Trapped and Sinking Fast

The Strategic Default Initiative

Millions of people could decide to stop paying their mortgage because their home values have sunk far below what they owe, economists estimate... For one California couple, whose home is now worth only 20% of what they paid, the temptation to call it quits is very real.

To Pay, Or Not To Pay Audio Embed: Morning Edition, 10/28/10 Reporter: Yuki Noguchi

The NY Times Econimix Blog illustrates the shocking reversal in home equity between 2000 & 2009 with maps from the San Francisco Fed.

The Nation examines Bank of America's failure to help hundreds of thousands of homeowners ruined by Countrywide Mortgage; which it owns. Countrywide originated 1 in 5 of sub prime mortgage defaults.


The James Gang classic from Thirds (1971), when Joe really did quit the band.