Presidential Candidate Is Arrested

A political party's nominee for president (and the vice-presidential nominee) have been arrested. It happened a couple of weeks ago in Philadelphia. No, it was not the Republican or Democratic presidential nominees. It was Dr. Jill Stein, and her running mate Cheri Honkala -- the officially-nominated candidates of the Green Party. The picture above shows Dr. Stein being led away to jail, where she spent the night.

Why did this happen? The main reason is because Dr. Stein and Ms. Honkala don't just talk about economic justice and citizen's rights -- they are willing to put their bodies on the line to try and achieve it. Stein and Honkala joined demonstrators at a Philadelphia bank, who were protesting the unfair taking of homes from citizens. They were arrested when they refused to disband and leave the bank.

Here is how the candidate herself puts it:

When I decided to run for president of the United States, spending the night in a Philadelphia jail cell was not part of my strategy. But I and my running mate on the Green Party ticket, Cheri Honkala, found ourselves in handcuffs this month after we refused to leave the Philadelphia building housing the regional headquarters of the mortgage giant Fannie Mae.

We were there to support two women whose families faced unjust evictions by Fannie Mae, as well as the eight million other families who have faced foreclosure at the hands of Wall Street.

One of the women we were supporting, Rhonda Lancaster, has lived in her home for 35 years. She took out a second mortgage to pay her ailing mother's medical bills. After her mother died, a bank moved to take the house and throw Lancaster out on the street. She is still fighting a potentially imminent eviction.

The other woman we were supporting is also a victim of predatory lending. She had lived in her home for 23 years. In 2008, after the financial crash wiped out its value, she was forced to file for bankruptcy. A bank was able to block her bankruptcy filing, evict her, and foreclose on her home. She was supposed to be able to contest the eviction in court, but her right to do so was repeatedly violated. She is now homeless.

There were plenty of lawyers, hearings, and rulings in each case. But in the end, the law was stacked firmly in favor of the banks.

The financiers who have engaged in predatory lending, deceptive sales practices, forgery, illegal "robo-signing," and many other deceitful tactics have been treated gently by the law. Instead of going to jail or being ordered to return their ill-gotten profits, they got massive bailouts from the Bush and Obama administrations. It took $189 billion just to keep Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in business.

When our laws are unfair, we are told we should ask our legislators to reform them. Well, we have asked - and we have discovered that our legislators are under the thumb of the financiers. They play golf with the financiers, they allow the financiers' lobbyists to write legislation, and they take jobs with the financiers when they leave office. Because of this, they have little interest in making the laws fairer to regular people.

Our nation was founded by revolutionaries whose rallying cry was "No taxation without representation." But today our laws, taxes, and regulations are being decided without our representation. Banks were fully represented in the writing of our mortgage laws, but no one was at the table to represent homeowners. We shouldn't allow such laws to toss families into the street.

The banks that were "too big to fail" are now bigger than ever thanks to massive bailouts funded by taxpayers. My Green New Deal would break up those banks and replace them with public banks whose mission is to help people, not exploit them. And I would order an end to home foreclosures.

If we keep going down the path set by Bush and Obama, the share of the economic pie taken by Wall Street will continue to grow until the real economy and working people are sucked dry. It's time to purge the economy of Wall Street exploiters and restore it to health.

My running mate, Cheri Honkala, is a leading advocate for the poor based here in Philadelphia. She was once a homeless mother who slept in abandoned buildings with her son because she had no other place to go. Since then, she has dedicated her life to keeping people in their homes, and she has often stood between bankers and frightened families facing eviction. Cheri has a kind of courage and moral vision that is missing in Washington today, and I was proud to go to jail with her in Philadelphia.

Cheri and I aren't like the major-party candidates. We don't take money from corporations, and we are not beholden to them. We represent ordinary people in very hard times.

We need leaders who haven't made a career out of doing favors for the superrich - leaders who will stop foreclosures, get the banks off the backs of our families, and take care of the people whose mortgages are underwater.

The outpouring of support my running mate and I have received since our arrest has made it clear to us that millions of Americans share our views. In this day and age, going to jail for justice is presidential. Tolerating eight million foreclosures isn't.

I like Dr. Stein a whole lot, and I would like to see her able to participate in the presidential debates. I guarantee you those debates would be a lot more interesting, and some real issues would be discussed. If you can't bring yourself to vote for one of the major party candidates (and that would be understandable), these two great candidates from the Green Party would be a good alternative. You can find out more about Dr. Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala by going to this site.

