Monday, January 21, 2013

Tuesday January 22 Housing and Economic stories


TOP STORIES:

CONGRESSMAN: Here's Why I'm Introducing Legislation To Ban The Trillion-Dollar Platinum Coin - (www.businessinsider.com) The idea of minting a trillion-dollar coin has picked up as an option that would allow the Treasury to temporarily print money to pay the country's bills and work around the debt ceiling. It has turned into a Twitter campaign (#MintTheCoin), and supporters have created a petition urging the White House to mint it. Walden took interest in proposing legislation to ban the option because he thought the idea of minting a platinum coin to work around the debt ceiling was a particularly absurd idea that exemplified "the problem of people in Washington not understanding the reality" of the national debt. Walden also thought that if the Treasury did mint the coin, it would lead to a "very inflationary" period.  "The notion that we could mint a trillion-dollar coin ... and all of a sudden, your debt issue is gone — it's so absurd and laughable, except people were being serious," Walden said. "This just has to stop. So that's why we're drafting legislation today."

Good luck figuring your new tax rate! - (money.cnn.com) The legislation that edged our country away from the alleged "fiscal cliff" isn't named properly. Instead of calling it the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, Congress should have called it the Accountant Full Employment Act of 2012. That's because the legislation, which supposedly doesn't increase taxes for anyone other than "the rich" with adjusted gross incomes of $400,000 for a single filer and $450,000 for a married couple, made an already incomprehensible tax system even more incomprehensible.

Bank Settlement May Leave Tiny Slices of a Smaller Pie - (www.nytimes.com)  IF you were hoping that things might be different in 2013 — you know, that bankers would be held responsible for bad behavior or that the government might actually assist troubled homeowners — you can forget it. A settlement reportedly in the works with big banks will soon end a review into foreclosure abuses, and it means more of the same: no accountability for financial institutions and little help for borrowers. Last week, The New York Times reported that regulators were close to settling with 14 banks whose foreclosure practices had ridden roughshod over borrowers and the rule of law. Although the deal has not been made official and its terms are as yet unknown, the initial report said borrowers who had lost their homes because of improprieties would receive a total of $3.75 billion in cash. 

Fitch warns home prices overvalued - (www.housingwire.com) Despite national home prices increasing by more than 2%, the largest gain since before the market peak, Fitch Ratings believes national prices are 10% overvalued. However, during correction, home prices will likely drop by no more than 2% from today due to inflation. Fitch reports technical factors behind the appreciation will eventually mute growth in the future, much to the opposition of current market predictions. The latest report from the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, for example, revealed that home prices continued to rise in October with prices up 4.3% annually. While Fitch agrees that it’s hard to not be upbeat with home prices on the rise, indicating a healthy housing rebound, the ratings company is remaining cautious in its outlook based on the past few quarters.
Here's How The Government Would Actually Make A $1 Trillion Coin To Avert A Debt Ceiling Crisis - (www.businessinsider.com) Specifically, people are intrigued by a law which says that the Treasury has the ability to create coins of any denomination out of platinum, and use that to fund the government. The debate over the economics and legality of this option is being hotly debated. But let's take a step back. How do you literally create a new coin. We put together images from a Science Channel and History Channel special on how our coins get made. We hope you find it instructive.





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