July 2011 Archives

Long-time Georgians know something that the newly arrived or outsiders don't know: Georgia consistently has some of the cheapest gas in the country. This is due, largely, to the generously low gas tax per gallon in the state. In Georgia folks pay only 20.7 cents per gallon. This is 9 cents less than the national average and puts the Peach State in a tie for second place with Wyoming and Oklahoma.

Georgia is behind only Alaska where they really like to "drill baby drill," and so their state tax is only 6 cents per gallon.

This is a time of great economic distress in this country, when analysts are regularly finding that people with less income are being forced to turn to their credit cards to pay for even food and gas. The basic problem, reports Bloomberg News, is that income gains are failing to keep up with rising food and gas prices. So even having a low gas tax is not going to help Georgians much.

The so called “Great Recession” that has afflicted the United States since 2008 has led to the loss of millions of jobs and billions of dollars in losses. Corporate irresponsibility has also hit Georgia much closer to home as the Federal Deposit Insurance Company, which insures all U.S. banks, filed suit against Georgia’s failed Haven Trust Bank, reports the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

This is the 65th Georgia bank to have failed since 2008. This is the highest number of any one state in America.

Lenny Dykstra, one of the key players on the 1993 Philadelphia Phillies team that prevented the favored Atlanta Braves from reaching a second consecutive World Series, is in a lot of hot water.

We now have to add the problem of Dykstra bankruptcy fraud to the former superstar's charges, as well as obstruction of justice, reports the New York Times. Other Dykstra misfortunes include state charges of identity theft, grand theft auto and possession of drugs.

The brother and son of a U.S. senator -- who was previously a real estate developer and later investigated the national banking system for financial impropriety -- have defaulted on a massive loan to develop a retirement community in Atlanta.

The US Senator is Johnny Isakson, reports the Atlanta Journal Constitution. His brother Andy and his son Kevin Warner Isakson are being sued by BB&T for $30.5 million for failing to pay back a loan originally taken out from Colonial Bank six years ago.

You may not know that the NFL is the world’s richest sports league — almost doubling the revenues of the the second ranked English Premier League.

So when earlier this year the NFL went into a lockout, over a myriad number of issues including healthcare, player’s revenues, and profits from TV deals, it was natural to believe that a lot of subsidiary industries would suffer from the lack of business. There are approximately 115,000 people who work directly or indirectly with the NFL.

The bedraggled, bankrupt, book-selling company, Borders Group, did not receive any bids that might have allowed it to avoid liquidation and so it will be liquidating all 399 stores immediately, including 10 in Georgia, reports the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

At the height of its business in 2003, Borders operated almost 1,300 stores under the Borders and Waldenbooks names.

There is some hope among Atlanta area independent booksellers that Borders's demise will translate into more sales and more customers for them. Speaking to the AJC, the general manager of Eagle Eye Books in Decatur, expressed such a hope.

A personal injury case stemming from incidents across the country has now become a bankruptcy case, right here in Georgia. The Wall Street Journal reported late last week that Napa Home & Garden has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company has been under fire for the burn injuries allegedly caused by gel that was made to be burned in decorative pots to keep insects away.

Incidents from New York to Minnesota lead major retailers like Bed Bath & Beyond to stop carrying the gel pots. The reports of the gel exploding and causing burns sparked a nationwide recall by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission which affected sales of the NAPAfire and FIREGEL Gel Fuel line of products, reports The Journal.

Many Atlanta residents and people throughout the state of Georgia are struggling with debt these days. It seems no part of the economy, high or low, has been spared as the state tries hard to pull itself out of the hole the recession buried it in. Case in point, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal.

Governor Deal has managed to reduce a major debt load and avoid bankruptcy, reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The governor has reduced his debt by $800,000, until there is only about $1.3 million left -- and that too will go down over the next few weeks.

The British-style pub chain Elephant & Castle is currently defaulting on loans and suffering from the economic recession. Most notably, the company owes more than $16 million to its lender GE Canada Equipment. As a result of the defaulted loans, the restaurant is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and hoping to reorganize the business through a reorganization plan, reports The Boston Herald.

The restaurant company is specifically looking to sell the business so that the chain can avoid shutting down for good. David Dobbin, the company chairman of Elephant & Castle, said in a U.S. Bankruptcy Court filing that Elephant & Castle already has several potential purchasers and interested parties.