Callahan’s Cleveland Diary

Well, who woulda guessed it. It seems there’s no mortgage meltdown or housing market crisis, Ohio’s economic problems are all rooted in NAFTA, and Clinton, Obama, Williams and especially Russert all miraculously reached the Wolstein Center without passing through a Cleveland neighborhood. Luckily they had Minister Farrakhan and that guy who’s running for Putin’s job to talk about.

The word “foreclosure” was used exactly once the whole night, in passing (by Obama).

So if you want to know what either B or H plans to do about all those vacant houses down the street, you’ll just have to come to the Foreclosure Forum. Or watch it here.

P.S. Just talked to an incredulous Jay Westbrook who pointed out that in the Nevada debate the candidates at least were forced to talk about Yucca Mountain. We’ve got the mortgage industry’s toxic waste scattered all over this city, but Mr. Blue-Collar-Buffalo-and-Cleveland-Marshall-Guy Russert couldn’t be bothered with a question about it.

P.P.S. Even if the crack NBC News Debate Team didn’t think hundreds of boarded-up houses within a half-mile of Wolstein were, um, Presidential enough to ask about, you’d think this would have made the cut:

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is taking steps to brace for an increase in failed financial institutions as the nation’s housing and credit markets continue to worsen.

FDIC spokesman Andrew Gray said the agency was looking to bulk up “for preparedness purposes.” …

The agency, which insures accounts at more than 8,000 financial institutions, is also seeking to hire an outside firm that would help manage mortgages and other assets at insolvent banks, according to a newspaper advertisement.
…
“Regulators are bracing for well over 100 bank failures in the next 12 to 24 months, with concentrations in Rust Belt states like Michigan and Ohio, and the states that are suffering severe housing-market problems like California, Florida, and Georgia,” said Jaret Seiberg, Washington policy analyst for financial-services firm Stanford Group.

(Emphasis added)

P.P.P.S. What she said.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 26th, 2008 at 7:44 pm and is filed under Foreclosure crisis, Politics & elections. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.