SUB-PRIME EXISTENCE

Capitalism likes hiding its brutality behind euphemisms. Thus we have no Ministry of Offence, but one of Defence. So when mortgage companies lend money to people that are skint they describe them as "sub-prime" loans. The recent rash of foreclosures in the USA affected not only home buyers but tenants of landlords that were in debt. Alice Mills, a 67 year old returning from hospital was shocked to learn that she was to be evicted the next day - she was not alone. "Mills is one of a growing number of renters who are being caught up in the nation's foreclosure crisis. According to RealtyTrac, a company that tracks foreclosures across the country, 1,785,596 foreclosures have been filed nationwide so far this year, a dramatic increase over a year ago. RealtyTrac say October foreclosures this year were up 94 percent over last October." (USA Today, 30 November) RD