Cleveland 10th nationally for forclosures (foreclosures, mortgage, loans)

[stellar]

I just read that Cleveland is in the top ten cities (tenth) nationally for foreclosures. Any insights; any particular areas?

[happyfeet888]

Cleveland's job market is tight with a loss of jobs. When that happens people can't keep up with mortgage payments. Of course lending institutions have been giving "creative" loans to people who are high risk.

[stellar]

Yes, that seems to be the case everywhere in the US right now. I don't know where Cleveland falls as far as large cities and population, but maybe it is proportional? A coworker of mine, as well as my own social science studies suggests that any city that has shifted out of manufacturing, which of course has been outsourced, leaves the urban job market much lower in wages. I am a republican on paper, but it amazes me that our leaders don't seem to see our fellow Americans going under in droves...

[twixcookie]

Politicians don't care. They belong to the very rich class of wage earners, so they don't care about the shrinking middle class. The poor get taken care of, but it's the middle class who gets the shaft over and over.
People have known for decades that losing the manufacturing base has hurt America. A service sector economy cannot support a large population such as ours. It is going to get worse, as the population increases, and there are fewer and fewer well paying jobs. Either you will have to be a doctor, lawyer, or other high professional, or you will be mowing their lawn, serving them in restaurants, or cleaning their homes.

[stellar]

I completely agree! As John Sweeney, the president of the AFL-CIO said, the contract has been broken between corporate America and America's working citizens. In days gone by, big business invested in the communities and their labor force, mind you not in the industrial revolution, people meant little, but earlier and later in our history. At that point there was still a thing called personal ethics and some level of patriotism in business, rather than rampant greed. They also recognized in the long run they needed their workers not only as a reproducable labor force, but as consumers as well. The long term health of our economy and nation had to be factored into their own business objectives. That's capitalism, with a dose of governmental overview in the interest of the PEOPLE not their own stockholdings. But the ability to outsources jobs, our wondeful NAFTA type trade deals, untethered special interest groups who have purchased and bribed our politicians and our country out from under our noses, and the seeming complete loss of interest in one's fellow man--sheer narcissistic libertarianism, as well as the disenfranchisment and complete fatigue of the American public, has brought us to this. In my opinion, the last great US leader was FDR. That was an era where the average American citizen actually mattered. There were a few good policies since, American with Disabilities Act, etc. Civil rights was more a grassroots thing than policy makers. Unfortunately, our current leaders are rapidly undermining the many rights the average citizens have won over the past few decades. Our economy is such that if it continues along these lines, there will be fewer and fewer American consumers to purchase the goods we are producing, as our low paying service sector jobs, that give no benifits such as healthcare, retirement, etc, won't pay for that kind of purchasing power. Our schools get worse than they are as the majority of funds come from property taxes and the state, and then we can import high tech workers from abroad because our own workforce is not educated enough. Does anyone see an implosion here. I honestly believe the time has come to take back our country. Reenfranchise ourselves with the democratic process. Get our butts out to our planning commisions and our city council meetings. Email and make appointments to talk to our politicians. Demand that they legislate in the interest of the constiuents, not their own pockets. And vote with our dollars, boycott businesses that do not work with the interest of America in mind. It is a time ripe for great social change. Historically it takes people suffering and getting sick of it to make it happen. I just hope it happens before too many other Americans suffer and go under financially.

[twixcookie]

Stellar,
I agree...it's all about greed now. You see people even in the lowest ranks at work selling their souls for a few dollars more, the CEO greed mentality is worshipped at the lowest levels now.
Everything is about money. How cheap it can be produced. Cheapness is next to godliness. There was a time when quality "was job 1".
But not now...and I've talked to small business owners who turned my stomach as much as any CEO or company president.
If I had the money, I'd start an American company. Because you can be sure we wouldn't be putting poison in kid's toys, like some of the foreign products.

And you're right, there used to be a sense of community, giving back to the locale where people were employed or bought the products. Now, it's just clouded gestures, such as minority appeasements, because they have to...

When will this stop? I am migrating from the midwest to the southwest for a job, something I don't want to do. I will miss the trees, for one thing. But will the next migration for people be out of this nation?

I don't care what anyone says, there aren't a lot of good jobs out there.