Nation's Business: A better balance in bankruptcy law - includes related articles on how to avoid bankruptcy & keeping a small business afloat A Better Balance In Bankruptcy Law MEET CHARLIE, a computer executive making $75,000 a year in 1979. He owned a beautifully furnished $175,000 country home with a $150,000 mortgage and commuted daily into New York City. He and his wife, Sylvia, enjoyed Broadway shows and exclusive Manhattan restaurants. Charlie loved credit and lived on it--a stockpile of charge cards, a credit union revolving loan and overdraft checking. In early 1980 he reached his credit limit and had to start paying cash for entertainment. But with so much of his monthly income committed to debt service, there was just not that much cash left over to play with, and that annoyed Charlie and Sylvia. Enter the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978, which went into effect in October, 1979. It was an answer to the couple's prayer. They declared bankruptcy under Chapter 7, which erased all their debts. They were able to keep their house and continue to enjoy all of Charlie's $75,000 salary. They resumed their lives without any obligation to repay any of their creditors. Charlie and Sylvia are not a particularly extreme example of the new kind of debtor encouraged by the looseness of the 1978 law. During the law's first full year of operation, between October, 19