Trapped

Zillow reports that 28.% of American homeowners are "underwater", in that they owe more on their homes than the homes are worth. I'll bet that in some places, like the Las Vegas area, it probably is closer to 50%.

Even if those homeowners can get their lenders to agree to a short sale,* what they put into the house, from down payments to improvements, are lost to them. People who had to save for years to afford their down payments and closing costs may end up having to rent from here on out. Millions of homeowners played by the rules. They did what they were supposed to do.

But the greed of the banksters trumped all. Those fuckers all made money from both sides of the housing debacle, both the rise and the crash. And now, they are doing what they can to inflate their bonuses.

The banksters say: "Ask not what I can do for America, ask only what I can steal with both hands." Those criminals have transferred trillions of dollars of wealth from the middle class to the ultra-rich by their schemes and machinations.

There will be a reckoning some day.
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* Good luck with that, since thanks to bundling and the CDOs, who owns the mortgage and has the power to agree to that is arguable.