Home Foreclosure Rates Spiking

Stockton, Calif., Worst Off In 3rd Quarter Look At 100 Metropolitan Areas

(CBS/AP)  Homeowners across the U.S. are increasingly having trouble making their mortgage payments on time, but borrowers in metro areas of California, Florida and other once-booming housing markets are accounting for the biggest spikes in foreclosure filings, according to a mortgage research company.

An analysis of foreclosure activity in the nation's largest 100 metropolitan areas during the three months ended Sept. 30 shows seven cities in California and five each in Florida and Ohio were among the top 25 metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates, according to the study being released Wednesday by RealtyTrac Inc.

The Irvine-based company calculates its foreclosure rate ranking by comparing the number of households in a metro area with the number of foreclosure filings, which include notices of default, auction sale notices or bank repossessions.

Stockton, about 83 miles east of San Francisco, had the highest foreclosure rate in the third quarter among the top 100 metro areas, with one foreclosure filing for every 31 households, RealtyTrac said.

Detroit was second, with one foreclosure filing for every 33 households. The Riverside-San Bernardino metro area, located about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, was third, with one filing for every 43 households.

Riverside-San Bernardino also accounted for the most foreclosure filings in the U.S. during the quarter, RealtyTrac said.

The housing market slump has made it harder for financially strapped homebuyers to sell their homes and avoid missing payments or losing their homes in foreclosure. Increasingly, many borrowers who took out adjustable-rate mortgages and other loans that potentially adjust to higher monthly payments after an initial period are also finding they can't afford their payments.

Once-booming areas, such as California's Central Valley, where Stockton is located, and the neighboring counties that are home to Riverside and San Bernardino, are also mired now with a glut of new and resale homes.

"What happens there is you have your basic economic imbalance between supply and demand," said Rick Sharga, vice president of marketing for RealtyTrac. "It exacerbates the problem for people who are on the verge of default."

Stockton had 7,116 foreclosure filings on 4,409 properties during the quarter, an increase of more than 465 percent from the same quarter a year ago, the company said.

The Detroit metro area, which includes Livonia and Dearborn, reported 25,708 filings on 16,079 homes, up more than 93 percent from the same quarter last year. It had the third-highest number of filings during the quarter.

Riverside-San Bernardino, meanwhile, had 31,661 filings on 20,664 properties, a jump of more than 267 percent from the year-ago quarter.

Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was ranked fourth, followed by the Las Vegas-Paradise metro area.

In Fort Lauderdale, one in every 48 households was in foreclosure, up 127 percent, reports CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella.

The foreclosure spikes are even affecting Levitt and Sons, the company that founded Levittown and helped popularize the American suburb. The company is facing bankruptcy and blames its troubles on a housing glut, the mortgage crisis and skittish buyers.

Retirees Angelo and Paula Palermo were supposed to be closing on their Levitt home in Port St. Lucie, Fla., this winter, reports Cobiella. Instead they're living in a one bedroom apartment, waiting to see if their builder can survive.

"This was our last move, I swear,” said Angelo Palermo. “I said to my wife, this is where we will die.”

But the Palermo's development and more than 30 others across the southeast are on hold, and some 600 customers, many of them retirees, with $18 million in deposits are in limbo, reports Cobiella.

The California metro areas of Sacramento, Bakersfield and Oakland were also among the top 10 metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates, garnering the sixth, ninth and 10th spots, respectively.

A metro area in Ohio composed of Cleveland, Lorain, Elyria and Mentor was ranked seventh. Miami was ranked eighth.

Los Angeles had the second-highest number of foreclosure filings during the quarter with 29,501 on 18,043 homes. The city's foreclosure rate was one filing for every 113 households, or 26th overall.

Some metro areas, including Baton Rouge, La., McCallen-Edinburg-Pharr, Texas, and Greenville, S.C., saw foreclosure filings drop during the quarter.

Borrowers in Detroit and other metro areas in the Midwest that have been hard-hit by job losses generally were receiving late-stage foreclosure filings, such as notices of auction or bank repossession, Sharga said.

"That just speaks to the underlying weakness in those areas," he said.

Dave Webb, co-owner of Hudson & Marshall, a foreclosure auction firm based in Dallas, said most of the properties being auctioned by his firm in inland areas of California are investment properties that ended up being repossessed by lenders after the market tanked.

