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Buy the Book
South of Eden
Paul Reyes’s highly personal take on the residential real estate crash in Florida.
(Page 2 of 2)
MANY OF REYES’S trashing-out portraits in Exiles appeared in long articles he wrote for Harper’s and the New York Times. The matter probably should have ended there. There’s some good reporting in the profiles. But the rest of Reyes’s book is vaguely leftist skylarking or material that has appeared elsewhere, such as Reyes’s history of Florida real estate booms and busts, some orchestrated by hustlers Barnum would have loved. This material, while mostly accurate and sometimes entertaining, is well known.
The most problematic part of Exiles is the 50-page diversion detailing the peccadilloes of Miami activist Max Rameau, whose game is getting homeless people to move illegally into foreclosed homes on the theory that everyone has a right to housing, then getting maximum publicity from the stunt. Rameau is radical enough and skilled enough at attracting television cameras that Michael Moore’s outfit showed up for the fun. Reyes never endorses Rameau’s approach. But the sheer heft of his treatment, a fifth of the book, implies sympathy. As does his language, when he refers to a home Rameau’s group has taken over as having been “liberated.”
Reyes declares his politics overtly in a homey scene from election night ‘08 when he and his dad, an engineer, entrepreneur, and thoroughly practical man, watch the presidential returns together. Dad is appalled by Obama, calling him “Jimmy Carter number two.” Young Reyes gloats his approval of the voters’ choice. “It’s beautiful,” he croons.
“Just wait,” says Senior. “You were a little baby when I was paying eighteen percent and gas lines were two blocks long. Just wait.”
Reyes’s portraits are well crafted and affecting. But some readers may wish to wait until Reyes senior writes a book.
About the Author
Larry Thornberry is a writer in Tampa.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (7) | Leave a comment
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Appleby| 11.17.10 @ 7:03AM
We are clearly raising a generation of Victims and Finger Pointers who are soon going to be forced to pick up the reins and take over the country as their parents retire, move to The Villages and sell their basements along with the Victims childhood and adulthood homes.
Yes, it is the parents fault for raising their kids to be stupid. And although ignorance can be cured, stupid is forever.
JP| 11.17.10 @ 8:15AM
Reyes seems to be no different than others who have cashed in on the housing collapse. For him, human misery does pay.
It takes two to tango, and there is enough blame to go around. Besides, the mortgage brokers who sold thier toxic mortgages to hedge fund managers, there were house flippers, finance agencies, and of course the "vcitims". Yes, even them. There were millions who lied about thier incomes, jobs status, and credit worthiness, and even identity. In California, almost 50% of the foreclosed mortgages came from illegals. This top down form of greed and deception is the hallmark of easy money. Something I'm sure our current Lords and Masters refuse to recognize.
Stormzeye| 11.17.10 @ 10:23AM
I've read countless analyses of this tragic meltdown and come to the conclusion that no one was ever forced to borrow. However, through the Community Reinvestment Act banks were encouraged, if not actually forced, to lend. Their willing "handmaids" in disposing of these toxic assets through re-sale were unsophisticated managers of pension funds both here and abroad. A disaster like this can only happen when the marketplace is manipulated by ham-fisted government bureaucrats and their political masters. The punch line to this terrible joke is that Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, of all people, crashed the world, or at the least, enabled it to impload.
Stammon| 11.17.10 @ 10:41AM
I'm sorry folks but this is all wishful thinking and self delusion. I remember in the '70s and '80s when the banks where heavily criticized for "Redlining". When the banks pointed out that this was not based on race, but on risk, they were still criticized by the pols.
This is not about wishful thinking, but about reality. Either we let business assign risk, or we watch business fail. 'Till now, American business has been failing.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 11.17.10 @ 5:37PM
This is just another version of the government sticking square pegs into round holes. Collectivism at it's finest.
Jeff Krasney| 11.17.10 @ 5:38PM
The real estate crash has been a bonanza for people who have the money to buy houses. I buy real estate for 1/4 to 1/3 of what it sold for several years ago and then rent the properties out to tenants. Their rent payments generate sufficient cash flow to pay the mortgage, real estate taxes, and insurance and leave a little profit for me. I will be rich when the real estate market recovers.