A long time ago, in an America now far, far away, the majority of the American people owned the land that they live on. The term “my land” actually meant something back then. But today that has fundamentally changed. Now the majority of the American people owe on the land that they live on. In fact, most of them owe big money to the giant corporate banking interests that control the mortgage industry. So how did the American people come to be debtors and paupers in the land that our forefathers conquered? Today when someone says that they “bought a house” what they really mean is that they have signed up for 30 years (or more) of bloated mortgage payments which they care barely afford. As you will see below, the percentage of residential mortgage debt to total home equity (housing net worth) in the United States continues to rise at a staggering pace. In fact, thanks to the housing crash, for the first time in American history residential mortgage debt far surpasses the total home equity owned by all Americans. So what does that mean? It means that the big corporate banks have more of an interest in America’s homes than we do now.
So how are we getting our land taken from us?
Well, you can thank rampant inflation and the housing bubble.
Back in 1980, the United States was pushing up towards a total of $1 billion in total residential mortgage debt. It took us over 200 years to get to that point as a nation.
By 1990, the United States approximately doubled that amount and was sitting at about $2 trillion in total residential mortgage debt.
By the year 2000, the United States had just about $5 trillion in total residential mortgage debt.
By 2008, the United States had over $10 trillion in total residential mortgage debt.
Do you notice a trend?
In just the past 30 years the amount of residential mortgage debt in the United States has increased tenfold.
Meanwhile, thanks to the housing crash, home equity has taken a nosedive. As you can see from the chart below, total residential mortgage debt in the U.S. now far exceeds total home equity….
So what does this mean? It means that the banks have more of a financial interest in America’s homes than we do. It means that we are quickly becoming paupers and debt slaves.
As you can see from the chart below, back in 1945 total home equity as a percentage of home value was extremely high (80%). Home equity exceeded total residential mortgage debt by about a 4 to 1 margin. But today total residential mortgage debt exceeds home equity and the situation is rapidly becoming worse….
We were all told to buy into the system and we could live the American Dream. We were told to get a “good job” with one of the big global corporations and we were told to get a mortgage so that we could build up equity. Well, that has turned out great for most of us, hasn’t it?
The reality is that the system so many of us trusted is dying. We are now at the point where the system cannot provide jobs for millions of us anymore. If unemployment continues to soar as it has, millions more of us will find ourselves destitute and homeless on the continent our forefathers conquered….
So how did all of this happen?
Back in 1913, the U.S. Congress gave control over U.S. currency to the Federal Reserve. Since that time, the value of the U.S. dollar has slowly been eroded. $1.00 in 1914 (the year after the Federal Reserve was established) had about the same buying power as $21.59 in 2010. That means that the U.S. dollar has lost over 95 percent of its purchasing power since then.
So the accumulated wealth that our parents and grandparents hand down to us is being constantly devalued. The only way to keep up with rising prices on land and on everything else is to go out into the system to get more of the “currency” that is controlled and manipulated by the Federal Reserve and the big corporate banks. But what most of us don’t realize is that the game is rigged to slowly transfer the wealth of the nation over to them.
The house always wins in the end.
Thanks to the greed and stupidity of the American people, we have accumulated the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the world. It was a fun party while we were piling up all the debt, but now the bankers have us where they want us.
If only we had listened to those among our founding fathers who warned us about this trap.
For example, the words of Thomas Jefferson in a letter to John Taylor dated May 28th, 1816 ring more true today than they ever have….
And I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.
The truth is that the American people are being swindled and most of them don’t even realize it. The wealth of America is slowly being transferred to the big banks. All of the interest that we pay month after month after month makes them rich.
The financial system of the United States is broken. But until the U.S. economy totally collapses most Americans will not realize it. By then it will be far too late.