In 2004, everyone was encouraged to sell, and buy up. Banks and credit unions were soliciting. People were encouraged to apply for home improvement loans because interest rates were low, and their home’s value had increased; they were encouraged to apply for adjustable rate mortgages (ARM); so many did that! The sky was the limit, almost anyone regardless of debt/income ratio could buy a house. People believed that the banks wouldn’t lie; the Fed wouldn’t lie.
But it was a con game, meant to do just what it did: crash, depriving Americans of home ownership, and Middle Class status, to throw them into depression and stress; hopelessness.
The American people were just as gullible then as they are now; no logical thought, uneducated about the financial system in America, and believing in a corrupt system. Homes were never meant to continue rising in value as they were, but the unthinking public believed they would, and they didn’t understand the concept of living within their means. In fact, they thought that their $300,000 house would in time be a million dollar house! Practically anyone who was breathing could get a loan, and get on the fast track to millionaire status.
Then it happened: In 2008, the bubble burst, the bottom dropped out; the Fed pulled the plug, as was planned all along. Most of those who foolishly bought into the lie, lost their homes when interest rates rose, and house values plummeted. The banks repossessed (as was planned), and the investors swooped in (as was planned), and bought them up. The approximately 45 million homeless homeowners then had to find rentals. Now the investors knew they had a cash cow: the rent prices were limitless because so many were desperate to find a place to live.
Let’s look at Sacramento as a case in point. There are practically no houses to rent that the average income can afford. As an example, a 910 sq. ft. house in a low income area in Sacramento rents for more than $1500/month. Many that are available are owned by slumlords turning once beautiful middle class neighborhoods into blight. If they do fix something, the rent then goes up, further stressing a struggling family, possibly forcing them to move.
Don’t get me wrong, there are still people who have solid incomes from their jobs, or from retirement accounts, for now. You see, anyone regardless of income can lose their job, and retirement funds have been crashing all around us all over the country.
This my fellow Americans is the destruction of the American Dream of home ownership, pride in one’s self, prosperity. If you want to know where America is going fast, look at Detroit. In time the only areas that will be livable will be the select cities throughout the country, that become a rich man’s playground like Sacramento, California is becoming. You are now looking at The Hunger Games.
Everything Is Backwards 