Since Ehrenreich in her post brought up this Prins piece in the latest issue of Mother Jones I thought I’d find it online. This timeline highlights some key occurrences throughout the decades on the way to the subprime mortgage meltdown.

Among some of the earlier occurrences that I found interesting and tragic were:

1978: Supreme Court’s Marquette decision gives banks the right to make loans in states other than where they are headquartered; lenders rush to places with the weakest consumer protections, e.g. Delaware and South Dakota.

1980: After interest rates rise 13 percentage points in 2 years, President Carter signs law further hollowing out Glass-Steagall. The measure-pushed through by Sen. Jake Garn (R-Utah), a former insurance executive-demolishes usury caps for mortgages and raises bar for prosecuting lenders.

April 2, 1987: Sen. John McCain meets with federal regulators to discuss investigation of Lincoln Savings and Loan. The thrift’s owner, Charles Keating, was the senator’s business partner and campaign contributor, and flew McCain around on his private jet.

Dec 9, 1988: Silverado S&L collapses, leaving $1.3 billion taxpayer liability; board members include Neil Bush, who engineered loans to friends in what federal Office of Thrift Supervision will call “multiple conflicts of interest.” Bush later tells Congress a few of his deals may have looked “a little fishy.”

Feb 6, 1989: President George H.W. Bush bails out S&L industry; among those helped is his son, Jeb, as government takes over most of a $5 million second mortgage on his Miami office building.

Then we hit 1998 where we see First Union (now Wachovia) acquiring The Money Store—a very large subprime lender—only to take a 2.8 billion write down in 2000. Conseco would file for bankruptcy in 2002 for doing something similar. Back in 1998 we saw Citicorp and Travelers merge with Sandy Weil launching a multi-million dollar campaign to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act. Eventually, I think the the Gramm-Leech-Billey Act which gutted Glass-Steagall was a major factor in getting us to where we are today. There’s a whole not more to this piece and it’s worth reading.

Technorati : mother jones, nomi prins

I got this ACORN media advisory today and considering the post I just read on Barbara Ehrenreich’s blog—I think this is important.

National City, the seventh largest mortgage servicer in the nation, is responsible for 1.2 million loans valued at $187 billion. Many of them are delinquent or will soon become delinquent. In order to prevent all of those loans from going into foreclosure, massive numbers of streamlined modifications are necessary. ACORN is demanding that National City provide fixed-rate, affordable modifications to all delinquent loans that they are responsible for servicing.

WHO: ACORN Members

WHEN: Tuesday, July 29, 2008

WHERE: National City Mortgage, 1801 Old Hwy 8 NW Suite 123 & 123 New Brighton, MN 55112

TIME: 11:00 a.m.

“As one of the larger lenders that fueled this crisis, and as one of the largest mortgage servicers in the nation, National City has a responsibility to solve this crisis with swift and decisive action to save the homes of hundreds of thousands of families,” ACORN member Al Ynigues, said, “Your slogan is, “We care about doing what’s right.” Now is the time for National City to prove it.”

As for the post I read today on Barbara Ehrenreich’s blog she talked about people who are facing foreclosure committing suicide.

Dry your eyes, already: Death is an effective remedy for debt, along with anything else that may be bothering you too. And try to think of it too from a lofty, corner-office, perspective: If you can’t pay your debts or afford to play your role as a consumer, and if, in addition – like an ever-rising number of Americans – you’re no longer needed at the workplace, then there’s no further point to your existence. I’m not saying that the creditors, the bankers and the mortgage companies actually want you dead, but in a culture where one’s credit rating is routinely held up as a three-digit measure of personal self-worth, the correct response to insoluble debt is in fact, “Just shoot me!”

The alternative is to value yourself more than any amount of money and turn the guns, metaphorically speaking, in the other direction. It wasn’t God, or some abstract economic climate change, that caused the credit crisis. Actual humans -often masked as financial institutions – did that, (and you can find a convenient list of names in Nomi Prins’s article in the current issue of Mother Jones.) Most of them, except for a tiny few facing trials, are still high rollers, fattening themselves on the blood and tears of ordinary debtors. I know it’s so 1930s, but may I suggest a march on Wall Street?

