Morning Bell: Steps to Halt Future Bailouts
The Pew Charitable Trusts released a study yesterday surveying state action on the recent wave of increased foreclosures. Pew senior officer Tobi Walker told the… Read More
The Pew Charitable Trusts released a study yesterday surveying state action on the recent wave of increased foreclosures. Pew senior officer Tobi Walker told the… Read More
Members of Congress, including three presidential candidates, are competing to “do something” to stabilize the housing market and show compassion after the wave of foreclosures… Read More
President Bush and some members of Congress want to dub the Federal Housing Administration as the White Knight who will rescue America from the mortgage… Read More
When Congress passed its economic “stimulus” package this February, lawmakers tried to make it look like the plan would help lower-income Americans while not benefiting… Read More
Now that the Senate has passed its “Foreclosure Enhancement Act,” attention turns to the House, which will hold hearings on its own response to the… Read More
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chair Sheila Bair gave a curious interview to US News & World Report this week. While Democrats in the House are… Read More
With President Bush’s letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi Wednesday and John McCain’s speech in Brooklyn yesterday, now all three presidential candidates and the White House… Read More
The early narrative of the housing market collapse featured all the usual suspects: sleazy mortgage bankers, shadowy lenders and pushy Wall Street brokers – all… Read More
Polling shows that while 61% Americans oppose bail outs for Wall Street investment companies, 56% support “the federal government taking steps to help prevent people… Read More
The White House isn’t buying the Senate housing bill. As Benton Ives reports in Congressional Quarterly, President Bush is not too thrilled with the bailout… Read More
Building on news that the bipartisan consensus behind the Senate’s “Foreclosure Enhancement Act” is beginning “to crumble,” the White House sent a letter to Speaker… Read More
Question: When is a $7,000 tax credit a problem? Answer: When it makes a bad situation even worse. And that’s just what might happen if… Read More
Yesterday House Republican leaders issued a joint statement outlining “Principles for Bipartisan Housing Legislation.” Many of the principles are sound in theory, but could also… Read More
The Heritage Foundation has been raising doubts about the Senate’s efforts to “do something” on the housing crisis for weeks now. With a vote scheduled… Read More
Considering how quickly the Senate is moving on a housing bailout bill (cloture scheduled for 2:15 Tuesday), it is surprising how universally unpopular some of… Read More
American businesses shed 80,000 jobs in March and 232,000 jobs in the first quarter of 2008, confirming that economy ground to a halt in the… Read More
According to the E.J. Dionnes of elite media groupthink, the current economic troubles are due solely to unfettered Wall Street greed and the federal government’s… Read More
CQ reports that the Senate is debating “a contentious bankruptcy amendment” to the broad housing bill now under consideration. The amendment sponsored by Sen. Dick… Read More
Covering the current financial turmoil Wednesday CNBC reported: The root structure of the credit crunch stretches wide and deep. Many of the financial instruments involved… Read More
Reporting on the Senate’s new housing bailout bill, the New York Times claims “Senate Republicans, in particular, had felt compelled to move housing legislation quickly… Read More
The pressure on Congress to “do something” on housing appears so great that many members normally inclined to keep Congress out of the housing market,… Read More
Explaining new Republican support for congressional action on housing, Sen. John Thune (R-SD) admitted to Politico: “You always want to be able to vote for… Read More
The agreement reached by the Leadership in the Senate to bring housing legislation to the floor is both good news and bad. It is good… Read More
Congress has returned from their spring break to mounting pressure to “do something” about the current financial turmoil. The Hill reports: “Republican senators have spent… Read More
The U.S. taxpayer dodged a bullet last night when Senate conservative succeeded in stalling the latest deficit spending project, this time sold as a housing… Read More
A new study by University of Washington economics professor Theo Eicher finds middle-class families are being priced out of the Seattle real estate market due… Read More
Brian Darling previews President Bush’s final State of the Union address, noting that Iraq, free trade and taxes will be major themes of the speech…. Read More
