We're number one, we're number one.....oops, never mind.

Utah, besides being number one in things to make you proud like ice cream consumption, non-smokers, non-drinkers, family size, etc., is also number one in another category of dubious worth, that of bankruptcies. One in 36.5 households filed for bankruptcy in Utah, compared with the national average of 72.8 households. This is one fo those statistics that makes people scratch their heads seeing how the dominate religion of the state, the LDS Church counsels it's members on a regular basis (at least every six months during General Conference) to stay out of debt and be thrify and frugal. It would be too easy to point the fickle finger of fate at all the non-members of the LDS Church as being the cause, BUT, that would be wrong. There are many members of the LDS Church, bless their souls, who are too much in debt and this eventually catches up with them. People can point to the member's large families and easy access to credit cards, but the main reason is lack of self-control, i.e., the "keeping-up-with-the-Jones'-syndrome". Until people start realizing that they don't need a new car every year, a 12-room house for two people or that "dream" vacation to Hawaii, Utah will continue to be "numero uno" in bankruptcies.