This is why what ACORN is beginning to do is so important. People have more power than they think they do.

Technorati : acorn, foreclosure

I happened to see that the blog Uptown Flavor had linked to a post of mine about how Harlem is not for sale. In that blog post of mine, I in turn was referencing a post on NYC Indymedia about the protests and rallies that recently occurred in Harlem concerning gentrification.

In the post on Uptown Flavor where they link to me, they also have the above Youtube video featured as well. The video is really informative and shows what people in Harlem are up against. One thing they’re up against is the Halliburton of Harlem and the Bechtel of the Bronx, the Pinnacle Group. I’ve written about the Pinnacle Group before so I won’t go into them too much again. The reason I associate Pinnacle with Halliburton and Bechtel is to describe the executives of Pinnacle as sociopathic and therefore interchangeable with any of these evil corporations. They could even go work for Wal-Mart, Blackwater, Monsanto or ExxonMobil!

In the video there is a scene where a woman who is currently paying $700 a month in a rent controlled apartment is now constantly pressured to leave by Pinnacle. Now, with the cost of rent skyrocketing over the past few years in NYC I can understand the animosity that corporatists like Pinnacle would hold towards people living in rent controlled units, but the reality is that even $700 a month can be a lot for people! Not only for low income people but even for middle class people! Where would you have this woman go? Of course that’s not Pinnacle’s problem. What do they care that they ride the wave of creating two New York City’s or even two New York States? One where all who can afford it, live in luxury housing in areas that are now considered to be “the place to be” while those who can’t afford it, are tossed out to make room for more of those luxury apartments.

Of course to be fair the Pinnacle Group is but one of many developers and real estate firms looking to bring in the wealth and get rid of the rest. I actually think that another person in the video put it best when they said that they really need to ensure that the plans for the new developments in Harlem aren’t just gentrification in disguise and “a plan to remove us sending us nowhere”. No matter where gentrification is done whether it’s New York or DC the problem is that there will be many people removed with nowhere to go. Sure the Pinnacle Group must look at that woman as a “freeloader” who is getting a nice apartment for seven hundred dollars a month, but she has to live somewhere and she’s been there for a long time. She also has to be able to buy food too! There’s a reason rent control was implemented in the first place.

What’s also another troubling scene in the video is the fact that three New York City council people that represent Harlem voted for a rezoning plan (I believe for 125th Street) that does nothing to really help the current residents, but does a lot for the developers. It was initially said that half of the new housing would be available at an affordable price. It turns out that only five percent will be affordable housing. What those three city councilors voted for amount to a crime against the people of Harlem. I think what the people in that area have to do is run primary campaigns against those three city councilors. Someone needs to run on an affordable housing, smart development and progressive platform. Someone also needs to look at campaign contributions and see what councilors are taking money from real estate developers, then publicize it. You also have to organize people and make sure everyone is registered to vote.

Technorati : harlem, ny, pinnacle group

This is what I’ll never understand about development policies that are supported throughout the nation. Why does the displacement and eviction of the current residents need to be associated with “development”? Why does urban renewal involve kicking everyone out? This is happening in Washington DC right now as well. Many long time residents of the city now find it impossible to afford rents and are being forced to leave. This is all just because the “city” is now becoming fashionable to higher income people. So the poor and overwhelmingly minority population is being sent packing to the suburbs or further out.

This happens in cycles actually. There was a time when many communities witnessed flight out of the cities into the suburbs. Now that the cities are being seen as a place to live again the flight is being reversed. Eventually all the poor people will be economically segregated in the suburbs again. They won’t have the public transportation they now have access to either. Then after three or four decades pass we’ll see the “well to do” moving back to the suburbs and pushing the poor out back to the city again!

