Home Foreclosures In U.S. Exceed One Million For 2010
Two years after the onset of the global financial crisis, sparked largely by the collapse of the American residential home market, primarily proprieties financed with sub-prime mortgages, the aftershocks continue. The latest data concludes that 2010 witnessed one million home foreclosures in the United States, a record high. While the tail end of 2010 did witness a deceleration in foreclosure filings, this seeminlgly positive news is misleading. The slowdown was caused by revelations that banks had resorted to improper documentation in persuing home foreclosures. This has led to a temporary reduction in such filings, however this merely means that there will likely be an acceleration in the foreclosure rate during 2011.
The continuing and growing foreclosure disaster in America contradicts all the other supposedly positive economic data pointed to by policymakers and their spin-masters ( that is, if you think the Federal Reserve engaging in a second round of quantitative easing is “positive” news). Despite the massive stimulus-derived public budget deficits and Fed money-printing, the weak housing sector in the U.S. will likely continue to be a wet blanket that suffocates the marginal economic growth being conjured into existence through unprecedented levels of public debt expansion. Clearly, the housing crisis that begat the global financial and economic crisis is far from over.