"What I'm selling this week - 700 homes in the Stockton-Oakland area - these properties were probably foreclosed a good year-and-a-half ago," Webb said.

The properties that end up in foreclosure now, however, will likely be homes bought by first-time buyers and others with adjustable rate mortgages due to reset to higher monthly payments, he said.

"You'll see when we come back late next year," Webb said. "It will be mostly owner-occupied homes."

[usayesterday]

Are the home buyers/borrowers to blame?.... Yes, (partially).

Are the mortgage brokers/agents to blame?.... Yes, (partially).

So there is a lot of blame to go around, but no single entity is completely at fault for the housing market slump. It is comprised of multiple factors.

So if anyone is going to "point a finger", they''d better use more than one finger to point in multiple directions.

[allgood34]

Doug,
I agree with you. I am am a soon to be young home owner and my wife already thinks we hae to have the best and nicest of everything. It''s going to be an up hill battle trying to convince her to do it slow and steady instead of diving right in trying to live like we are either well off or well established in a home. I grew up learning the value of a dollar the hard way and am accustomed to hand me down furniture and things when getting started.

[drinuk]

Watch out for the Banks, Lenders and Property Agents, they are all going to clean up on these repossessions. They always do and always will, rent out until the market picks up then sell at a massive profit.

[drinuk]

Quite correct Allgood34, grab her credit card, give her a good talking to and if that don''t work a good slap is in order, Oh! and have her take cooking lesson too, good wholesome food at a reasonable cost. If she is tied to the kitchen sink she will be far too tired to pop down to the Mall for something she just can''t do without.

[eggy1620]

I also am in the situation where if my wife%u2019s or my income is suddenly stopped or reduced, we would be in severe trouble. When buying our first house, we were advised to budget as if we only had one income, that way unexpected circumstances would not hurt badly. But you know middle class American women. Having money is reason enough to spend it. And delayed gratification is heresy. Plus, she out earns me by a mile, so she calls all the shots.

[nothappyatall]

This is the result of people buying that $600,000 McMansion then furnishing it on credit, new big screen TV, 2 new cars, gazebo, popping out 3 kids, and all the rest.
I don''t have a mortgage, I paid MY 10 year mortgage off in 5 years by making extra principal payments every month, as a result I own my house and land outright free and clear.

[jetranger7]

I Have to Agree with some Posts on here, I see many Women who have no idea what the hell they''re doing, they don''t stop to think about the 5 year ahead picture, makes me wonder how/why they get paid more than men for sitting in an warm cozy office ! Why they think they have to have stainless stell ovens and refrigerators, and jen aires in their home is beyond me and a New SUV in their airconditioned garage is beyond me and 50,000 worth of credit card charges ??? Again makes me wonder why/how they''re givin jobs in management when they have no real clue,whats going on, hince Corporate America in the Sadd shape its now in ! Also I see way too many young under 35- wanna be home owners think they have to have a Brand new house right from the get go, because their doing now, what about 5-10 years down the road, when the economy tanks, then what were you going to do with that new house you can''t afford, new SUV, new Harley and Boat and all those Vacations you financed,along with that Expensive Big Screen TV you had to have you financed on credit,along with the 2-3 kids you thought you needed right off the bat too ! Way too many of you living beyond you income, and living on hopes and dreams way beyond reality, poor up bringing and poor management is what some of this is about, badd judgement ! I live in my 1st house which is built in the 1960s era,it has used appliances, used furniture, and I drive a used vehicle, and I''m not married no kids, and I can weather out the storm!

[jetranger7]

Ohhh Ya, then as if that wasn''t badd enough, everything listed below, then they decide they wanna go back to College for another degree to hopefully earn more money so they can spend that like no tomorrow too, Ya-College,theres the other real problem thats not being addressed, Quite Obviously their not teaching much of anything in these over glorified colleges anymore, like living on a budget, living within your means, with in your income range !Theese Colleges and Universities now days are in the business of turning out Pure Grade A Idiots in to the work place ! Just so long as they make enough money to finance and fund their over rated schools and pay their so called professors,its about money for these schools not education anymore !

[drinuk]

eggy1620, She will not be middle class if your roof goes, she will be poor. No matter if she earns more than you do, could she live to her current standard if on her own ? I doubt it. Same as my previous message, get a bloody grip of her. I''m blessed with a partner who earns 70k whilst I''m retired, she however would rather spend on our home than buy a new outfit and would not even consider a dishwasher. Showing off and living up to the Jones''s next door is a matter of choice, the better option is the love and protection of each other, which also means keeping a roof over your partners head.

