The Housing Crisis & System Failure

(Four Takes)

(1)

Housing Crisis, System Failure

By Rick Wolff, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
Truthout
August 21, 2010

This capitalist crisis resembles a certain kind of
serious disease. Different symptoms keep flaring up at
different locations. It began with sub-prime mortgages
in residential housing. Then, sequential flare-ups hit
the private banking system, forced millions out of
their jobs and homes, drastically cut world trade, and
undermined the public services and national debts of
several European countries. Meanwhile, another symptom
festered in the credit freeze crippling so much private
borrowing. Now, yet another symptom matures as
government subsidies and supports to our crisis-ridden
private housing industry add rising billions to the
deficit.

The unspoken ideological taboo in most public
discussion of the economic crisis prohibits seeing or
treating the problem as systemic, as a problem of
capitalism as a system. Instead, our political,
journalistic, and academic leaders mostly see only
symptoms and "develop policies" only for those
symptoms. Alarms about one symptom -- and contested
efforts to address it -- soon shift to another symptom
and "policy responses" for it. Often such policies for
one symptom actually worsen another symptom. For
example, when stock markets collapsed early in 2000
(symptom), the Federal Reserve drastically cut interest
rates (policy response); that move facilitated the
excess lending that collapsed the entire economy in
2007.

Read on:
http://www.truth-out.org/housing-crisis-a-symptom-capitalisms-failure62507

(2)

Editorial

Foreclosures Grind On

New York Times
August 19, 2010

There is a lot of grim economic news out there,
including Thursday's report that initial claims for
unemployment insurance rose to half a million people
last week. The news on housing - where the financial
crisis began - is also bad. And the government's
response to high foreclosure rates continues to fall
far short of what is needed to help Americans hold on
to their homes and to stabilize home prices. Readers'
Comments

In July, for the 17th month in a row, there were more
than 300,000 foreclosures filings, including default
notices, auction notices and bank repossessions,
according to RealtyTrac, a marketer of foreclosed
properties. Over the past eight months, bank
repossessions have surged. In July, 92,858 homes were
repossessed.

As repossessed homes are put up for sale, house prices
are likely to fall further. As prices fall, more
borrowers end up "underwater" - owing more on their
mortgages than their homes are worth. That's a big risk
factor for default, especially when coupled with high
unemployment. Moody's Economy.com estimates that 1.9
million homes will be lost this year, down only
slightly from 2 million in 2009.

Read on :
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/20/opinion/20fri1.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=Foreclosures&st=Search

(3)

Atlanta Churches in Foreclosure

EurWeb
August 20, 2010

The foreclosure crisis has touched everyone, including
the church. A predominantly African American church in
Atlanta is speaking out about its foreclosure, saying
the bank is not doing enough to help.

Pastor Dexter Johnson, Higher Ground Empowerment Center
leader, has been given until Aug. 31 to pay up or leave
the grounds. He says the church is currently pursuing a
loan modification, but the church membership has
tremendously declined since the tornado that hit
Atlanta in 2008.

Johnson and a coalition of clergy leaders of other
predominantly black churches believe banks are putting
unfair pressure on them.

Two weeks ago, a bank evicted Darryl Winston's
southeast Atlanta Church. Marshals dumped the church
belongings in the parking lot. He believes at least 40
other churches in the city are facing the same fate.

Read on: http://www.eurweb.com/?p=44571

(4)

A Permanent Housing Collapse?
By Shamus Cooke

L.A, Progressive
August 19, 2010

A Permanent Housing Collapse? The recent chaos that
erupted when 30,000 people waited hours in the Atlanta,
Georgia, heat to receive applications for subsidized
housing is a mere symptom of a worsening national
problem.

The housing market appears to be on a never-ending
downward spiral, with the much-discussed "recovery"
always around the next corner.

The reasons that such a recovery is impossible at the
moment should be obvious: millions of people do not
have jobs; millions of others work only part time;
millions more work fulltime but make very little money;
and additional millions fear losing their jobs.

Under these circumstances, there can be no recovery in
the housing market, which will continue to contribute
to the broader depression-like economy in the U.S.

Read on:
http://www.laprogressive.com/economic-equality/permanent-housing-collapse/?utm

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