subprime mortgage at Brave New Films

Housing casualties pile up

2008-08-04T20:31:30Z

Jun. 16 - A credit crunch brought on by the collapse of the subprime mortgage market and a housing slump claimed its lastest victim - - American Insurance Group showed CEO Martin Sullivan the door.

Watch the video

How Low Can You Go? The Housing Crisis Gets Worse

2008-08-01T08:57:19Z

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/domestic/housing

Who is being affected by the housing crisis? What are the broader economic consequences of the housing crisis? What should we do to stabilize the housing market? CAP's Andrew Jakabovics tries to make sense of the housing mess.

www.AMERICANPROGRESS.org

Watch the video

The US Economy - How Do YOU Think It's Doing? By CAP

2008-07-24T12:51:55Z

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/domestic/economy

American families are feeling the pressure of a tightening economy from all sides. They are burdened with massive amounts of debt that have become harder to handle due to accelerated house price drops and the stagflationary nature of the downturn. Jobs are going away, wages are flat, and benefits are disappearing, while prices are skyrocketing everywhere.

Just like a balloon squeezed from all sides, family finances are increasingly being burst. And the overall economic outlook doesn't help. Massive trade deficits pose a drain on our national resources, slowing innovation means that we are generating less of what we need, and long-term budget deficits due to tax cuts for the rich are preventing the government from addressing the economic needs of America's families.

THE CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS
www.americanprogress.org

Watch the video

Real Estate Woes: The Subprime Mortgage Crisis by CAP

2008-07-14T12:44:46Z

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/01/barr_testimony.html

With each passing release of housing-related data, the picture becomes bleaker for the estimated 1.8 million homeowners with subprime mortgages whose interest rates have reset this year or are due to reset before the end of next year. Many of these borrowers and their families hold the 22 percent of adjustable rate subprime loans currently delinquent or the 3.84 percent of subprime loans that entered foreclosure in the second quarter of this year. For those still current on their loans, they can look forward to increases in monthly payments averaging 30 percent to 50 percent when their rates reset.

There have been a number of proposals offered to help these and other troubled borrowers, but the range of solutions suggested to date still leaves a significant number of families without any solution to their problems.

For more of CAP's work on the current housing crisis please visit
THE CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS
www.AMERICANPROGRESS.org

Watch the video

Hollow US Economy Revealed By Housing Bust - Madland on CNN

2008-08-15T20:52:37Z

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/02/housing_downer.html

David Madland of the Center for American Progress tells CNN, the housing bubble burst has revealed an economy that hasnt created new jobs or raised wages while costs for fuel, food and other necessary goods has soared. According to CNN, Goldman Sachs research reveals 30% of mortgages nationwide, or 15,000,000 homes, are now worth less than the mortgages people are paying for them.

www.AMERICANPROGRESS.org

Watch the video

FBI Investigates Lenders/Wall Street for Subprime Fraud

2008-07-02T14:18:58Z

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/01/quick_action.html

Andrew Jakabovics of the Center for American Progress shares his thoughts with CNN on reports that the FBI is investigating widespread fraud from mortgage lenders and Wall Street bankers fueled by the subprime segment of the housing market.

www.AMERICANPROGRESS.org

Watch the video

Economic Stimulus Bill Passes - CAP's Shakir on CNBC

2008-07-02T14:18:58Z

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/01/quick_action.html

President Bush last night spent 45 seconds (including applause) addressing the severe downturn in the housing market. This morning, we were treated to the release of new data on house prices and foreclosures, each of which indicates that a more aggressive role for government is warranted to help solve the current crisis.

House prices have now declined for 11 consecutive months, with November's annual decline of 8.4 percent a record low. Seven metropolitan areas are showing double-digit declines year over year. Not surprisingly, many of the places with the steepest declines are in states with high rates of foreclosures.

Foreclosures jumped 75 percent nationally for all of 2007 and nearly doubled in December, marking the fifth consecutive month with more than 200,000 foreclosures. In addition, the inventory of lender-owned homes nearly doubled last year. We can expect more sharp downdrafts on home prices in 2008 if the vicious cycle between lost equity and foreclosures is not broken.

Housing markets in scores of communities have effectively ground to a halt, with December's existing home sales plummeting 22 percent over last year, leaving us with a 45.5 percent increase in unsold homes. New home sales fared even worse, down 41 percent over the same period. Until we implement programs to prevent additional homes from falling into foreclosure and programs designed to buy up vacant foreclosed properties owned by banks, we can only expect the housing markets to limp along.

Debating whether homeowners who tapped subprime mortgages are more at fault than the unregulated mortgage companies that marketed these high-cost mortgages is no more productive now than arguing in the face of a rapidly spreading wildfire whether the negligent camper or neglected forest clearance practices were more at fault. The first order of business is putting out the fire before it consumes more homes, which in the long run is also a more cost-effective approach.

The Center for American Progress is proposing solutions that address the problems plaguing homeowner communities forested with foreclosure signs, where most borrowers were not necessarily subprime borrowers, but are still finding their homes devalued and their neighborhoods at risk. CAP's proposals also responsibly address the longer-term need to expand ownership opportunities to working families still shut out of the market without inviting a new round of unregulated, high-cost, "ticking-time bomb" types of mortgages.
Center for American Progress Research Director Faiz Shakir joined CNBC to discuss the housing crisis and the economic stimulus bill currently before Congress.

Watch the video

Do stimulus packages work?

2008-06-15T09:32:45Z

Leo Panitch: Stimulus not solving underlying problems like consumer debt or broken infrastructure

2008 Leo Panitch is the Canada Research Chair in Comparative Political Economy and a Distinguished Research Professor of Political Science at York University in Toronto. Panitch is also the author of Global Capitalism and American Empire.

More at therealnews.com

Watch the video

NYC protesters demand freeze on home foreclosures

2008-06-09T15:33:41Z

Watch the video

Bill Moyers 20070630 - Housing Market Meltdown 1of2

2008-06-12T03:31:57Z

Watch the video

The Subprime Blues with improved sound

2008-06-13T21:30:28Z

Watch the video

Housing Crash Just Beginning? TFN Smart Trading 06/20/07

2008-06-13T21:30:34Z

Watch the video

U.S. mortgage mess goes global

2008-06-13T21:30:40Z

Watch the video

Real Estate: Subprime Meltdown - CAP's Jakabovics on CNN

2008-06-08T03:30:07Z

www.AMERICANPROGRESS.org
Andrew Jakabovics of the Center for American Progress tells CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight that according to a recent CAP study, 38% of new home loans are underwater -- in other words, the mortgages are worth more than the houses. Dobbs' commentary after the report skewers the Bush administration's response to the housing crisis.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/11/abusive_lending.html

Watch the video

Hightower's Guide to Sub Prime Mortgage Rip Off

2008-10-12T14:18:43Z

More info: www.hightowerlowdown.org! Hightower's simple, easy guide to explaining the looming disaster awaiting Wall St and Main St.

Watch the video

Real Estate Woes: Subprime Mortgages Are a Ticking Timebomb

2008-06-08T03:30:51Z

Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Dr Christian Weller appeared on CNBC to discuss subprime mortgages and how consumers can protect themselves.

For more on subprime mortgages and foreclosure rates please see:
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/03/foreclosures_numbers.html

What if 40 hours a week were enough?
www.AMERICANPROGRESS.org

Watch the video