[dogsoul]

Boo-f*cking hoo... Bottom line is that these people took a chance, and it went the wrong way for them. Look, I would have liked to pay less money each month TOO - I''m by no means well off... got a wife & kid to take care of... and I didn''t get into the game way back when so I''m sitting on a mountain of equity... and I went for the fixed rate specifically to guard AGAINST getting hit should the market shift. Fact is that many of these people were rolling the dice that they could buy something they really couldn''t afford short term & make a quick killing on the appreciation... heck, that''s what worked for many people who had bought in the 90s/early 2000s right? Well, people who made money on their investments from back then aren''t exactly stopping at MY door sharing THEIR profits - so I sure as heck don''t think people who lost their ***** should end up getting bailed out by MY tax dollars...

You play, you pay....

[dogsoul]

"Must have 2 incomes to get by just is not the way to go. if one income is lost due to job loss, or sickness, forclosure is almost inevitable."

That''s easy for YOU to say Doug - because you and a lot of older folks had the appreciation of your homes skyrocket in many markets plumping up your equity something fierce - heck, even folks who aren''t necessarily ''older'' but got INto the game during the 90s had the value of their homes jump incredibly...

So you still think young & new home buyers are over extending themselves on top notch counter tops & the latest refridgerators? No my friend, even older outdated homes are infinitely more expensive these days as a % of one''s income - and when you DON''T have the benefit of sitting on your own pile of equity from the sale of your current home - well, basically you''re on your own to make up the difference... and THAT''S why in most cases it takes two incomes minimum to even stay afloat...

[ov442]

What i think is extra interesting is that considering A) a glut of previous homeowners that had to either walk away or lost their home from bankruptcy or whatever, that 1) were people buying extra homes for profit (flippers) 2) people in subprime loans that they couldnt handle with the skyrocketing cost of living 3) people with weird loans that are resetting to Jumbo rates and balloon payments 4) people that Had to move but couldnt sell their homes 5) people that lost their jobs or had medical issues etc.

so you have this population that has now lost a home and has a huge credit blemish on a record that either was clean before, or was not so good and is now worse.

So on top of that you now have mortgage companies tightening loan standards with some cutting off all subprime loans. --- which makes it near impossible for many of the people to get a mortgage that had one before. So... now you have thousands and thousands of empty homes with a population of potential home buyers that now cannot get a mortgage to buy one.

So what concept does this bring to the Lenders and Real Estate agancies regarding selling these homes again? Wait for years for first time buyers with great credit to buy them all? more speculators? conglomerate rental agencies? what effect does this have on the house rental and apartment industry?

[fstop100]

and the credit card companies can charge over 25% interest on credit card debt. even the loansharks charged less. why isn''t the government investigating all credit card companies. if credit card interest was reasonable maybe people could keep their homes.

[mellie1957]

JetRanger7 - you have thrown all females into one category. I''ve been in management at a Fortune 500 company for 25+ years. Married with 2 kids. I used cloth diapers to save money and cooked supper each evening after working 10 hour days. I''ve only had a dishwasher for the past 5 years. I''m still in a 1,200 square foot house. I''d rather give to those less fortunate than have the most recent fashions or a huge home. My take on this whole situation is people have overcommitted themselves. I drive around town & wonder where the people work that own these mansions. Each situation is different so I don''t want to categorize those experiencing foreclosure.

[jetranger7]

My house was built in 1963, all brick ranch 3 bedroom,2 car attached garage, I only owe 70,000 on it, I own on NO-ZERO Credit cards, I drive a 1988 used extended cab chevy pick up, I only have a house payment and utilities and I don''t live beyond my means, unlike many of these people who are in the process of losing their homes ! Also I''m left to wonder, don''t many of these people who are in foreclosure have college degress ?? If so, whats the problem ?? Wheres your smarts ? Hell I''m a high school drop out from the late 70s-80s, and I''m doing better than most of you !! Wake up, get real, Quit living beyond your means just to keep up with the jones and show off to your friends and realitives! Gesshhhh ! You people amaze me !

