Friday November 25 2016 Housing and Economic stories

TOP STORIES:

Fannie and Freddie’s Status Continues to Provoke Criticisms - (www.nytimes.com) There is a growing sense among housing policy experts that it may take another crisis — a recession or more big losses at the mortgage giants — to get the new president and Congress to come up with a more permanent way to handle the responsibilities now shouldered by Fannie and Freddie. Until then, it is very likely that both agencies will go on in a state of limbo: run by their own management teams, but with strict oversight by the relatively new Federal Housing Finance Agency. A handful of plans have been proposed for reforming Fannie and Freddie, the agencies whose prime responsibilities are to effectively guarantee 30-year mortgages, which are packaged into bonds. But none of those proposals have galvanized widespread support from legislators or the financial community, so the current unpopular conservatorship has been permitted to go on and on.

Growing list lets workers snub traffic laws  - (www.sandiegouniontribune.com) Seven years ago, a newspaper investigation found that a little-known state program designed to protect police and judges from the public disclosure of their home addresses had expanded into a massive database of 1.5 million public employees and their family members, few of whom face any on-the-job dangers to merit the protection. Because of this Confidential Records Program, “Vehicles with protected license plates can run through dozens of intersections controlled by red light cameras and breeze along the 91 toll lanes with impunity,” according to the Orange County Register report.They evade parking citations and even get out of speeding tickets because police officers realize “the drivers are ‘one of their own’ or related to someone who is.” After the anger-inducing revelations, the Legislature did worse than nothing. It killed a measure to force these plate holders to provide their work addresses for the purpose of citations — and expanded the categories of government workers who qualify for special protections. This session, the Legislature has decided to expand that list again, never mind the consequences on local tax revenues, safety and fairness. AB 222 by Assemblyman Katcho Achadjian, R-San Luis Obispo, would expand these “get out of tickets for free” cards to 4,600 employees and family members who work for the Department of State Hospitals and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. It passed the Assembly on a 77-0 vote.

What’ll Happen to Housing Bubble 2 as Mortgage Rates Jump? - (www.wolfstreet.com) In the few days since the election, we got a flavor of what might happen when the bond market sees hues of inflation, expects the Fed to respond, and suddenly (after years of closing its eyes to it) dreads a tsunami of government deficit spending, on top of the flood of deficit spending already washing over the land. The US government borrowed on average $850 billion per year over the last two fiscal years, in total $1.71 trillion. Very soon, the gross national debt will hit $20 trillion. And with a little help from the next administration’s plans, the annual new debt to be issued by the US government could balloon far beyond $1 trillion a year.

Pay more, get less: Americans have the worst health among 10 wealthy nations - (www.cnbc.com) Adults in the United States — still — have the worst health compared with their counterparts in 10 other wealthy nations despite the fact that America spends far more on medical care than those countries, a new survey finds. The Commonwealth Fund report released Wednesday also found that American adults are much more likely than people in those other countries to go without health care because of cost. And U.S. adults were more apt than their counterparts to be frequently stressed out about being able to afford their rent or mortgage, or to pay for healthy meals. "The U.S. spends more on health care than any other country, but what we get for these significant resources falls short in terms of access to care, affordability and coordination," said Dr. David Blumenthal, president of The Commonwealth Fund.

Exclusive: Central America to seek Mexico's support after Trump win - (www.reuters.com) Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador have agreed to join forces and seek support from Mexico to forge a joint strategy in response to Donald Trump winning the U.S. presidency, El Salvador's foreign minister told Reuters on Wednesday. Trump's election upset has sent shockwaves through Mexico and Central America, which rely heavily on U.S. remittances and bilateral trade. President-elect Trump romped to victory in the Nov. 8 election by winning over voters with vows to end illegal immigration and re-examine trade treaties that he said have led U.S. firms to ship jobs south to lower-wage economies.

OTHER STORIES:

BOJ Announces First Unlimited Bond Purchases After Yields Jumped - (www.bloomberg.com)
Dollar Posts Longest Winning Streak Since 2012 as Fed Hike Seen - (www.bloomberg.com)
Investors Just Flooded Into Financials at the Fastest Weekly Pace Ever - (www.bloomberg.com)
Hensarling Says He’s Willing to Tweak Dodd-Frank Overhaul Plan - (www.bloomberg.com)

Goldman Sachs sees Trump leading to more aggressive Fed, 'ambiguous' growth outlook - (www.cnbc.com)
China Holdings of U.S. Treasuries Decline to Lowest Since 2012 - (www.bloomberg.com)
Euro crisis over? 2017 politics could be markets' biggest test yet - (www.reuters.com)