The Nation - News from April 23, 1989

Congress may be asked to bail out numerous corporations that will be forced into bankruptcy in the next recession because of excessive debt, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee said. Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Tex.) said a study that shows a dramatic increase in the amount of high-risk “junk bond” debt since 1980 makes him worry about the possibility of a taxpayer bailout similar to the multibillion-dollar rescue of the nation’s troubled savings and loan institutions. Bentsen said the Library of Congress study “tells us that the amount of corporate debt is going through the roof and that the quality of corporate debt is going through the floor.”