[pollroller1]

I am one of the lucky one ( maybe one of the smart ones) Our home was built back in the mid fifty''s, and is in a good stable neighborhood. We have been in it for 30 years. It''s paid for and we ain''t going anywhere. Sure we have to fix stuff but that''s ok by me. Not looking for no condo or fancy new house with those big fancy bathrooms. Nope, we will just stay right here where we are. And live with in our means.

[ov442]

For those that continue to whine boo hoo about bailouts, first - the mortgage companies restructuring loans to keep people from losing them which would harm everyone, is not a bad thing nor is it taking your Tax money. Would you rather have 6 of your neighbors lose their homes in the next 3 months and make your neighborhood drop in value? I dont think so. - And yes your Hoods are just as susceptible to this as evidenced by the thousands of Middle class homes around the nation ranging to all manner of values getting foreclosed. If you really want to know, why dont you go door to door in your Hood and ask each neighbor what they did with their mortgage so you can insult them and egg their houses for being more of a sucker than you.

Secondly, the Lenders are making their claims on the PMI, that so many affected had been paying in their escrow, and the article yesterday stated that the Mortgage insurance industry is doing fine right now.
So lenders are making their money back not on your taxes.
Third, FHA insured mortgages dont mean your taxes go to a bailout either since FHA operates entirely from self-generated income and costs the taxpayers nothing.

You people always need to insult others, and categorize yourselves as the "great people" the ones that never make mistakes and are totally smarter than 90% of the rest of hte population... you Savants you.
what a bunch of whiners.

[jetranger7]

Sorry-Mellie, didn''t mean to lump everybody, but you know thats going on with some ! and the other comment about credit cards, is also right to a degree, but, too many used those credit cards for other Wrong purposes other than emergencies, nor did they read the fine print, didn''t help either that they lobbied congress to get their ill gotton ways to take advantage of the consumer also. Well we could all Stop buying these 30,000 and 40,000 dollar vehicles too, that would help ! Its so unrealistic and stupid to spend that kind of money on a vehicle, and be totally in DEBT to it and for it, just Ignorance beyond belief !

[ov442]

Posted by Mellie1957 -- thanks for your comment, you are right and good job.

[drivelphobe]

This is great news. It''s time to pay the piper. How ridiculous is it for a starter home to cost upwards of $400,000? Housing prices are way out of line with incomes and the adjustment is beginning.

Anyone who bought a house without the income to afford it, should suffer for their poor decision. I''m tired of listening to the claim about home values. The value of a home is not nearly as important as the benfit of owning a home to live in. Who cares if it goes up or down in price? It''s where you live. It''s no investment. Those who invest in homes are mostly responsible for this bubble and they deserve what they get and I would hope for financial disaster.

[jetranger7]

You can also BLAME all those Ridlicious CABLE TV Shows that show somebody putting a fresh coat of paint on a front door, than asking 100,000 profit from the sale of the house too ! Along with these FAKE Real Estate Agents who are so phony in their Opinions, they just want to drive up the price too so they can get their Big Percentage, so they can live in their Mini-McMansions and drive around in their 60,000 dollar SUV, its all an ILLUSION just get your money, so somebody else can live high on the Hog at your Expense, well now your paying for it ! Quit watching Dumb Cable TV Shows that HYPE the selling of an Over-Priced house,their Phonys and Con Artists, only out to steal from you, kinda like snake oil salesman,,used car salesman, stay away from them, your better off, and quit being so NAIVE !

[drivelphobe]

jh6379....

All your acquaintances may feel like their home is an investment because it requires so much capital. It is an investment in quality of life, lifestyle, piece of mind, and family. If considered an investment at all, it is a stretch in the normal understanding of the term. It is not an investment in the sense that one considers other investments, like stocks and other forms of real estate.

When a financial questionaire is required to evaluate one''s net worth, the "not including your primary residence" statement makes my point. This is because true investments are more readily sold off to take profits or losses. One doesn''t so easily sell their home to do this. It has much more value than just the price at any given time..

[buddhabman]

This whole boom - bust was driven by investors and speculators greed, bulit on a deck of cards called appreciation. I feel little sympathy for the investor/speculator. However, I do feel sympathy for the families just trying to get into a home before the house prices shot to the sun. This whole real estate investment wealth building scam put everyone behind the 8 ball. My wifes a professional and I have a tech position, we have good salaries and benefits. We can''t re-buy in our own neighborhood in California, but luckily we bought in 1999.

