Seems ironic, doesn’t it? You don’t have any money, so you file bankruptcy – but to file bankruptcy, you need money to pay your lawyers, court fees, restructuring costs, maybe the occasional severance or something.

If you’re hoping to actually exit bankruptcy in one piece, usually you’ll get a loan for this, called a DIP (which stands for debtor-in-possession, but makes me think instead of a tasty bowl of bleu-cheese-and-spinach, or maybe one of those big yellow signs in the road, depending on my mood).

Wall Street Journal reports today, however, that these loans are becoming as elusive as Sasquatch. If you can find Sasquatch, you are eligible for a million dollars. If you can find DIP financing, you are now paying LIBOR (the London intrabank offered lending rate, which, despite Bernanke’s best flailings, refuses to budge below 2%) plus a 5-7% fail surcharge, for the privilege.

GE, the bank masquerading as an electric company, has been at the forefront of DIP financing, and the WSJ article suggests they’re backing away from the market, considering the high level of fail involved (it IS bankruptcy we are talking about, after all).

End result: as we pour a 40 out on the stoop for DIP financing, expect more liquidations than restructurings.