heinz Company's $12 Billion Debt
• Clear Channel Communications' $12 Billion Debt
• Portugal's Town Hall's $12 Billion Debt
• Texans' $11 Billion Unpaid Child Support
• Illinois' $9 Billion Unpaid Bills

There's a lot of debt that could be paid off with $12 billion but right now this country is busy watching their brackets.

Copyright © 2013 TotalBankruptcy, LLC. (as licensee). All rights reserved.

By Mary Ann Pekara

In 2008, the American people were faced with an abrupt request on the part of then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to invest $700 billion toward bailing out some of the nation’s largest banks. Without this bailout, the American people were told, their entire economic system would soon be crippled or destroyed.

Naturally, the Bush Administration and legislative branch jumped on the threat and invested the requested funds. But could it happen again? Is anything keeping big banks from failing now?

Dodd-Frank

The “Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act” was enacted in 2010 and contains some sixteen major reforms to regulate banks deemed “Too Big to Fail.” One of the changes outlined in Dodd-Frank has to do with placing a big bank into a state of “receivership” following quantitative failure.

This provision of Dodd-Frank effectively grants the United States government full authority to take over a big bank should it teeter toward failure. This practice represents a massive increase in authority.

Prior to the recession of 2008, the United States government was only allowed to overtake certain subsidiaries within any given company. Now, the government can overtake and overhaul most of the holdings of a company should it fail.

This practice is less like a bailout than it is a bankruptcy. The government steps in and takes over the liquidation or expansion of bank holdings in an attempt to return the company to stability.

Failure Under Dodd-Frank

The ability of the United States government to take over banks may do more harm than good should a really large bank fail. The liquidation process outlined in Dodd-Frank likely doesn't take into account the truly global nature of banking these days.

This misunderstanding, however, isn't the only threat facing America should a big bank fail. The nation’s largest banks have only grown in size and influence since the recession of 2008.

In the case of Wells Fargo, the acquisition of Wachovia in 2008 led to double-digit gains and expanded the company’s sphere of influence by leaps and bounds.

Interconnectedness is still a problem among big banks as well. Institutions like Bank of America (which holds an amount of revenue roughly equivalent to 18% of US GDP) would not only collapse individually, they’d likely take an almost unthinkable number of institutions with them.

This domino effect was a major fear in 2008, and remains so today; the difference now is these banks are bigger and more connected.

Could It Happen

Hypothetically, were a big bank to fail, the United States government would step in through the FDIC and take over operations.

First, they would likely implement planned strategies for dealing with the economic fallout across international borders, some of which include: Identifying foreign problem areas prior to the failure; coordinating with regulators; and homing in on resolutions by district.

Next, the FDIC would get to work on restructuring the affected bank to fit pre-established models. Part of this restructuring would be the reallocation or liquidation of assets and placing the company into a state of receivership.

Theoretically, after these two steps, the FDIC and U.S. government would then oversee the company until the entire process is finished.

It’s important to keep in mind that the criticisms leveled against the provisional regulatory power of the United States government under Dodd-Frank may or may not come into play. It’s uncertain now whether the interconnectedness, size, and global nature of today’s banks would hinder the processes outlined in Dodd-Frank or not.

The primary reason behind this uncertainty is simple: There hasn't been a collapse since the recession in 2008.

Dodd-Frank’s regulations may keep collapses from having the heavy impact they did in 2008, they may have no affect at all, or the FDIC’s stewardship of large, failing banks may prove more disastrous for the country than outright collapse. We simply don’t know.

However, should another financial crisis strike this country on the scale of the recession, conditions are ripe for it to be the worst yet, should the provisions of Dodd-Frank prove ineffective.

Copyright © 2013 TotalBankruptcy, LLC. (as licensee). All rights reserved.

People talk about the shrinking of the middle class, but what exactly is it they’re referring to? How has the middle class changed in recent years?

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A Decade of Decline

Middle-tier median income falls...

• 1983: $58,307
• 2001: $72,956
• 2010: $69,487
• Incomes are scaled to reflect a three-person household (in 2011 dollars)

Share of Aggregate Family Income for Each Tier of the Population

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