[lochlan-2009]

"How ridiculous is it for a starter home to cost upwards of $400,000" - I guess that depends on if your looking at that $400,000 in todays dollars or in 2001 dollars, since our dollar is now worth half of what it was then.

[bookwerm314]

Want to know a metric for evaluation of how far down the drop might be? You can scale this up or down for whatever your house price was before the "run up".

Assume a house is 300K 5 years ago. Normal appreciation rates are below 4%, so lets say its "normal" price today would be 300K x (1+.04)^5th power, which is 300K x 1.217=365K.

Now lets do the math again with that same 300K house from 5 years ago, with 20% appreciation for 3 years, flat for two, how much would it have to drop to get back to the "fair value" price?

300K x (1 .2)^3 power = 300k*1.728=518K. So, to get to "fair value", 365K, that is a change of (518-365)=153K.

And 153K divided by 518K=29.5% DROP.

Now, in many areas the housing went up EVEN MORE! So until there is a 30% or more drop in prices, we have NOT seen bottom.

[shanev137]

This is not news. Everyone already knew this was going to happen.

[curiousread]

i will never be able to afford a house... this country is out of control...

Jon Boy
my blog: www.curiousread.com

[ralan40]

here''s a wild concept....its called:

************************
LIVING WITHIN YOUR MEANS
************************

Perhaps people should give it a try, sometime...

[vcdb]

no real jobs no real estate

[lochlan-2009]

"Home Foreclosure Rates Spiking" - And again, the buck is passed to the poor and middle class.

[badfish911]

ITS ALL BECASUE OF THE ILLEGAL ALIENS

[forthepeopl1]

TO ALL AMERICA YES, CONGRESS HAS AGAIN SLAP AMERICANS RIGHT IN THE FACE WITH THIS, PLEASE DONT BELEIVE ME THAN GO AND READ THE LAW BUSH SIGN INTO LAW.

ITS CALL THE MILITARY COMMISSIONS ACT 2006, AND HIDDEN IN FINE PRINT CONGRESS HAS GIVEN THEMSELFS AND ANYONE WORKING IN THE GOVERNEMNT IMMUNEITY ON ANY THING THAT HAS HAPPEN IN THE WAKE OF THE WAR,OR ANYTHING ELSE THEY CAN FIND.

THIS IS THE BEST PART, THEY BACK DATED IT TO ( 1997) why?????

why would they need to back date this all the way before 2001????

because they have been ease dropping on america way back then...think about it america, and you better think about this, cheney/bush/rumsfeld/rove/rice started this war on all lies on top of lies, and remember 18 out of 19 involved in 2001 was saudi araibans you know the king and bush hold hands walking in the woods??? and this is why bush said he doesn''t care about finding bin laddan because bin is part of the royal family that bush loves..

so if you look at the hole law, hillary help get it into law, why why why sounds funning because her husband bill was president at that time in 1997..so what are they all hideing in washington???????????????

david a belanger,veteran,us army, 978-618-3105,[e-mail]

[drivelphobe]

lochian....

It''s not so much that the dollar is worth less. It''s more an issue of home prices compared to earned incomes. While the value of a dollar may only be half of what is was in 2001, the wages and earnings have not kept pace. It''s not in any kind of balance and I agree with ozilot that the scam artists are mostly responsible for the synthetic jump in prices.

[jetranger7]

One thing that should be Stopped, if everybody would get on the bandwagon about it,is to Quit letting these Mortage-Finance companies and Banks, having your Loan in some other state, than what you reside in ! Its Ridlicious and absurd, that you may live in Ohio, , Illionis,Colorado, but your Loan/Mortage is with some bank up in God only knows where, its clearly sets the stage for FRAUD-CORRUPTION ! Back when my parents were growing up in the 1950s-1960s,and had bought their house, most of the banks that carried their loans were right in the local community they lived in, now they want to sell your loan/mortage, who knows where or how many times it''ll be sold, it could end up in CHINA or Russia before the end of your term, this needs to STOP! It sets the stage for Fraud & Corruption, which is also some of what were seeing now. I say we band together to put a stop to it, Demand it !

[drivelphobe]

ozilot...

You are correct in what you say. There is considerable value in homeownership for the reasons stated plus many more. I agree with you about the unscrupulous methods and people involved in the creation of the bubble. It is a tough time for first-time buyers.

