Economy Takes Toll On Divorce Rate

Married people who literally hate their spouses forced to stay together, due to money

By JIM NEWELL

Updated 4:16 PM EST, Fri, Feb 6, 2009

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Unemployment, debt, reduced income -- these things pale in comparison to the biggest problem to which America -- especially Washington D.C. -- is succumbing during this Great New Depression: the Divorce Recession. It's just not worth it anymore!

If you've considered separating from that crabby old sack of meat sitting next to you on the couch, well, you probably should have done it in 2006 or 2007. Now you're in it for at least another couple of years, or however long it will take for all of that Obama Money to save the wretched economy.

Within the District, divorce and annulment filings fell about 49 percent from 2006 to 2008, said Leah H. Gurowitz, a spokeswoman for the D.C. Courts system. So far this year, the District has recorded 159 filings, on pace to total about 1,900 filings, 200 less than last year.

Nationally, the trend likely is similar, though statistics have not yet been released for last year.

A major drag on divorces has been the drop in home values -- down 19.4 percent from a year ago, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index -- which have devastated couples' home equity. Plummeting asset prices across the board, in general, have not helped.

So without money to extract from one's spouse through a divorce, there's not really much of a point to having one. According to local divorce lawyer Carloyn Goodman, "It is very hard to refinance right now and many people are being forced to just stay on. That's where I have seen the change. People may think twice about getting divorced and just separate."

If Barack Obama wishes to save his presidency, he must immediately bailout the divorce lawyers industry. It is too big to fail.

Jim Newell writes about family values for Wonkette and IvyGate.