Because all you see is about to be owned by the federal government. As your property values dropped, your homeowners couldn’t sell. Small business failed as it couldn’t meet the obligations as Michigan taxes rose, and populations dropped, and the Big automobile manufacturers just sold a stake (yeah call it a loan for now.. but just wait..) to the fed.
That nifty little house down the street is bereft of piping and electrical. It has become uninhabitable as energy prices rose, along with copper and other commodities. Not only can no one inhabit it, but now it is worth less than what is owed on it, and it has a negative value, as it would have to be removed and reconstructed simply to meet code. The dirt in Detroit has more value than many of the homes which stand.
The government is buying the paper on BAD loans. While there are many who say HEY! We’ll MAKE MONEY for the people who are putting in the $700,000,000,000.00!! huh? If we will make money by bailing out the companies who are the experts in these things, why wouldn’t they keep the paper, and make the money for their stockholders?? When a home loan for a house in Detroit is for $70,000.00, and has a property value of $1,500.00, then we have a little problem even IF the Government is buying for pennies on the dollar. The money will never be collected from the borrower, the asset will never be redeemed.
The taxpayers in this country are getting screwed, and cities that have fallen apart as a result of poor social and fiscal examples and policy in Michigan and elsewhere will be the ball and chain we will have around our legs for some time. This isn’t your fault Detroit, but you carry the responsibility and the pain for having put into office too many empty dreams and wishes.
Detroit Look around you. The Democrats you elected have forced the policies which put home affordability out of reach, then they tried to fix it. The fix was an empty promise as they then turned around and caused high heating, gas and electricity prices so you couldnt afford the mortgages you had. Then they taxed your employers and forced them to close, or leave for other states, or other countries. Look around you, as your elected Democrats place the blame on the business which had to make a decision whether to close or move, placing blame on the president when for 5 years, Michigan was the only state showing the classical signs of a recession. And those same Democrats supporting the Governor who presided over the state in that time. All of this is a part of the problem of the current crisis.
Detroit, and Michigan Look around you, and see there is so much more to the picture that a well performed oration by the would be president Barack Obama, a man who would lead the entire country in the direction Michigan has gone. Detroit.. look around you, and tell us you want this for the rest of the country?