Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs on His ‘Calling’ to Turn His Hometown Around

Emily Wilson / Truthdig Sep 6, 2018 The California city’s wunderkind mayor has big plans—including a basic income plan—to make good on his buzzed-about potential. Dig deeper ( 6 Min. Read )

‘Every Body Has a Story’: A Striking Depiction of American Poverty

Beverly Gologorsky Jul 2, 2018 Beverly Gologorsky's new book is "a rare working-class novel ... about the 2007-2009 foreclosure crisis and how it hit not those 'too big to fail,' but those too small not to be clobbered by it," writes TomDispatch editor Tom Engelhardt. Dig deeper ( 6 Min. Read )

What Does Poverty Feel Like?

Beverly Gologorsky / TomDispatch Jun 20, 2018 The Great Recession is officially over, but tell that to the increasing numbers of poor families scrabbling to hang on in a world that refuses to see or hear them. Dig deeper ( 8 Min. Read )

Uber and Lyft, Driving Taxi Drivers Into Poverty and Despair

Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan Feb 8, 2018 The ride-hailing firms have skirted traditional transportation laws, flooding the streets with cars for hire and causing economic hardship for licensed cabdrivers. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Bankruptcy Lawyer Fires Back at Steven Mnuchin’s ‘Robo-Signing’ Claims

Staff / Truthdig Aug 10, 2017 The lawyer, a Republican and Trump supporter, asks Mnuchin to recognize the damage done by big banks. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Profiting Off Pain: Trump Confidant Cashed In on the Housing Crisis

By Aaron Glantz / Reveal Jul 8, 2017 One of the president’s closest friends, Southern California billionaire Thomas J. Barrack (pictured), bought up homes during the Great Recession, bumped up rents and allowed the properties to fall into disrepair. Dig deeper ( 15 Min. Read )

Trump’s Treasury Pick Excelled at Kicking Elderly People Out of Their Homes

By Paul Kiel and Jesse Eisinger / ProPublica Jan 17, 2017 When Steven Mnuchin ran OneWest, the bank aggressively and, in some cases, wrongly foreclosed on elderly homeowners with reverse mortgages. The bank had a disproportionate share of such foreclosures. Dig deeper ( 5 Min. Read )

Robert Scheer and David Dayen Uncover Untold Stories of the Mortgage Crisis

BLANK Oct 21, 2016 In this week’s episode of "Scheer Intelligence," the Truthdig editor in chief speaks with the author of the book “Chain of Title: How Three Ordinary Americans Uncovered Wall Street’s Great Foreclosure Fraud.” Transcript added. Dig deeper ( 22 Min. Read )

So You Want to Ditch Your Landlord

Staff / Truthdig Dec 10, 2015 “Real estate as a store of private wealth is the rotten tree that sprouts [the] diseased branches” of homelessness, unaffordable urban real estate, gentrification and dangerous housing bubbles, writes Jesse A. Meyerson at The Nation. “[T]he solution is to quit pruning twigs and chop the sucker down.” Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Major Clinton Super PAC Donor Is a Profiteer of the Foreclosure Crisis

Staff / Truthdig Dec 9, 2015 When Donald Mullen Jr. saw the beginning of the market decline that led to the crash of 2008, he told his colleagues at Goldman Sachs, “Sounds like we will make some serious money.” Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Leaked Audit Reveals That Many Seattle Mortgages Are Void

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Sep 19, 2015 An audit of land records commissioned by the Seattle City Council and leaked to local activists found that many mortgages held within the city are void, which means foreclosures based on them are illegal and unenforceable. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Banks Rejected Three Out of Four Requests for Loan Modifications Under Vaunted Obama Program

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Aug 1, 2015 One of the Obama administration’s “signature efforts to help homeowners” has “allowed big banks to run roughshod over borrowers again and again,” reports The New York Times. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )