“Choosing Bankruptcy to Stay Afloat” in today’s Washington Post attributes the phenomenon of increased filings to a lousy economy. But, if you read closely, you might (if you are a hard-hearted Republican like me) come away wondering if lousy choices weren’t the key factor.

I feel for Danielle Lancaster, who makes $28,000 a year as a bank employee in Richmond. But wouldn’t she be better off if she weren’t (apparently — the story implies this withing making it clear) raising a child as a single-mother?

I also feel sorry for Jerome and Stephanie Smith, whose house was foreclosed and “one of” their three cars repossessed. Mr. Smith sustained an injury, making him unable to work, but before that he had renegotiated his mortgage so many times that he “lost count.” Wouldn’t one be expected to keep count of this sort of thing?

“The numbers tell the story of a crippled economy,” the Post notes. I’m not convinced. But you can’t blame bad personal choices on the Bush administration. I dread the coming onslaught of lousy economy stories between now and November!