Leid Stories—Pastor-Activist Revs Up Fight to Save Michigan City from Illegal Corporate/Gov’t Takeover—08.01.17

Leid Stories updates the story of the Rev. Edward Pinkney, who years ago took on a battle to save the predominantly black and poor city of Benton Harbor from a corporate/government conspiracy to rid the city of its “undesirable” population by hiking taxes, and give the vacated land to Whirlpool corporation for a golf course and related amenities. Download this …

Prashant Gopal – Wall Street, America’s New Landlord, Kicks Tenants to the Curb

On a chilly December afternoon in Atlanta, a judge told Reiton Allen that he had seven days to leave his house or the marshals would kick his belongings to the curb. In the packed courtroom, the truck driver, his beard flecked with gray, stood up, cast his eyes downward and clutched his black baseball cap. The 44-year-old father of two …

Amy Hoak – Boomers feeling squeezed by the rise in rents

Will high rents force boomers to move in with their kids? Rising rents have been cited as a reason millennials aren’t moving out of their parents’ basements. But higher rents could force some boomers to move in with their children. So says Don Lawby, president of the Real Property Management franchise, a property management company based in Utah. He says …

Wolf Richter – Housing Bubble Means American Dream Withers at Record Pace

The current housing boom has Dallas solidly in its grip. As in many cities around the US, prices are soaring, buyers are going nuts, sellers run the show, realtors are laughing all the way to the bank, and the media are having a field day. Nationwide, the median price of existing homes, at $236,400, as the National Association of Realtors …

The Great Middle Class Extinction: “95% of New Homes Built for Rich or Poor”

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times all over again. “Since 2000, 95 percent of new households in King County have been either rich or poor. A mere 5 percent could be considered middle income.” That is a statistic reportedly true of Seattle – the heart of King County in Washington state – but which …