American Refugees are flooding into Canada: Tens of thousands of Americans are now economic refugees

In September of 2007, the city of Windsor, which borders the United States, officially asked for financial assistance from Ottawa to deal with American refugees flooding into Canada. This is proving to be the tip of the iceberg, and only the first wave of economic refugees that have been created in the United States.

There are now tent cities being built outside most large metropolitan areas, one of the largest of which is in Los Angeles. The following report from the BBC highlights the consequence of the US subprime meltdown and the fears that the crisis is growing.

The homelessness situation has grown so rapidly in the United States that certain cities are issuing color-coded wristbands – blue for those who can stay, “orange for people who need to provide more documentation, and white for those who must leave.” Refugees will no longer be able to stay in one area, meaning that many towns and cities will now have to be prepared to receive migrant refugees displaced by local governments from other districts and States.

click to enlarge - source

Canadians will also need to be prepared for this influx, especially considering that the average processing time for a refugee claim in Canada is currently 14.2 months, “a period during which the applicant is eligible for financial and other support. A failed claimant then also has the right to seek leave to appeal his or her rejection to federal court.” If the American refugee crisis continues to grow as analysts predict, then the cost to Canadians will be astronomical.

Aside from tens of thousands of Americans becoming refugees in their own country, there is another problem. As The Atlantic is reporting, “the subprime crisis is just the tip of the iceberg. Fundamental changes in American life may turn today’s McMansions into tomorrow’s tenements.” Over 60% of the homes in certain communities “were in foreclosure as of late last year. Vandals have kicked in doors and stripped the copper wire from vacant houses; drug users and homeless people have furtively moved in.”

“The experience of cities during the 1950s through the ’80s suggests that the fate of many single-family homes on the metropolitan fringes will be resale, at rock-bottom prices, to lower-income families—and in all likelihood, eventual conversion to apartments… much of the future decline is likely to occur on the fringes, in towns far away from the central city, not served by rail transit, and lacking any real core. In other words, some of the worst problems are likely to be seen in some of the country’s more recently developed areas—and not only those inhabited by subprime-mortgage borrowers. Many of these areas will become magnets for poverty, crime, and social dysfunction.”

All of this is occurring while: the US government bails out Wall Street; credit card companies raise record amounts of money by issuing shares; the economic crisis draws comparison to the 1929 stock market crash; investigation of predatory banks gets killed; The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. prepares for bank failures; and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta releases a crisis peparedness video.

And some thought that Stocking the Root Cellar was only for conspiracy theorists.

NOTE: Some Americans are discovering that they are able to keep their homes and save themselves from becoming refugees by challenging the banks. All they are doing is asking the courts for proof that the banks own the mortgage notes that they claim to own. “Judges in at least five states have stopped foreclosure proceedings because the banks that pool mortgages into securities and the companies that collect monthly payments haven't been able to prove they own the mortgages.” More on this at “Banks Lose to Deadbeat Homeowners as Loans Sold in Bonds Vanish.” I personally know what I would be doing if I owned a mortgage in the United States. Good luck, and remember, according to the ex-Comptroller General of the United States, the top accountant for the United States of America, “deficit spending and promised benefits for federal entitlement programs have put every man, woman, and child in the United States on the hook for $175,000”. In essence, the United States is bankrupt.

OK ... I believe an update is appropriate:

 

• Our refugee is no longer in our home.  We managed to find an apartment with a spare bedroom and people who will give her a month's grace on the rent.  She has not yet found a job, but she has the full month to find one as far as rent is concerned.  She is eating at the homes of others and has manged to acquire a bag of her clothing via her invalid gramma.
• School continues to stretch me as much physically as intellectually.  Tues and Thursdays are loooooong days ... usually.  It just so happens that I have tonight off from work!  Whew!
• Kids are well;  I am relatively well;  pets are well ;) 
• finances ... well, they are what they are, and I am grateful for what we have and ever mindful of those with less ... AND how precariously we are balanced on the side of those with a home. 
• Spiritually, I am continually amazed, in awe and thankful that although I cannot explain it logically or even fathom it, somehow we still are.  With all the possibilities considered, it is amazing any of us are, and yet ... we are. 
• Awhile back, I mentioned a philosophical notion (and an English grammar nightmare) of E-Prime.  Now, think for a minute, about how we use the "to be" verb in our language.  The point of E-Prime was to clarify our language.  So often we rely on "to be" as an easy way out, that we often fail to communicate effectively our intended thought.  It is much easier to say it is raining, than to say something more concise and clear without the use of "to be." 

       example:  It is getting dark.

                      The sun sets about this time and takes it's light with it.

A few related words are allowable: 

• become
• has; have
• I've; you've
• do; does; doing; did
• can; could
• will; would
• shall; should
• ought

Those that are discouraged include the following and any contractions that contain them. 

be

being

been

am

is; isn't

are; aren't

was; wasn't

were; weren't

OK, so now we possess the necessary equipment.  I shall list a few sentences with "to be".  Try to come up with your own version of the sentence without using "to be" ... just for fun! 

 

1. Jimmy is a bully.

  2.  Politicians are corrupt.

 

  3.  Accountability is a tenet of maturity.

 

Having fun yet? 

 

~ B 

I have a room available to a family from the New Orleans refugees. I am deeply saddened by the devastation left behind from the hurricane. Please contact me through this site.

May Allah Bless those in need
Shan46