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In the spirit of Evicted, Bait and Switch , and The Big Short , a shocking, heart-wrenching investigation into America's housing crisis and the modern-day robber barons who are making a fortune off the backs of the disenfranchised working and middle class--among them, Donald Trump and his inner circle. Two years before the housing market collapsed in 2008, Donald Trump looked forward to a crash: "I sort of hope that happens because then people like me would go in and buy," he said. But our future president wasn't alone. While millions of Americans suffered financial loss, tycoons pounced to heartlessly seize thousands of homes--their profiteering made even easier because, as prize-winning investigative reporter Aaron Glantz reveals in Homewreckers, they often used taxpayer money--and the Obama administration's promise to cover their losses. In Homewreckers , Glantz recounts the transformation of straightforward lending into a morass of slivered and combined mortgage "products" that could be bought and sold, accompanied by a shift in priorities and a loosening of regulations and laws that made it good business to lend money to those who wouldn't be able to repay. Among the men who laughed their way to the bank: Trump cabinet members Steve Mnuchin and Wilbur Ross, Trump pal and confidant Tom Barrack, and billionaire Republican cash cow Steve Schwarzman. Homewreckers also brilliantly weaves together the stories of those most ravaged by the housing crisis. The result is an eye-opening expose of the greed that decimated millions and enriched a gluttonous few.
Zusammenfassung
“[I] can’t recommend this joint enough. ... An illuminating and discomfiting read.” —Ta-Nehisi Coates
"Essential reading." —New York Review of Books
A shocking, heart-wrenching investigation into America’s housing crisis and the modern-day robber barons who are making a fortune off the backs of the disenfranchised working and middle class—among them, Donald Trump and his inner circle.
Two years before the housing market collapsed in 2008, Donald Trump looked forward to a crash: “I sort of hope that happens because then people like me would go in and buy,” he said. But our future president wasn’t alone. While millions of Americans suffered financial loss, tycoons pounced to heartlessly seize thousands of homes—their profiteering made even easier because, as prize-winning investigative reporter Aaron Glantz reveals in Homewreckers, they often used taxpayer money—and the Obama administration’s promise to cover their losses.
In Homewreckers, Glantz recounts the transformation of straightforward lending into a morass of slivered and combined mortgage “products” that could be bought and sold, accompanied by a shift in priorities and a loosening of regulations and laws that made it good business to lend money to those who wouldn’t be able to repay. Among the men who laughed their way to the bank: Trump cabinet members Steve Mnuchin and Wilbur Ross, Trump pal and confidant Tom Barrack, and billionaire Republican cash cow Steve Schwarzman. Homewreckers also brilliantly weaves together the stories of those most ravaged by the housing crisis. The result is an eye-opening expose of the greed that decimated millions and enriched a gluttonous few.
Glantz connects the dots between Wall Street and Washington to expose the architects of the crisis:
- The Rise of Corporate Landlords: Discover how private equity titans like Steve Schwarzman and Tom Barrack used shell companies and taxpayer money to buy up thousands of foreclosed homes, transforming the American Dream of ownership into a nightmare of predatory rent.
- From Wall Street to the White House: Follow the money from the 2008 collapse to the Trump administration, revealing how men like Steve Mnuchin and Wilbur Ross profited from the crisis before taking positions of power.
- A Generational Transfer of Wealth: An unflinching look at how the system was rigged, allowing a handful of billionaires to absorb the housing wealth of millions of middle-class American families.
- The Legacy of Redlining: Examine the devastating, racially-charged impact of the crisis, which widened the homeownership gap between white families and communities of color to levels not seen since the Jim Crow era.
