For Real?

I know I’ve said this a million times, but every time I turn on the radio, the news, or flip open my laptop I come across the same news about the state of our economy.  The only thing that changes is the gravity of what is being described.  Now in most cases, the claims being made are definitely warranted.  But on the other hand, it seems that some pretty steep claims are being made.

Perhaps the best thing I’ve come across is the following video from Youtube.  It shows a video of a SoCal shantytown and the words that scroll across the screen “Welcome to….Beautiful…Southern California…After the Housing Bubble Burst” in large, neon letters.  Images of water logged tents and dilapidated trailers strung together with bungees and tarps hasten across your screen to a singular, sad, violin playing music. 

Hmmm…..a far reach.  Absolutely.  I’m pretty sure that someone doesn’t foreclose on their $750,000 just to go live in a tent with a three hoses for 350 people as this video claims.  After some probing I found out this shantytown is actually the result of lack of funding for non-profit shelters leaving many long-term homeless people living in these nonetheless, horrific, conditions.  It is a horrible situation and definitely demands our attention, but the video paints the picture that these are all recently displaced homeowners which is obviously not the case.

The video’s theatrics and scare tactics are worth watching.  In the last 3 seconds we find out it’s for a religious group, but beyond that this fallacious video’s gotten over 65,000 hits and was definitely worth mentioning in the ongoing chronology of far stretching claims about our real estate bubble bursting.