[jetranger7]

WAGES: AGREE with you on that, I''m seeing the MIDDLE-CLASS and just under the middle class working people being offered wages that are compareable to that of 1985 and 1992 wages!! Meanwhile, these companies are Giving their CEOs and Top Management huge Salaries and Bonuses and Perks,its Ridlicious, while not taking care of its actual workers who do the work. Rather you have a college degree or not, the wages being offered and the benefits are about what they''d offered you 20-25 Years ago ! I''m actually working for Wages that were considered decent back in the early 90s, hello this is 2007, MILK is 4.00 a Gallon, cost of living has tripled since then, EMPLOYERS WAKE UP !! Then theres the ANTI-AMERICAN Companies who shut down and went to China or Mexico, just to please their Shareholders. ENOUGH is ENOUGH time to Quit catering to these companies and helping them, all were doing is doing our ownselves in by doing it !!

[dogsoul]

"However, I do feel sympathy for the families just trying to get into a home before the house prices shot to the sun. "
Amen to that... those who have really lost out ARE those young and/or new home owners... We''ve seen many comments talking about how they''re simply stupid for buying the latest & best while you folks settled for hand-me-downs etc... Perhaps a few, but in most instances - these young/new homeowners have to pay a massively higher price as a % of income for the same home YOU bought back when YOU were young/new to the home buying market. Most of the people I see getting these huge houses & all the latest awesome frills are NOT young/new buyers; rather, they''re mostly people who DID buy way back when & are now sitting on goldmines because their homes appreciated so much in value - that they''ve re-invested in the same real estate market that got them so much equity in the first place - driving prices thru the roof... Basically, there''s 2 groups of people here - those who face very high home prices, yet also benefitted from their OWN home''s value doubling tripling... and those who face very high home prices who did NOT own a home, or own one for long...
Both myself & my wife are professionals who make decent salaries - we''ve only got 1 new baby and could only afford to buy a small vintage condo in Chicago that''s got some shady elements in the neighborhood

[canyoutellme-2009]

In the SF bay area, the avg home price is 750K (roughly). This is for a 1400 sq foot cheezy home. Someone tell me how this is logical. Let''s say someone has 200K to put down on that home saved up in some bank account somewhere... i''m being VERY generous by saying 200K btw... anywho, that means the mortgage is on 550K. a 30 year traditional 6% mortgage is about 3500/mo if you get VERY favorable terms. PLUS property tax. On 750K, it''s about 1500/mo. So you''re talking about $5,000 per month in home cost? If you make 100K/year pretax, you still cannot afford that and be able to pay for the rest of life''s necessities. The home prices out here are OUT of control. My advice.... RENT for a few years until pricing comes back to earth. We need a 40-50% haircut on home prices now.

[nexgen99]

Soon I''ll be able to get that condo on the beach in Florida for pennies on the dollar.

[jetranger7]

Hey San Francisco, Read your post, if its that Badd out there, I''d move and get a job somewhere else, like Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Missouri Nebraska maybe. All anybody out there is going to be doing, is making someone else a lotta money, for just a home big deal. These real Estate agents, some of them anyway, aren''t helping matters either by encourging these home owners to place a high value on their shacks than what their truly worth, why they have their Mini Mc Mansions too, and 60,000 SUV to pay for and only want to work 5 months out of the year and be on Vacation the rest ! I''d get out of that Bay area, to someplace you can actually afford to live and save for your retirement so your not working till the day you drop dead on the job !!

[AgentGGG]

The real problem is not increasing housing prices, it is the stagnation of wages to a majority of the population. It takes about $100k in 2007 to raise a family decently in the USA. Unless the media and the public get used to this notion, we are doomed. How often do you hear about $60-75k being a ''good'' salary -- it might be statistically, but in real purchasing power terms, it is closer to poverty for most families. You will not be able to live in a decent area and afford an average lifestyle. Even a college education will not get you higher wages than 20 years ago, but much higher debt. This is a boon for employers and is an important reason why profits for corporations are healthy and stock prices keep rising. Where is the balance?

It seems to me that viewing human labor as a commodity is the most short-sided and self-destructive management policy one could think of. It does not provide any incentive to invest in human capital and boost skill levels in the workforce. The ''labor as a commodity'' thinking is a trap that keeps us all down.