I like development don’t get me wrong. When I lived in New York I was glad to see Times Square and 42nd Street evolve to what it is now. It’s not that I’m a fan of the chain stores per se, it’s just good to see the area be a place where people can actually feel safe and bring their families and friends to. In DC I must say it’s good to see the Penn Quarter changing for the better too. The problem is development means that you have to make a Faustian bargain and accept chain and big box stores by the boat load. You have to also accept the exodus of the poor. The corporate powers that be don’t seem to feel that mixed income neighborhoods can be successful. They definitely don’t look to include independent businesses enough. There’s no thought about affordable housing either.

Technorati : gentrification, harlem

The New York Times has a story out today talking about the rise in renters erasing the gains of home ownership.

Driven largely by the surge in foreclosures and an unsettled housing market, Americans are renting apartments and houses at the highest level since President Bush started a campaign to expand homeownership in 2002.

Yet, there’s probaby around 20% of the American people who still approve of Bush. The problem with people looking to rent now is the fact that it’s getting harder to find a place to rent. Also the cost to rent is increasing as the demand has increased. Neoliberal Milton Friedmanism shows it’s true face once again. The only good thing about the foreclosures is that greedy and somewhat predatory lenders are being put out of business or are taking a big loss. Yes, some of the people who took out mortgages or who speculated are at fault for taking on something they should not have; but it doesn’t erase the greed of the banks.

Technorati : bush, ownership society

This is the kind of elitism that is hard to let pass. This is what you would call NIMBYism. The Hillmead area in Bethesda, MD seems to be allergic to housing for the homeless. Back in my town of Greenburgh, NY we have the same problem (I now live in Arlington, VA it may be there too but haven’t seen it yet). The more well-to-do are always afraid of allowing low income elements in to cast shadows on their well manicured lawns. In Greenburgh I even recall fights over approving the zoning changes to allow state funded health clinics to be present for fear that drug addicts would roam free and do harm. That hasn’t happened but what has happened is that the low income have access to more affordable health care and maybe some drug addicts are getting help too! Also, thanks to the Greenburgh police things are normal.

Now back to the main issue of affordable housing, homeless housing or even homeless shelters. Here is the news that the elite, as liberal as they may be, in Montgomery County or elsewhere must realize; and that is that these places have to go somewhere. We must resist the temptation to create gated communities where the rich or middle class hide from the poor.

As a society we have to realize that it’s indeed true that “we’re all in this together”. Not every homeless person or “low income” person is a threat to your high property tax abode. They deserve a chance too. Of course there is the likely hood that some of these individuals may harbor criminal intent or are not psychologically intact. This is why we need professional staff at the facilities that serve this constituency or law enforcement keeping a lookout on the areas where the housing would be placed. Or even better, there should be no segmentation at all. Then law enforcement would just patrol and be vigilant everywhere. I think mixed-income neighborhoods are the best way to go.

I remember in White Plains, NY not too long ago a woman was killed by a homeless person who was let out of a homeless shelter and was allowed to roam free. The person was mentally ill. It is a tragedy that this happened but why are we letting it happen? It appears that the shelter houses people for the night then releases them in the morning. The homeless then roam around the surrounding area and wait to go back for the night. You can often spot them in the library, bookstore or shopping malls passing time. Now why can’t there be programs created to address these issues? Let’s say there’s a homeless person who is also suffering from a mental illness; why would we cut that person loose? Even for the homeless people who are mentally sound; why aren’t we providing them with opportunities (education, jobs) that will occupy their time and lift themselves out of poverty?

Personally, I’m from a low income area in the Bronx. That was where I was born and that’s where I grew up. Eventually by the time I was 18 in 1997 my mother saved up and moved us to Greenburgh, NY so that we could have a better life and more opportunity. It has most surely worked and I thank her for doing this. I also thank the neighbors and the coop board of our apartment building in Hartsdale, NY for seeing not the area where we came from but who we were as people. Spending the very early years of my adult life there (I’m only 29) provided me with the platform to get me where I am now. The education I received from the Greenburgh Central 7 school system led me to have the interests and be the person I am today. Also, the neighborhood I live in is a great place with good people (where I live in Arlington Village now is just as nice by the way).

