“So you bought an overpriced house or cashed out your home equity like an ATM? Here’s an idea: Take responsibility for your actions!” That’s the mood over at AngryRenter.com. The plain-spoken Web site run by FreedomWorks gives voice to what might be termed “the Silent Minority” of the mortgage- bailout …
USA Today’s take on the mortgage mess posed a crucial question: “Should taxpayers in Vermont be asked to bail out home buyers in Nevada?” The nation’s No.1 newspaper went on to note: “The answer now taking shape in Washington appears to be, ‘Yes.’” But the multi-billion dollar question for taxpayers …
The New York Times is shocked – SHOCKED – to learn the Senate’s legislative remedy for the mortgage mess offers surprisingly little relief for folks with problem mortgages, but gives huge tax breaks to “automakers, airlines, alternative energy producers” and others. Doubtless the Gray Lady will be shocked at how …
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 Washington Post: “The states are experiencing this pain more directly than the federal government is.” This is partly true. A more accurate statement would be …
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 on risky subprime mortgage loans. The crisis talk clouds the national picture, obscuring the varied state-by-state impact of the mortgage mess. The chart above uses …
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 mess. They want the agency to help homeowners refinance their subprime loans by offering to guarantee lenders it will cover the tab if the refinanced …
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 the rich. They made the $600 tax credit ($1,200 for married couples) refundable and excluded anyone making more than $87,000 ($174,000 for couples) from qualifying. …
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 housing “crisis.” As the Christian Science Monitor reports, “at the heart of the emerging consensus is a bigger role for the Federal Housing Administration in …
