Warren and Sanders pounce as Biden enters the race

[Hortensis]

21. Much more informative, less biased article on Politico,

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/03/12/biden-vs-warren-2020-democratic-primaries-bankruptcy-bill-225728

You know, back in the 1990s when California's real estate bubble collapsed, I started out agreeing mostly with Elizabeth about all the poor people losing their homes.

Of course, right at the beginning I had to admit that it wasn't fair to all the honest lenders (most of them) that the affluent people who owned most of the homes I was appraising then were just dishonorably walking away from their debts. Their equity had disappeared, so they decided to break their contracts to throw further losses onto the banks. Did I say "dishonorable?" So many did this that it shook my liberal faith in basic good nature.

That was nothing to the others!

Of those actually foreclosed on, over 90% of the borrowers severely vandalized their homes before vacating. Tearing out plumbing and electrical usual, peeing and shitting on the floors common, breaking windows, and on and on. I would have flat disbelieved it, known it for a lie -- if I hadn't seen it again and again and again.

It was such a huge, widespread problem that a new appraisal specialty developed to evaluate ruined properties, all paid for by the lenders of course. I hated the work and didn't contract with any of the specialty businesses. Also, the industry for cleaning out severely damaged properties exploded in size, large costs also paid for by the banks. Also restoration of buildings and landscapes, huge costs paid by the banks.

We've seen film of cleanouts on TV, people's belongings just tossed in dumpsters by callous, uncaring minimum-wage workers, and thought, oh, poor things. Rightly for the genuine poor victims of misfortune. But, others also often still owed debt on furniture and appliances as well. That type abandoned not just their belongings but their debt, victimizing all those who mistakenly did business with them.

We had friends who lost their homes, and yes, many decent, hardworking, honorable people who always paid their debts regrettably did when that bubble broke. But even such an idealistic liberal as me was forced to accept that borrowing beyond one's means was behavior most indulged by people who were anything but honorable and responsible. Yes, predatory lending existed in huge numbers, but an appalling portion of their customers turned out to be predatory borrowers as well.

Think all the Trumps who didn't inherit millions.

Also, it's important to note that the kind of people who'd leave a home uninhabitable out of enormous malice didn't just borrow from predatory lenders. People did, as well, who lived at every economic level, typically in mid and upper middle-class neighborhoods, and who borrowed from reputable lenders based on incomes they really did have. It was a personality thing. Trump types.

So. I agree with BOTH Biden and Warren. Sometimes people really do need to be able to put their debts behind them for both their personal good and that of society's, and we should help them for their and society's sake. Most of the time, though, people who can really need to be required to pay their debts --for everyone's sake. Even if we have to take them to court and threaten criminal action to make them do it.