Economic crisis forces hundreds of thousands from their homes

In the recession, hundreds of thousands of Americans are losing their homes and not being able to pay rent. Deputies from the Prince William County sheriff's department evict several people from their homes everyday. Sometimes they see some pretty desperate situations like murders and suicides when they show up at a home. The number of evictions in the first month of this fiscal year almost equaled the number of evictions in a whole year not too long ago. They say nobody is immune to the bad economy and they've even evicted police officers before.

reply to post by warrenb


My daughter and her husband are one such family. It happened to them last month. It is heartbreaking to see our young people trying so hard to swim against the current. For all I know, I could be next. No one is exempt these days no matter how mature, responsible and capable they may be.

I rent and lease or borrow or steal everything in life because...well, you just can't take it with you when you go.

Ownership is a peculiar concept considering the transcendental nature of life and the universe, yet some people have this overwhelming need to own things.

In reality few people do own anything. Even if you have a deed to your home chances are someone else owns the mineral rights underneath it and can have you removed through imminent domain and compensated at a rate set by the political machine and not the market. Even if you have a deed to your home you still have to pay a tax to live in it and keep it. In recent decades even prior to the financial crisis more and more senior citizens who long had owned their homes free and clear except for having to pay taxes to the state ended up loosing their homes over taxes as local real estate speculation led to an escalation in prices and values that ultimately raised the taxes on their homes to where their fixed incomes could no longer keep pace with the tax burden.

Of course if the bank owns the deed to your home it truly isn’t your home. We favor a rigged capitalistic system of ownership that actually makes a very small select group of private individuals the actual owners and an even smaller group of private individuals own most of the mineral rights to the deeded property most people build and place their homes on. Since minerals are basically the earth itself that means all you really own is a permit to maintain a residence or dwelling on the property as long as the real owner does not want or believe there are minerals to be had underneath it.

Ultimately the corporate government with its unlimited and arbitrary power to tax is the real owner. The corporate government is held in about the same number and same hands as the mineral rights.

Lacking a clear way to make communal ownership work where people are simply recognized as having a need for a place to live by the community they live in which is the defacto owner by presence and possession creates this homeless problem. In reality people in China, Russia, or Israel might actually own the note, mineral rights, or all of the above to the home and land you live on individually here in America. That makes how much sense?

It’s all a system of free range economic slavery to tax your labors with worthless currency that you labor for. The real wealth is the land and the people themselves who perform the labor that produce goods and services, which tragically and sadly there is no shortage of goods and services or place to live, just a fair and equitable system of governance by which all people can share in the bounty of the land that we are all bound physically too.

It’s why I choose to rent, lease, borrow or steal, because while ownership has it’s privileges the reality is there are few real owners and pseudo ownership just comes with obligations and burdens, increasingly shifting and unfair ones at that.

reply to post by warrenb


One of the aspects of this issue is that it is rife with stupidity. There are thousands of empty homes in this country. As everyone knows, the value of a home degrades quickly when it is vacant. Why banks are kicking folks out of their homes only to leave them vacant makes no sense. It would be one thing to tell them they have a period of time to live there and should the home be sold, they will have to leave. The banks could easily accept as payment the current resident's care for the house. Keeping the yard up, keeping it clean and doing basic maintenance is clearly worth something. Why the banks would not only vacate the home to have it degrade while also paying someone to maintain the property makes no sense.

I have a friend who is looking to buy a house in California. He has been to dozens of homes that are vacant. They have been stripped of things like basic hardware, the propertys are in terrible shape and the agents are telling him that the banks can not afford to maintain the property. He was at a home with a pool where they had carp in it to keep it clean

www.wptv.com...

I understand that the banks can not indefinately allow people to stay in homes without paying, but doing it on this scale does not make sense at an economic level. Face it - they ain't selling these houses anytime soon.

reply to post by warrenb


I'm struggling to keep my townhouse. I may have to rent it out for 2/3 of the mortgage and make up the rest myself so I don't lose it.

My business was doing so well back in 2006-2007 I would make triple payments on a regular basis trying to get my debt paid off faster. I ended up knocking a pretty good dent out of the mortgage. I also put a good amount of time and money into it doing upgrades.

Long story short, business failed due to the economy, savings are gone. Chances are the hard work and money I put into my home will be taken by the bank. It sucks a$%

reply to post by warrenb


All the losses of homes, food shortages, money crisis'. This is just the beginning of a long struggle. I hate to admit it, but it coming to a town near everyone.

Good thread. Bringing out the truth that some people fail to see.

Originally posted by havok
reply to post by warrenb

 

All the losses of homes, food shortages, money crisis'. This is just the beginning of a long struggle. I hate to admit it, but it coming to a town near everyone.

Good thread. Bringing out the truth that some people fail to see.

[sarcasm ON]

And thankfully, America is putting aside its differences, lending a hand to fellow Americans in need despite their political, social, racial, sexual, religious and socio-economic differences.

[sarcasm OFF]

There will be very few towns left unaffected before this situation comes to its logical conclusion. Civil war unlike anything in history. We do not reach out to our neighbors as a nation, instead we shun them in fear. We, as a nation, have come to believe that we should "let" the government do it all for us. The very few who have realized that we are our own power are a minority, unfortunately.

Originally posted by Hazelnut
[sarcasm ON]

And thankfully, America is putting aside its differences, lending a hand to fellow Americans in need despite their political, social, racial, sexual, religious and socio-economic differences.

Exactly! This is what I think TPTB are trying to tell us. I only see this actually taking place when disaster strikes. Sad irony.

reply to post by warrenb


www.youtube.com...

And the conservative Right Wing still call these people bums and takers/users of society. No compassion.

Now people are even the homeless are being evicted from their tents.

www.youtube.com...

God help us!!







[edit on 3-9-2009 by whaaa]

[edit on 3-9-2009 by whaaa]