Monday, June 14, 2010

Monroe and Pike County Bankruptcies Up Over 20 and 30% Respectively

Howard Frank over at the Pocono Record details how dire the economies are in Monroe and Pike counties.

Bankruptcy filings have jumped 21 percent in Monroe County so far this year as the harsh economy, falling home prices and predatory loans have ripped into the financial health of Pocono residents.

It was worse in Pike County, where bankruptcies rose 30 percent.

Bankruptcy filings (PDF File)Monroe County saw 360 new bankruptcy filings during the first four months of 2010, compared to 297 during the same period last year. Pike's new filings totaled 136 through April 30, versus 105 last year.

"I've never seen the economy this bad," said Philip Stock, a Stroudsburg attorney whose sole practice for the past 16 years has been bankruptcy law. "The mortgage foreclosures are higher than they've ever been."


Paul Kanjorski made this statement back in 2004 about predatory lending practices.

"In my ongoing and extensive examinations, I have concluded that it is just as bad to place families in overvalued homes as it is to finance their homes either with excessive interest rates, points, fees, and charges or without considering their ability to make timely payments. All have the effect of potentially setting up a homeowner to fail," observed Congressman Kanjorski. "We therefore need to work in Washington to address appraisal matters, among other things, in any legislation to combat predatory lending that we consider next year."

In 2008 he issued this press release captured in another article by Howard Frank.

Congressman Paul E. Kanjorski (D-11) will hold a press conference next week in the Monroe County Commissioners meeting room to address the growing home mortgage crisis.

Congressman Kanjorski has been a vocal critic of the current mortgage system, and said it does not effectively protect borrowers from abuses that can occur in the system. As the Chairman of the House Financial Services Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee, he has introduced legislation to reform lending practices and fight predatory lending.

The date and time of the press conference is expected to be announced shortly.
So in four years Kanjorski is "still working on it".

Then he tries to spoon feed us with his rhetoric. George Campell once wrote [Rhetoric] is that art or talent by which discourse is adapted to its
end. The four ends of discourse are to enlighten the understanding, please the imagination, move the passion, and influence the will. Kanjorski's inaction given the present bankruptcy situation in those two counties should enlist more than enough passion to influence the will against his retention in office.

"We are helluva alot better off as a country and as an economy than we have ever been in the history of mankind."

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