Choose your favorite candidate -- change anytime --
www.netvote2008.com

[jetranger7]

Heres one for Ya''ll, Big Shot Builder want to build houses (27-yrs.old), so he does, wants to "profit" between 125,000 and 150,000 on the house after expenses. Sells house, eventually, House falls down, after a heavy rain in the midwest. Why, because he built it on Fill soil that wasn''t compacted properly, near a large creek. But, you couldn''t of told that to this young BIG SHOT-Hot Shot Builder, why he knows it all, and besides the name on the side of the truck Claims, QUALITY Custom built homes,, Ya, right, he''s never swung a hammer in his life, fresh out of college and hired a bunch of Illegals to do the work for him. But, he''s a big time home builder-right ! While he sits in his 45,000 dollar airconditioned SUV, on his cell phone talking to his wife/girl friend or what ever ! Theres way too much of this going on too, its almost too easy to get into this business and claim your all this and all that when in actuality, some of these so called builders couldn''t build a Dog House by themselves !

[GRPDiver]

I have property in Prince William County, Virginia, and am watching my property value decline. In addition to all the issues discussed in this article, the county council is cracking down on illegal immigrant in a xenophobic approach that is driving both legal and illegal immigrants out of the county. There is a large Hispanic community in the county. It is now harder for both legal and illegal immigrants to get jobs due to racial profiling by employers afraid of making a mistake and mistakenly hiring someone illegal. The people can not make the mortgage payments resulting in foreclosures. With a large number of houses on the market, new housing starts are down. As a result, construction workers are being laid off. My tenant is a native-born, Anglo-Saxon that was a construction superintendent who lost his job. He was out of work for two months and fell behind on his rent. The point is that there unintended consequences for many government actions that negatively affect groups not targets by the action.

As far as sub-prime mortgages--need I say more? If it is too good to be true, it usually is too good to be true. The same is true with ARMs. Some people want the government to bail these people out. The job of the government is not to bail people out of every poor decision they make. They agreed to the terms of the loan; then they have to live with the consequences.

If the lender defrauded people, that is a different story and needs to be dealt with in criminal and civil court.

Three cheers for AgentG1967. You''re right on target. One way this manifests itself is by selling out the American worker and sending our jobs overseas to China, India, etc. Short term thinking by the greedy controlling elite. And no one in Washington is doing anything about it. Now we all get to suffer.

Simple reasoning could have prevented this, but greed gets in the way. Think about it - If I send US jobs overseas and render many people here unemployed, who will buy my products/services? Wow! What insight! You mean if jobs keep floating out of this Country, people won''t be able to make a living???

Real Rocket Science, but here we are........

Since politicians will say anything to get elected, I am not sure a change in administration or party is going to fix anything.

I hope I''m wrong........

[zootallures2]

Three cheers for AgentG1967. You''''re right on target. One way this manifests itself is by selling out the American worker and sending our jobs overseas to China, India, etc. Short term thinking by the greedy controlling elite. And no one in Washington is doing anything about it. Now we all get to suffer.

Simple reasoning could have prevented this, but greed gets in the way. Think about it - If I send US jobs overseas and render many people here unemployed, who will buy my products/services? Wow! What insight! You mean if jobs keep floating out of this Country, people won''''t be able to make a living???

Real Rocket Science, but here we are........

Posted by pilgrimsprog at 04:27 PM : Nov 14, 2007

Worse than that. They also pay-off politicians to pass laws so they can monopolize industries and prevent a US made product from getting in the market.

[ivymw2002]

OK AMERICANS...stop blaming everything and everyone else for your failure to PAY YOUR BILLS. It amazes me how people can always find a way to put the responsibility on someone or something else. "It''s the government''s fault, it''s the illegal immigrants"...boo hoo, so sad you couldnt pay your mortgage. No wonder you lost your home!!!! You always buying stuff you have no business buying trying to keep up with Mr. and Mrs. Jones. Trying to impress people with your fancy cars and clothes and you cant even afford it. Basically living a BIG FAT LIE!!!!!

[hypnotoad72]

*** the people for not paying their bills! *** the price of gas! *** the price of oil! *** downsizing! *** offshoring! *** finding new things to offshore! *** illegals! *** all sorts of things!

We should be looking at proper solutions and not blaming everyone else, *** it.

[hypnotoad72]

Oh, *** = D*a*m*n. If TV shows have said the word on-screen for more than 30 years... :)

[zootallures2]

Basically living a BIG FAT LIE!!!!!

Posted by ivymw2002 at 04:45 PM : Nov 14, 2007

Maybe if they stop lying they''ll cure their obesity problem too?