Yet there is an inherent imbalance in the borrower-lender relationship that makes this morality message unfair to consumers, White says: Banks set the rules during the housing boom, handing out home loans with no down payments, no income checks and inflated appraisals. Now that property values have dropped 20% to 50% in many areas, banks [...]
[19 Dec 2009]
From the Columbia Journalism Review’s The Debt Privilege: We all know too much debt is at the root of the economic crisis. And we’ve seen lots of step-back pieces on the conditions that created the environment for that debt creation—monetary policy, of course, but also the advent of securitization, the credit-default swap, etc. But we [...]
[18 Nov 2009]
Two years ago, I bought a house. Last week, DeKalb County confirmed that this was a financial disaster. For the last 10 years, pundits, personalities and the President proclaimed homeownership as the balm to soothe a range of ills, including community stability and the racial wealth gap. For the last 10 years, I listened intently [...]
[26 May 2009]