Putting It In Perspective: Largest bankruptcies in U.S. history displayed graphically
Click above to view Good Magazine's largest bankruptcies in U.S. history infographic
The benevolent-minded folks over at Good Magazine have commissioned infographic specialists Always With Honor to give us a little perspective on America's recent rash of bankruptcies. Using the 'sinking ship' metaphor to graphically show where the Chapter 11 filings of General Motors and Chrysler sit among the 20 biggest bankruptcies in U.S. history provides some interesting perspective on the ailments affecting America's auto industry and the economy at large.
Included in the graphic are high-profile filings like Lehman Brothers, Worldcom, and Enron, along with lesser-known companies like Calpine and General Growth Properties. Soberingly, Good notes that eight of the largest bankrutpcies in American history have come in the last two years.
Click on the image above to see the infographic in its entirety.
[Source: Good Magazine]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ronEbear 2:05PM (6/12/2009)
I`m getting too old for this ship!
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Saxxon 6:06PM (6/12/2009)
I wonder how big of a ship they will use when our country goes bankrupt.
Oh yeah, Obama already said we are out of money, too late.
SimbaDogg 4:54PM (6/15/2009)
gah'd damn lehman brothers...shoulda known
Tim 2:12PM (6/12/2009)
SOS!
save our stocks!
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Snix 2:21PM (6/12/2009)
Interestingly, I don't hear Shirley Temple singing "On The Good Ship Lollypop".
I do hear the Titanic band playing "Nearer My God To Thee", though.
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Farmboy 2:28PM (6/12/2009)
Poor Rick Wagoner. His old yacht is sinking.
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Josiah 2:30PM (6/12/2009)
awww look at Chrysler down there in their cute little pink dinghy...
GM: "At least we're not Lehman Bros"
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bc 2:34PM (6/12/2009)
Right, Chapter 11; Chapter 7 is liquidation.
Like Edward Tufte, who wrote the definitive book 'The Visual Display of Quantitative Information', I hate these Time-magazine-style graphs. As with this one, they almost always distort the information contained because the pictographs are not to scale. E.g., GM is only 2.5 times as big as Thornburg but its representation is approximately 9 times as big, and Lehman Brothers is even more overscaled.
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James 4:50PM (6/13/2009)
I couldn't agree more. If you actually want to compare these things, look at a bar graph. This boat graphic is a cute idea, but absolutely horrible at presenting accurate comparative information.
nanotube 2:45PM (6/12/2009)
The difference is GM and Chrysler's assets are real. They have inventory, factories, thousands of employees, parts, patents and intellectual property. What exactly were Lehman Brothers' assets besides inflated numbers on a spreadsheet? Contracts? Deals? Bets?
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Sanders 3:13PM (6/12/2009)
Yes nanotube. Stocks, securities, etc. It's all gambling and speculation. And most of it isn't real--in a direct and immediate tangible way. It's on paper. It's like that classic scene from "It's a Wonderful Life". Your money isn't here in the bank. It's in X's home loan or in Y's business or ??. We lucked out this time around, no major runs on banks when all hell broke loose in mid/late 2008, unlike the Great Depression.
DayShifter 3:28PM (6/12/2009)
@Sanders,
Ditto!
It was an amazing system, it's like you could make money off the debt of people, more then what the actuallty debt was worth.....WTF?? Whenever someone tries to explain it, I keep a confused look and wonder how did WE let this Fantasy Financial Banking game get to the level it did.
Johnson B. 3:05PM (6/12/2009)
Hello all, new to the forum. Looking at the key of that diagram, there's a lot of 'green', which denotes financial companies. I know 'business types' will come out in defense and say since that industry takes the most chances, they have the higher probability for failure.
I say they have a higher probability of failure because of the unethical and greedy culture inherent in an industry who's sole purpose is to manipulate money, for monies sake. At some point this will cause them to overstep common sense and do something stupid, like cause a global meltdown. Other opinions or viewpoints?
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David 4:27PM (6/12/2009)
How about showing the US Governments 12 Trillion dollar debt/U.S. Citizen bankruptcy in comparison? Perspective people... perspective!
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