Foreclosures

This is Willard Mitt Romney's solution for this nation's foreclosure crisis (which incidentally was caused by his Wall Street friends). While this "solution" would be of great benefit to his rich friends, it would hurt the middle and working classes (those most hurt by the foreclosure crisis).

U.S. Still Experiencing A Housing Crunch

One of the huge things caused by the Republican recession is unemployment, and it gets plenty of press coverage. But another part is the housing problem in America, and the press hardly covers it al all anymore. But that doesn't mean it isn't a serious problem anymore. The huge loss of millions of jobs and the meltdown of the deregulated stock market (in large part due to unsustainable sub-prime housing loans) combined to put far too many Americans in the position of no longer being able to afford the homes they were in.

This caused a record-breaking amount of home foreclosures -- and the amount of home foreclosures is still much higher than in a healthy economy. It remains a problem for the country. But there is now another problem which is adding to the housing crunch. Banks are very timid in making new housing loans, even for people who want to buy a home and can probably afford it.

Last year, home lending fell to about $404 billion. That may sound like a lot of money, but its less than a third of what it was in 2006 (when it was $1.4 trillion). It's resulted in new home sales being about a million a month below what is considered healthy for this economy. This is caused by the banks becoming much more strict in who they will lend money to. Most banks won't give loans except to customers with credit scores above 762 -- a problem since 65% of Americans now have credit scores below 750.

The continued high level of foreclosures combined with a huge reluctance of banks to make new home mortgages, have led to a third problem -- a huge jump in rental prices. If a family loses their home, or cannot buy one because of the tight credit, their only option (other than maybe moving in with relatives) is to rent a place to live. But even that is getting much harder to do, as available apartments are becoming scarce and their rental price keeps going up.

I'm experiencing that on a personal level. A few years ago the apartment complex I live in was begging for tenants and offering big discounts for new tenants and for those who recommended them. That is no longer true. Now the complex has raised its rental prices every year for several years and made the guidelines for getting an apartment fairly strict. It has been a huge change in just a few years, as apartment complexes can now afford to be picky and charge what they want -- since apartments are at a premium.

All of these pressures (foreclosures, bank reluctance to lend, and rising prices & less availability of apartments) have combined to put serious pressure on Americans. It has led to a serious lack of affordable housing -- and for many (an ever-increasing number) it has led to homelessness. Millions of Americans, who used to have a good job and a nice place to live, are now finding themselves not only jobless but also homeless.

I'd like to think that the government knows what to do about this and is working on solving it. But that would just be wishful thinking. The Democrats don't seem to know what to do, and the only solution the Republicans have for anything is to give the rich more huge new tax cuts. They should all be ashamed.

Economy Is Getting Worse & Republicans Are Getting Meaner

The recent volatility of Wall Street markets is because of fears that the economy may not be doing as well as the economic pundits had predicted -- and may even slip back into a second official recession. This bad news doesn't come as any surprise to the folks on Main Street though. They know the country is yet to come out of the first recession and is still going downhill.

For those that pay attention to something other than GDP (which will be lucky to finish the year in positive territory), this also comes as no surprise. Last month's unemployment rate remained above 9% (and that didn't count the millions of people considered "marginally attached to the work force who are counted by the government, or the nearly nine million who have to work part-time because there are no full-time jobs available). Things are even falling apart in the Republican "economic miracle" of Texas -- where the unemployment rate climbed from 8.2% to 8.4% in July (which has to be an embarrassment for "job creator" Rick Perry).

And its not just poor GDP numbers and high unemployment numbers. The percentage of homeowners who are in danger of a home foreclosure is once again edging upwards. The Mortgage Bankers Association is reporting that in the second quarter of this year the number of homeowners who have missed at least one house payment rose to 8.44% (a rise of 0.12% over the 8.32% of the first quarter of the year). That's still below the 10% mark hit last year, but the numbers are edging back up toward that mark (which is incredible considering the number of homes that have already been foreclosed on). The percentage in a normal non-recession year is about 1.1%.

And the bad news just keeps on coming. The number of Americans receiving food stamps is at another record high -- now 46 million Americans. That's a full 15% of the population that needs help from the government to put food on the table for their family (an increase of 74% since 2007). About 40% of those families receiving food stamps actually have someone working full-time -- they just aren't making enough to lift the family out of poverty. Making matters even worse, it is estimated that another $23 million Americans could qualify for food stamps, but they either don't know it or are too embarrassed to request the help.

