The Looming Foreclosure Crisis: As the Fed Runs Out of Bullets, Local Governments Are Stepping In

Jay OwenReforming Global Finance, Community Development Solutions

Mortgage debt overhang from the housing bust has meant lack of middle-class spending power and consumer demand, preventing the economy from growing. The problem might be fixed by a new approach from the Fed. But if the Fed won’t act, counties will, as seen in the latest developments on eminent …

The Stone that Brings Down Goliath? Richmond and Eminent Domain

Jay OwenReforming Global Finance, Community Development Solutions

In a nearly $13 billion settlement with the US Justice Department in November 2013,JPMorganChase admitted that it, along with every other large US bank, had engaged in mortgage fraud as a routine business practice, sowing the seeds of the mortgage meltdown. JPMorgan and other megabanks have now been caught in over …

New State Bank Bills Address Credit and Housing Crises

kristyReforming Global Finance, Community Development Solutions

New State Bank Bills Address Credit and Housing Crises Ellen Brown http://WebofDebt.com/articles February 26, 2012 Seventeen states have now introduced bills for state-owned banks, and others are in the works. Hawaii’s innovative state bank bill addresses the foreclosure mess. County-owned banks are being proposed that would tackle the housing crisis …

Occupy the Neighborhood: How Counties Can Use Land Banks and Eminent Domain

Ethical MarketsCommunity Development Solutions, SRI/ESG News

An electronic database called MERS has created defects in the chain of title to over half the homes in America.  Counties have been cheated out of millions of dollars in recording fees, and their title records are in hopeless disarray.  Meanwhile, foreclosed and abandoned homes are blighting neighborhoods.   Straightening out …