The Foreclosing of America (Part 3): Chainsaw Jim

By Rick Perlstein on July 13, 2007 - 3:21pm.

[We pick up our story as our hard-working but underemployed young couple, fearing of their precarious financial position but confident of their future income potential, and inspired by their president's exhortation that "the more ownership there is in America, the more people have a vital stake in their country," signs a NINJA - "No Income, No Job, No Assets" - mortgage. Read Part 1 here. Read Part 2 here.]

Shaker Heights: the place you were intimidated just to visit back in high school. Shaker Heights. How the very name once made your heart sing with joy - you, a hard-scrabble kid from Cleveland, who managed to work your way through college and a master's degree in computer science, even if the accomplishment left you with twenty thousand dollars in debt. You remember, that fall day in 2004 - Election Day! - as the happiest in your life. That day, you turned the key to your very own home: Shaker Heights.