This N&O article caught my attention, for it is chock full of inaccuracies and question-begging statements.
The article begins:
North Carolina will receive $159 million as part of a federal aid package designed to fight foreclosures in states plagued by high unemployment.
The $600 million package announced Monday by the Obama administration is the latest sign that the nation’s foreclosure problem has spread from subprime borrowers to the growing number of people who can’t find work.
“The first wave of foreclosures had more to do with subprime loans, but right now many of the foreclosures in North Carolina are because of the surge in unemployment,” said Charlene Crowell, communications manager for state policy and outreach at the Center for Responsible Lending in Durham.
Prime foreclosures began their increase at the same moment (third quarter of 2006) as subprime foreclosures, as can be seen in figure 5. Further, the prime foreclosure rate went into territory that was far above where it had been in the prior ten years, much more so than was the case for subprime loans. In percentage terms, the increase in foreclosures started from the second quarter of 2006 until the end of 2007 was 39 percent for subprime loans and 69 percent for prime loans. There is no evidence to support a claim that somehow the subprime market had this unprecedented increase in foreclosures and that later the prime loans accidentally caught the contagion. Both markets were hit at the same time, and the force was at least as strong in the prime market.
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