In Nothing We Trust
Americans are losing faith in the institutions that made this country great.
By Ron Fournier and Sophie Quinton
Updated: April 26, 2012 | 12:06 p.m.
Read More: http://www.nationaljournal.com/features/restoration-calls/in-nothing-we-trust-20120419
MUNCIE, Ind.âWhitmire tells a familiar story of how public and private institutions derailed an Americanâs dream: In 2000, he bought the $40,000 house with no money down and a $620 monthly mortgage.
He made every payment.
Then, in the fall of 2010, his partially disabled wife lost her state job. âGovernor [Mitch] Daniels slashed the budget, and they looked for any excuse to squeeze people out,â Whitmire says. âWe got lost in that shuffleâcut adrift.â
The Whitmires couldnât make their payments anymore.
His attorney advised him to live in the house until the bank foreclosed, but âI donât believe in a free lunch,â Whitmire says. He moved out, leaving the keys on the kitchen table. âI thought the bank should have them.â
Whitmire is an angry man. He is among a group of voters most skeptical of President Obama: noncollege-educated white males.
He feels betrayedânot just by Obama, who won his vote in 2008, but by the institutions that were supposed to protect him: his state, which laid off his wife; his government in Washington, which couldnât rescue homeowners who had played by the rules; his bank, which failed to walk him through the correct paperwork or warn him about a potential mortgage hike; his city, which penalized him for somebody elseâs error; and even his employer, a construction company he likes even though he got laid off.
âI was middle class for 10 years, but itâs done,â Whitmire says. âIâve lost my home. I live in a trailer now because of a mortgage company and an incompetent government.â
Whitmire is a story of Muncie, and Muncie is the story of America.
<img src='http://cdn-media.nationaljournal.com/?controllerName=image&action=get&id=16925'>
Americans are losing faith in the institutions that made this country great.
By Ron Fournier and Sophie Quinton
Updated: April 26, 2012 | 12:06 p.m.
Read More: http://www.nationaljournal.com/features/restoration-calls/in-nothing-we-trust-20120419
MUNCIE, Ind.âWhitmire tells a familiar story of how public and private institutions derailed an Americanâs dream: In 2000, he bought the $40,000 house with no money down and a $620 monthly mortgage.
He made every payment.
Then, in the fall of 2010, his partially disabled wife lost her state job. âGovernor [Mitch] Daniels slashed the budget, and they looked for any excuse to squeeze people out,â Whitmire says. âWe got lost in that shuffleâcut adrift.â
The Whitmires couldnât make their payments anymore.
His attorney advised him to live in the house until the bank foreclosed, but âI donât believe in a free lunch,â Whitmire says. He moved out, leaving the keys on the kitchen table. âI thought the bank should have them.â
Whitmire is an angry man. He is among a group of voters most skeptical of President Obama: noncollege-educated white males.
He feels betrayedânot just by Obama, who won his vote in 2008, but by the institutions that were supposed to protect him: his state, which laid off his wife; his government in Washington, which couldnât rescue homeowners who had played by the rules; his bank, which failed to walk him through the correct paperwork or warn him about a potential mortgage hike; his city, which penalized him for somebody elseâs error; and even his employer, a construction company he likes even though he got laid off.
âI was middle class for 10 years, but itâs done,â Whitmire says. âIâve lost my home. I live in a trailer now because of a mortgage company and an incompetent government.â
Whitmire is a story of Muncie, and Muncie is the story of America.
<img src='http://cdn-media.nationaljournal.com/?controllerName=image&action=get&id=16925'>
