On Thursday, OccupyWashingtonDC.org teamed up with the Backbone Campaign, National People’s Action, and the New Economy Working Group in a march from Freedom Plaza to the Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA).
The demand they brought, along with giant props including a foreclosed house under water, was for a correction. The 1%, they said, inflated house values and made off with ill-gotten gains, but those left with underwater mortgages when the house values were brought back down have suffered. The demand is for mortgage values to be adjusted to match the current market values of houses.
“People in power know that the real solution to the continuing collapse of the housing market is universal principal reduction of American mortgages to real market value,” said Bill Moyer of the Backbone Campaign. “It’s time those with the power find the backbone to stand up to the banks and Institutions that hold these mortgages and insist they stop drowning America with false solutions, inaction and greed.”
Some 25% of U.S. mortgages are now under water, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac hold over 50% of U.S. mortgages. The FHFA has the power to force Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to reduce principal to the actual value of houses. Underwater mortgage debt is one of the primary drags on economic recovery. It continues to devour tens of billions of dollars annually, money that would otherwise go into our economy in the form of consumer spending.
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Demonstrators from the Freedom Plaza Occupation, Backbone Campaign & Economic Justice Allies protest November 10, 2011 to Demand Mortgage Correction in front of the Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA) in Washington, DC. Demonstrators are demanding that the FHFA force Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to reduce principal to the actual value of houses. Underwater mortgage debt is one of the primary drags on economic recovery. It continues to devour tens of billions of dollars annually, money that would otherwise go into our economy in the form of consumer spending.
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Noel Ortega with the Freedom Plaza Occupation, Backbone Campaign & Economic Justice Allies protests from a makeshift ‘underwater home’ November 10, 2011 to Demand Mortgage Correction in front of the Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA) in Washington, DC. Demonstrators are demanding that the FHFA force Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to reduce principal to the actual value of houses. Underwater mortgage debt is one of the primary drags on economic recovery. It continues to devour tens of billions of dollars annually, money that would otherwise go into our economy in the form of consumer spending.