Has avalanche of corporate bankruptcies begun?

USA TODAY, February, 2008 by Matt Krantz

Ionic Breeze air purifiers and jelly bean jars Wednesday became the latest victims in what’s looking like a coming avalanche of corporate bankruptcies.

Sharper Image, source of gizmos such as air purifiers, and Lillian Vernon, a mail-order retailer specializing in holiday decor, filed for bankruptcy protection as the pressures of a slowing economy and credit crunch proved too much to bear.

With lenders increasingly reluctant to bankroll less-than-stable companies, financial experts are braced for more companies to teeter toward bankruptcy.

“What you’ve seen so far is nothing in terms of what is coming,” says Martin Zohn, bankruptcy expert at law firm Proskauer Rose.

Already this year, 13 publicly traded companies with assets of $7.7…