Amazingly, the worse the economy gets, the meaner and stingier the Republicans get. George Bush tried to sell the country on the concept of "compassionate conservatism" -- and then drove the country into the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression. Today's Republicans don't even pretend to be compassionate. We already know they would like to cut food stamps and other social programs (including Medicare and Social Security), abolish the minimum wage, cut unemployment compensation, and give big tax cuts to their rich buddies (even though they are the only ones making record profits in this recession).

Could they get any meaner? Well, YES! Now they want a tax increase. But not for the rich or the corporations. No, they want to raise taxes for the working and middle class people of America -- the people who are already falling further behind with each passing month the recession continues. President Obama wants to extend the payroll tax cuts for workers that will expire at the end of this year. If they are not extended, payroll taxes will go up on January 1st for nearly all working Americans -- except for the rich and the corporations. While they refuse to raise taxes on the rich and corporations, the Republicans think it's fine to raise taxes on all other Americans.

In a saner world the government would be trying to help the people being hurt by the recession. But sanity (or compassion) are not Republican values. They care only for themselves, their rich cohorts, and the corporations. They are perfectly willing to throw most Americans under the bus to protect the rich and the corporations. And just when I think they couldn't get any meaner, they find a new low to aspire to reach.

Homeowners "Foreclose" On Bank !

The American banking system has been pretty brutal to homeowners since the start of this recession. That have foreclosed on a record number of homes and seized them, and that still continues at record levels to this date. But this story is about a couple who turned the tables on a bank -- and "foreclosed" on the bank itself.

The whole thing started when a Florida couple, Warren and Maureen Nyergues, bought a home that was owned by the Bank of America. The couple paid cash for the home, so no mortgage was ever needed or issued. But if there's a way to screw up a bank can usually find it, and the Bank of America did just that -- they issued a foreclosure notice on the home that didn't even have a mortgage.

Naturally, the bank wouldn't listen to reason and the couple had to take them to court to get the foreclosure notice lifted. After lifting the foreclosure notice, the court ordered the bank to pay the couple's legal fees ($2,534). It looked like the matter was settled, but once again the bank found a way to screw up. After waiting for five months the couple still had not received their check from the bank for legal fees.

The couple then did exactly what the bank would have done after not being paid -- they went to court and got a court order seizing the bank branch and its assets. The couple's attorney, Todd Allen, then showed up at the Bank of America branch with two Sheriff's deputies. Allen said, "I instructed the deputy to go in and take desks, computers, copiers, filing cabinets, including cash in the drawers."

The bank's manager was shaken and locked the attorney out of his office while trying to figure out what to do. As Allen said, "Having two Sheriff's deputies sitting across your desk, and a lawyer standing behind them, demanding whatever assets are in the bank can be intimidating. But, so is having your home foreclosed on when it wasn't right."

It took about an hour but the bank finally issued a check for the full amount of the legal fees. They also apologized for the delay. And the attorney and deputies went away without seizing any property.

Allen's final statement was, "As a foreclosure defense attorney this is sweet justice." Amen to that!

More Economic Bad News

If the unemployment numbers (hanging around 10%) weren't enough to convince you that everyone but the rich in America are still mired in a continuing recession, then consider the housing market. According to the Commerce Department, new home sales have dropped to their lowest level in nearly half a century.

Last month new home sales fell by a whopping 16.9%, to an annual sales volume of about 250,000 homes. That's pretty bad, considering that economists consider a sales volume of 700,000 homes to be the sign of a healthy economy. And there's little hope of the sales rising significantly any time soon (even though new home prices dropped 14% to a median price of $202,100). The pundits say the sales won't pick up until the homes foreclosed on are cleared from the market. That'll be a long time since there are 3 million foreclosures expected to happen this year.

This is also a bad sign for job creation. New home construction usually leads a jobs recovery. But builders are building right now. With the glut of unsold new homes on the market (and losing value), the number of building permits they have applied for is the lowest number in more than 50 years.

The economic pundits are now saying it could take another three years for the housing market to recover. Personally, I think that's an optimistic estimate. I don't think there'll be a significant recovery in housing until there's significant improvement in job creation. Our economy didn't just suffer a little downturn -- it saw millions of jobs disappear in a large and lasting recession. No segment of the economy will truly recover until most of those jobs are replaced (and I don't mean replaced with low-wage no-benefit jobs).

It would help if the government was spending to help with job creation, but they aren't. The Democrats have been too timid to do any extensive job creation, and now that the Republicans again control the House of Representatives they are in a position to block any job creation efforts (since their corporate masters like the current job situation).

As the unemployment and housing numbers clearly show, things are not getting any better. With the government inaction, it won't get better any time soon. We might as well get used to these bad times. They're going to last quite a while.

