Just bad news

I hate to print the bad news but the point is to print the truth.

Consumer debt delinquencies have hit new record highs. Some of that isn't new. Or, news.

Over 6.6% of all credit card accounts are maxed out. Over 4.5% of credit cards are past due.

Loans for mobile homes, which are mortgages in fact, have a delinquency rate of 3.7% and home equity loans were close behind with a 3.5% rate.

The number one cause? Job loss.

As I've said before, the unemployment rate in the U.S. isn't a decent measure of unemployment. The unemployment rate can be figured by the number of people who present an unemployment claim to a state agency. Or, the Census Bureau can ask people. That second option is done all the time through the Current Population Survey or CPS.

The CPS was once known as the the "long form" of the decennial census. So, we can sample people who file claims or we can statistically sample a survey ...

Neither works well for me.

I look at the percentage of people holding a job.

Under Clinton as recently as 2001, 64.4% of people over 16 had a job. That fell under Bush to 62 to 60 percent. It's now fallen to 59.5%. I expect that to fall further.

Those statistics have four categories that suck. "1) independent contractors, 2) on-call workers, 3) temporary help agency workers, and 4) workers provided by contract firms."

I don't think the "on-call worker" really has a job. Seems like a dishonest way to inflate employment statistics.

Here's the statistic I love and hate at the same time. The total percentage of unemployed plus marginally attached workers plus workers forced into part time work ...

That number just hit 16.5%. Ugly to the bone. Under Clinton, from 1999 to the end of 2000, that number varied between 6.8% and 7.7%. In 1994, the percentage rate was higher than 11 for four months. In the past ten months, the rate has grown from 10.9% to 16.5%.

As the number of people without secure jobs increases beyond 16.5%, we'll see more foreclosures and more delinquent debt.

Foreclosures in Georgia? Rates? Numbers?

No one knows. That is the raw fact. Georgia's State Legislature doesn't care enough to track it.

What are the national numbers? According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), new foreclosures were 1.37% of first mortgages. That doesn't sound so bad, eh?

Mortgage delinquencies were 9.12%. So about one in TEN homeowners are dealing with the possibility of foreclosure.

Now I'm going to get to the point.

We live in a state where foreclosure on a home doesn't require a legal procedure. The lender doesn't have to file a single piece of paper.

If I'm a lender in Georgia, I just send a notice of default to a homeowner and then sell the property on the court house steps. Over 7,462 homeowners in just five Georgia counties had their homes sold on the court house steps. In April ... this year. Five counties out of 159.

Am I getting the message across?

Republicans whine about property rights. Georgia homeowners don't have property rights in Georgia. Lenders have all the rights.

Every homeowner in Georgia is thirty days away from losing their home. All it takes is one missed payment. No legal process. No court review. It's all in the hands of the lender.

That isn't right.

As employment drops, as the number of people forced into part time work, as the number of temporary jobs increase, we need real action to save our neighbors.

Kennedy may have said that a rising tide raises all boats. But, it does nothing for those with their heads barely above water.


Just for kicks, read this foreclosure story about from the AJC. Link It's about an NFL football players ex-wife in Atlanta. The wife has been featured in The Real Housewives of Atlanta. It's something of a takeoff on Desperate Housewives. The house was bought for $2.4 million. It sold in foreclosure for $1.1 million. Allegedly, the ex-wife trashed the house before leaving. She says someone broke in. Interesting story.