The American Real-Estate Market
by tdaxp ~ April 10th, 2009
If you have been following a respectable media source, like this blog, you already know that only suckers pay their mortgages and organized gangs are systematically seizing homes.
If you only read a partisan newsletter, like the New York Times, you found out about this today.
With Advocates’ Help, Squatters Call Foreclosures Home – NYTimes.com
Mr. Rameau said his group differed from ad hoc squatters by operating openly, screening potential residents for mental illness and drug addiction, and requiring that they earn “sweat equity” by cleaning or doing repairs around the house and that they keep up with the utility bills.“We change the locks,” he said. “We pull up with a truck and move in through the front door. The families get a key to the front door.” Most of the houses are in poor neighborhoods, where the neighbors are less likely to object.
Hat-tip to Calculated Risk.
April 10th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Inklings of the coming American mega slum, perhaps.
April 10th, 2009 at 11:57 am
Perhaps.
As a progressive, Obama’s focus is on the control and improvement of American society. This naturally leads him to favor both the rich and the poor, as they are deeply in debt to the system and have lost the ability to thrive without.
The middle class, however, is less accommodated.
Poor can seize houses, and rich speculators get their sub-prime assets bailed out, but middle class people who consume the housing they can afford are squeezed from both sides.
April 10th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Sounds like South Africa…
April 17th, 2009 at 5:57 am
These raids are delaying any economic recovery, by further destroying the value of our housing stock. [1]
Given our current government’s preference for” social justice” and “too big to fail” over the traditional conception of property (that is, a preference for the upper and lower classes against the middle), it’s hard to see this turning around soon.
[1] http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2009/04/17/will-we-reward-speculators-for-destroying-houses.html