More Proof The Recession Continues

The pundits and the politicians would like for Americans to believe the country is finally beginning to pull itself out of the recession.   After all, Wall Street and the huge corporations are doing great.   They are making record profits and getting record bonuses.

But don't let that fool you.   For most Americans the recession rages on.   The unemployment rate is still very high and shows no chance of improving any time soon -- the real rate being somewhere near 18% (approaching the levels of the Great Depression).   And corporations keep sending more and more good American jobs to other countries (where they can exploit the poverty wages being paid in those countries).   The truth is it could take years, if ever, to replace the millions of jobs lost in the last three years.

But the unemployment numbers are not the only indicators of the continuing pain of recession being felt by ordinary Americans.   Another is the large number of home foreclosures.   In the third quarter of 2010 there were 382,000 new foreclosures -- more than a 31% jump over the previous quarter and a 3.7% increase over the third quarter of 2009.  

That means the number of foreclosures currently in progress has now climbed to a whopping 1.2 million homes.   That's a 10.1% increase over one year ago, and the figures a year ago were already too high.   The recession isn't just continuing for many Americans -- it's getting worse.

With record numbers of jobless and homeless Americans, is it any wonder that currently at least 14% of the population finds it necessary to go on food stamps to feed their families -- a number that is growing with each passing month?   And what is the solution being offered by Congress?   Massive tax cuts for the rich -- the only people in America who don't need help.

The last election showed that Americans are angry -- with both political parties.   And they should be.   It seems like the politicians of both political parties had lost contact with reality (and with real Americans).   Ordinary Americans need help.   They are not getting it from Washington, DC.   And with Republicans, who demanded the tax cuts for the rich, taking over the House of Representatives things are not going to get any better in the next two years.

Americans might as well get used to the pain.   It's not going away soon.

Economy Hurting Apartment Rentals

A year ago, apartment owners thought the economy and the large number of home foreclosures would create a boon in apartment rentals. The National Apartment Association predicted a rise in the demand for apartments because of "the combination of a stagnant, recessionary-like economic environment, a shift toward renting, weak job reports, declining payrolls and general uncertainty."

Well, it doesn't seem to have worked out that way. They were right about the economy and jobs, but it has not resulted in a higher demand for apartments. In fact, the apartment occupancy rate has actually gone down. The national occupancy rate currently rests at 92.2% -- the lowest since 1986.

Here in Texas, it's even worse. Apartment owners here would probably be pretty happy to equal that national rate. Here are the rates in some Texas cities:

Amarillo..........89.8%

Lubbock..........90.2%

Abilene..........92.0%

Dallas/Ft. Worth..........87.7%

Austin..........89.3%

There are a couple of reasons for this. The federal governments tax credit incentives for first-time home buyers has caused apartments to lose some of their renters. But the main cause is the huge loss of jobs the country has suffered.

If a person can't make a mortgage payment because of a job loss, the chances are very good that they can't make a rent payment either (especially with rents as high as they currently are). So where have these people gone? They've either moved in with family, or they've joined the growing number of the homeless.

Since the Great Depression, we've had a number of recessions -- but they were short-term and the recovery was quick. Our current recession is different. It has done serious damage to our economy that will take years to recover from, and the recovery hasn't started yet (and may not for a couple of years or more).

Home Foreclosures Up In Metroplex

The Dow-Jones stock market index topped 14,000 a couple of days ago, setting a new record for the stock market. The talking heads on the news were all gushing about it, saying it was a sign of our "great" economy. I have to wonder whether these people ever took an economics class.

The stock market is not a real indicator of how the economy is doing. It is simply a gambling game played by the rich. If you really want to know how the economy is doing, a much better indicator is housing -- and that is painting a much different picture.

Housing sales are slumping all across the country. Even worse, foreclosures are close to their all-time highs set in the 80's -- the last time the real estate bubble burst. In Tarrant county, foreclosures scheduled for auction in August have reach 1,348 (as compared to only 897 last August). It is the first time since the 1980's that foreclosures topped 1,300 in Tarrant county.

In the Metroplex as a whole (Dallas, Tarrant, Denton and Collin counties), this months foreclosures sit at 3,870, a 31% increase over this time last year. It wouldn't surprise me if the figures across Texas and the nation were very similar to the Metroplex figures.

The economy may be great for the corporations and the rich. After all, those are the people the Republicans have been looking out for since they came to power. But there are a lot of middle and working-class people in our country that are hurting. Just another reason why we need to elect a lot more Democrats next year.