A Red Line

It is still not uncommon for recent immigrants and those who share other cultural commonalities like language (Little Italy), interests and hobbies (Florida and other planned communities), religion (all over the Midwest), or region of origin (again Florida where there are belts of people from Michigan or New Jersey) to gather in separate geographic enclaves. In developments based on religious affiliation there has been recent litigation over property transfers to heirs that have renounced the faith (the Deeds having restrictions on such things and the First Amendment being… well, first, though they all have equal weight under law).

So within certain limits whatever floats your boat.

That is to say if it’s voluntary on your part. Hey! I want to live in a Nudist Colony (Think of the people you know. Now think of them without clothes. Generally that image will no longer make you want to gouge your eyes out after a year of Weekly Therapy or 2 Quarts of Vodka administered immediately)!

I don’t want to be forced to live in a Nudist Colony.

Nor do I want to be prevented from living wherever I want and that’s what Redlining does, discriminate against undesirables by not even making opportunities available. You don’t qualify for that type of loan. There are no listings in that area. There’s only a 100% premium.

Because we don’t like your kind, you clothes wearer.

Although frequently the restrictions are more extensive and blatant than that and effectively confine the undesired group to a Ghetto which, lest we forget, was not originally applied to Blacks or Irish or Italians or Vietnamese or Somali.

Nope. Jews.

Which makes Bloomberg’s statement ironic I guess.

Bloomberg once blamed end of ‘redlining’ for 2008 collapse
By BRIAN SLODYSKO, Associated Press
February 13, 2020

At the height of the 2008 economic collapse, then-New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the elimination of a discriminatory housing practice known as “redlining” was responsible for instigating the meltdown.

“It all started back when there was a lot of pressure on banks to make loans to everyone,” Bloomberg, now a Democratic presidential candidate, said at a forum that was hosted by Georgetown University in September 2008. “Redlining, if you remember, was the term where banks took whole neighborhoods and said, ‘People in these neighborhoods are poor, they’re not going to be able to pay off their mortgages, tell your salesmen don’t go into those areas.’”

He continued: “And then Congress got involved — local elected officials, as well — and said, ‘Oh that’s not fair, these people should be able to get credit.’ And once you started pushing in that direction, banks started making more and more loans where the credit of the person buying the house wasn’t as good as you would like.”

Bloomberg, a billionaire who built a media and financial services empire before turning to electoral politics, was correct that the financial crisis was triggered in part by banks extending loans to borrowers who were ill-suited to repay them. But by attributing the meltdown to the elimination of redlining, a practice used by banks to discriminate against minority borrowers, Bloomberg appears to be blaming policies intended to bring equality to the housing market.

“It’s been well documented that the 2008 crash was caused by unethical, predatory lending that deliberately targeted communities of color,” said Debra Gore-Mann, president and CEO of the Greenlining Institute, a nonprofit that works for racial and economic justice. “People of color were sold trick loans with exploding interest rates designed to push them into foreclosure. Our communities of color and low income communities were the victims of the crash, not the cause.”

On Thursday, Warren criticized Bloomberg for suggesting the end of redlining caused the crash.

“Out-of-control greed by Wall Street and big banks, and the corruption that lets them control our government, caused the crash,” she tweeted.

“I’m surprised that someone running for the Democratic nomination thinks the economy would be better off if we just let banks be more overtly racist,” she said. “We need to confront the shameful legacy of discrimination, not lie about it like Mike Bloomberg.”

Bloomberg’s redlining remarks are the latest instance of his past comments by him that have resurfaced in recent days that make him appear racially insensitive.

Looks to me like Warren is going to light up Mayo Mike.

Good.