Dear Friend and Reader,
The news for homeowners and auto industry employees this week has been troubling. On Thursday, The Home section of The New York Times reported that over one million homes have been lost in the past two years, and the Mortgage Bankers Association (who’s annual conference featured a near-citizen’s arrest on Karl Rove Tuesday) predicts 1.5 million more are in the process of foreclosure.
Thursday evening, I was listening to one of our more local radio stations, which interviews Newark, New Jersey’s Mayor Cory Booker once a month on the city’s most pressing issues. Hetakes this time to answer calls from Newark residents.
(Aside: Newark has one of the highest crime rates in the country, and is a true melting pot of ethnicities and religions, along with a high rate of poverty.)
On the program this month, Mayor Booker talked about the mortgage crisis, which has hit the impoverished city earlier than many others, and is sure to get worse.
Women called in that evening with stories about losing their homes, and about $4000 a month mortgages and low salaries. Mayor Booker pointed them to local organizations that can help.
Of course, besides the high cost of mortgages, people are losing their jobs. Chrysler just announced on Friday that it will be cutting 25 percent of its 18,500 white-collar workers in the next month.