TOP
STORIES:
About
foreclosures, our housing markets, and economic recovery oh, and lying. - (www.implode.com) But yet… fast forward to
March of 2012… about a year ago, and the foreclosure crisis was understood to
be far from over. As I recall, HAMP fell just slightly short of helping
7-9 million… or 3-4 million… or whatever we’ve changed the numbers to today.
You recall that statistic too, right? I don’t need to go find a
link, do I? Hang on… I don’t need to go find anything… I interviewed the former
Special Inspector General for the TARP program (and author of the book,
Bailout), Neil Barofsky myself on a Mandelman Matters podcast, and if you
haven’t listened to it yet, now is as good a time as any… Former SIGTARP Neil Barofsky, the Last Honest Man in
Washington. If you haven’t read Neil’s book yet, you’ll find a
link to Amazon there too. It’s absolutely worth reading… twice. Susan
Wachter, a real estate professor at the Wharton School at the University of
Pennsylvania, talking with Bloomberg’s Lori Rothman on March 23rd of last
year says that the foreclosure crisis is still a major threat to our country’s
economic recovery.
She also
states clearly that, “Without Fannie, Freddie and FHA, there would simply
be no (mortgage) market.”
Donovan:
Sequestration could devastate Fed housing programs - (www.housingwire.com) Automatic government spending
cuts could result in 75,000 fewer households receiving foreclosure-prevention
aid along with rental and counseling services through the Department of
Housing and Urban Development. Shaun Donovan, HUD Secretary, sent that warning
to lawmakers Thursday when discussing the impact sequestration could have on
homeowners during a Senate Appropriations Committee. It’s not just foreclosure
counseling and prevention programs that would feel the impact of automatic
cuts. Another 125,000 individuals or families could lose assistance offered
through the Housing Choice Voucher program, putting more people at risk of
becoming homeless, Donovan told the panel. The HCV program currently provides
support to families who are renting in private apartment units.
FHA
considered 'high-risk' by government oversight group - (www.housingwire.com) The Federal Housing
Administration keeps attracting unwanted attention this week, with the
Government Accountability Office releasing a report naming the agency one of
dozens of government sectors designated as a “high-risk” due to its rapid
growth in the mortgage finance space. GAO essentially highlighted areas of
government that are considered high risk and included the nation’s
"outdated U.S. Financial Regulatory System" and FHA. GAO elaborated
on its criticism of the housing finance system, saying a new challenge for the
U.S. is the dominance of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, while private capital
remains on the sidelines. Furthermore, the FHA’s single-family loan insurance
portfolio has grown from $300 billion in 2007 to $1.1 trillion in 2012, GAO
said.
Greek Labor Unions Strike as Samaras Implements Austerity -
(www.bloomberg.com) Greek labor unions held their
first general strike this year as Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’s
coalition government implements a new round of austerity measures amid record unemployment. Schools, ferries, trains and
government services are shut today as 30,000 protesters marched to parliament
in central Athens, according to police estimates. Civil aviation workers are
holding an eight-hour work stoppage prompting delays and cancellations at
airports. Athens bus and trolley workers are holding walkouts during the day
while the city’s metro is running in order to bring protesters to the city
center. “Our government talks about development and investments but we see more
poverty for the people,” said 22-year-old student Manolis Poulos. “It’s always
the people that pay the price. I worry about finding a job. I think things will
be difficult for the next 20 years.”
Insight: Rome will burn, regardless of Italian election result - (www.reuters.com)
Regardless of who wins next
weekend's parliamentary election, Italy's long economic decline is likely to
continue because the next government won't be strong enough to pursue the tough
reforms needed to make its economy competitive again. Bankers,
diplomats and industrialists in Rome and Milan despair at how Italians are
shifting allegiances ahead of the February 24-25 vote to favor
anti-establishment upstarts and show disgust with the established parties. That
makes it more likely that no bloc will have the political strength to tackle
Italy's deep-rooted economic crisis, which has made it Europe's most sluggish
large economy for the past two decades. Final
opinion polls predict that the vote will deliver a working majority in both
houses for a centre-left coalition governing in alliance with technocrat former
prime minister Mario Monti. Political risk consultancy Eurasia assigns this
scenario a 50-60 percent probability.
No comments:
Post a Comment