Posts Tagged ‘unemployment’
2009 Foreclosures Hit Record High
It should be no surprise. With a severe recession coming on the heels of years of outsourcing followed by predatory lending of sub-prime mortgages, millions of people are unable to keep up with monthly expenses. The biggest expense is housing. Marketwatch.com has reported that James Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac, states that “in the long term, a massive supply of delinquent loans continues to loom over the housing market, and many of those delinquencies will end up in the foreclosure process in 2010 and beyond, as lenders gradually work their way through the backlog”.
Foreclosures in California, Florida, Arizona and Illinois account for more than half the national total. According to new data released by Lender Processing Services (LPS), one in every 7.5 homeowners with a mortgage in the United States is either behind on their payments or in foreclosure. This equates to a record high 13.2 percent of the nation’s home loans.
Along the same lines, bankruptcies are also at record levels. One of America’s favorite vacation places is experiencing serious hardship, which can be viewed as an economic indicator. The Las Vegas Review-Journal is reporting that bankruptcy filings in Nevada were up 58.6 percent in 2009. Bankruptcies in the state rose to 29,170 filings from 18,389 in 2008.
It’s hard to know what’s worse, the current rate of foreclosures or the impossible prospects for job creation that would generate the necessary level of employment and decent income to enable people to end this downward spiral. The redirecting of Wall St. bonuses to a serious job stimulus would likely find mass appeal at this point.
Read more here.
