Foreclosing Time

As the Irish say, many go out for wool and come back shorn. In Cleveland, Ohio, there were 15,000 mortgage foreclosures last year, with many more on the way. It seems that high-interest subprime loans are the culprit, and minorities and the elderly are the victims. At this point, the city is unable to even keep track of all the vacant homes.

What happens to these unfortunate homeowners? Do they move into run down, over-crowded apartment dwellings? Not given that option, will FEMA set up tent cities for them? Once upon a time, the flats of Cleveland was a shanty town. Will those times return? Or, will folks be given one-way Greyhound tickets to San Francisco? It's a wonderful life, indeed.

The more important question is- how were these people suckered into such risky loans, and why wasn't this development foreseen? Perhaps the bankers and loan officers should be the ones to leave town. After all, who would Jesus foreclose on? In the 80's, a Mahoning County, Ohio sheriff named Jim Traficant defied a court order, and refused to foreclose on unemployed homeowners. It figures that, as a Congressman, he was later railroaded into prison. Wear that thorny crown in good health, Jim.