In the end acting like the people on my coop board is what Bethesda has to do, that’s what we all have to do. What’s interesting about the Hillmead issue in Bethesda is that they already have a homeless shelter in the neighborhood and the world hasn’t come to an end. If they wake up the world may actually improve just a little.

Wade Rathke: Chief Organizer, ACORN, SEIU Local 100, AFL-CIO

Bruce Dorpalen, director of housing counseling at ACORN Housing, a nonprofit mortgage counselor, welcomed Clinton’s proposals but said they didn’t go far enough. “We’ve got serious waves of foreclosures. The first problem we need to tackle is a broad fixing of interest rates that’s based on people’s finances,” he said. Senator Clinton wants an “A” team after her notions to come together and help figure a way out of the mess. She suggested former Fed chiefs Alan Greenspan and Paul Volcker and former Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin. I’m sorry, Senator, but this seems too much like the team that got us into this mess. They are the wrong team for this job. Let’s leave them on the bench.

Whenever I hear the names Volcker (the Volcker shock), Greenpsan and Rubin it’s enough to make one cringe. They are all believers in Milton’s “Friedmanism” and Bruce Dorpalen is right; this is the economic fundamentalist ideology that got us into this housing mess in the first place.

DC Indymedia: Massive condo project planned for Randall shelter site

“Affordable housing” in this case means 80% of area median income-or over $75,000 a year! THIS is what is replacing the homeless shelter that used to operate out of Randall School. The closure of Randall Shelter has been confirmed to have killed at least three former residents-one murdered in the night while sleeping outside, another from lack of medical attention, another unknown causes.

The madness continues. The problem is that homeless shelters have to go somewhere and you can’t just keep on pushing a certain element out. What’s going to happen when all the poor people are in the run down areas of the suburbs and all the “well-to-do” people live in DC? I hear right now a lot of the low income people that had lived in DC are now moving to Prince George’s’ in Maryland.

The District of Columbia is headed in the same direction that Harlem is going in.

I happened to read this piece in the Village Voice from a few days ago talking about the continuing gentrification of Harlem basically.

Here’s the problem:

The Kalahari, a luxury “green” condo currently under construction on Harlem’s 116th street, is trying to fit in with the locals instead of sticking out like a sore thumb. The developers’ solution: a sub-Saharan motif. The exterior of the building is designed to evoke the tribal art of the Ndebele tribe of South Africa. Inside, the apartments come with recycled bamboo floors and a solar heating system.

The co-developers of the $120 million Kalahari, Walter Edwards and Carlton Brown, chose African art and imagery to give the locals a sense of their heritage. “We’re trying to wake up people and give them some self-pride,” says Edwards. “I’ve been in Harlem since 1947. I’m well known in the community and this project has been received with nothing but positivity.”

But not everyone is sold on the back-to-the-motherland digs.

At the Martin Luther King housing projects across the street, many residents want to know: What good is an African-inspired building when most black people in the city can’t afford to live in it?

This is almost like rubbing it in the faces of the community in Harlem. If the developer has been in the community since 1947 shouldn’t he realize that this sort of development does not help the community it only displaces it? Oh sure, let some of the residents in Harlem (forgetting that there are more than just African-Americans living in poverty, there’s the Hispanic population too) look at their “culture” and “heritage” of this development from their housing project windows (ultra to the extreme sarcasm). It’s almost like you’re mocking them. It’s like “look” but don’t “touch”.

Apartments in the two 12-story towers sell for up to $1 million and,
according to Edwards, they’re going quickly. Luxury condos and
multi-million-dollar brownstones have become the norm in central
Harlem, where the estimated average household income is $24,261. What
makes the Kalahari unique are the colors of its facade (a checkerboard
of charcoal, beige, and brown) and its co-developers (black). But
knowing that the Kalahari isn’t just another case of white developers
cashing in does little to ease the concerns of residents who are
threatened by gentrification.

This is truly sad. Unfortunately for developers there’s no money in building affordable housing. That’s why people have to fight so hard to save Starrett City. Something has got to change other wise we’ll have people living in luxury condos and McMansions overlooking a view of people living in shacks on the street.