Rants 'n Raves

As of today, more than five million more families (another 5% of all U.S. households) are now behind on their mortgages. And like the ones before them, risk foreclosure. This year and going forward, economists are predicting many more.

The government’s "Mortgage Modification Plan" from last year (a $75 billion taxpayer-financed effort) has been another Obama failure.

For the Obama administration, there is also the concern that millions of more foreclosures could delay or even reverse the economy’s supposed "tentative recovery" - the last thing it wants in an election year. Obama's had enough bad publicity already from all his other blunders.

Obama's latest "new-and-improved" program will allow owners to sell their homes for less than they owe, and will give them a little pocket change to help speed things up. ($1,500 for a "relocation allowance".)

This will be brokered with the banks, but the banks don't like this. Maybe they'd rather evict the families and allow the property to go into disrepair (further eroding the housing market) and collect the full amount through the government's guaranteed FHA insurance...funded by taxpayers just like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and TARP.

Taxpayer money will now be used to help soften the blow of people facing eviction from their homes by the banks. I would guess that many of these mortgages are A.R.M. loans, the kind that the banks have resisted renegotiating into regular 30-year conventional loans (and at a fair interest rate that the family could have better been able to afford.)

Taking effect on April 5, the program could encourage hundreds of thousands of delinquent borrowers (who have not been rescued by Obama's failed "loan modification program") to give up their homes through a process known as a "short sale".

(Contact the White House for details...)

Related posts:

Will we see homeless shantytowns in 2010?

http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/08/the-great-depression-then-and-now-is-the

The Jobless and Suicides in 2010

http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/07/out-of-work-buy-a-shotgun

The Great Depression: Then and Now - Is There a Difference?

http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/08/the-great-depression-then-and-now-is-the

Will we see homeless shantytowns in 2010?

...and if so, why does Obama insist on giving us "healthcare reform" instead of jobs?

The widespread prosperity of the "Roaring Twenties" ended abruptly with the stock market crash in October of 1929 and the Great Depression followed. At one point in the depth of the depression, 25% of the American workforce was out of work. For many Americans, these were very hard times.

"Hooverville" became a common term for shacktowns and homeless encampments during the Great Depression. There were hundreds of Hoovervilles throughout the country, each testifying to the housing crisis that accompanied the employment crisis of the early 1930s.

"Hooverville" was a deliberately politicized label, coined and used to emphasize that President Herbert Hoover and the Republican Party were held to be responsible for the economic crisis and its miseries. (No, they didn't inherit it from Bush.)

Homeless man sitting in a "Hooverville" shantytown in Seattle, Washington 1931

Homelessness followed quickly from joblessness once the economy began to crumble during the early 1930s. Homeowners lost their property when they could not pay mortgages or pay taxes. Renters fell behind and were evicted. By 1932 millions of Americans were living outside the normal rent-paying housing market.

Many squeezed in with relatives. Unit densities soared in the early 1930s. Some squatted, either defying eviction and staying where they were, or finding shelter in one of the increasing number of vacant buildings.

And hundreds of thousands took to the streets, finding what shelter they could, under bridges, in culverts, or on vacant public land where they built crude shacks..."Hovervilles". Some cities allowed squatter encampments for a time, others did not.

Some of the men who were forced to live in these conditions possessed construction skills and were able to build their houses out of stone. Most people, however, resorted to building their residences out of wood from crates, cardboard, scraps of metal, or whatever materials were available to them.

Homeless shantytown known as a "Hooverville" in California - 1933

The economic troubles of the 1930s were worldwide in scope and effect. Economic instability led to political instability in many parts of the world. Political chaos, in turn, gave rise to dictatorial regimes such as Adolf Hitler's in Germany and the military's in Japan.

At the end of 1931, infrequent rallies, and even riots, began to occur throughout the nation. Frustration and fear permeated the country.

In John Steinbeck's famous novel "The Grapes of Wrath", the Joad family settles into a Hooverville in California. (See my post about the Dust Bowl)

Bonus Expeditionary Force

In May of 1932, 300 World War I Veterans set out from Oregon to Washington DC to lobby for a bill for their wartime bonus pay. Many more joined them as they traveled. They called themselves the Bonus Expeditionary Force.

When they reached Washington DC, they were organized into tent-camps. Army Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur was concerned that the group was a communist attempt to undermine the government, but they were merely hungry veterans, many of them accompanied by their families.

In 1932 the bill was defeated in the Senate, but the Veterans did not riot; they simply sang "America the Beautiful" on the Capitol steps and returned to their encampments.

Herbert Hoover was uncomfortable with the attention the World War I heros were drawing to his administration, and city officials worried about riots. Thus, the President ordered General Douglas MacArthur to clear the area, immediately.

MacArthur gathered cavalry, infantry, a machine gun squadron, and tanks and proceeded up Pennsylvania Avenue. MacArthur was joined by Maj. Dwight D. Eisenhower and George S. Patton Jr. The cavalry advanced with swords drawn. The militia destroyed the make shift homes of the veterans, often with fire. The veterans were driven across the bridge to the opposite side of the Anacostia River, where another encampment was destroyed by fire. No one was certain how that fire started.

The veteran's bill was finally passed in 1936, but the bill required an override of a Presidential veto. This time the President was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a Progressive Democrat who had been elected and in office since 1932.

After 12 Years of Misery

In 1941 World War II finally kick started the economy again. Millions of men and women joined the armed forces, and an even larger number went back to work in well-paying defense jobs.

And onced again, America prospered...until now, 80 years later, in 2010.

Hundreds of "Hoovervilles" sprang up all across America during the 1930's - A sign of things to come in 2010 and beyond?

...and if so, why does Obama insist on giving us "healthcare reform" instead of jobs? Maybe in 2010 we'll have Obama-villes.

Watch the documentary, "The Money Masters - How International Bankers Gained Control of America"

Related posts on the current unemployment situation:

The New Poor - Millions of Unemployed Face Years Without Jobs
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/21/the-new-poor-millions-of-unemployed-face

The Jobless and Suicides in 2010
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/03/07/out-of-work-buy-a-shotgun

Government Jobs (Bigger Government) Drive Employment Numbers
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/01/government-jobs-bigger-government-drive

Actual Unemployment in 2010 - Recession Worse than Reported
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/04/actual-unemployment-in-january-2010-rece

Deep Recession Shows No Sign of Letting Up - Maybe Getting Worse
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/24/deep-recession-shows-no-sign-of-letting

Largest U.S. Labor Union: AFL-CIO says Jobs Won't Return
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/01/07/largest-u-s-labor-union-afl-cio-says-job

More Bad News for the Unemployed in 2010 - and Beyond
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/02/23/more-bad-news-for-the-unemployed-in-2010

Almost 1 out of 5 People are Out of Work in the U.S.A.
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2009/12/31/unemployment-december-2009-new-release

FOX News Wages War on Unemployed - Thinks They're Lazy
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/03/02/real-reason-why-extended-unemployment-be

Extended Unemployment Benefits in 2010 - Fully Explained
http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog3.php/2010/02/16/extended-unemployment-benefits-in-2010