Jesse Jackson Tackles America's Foreclosure Crisis in Michigan Appearance

The Rev. Jesse Jackson came to little ol' Sagi-Nam Michigan, officially Saginaw, on Wednesday. Indeed, life here is becoming more and more like being in a war. Jobs wiped out. Neighborhoods abandoned. Teens lacking direction. And homes foreclosed.

Foreclosures. That was the basis of Jackson's appearance in a city of 60,000 known as "Little Detroit." More families are losing their homes than at any time since the Great Depression. The Michigan State Housing Development Authority, which is joining Jackson on his Michigan tour, estimates 83,000 foreclosures will transpire statewide before the year ends. This is double last year's count, and quadruple the total in 2005. National estimates for foreclosures this year range as high as 2 million

The host church was only about half full with 300 people, due mostly to short notice. Jackson was clad casually in an all-black ensemble that looked sort of like a jump suit. He walked within about 15 feet of me in the church vestibule, then headed up the aisle. Particpants were enthusiastic, but they showed nowhere near the same fervor that was displayed during Jackson's visits as a presidential candidate during the 1980s.

America's rash of foreclosures has made nationwide news and perhaps merits even more coverage. Struggling industrial towns such as Saginaw - and on down I-75 through Flint, Pontiac and Detroit - are among the hardest hit. Part of the reason is job losses in a sour economy, but another cause is known as "predatory lending." In other words, shifty brokers exploit eager but naive first-time buyers with bad deals. One term we hear is "sub-prime," which is another way to describe an adjustable interest rate that often soars sky high.

Never one for understatement, Jackson described the crisis as an "economic tsunami." He soon had the audience chanting "save our homes, save our families." He told a biblical parable about the need for "the lion and the lamb to lay down together." The lion was a predatory lender. The lamb, of course, was a buyer guilty of nothing more than not absorbing all of the fine print.