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ACORN and Zombie Politics: Housing and Debt

New Orleans        Treme is not the only Louisiana based hit on HBO.  The bigger attraction set in Shreveport and neighboring communities is True Blood of course.  I would have thought that ACORN was a natural for Treme, but the more I watch it, the more I realize this is a soundtrack [...]

$300 House Might be a Disaster Solution, Not a Social Solution

New Orleans I read all of these stories about cheap, modular construction in various designs from assorted materials.  I find them fascinating and quaint.  Mainly, I read them to give me ideas for how to rebuild our fishing camp across Lake Pontchartrain or to plant in the mountains or woods as a retreat somewhere.  [...]

Obama Trapping Right on Fannie

Mexico City My money says that if Treasury Secretary Geithner is designated to make the announcement on the Administration’s future plans for the housing finance mortgage guarantors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it should be understood as a message directly to Wall Street and the housing industry, and therefore indirectly to the Republicans and the [...]

More Tenants? More Rights!

Toronto Given the housing and foreclosure crisis in the United States, it was not surprising to see that homeownership rates have fallen rapidly in recent years.  The Wall Street Journal published an estimate saying:

The nation’s home-ownership rate is also falling, to 67% of U.S. households in 2010, after topping 69% in 2004, according to [...]

Colors and Dawn on the Marcala Mountains

Marcala           In an afterthought I had thrown a small flashlight in my bag.  You never know.  As Tim sings, “there’s the cowboy in us all,” and with me there’s still a boy scout deep down riding alongside I guess.  Good thing.  We had driven up the mountains from Marcala in pitch dark to where our [...]

Solidarity Tax Financing for Low Income Housing

Central America For the next couple of weeks I’m going to be embedded in Central America, having cashed a horde of frequent flier miles to get to San Jose en route to Nicaragua and then Honduras, where ACORN International expects to open its 8th country operation, if all goes well in meetings to come.  [...]