Archive for November, 2009
| SW Fla. banks hit hard by bad debt |
| Banks based in Lee and Collier counties reported almost $736 million in bad debt tied to real estate as of Sept. 30, up more than 75 percent from debt that was already soaring a year ago. The debt, a “non-performing asset,” increases as borrowers default on loans and property falls into a flooded foreclosure market |
| A simple narrative is often used to characterize the foreclosure crisis at the heart of America’s Great Recession: While banks are at fault for approving risky loans, people who lived in the homes are as much to blame. ¶ Vanity Fair magazine calls American homeowners “infantile” for living beyond their means. Financial pundits criticize them for splurging on swimming pools and three-car garages. The truth is that real estate speculators and revenue-hungry local governments bear just as much of the responsibility — and maybe more — for the collapse in the housing market. |
