Do you ever think that you are getting away with something?

[BigHairyPig]

Let's not forget that the banks received BILLIONS in bailout money.

[JackBondLove]

This has been a good thread. I was just wondering - what would you all think (or have thought about prior to you having ever considered BK) about a candidate for office who has gone through a Chapter 7? Would you have thought that this person is a welsher and not worthy of your vote?

[btbeme]

I was just wondering - what would you all think (or have thought about prior to you having ever considered BK) about a candidate for office who has gone through a Chapter 7? Would you have thought that this person is a welsher and not worthy of your vote?

I honestly do not think that BK has the same stigma that it had a decade or two ago. Certainly, during the next decade, I can hardly imagine that people with a BK or foreclosure will be considered to be "bad" people - the harsh reality of this recession is maybe only halfway done in my opinion.

In my opinion, it depends on the public office, I guess, and certainly the nature of the cause of the BK. I know a LOT of very smart businessmen and women who were BK at a time or two in their life, yet I would still seek out their wisdom and opinions on business matters.

I believe that public office is an honor bestowed by an electorate who identify themselves in their candidate. If my candidate was BK because he/she cheated on their third ex-spouse and that spouse took everything, well...

[DeadManCrawling]

Depends entirely on the candidate.

I vote my heart, and only a small part of that is someones financial background. In my world, there are room for mistakes, as long as there have been lessons learned.

Who better? A candidate who encountered serious trouble, confronted it, and moved on?

Or a candidate who SHOULD have filed BK but found a political donor to rescue them at the last moment for a price? That price will be paid by all of us.

I doubt I represent the majority view though.

In the 1950's, there was a stark illustration of how dumb most people are, which has been contested, and maybe disproved.

A candidate declared derisively that his opponent was a "known extrovert" with a "thespian sister from New York!"

And won the election based on these statements.

Now, most of us recognize this as pure foolishness, but most of us can ALSO see the ignorant masses recoiling, drawn breathless by such accusations, doing the only "right thing" their moral compass allows.

This story, from a Florida election in the 1950's, may or may not be true.

The fact is, most of us can SEE it happening. Even today.

A BK filer for office?

Would have my vote if he/she was the right person. But for most ignorant voters, it would be the kiss of death. Worse than wife-beating, incest, perhaps murder.

It is all in how you spin it, and BK, while being less stigmatized, is still viewed as a terrible thing.