My father-in-law lost his house to foreclosure in 2008. He was just one of 2.3 million Americans who entered into foreclosure proceedings last year. How many will we see this year? Obama's advisors are hinting that at least some of the remaining TARP funding will go towards the housing crisis.
Also, the California Nurses Association releases a report detailing the economic benefits of a single-payer healthcare system.
And, a conservative group is launching efforts this week to take down Harry Reid.
With all the political wrangling in Washington over TARP and the bailout and the economic stimulus, I hope they realize that it's getting pretty bad out here in the real world. Foreclosures were up 81% in 2008:
More than 2.3 million American homeowners faced foreclosure proceedings last year, an 81% increase from 2007, with the worst yet to come as consumers grapple with layoffs, shrinking investment portfolios and falling home prices.
Over 860,000 people actually lost their homes last year, which is more than double what we saw in 2007. My father-in-law was one of those people. Moody's Economy.com predicts that number will keep rising - at least until 2011.
Hopefully, the housing crisis will receive some attention when the new administration rolls into the White House. Larry Summers is saying that Obama would devote anywhere from $40-$100 billion of the remaining TARP money to prevent foreclosures. However, there is going to be a lot of competition for that money, because...
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The banks are full of good news:
This year is expected to be worse for banks than last year, senior government officials and analysts say. The money from the first half of the rescue program helped banks replace most of the money they lost during the first nine months of 2008. But the firms are beginning to report fourth-quarter losses that are larger than analysts expected, and the economic environment continues to worsen quickly.
BusinessWeek asks:
Should the government put Citigroup (C) out of its misery and just nationalize the massive money center bank?
They think Citigroup is dragging down the rest of the financial sector and nothing seems to be working to stabilize it. It has received $45 billion from TARP and they will report another huge loss on Friday. Bernanke and the Federal Reserve are warning that the banks are going to need more money...
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Joe Conason points out that the Republicans are making all the same ol' tired statements about the economy:
Would it be rude to ask whether the Republicans have any new proposals to save the country from this worsening recession? The question arises not because anyone expects the minority party to burst forth with creative ideas, but because conservatives in Congress and the media seem so determined to thwart or stall the economic stimulus plans of President-elect Barack Obama.
To listen to the Senate Republicans and their leader, Mitch McConnell, is to hear once more the old nostrums of tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, along with pleas for "bipartisan input" and complaints about "wasteful spending." The House Republicans chime in with the same drearily familiar themes, as the minority leader, John Boehner, warns against "irresponsible spending on government programs" and urges the new administration to put any stimulus bill online for "at least one week" while making sure there are no "special-interest earmarks."
And, Republicans are also raising a stink about releasing the second half of the TARP money. Senator Bennett of Utah said why vote yes and "anger the base" when it's going to happen anyway?
The Boston Globe editorial board supports Barney Frank's legislation that would require banks receiving assistance to report quarterly on where it is going. Sounds like a good idea, no?
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Our economy obviously needs a little stimulating, so how about a single-payer stimulus?
In fact, one of the most important steps on the road to economic recovery – or, more precisely, toward a new, responsible and sustainable prosperity – involves the fundamental reform this country's broken health care system.
But it must be the right reform: the establishment of a national single-payer style healthcare reform system by expanding the existing Medicare system to cover all Americans. According to a new "Single Payer/Medicare for All: An Economic Stimulus Plan for the Nation" study released today by the National Nurses Organizing Committee/California Nurses Association, such a reform would provide a major stimulus for the U.S. economy by creating 2.6 million new jobs and infusing $317 billion in new business and public revenues into the economy. This reform would, according to the study, add $100 billion in wages to the currently sputtering U.S. economy.
Here is the full study. We need to reform the healthcare system and we need to stimulate the economy. Why not kill two birds with one stone?
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In political news,CQ Politics expects Arlen Specter to "get tough" with Eric Holder at his confirmation hearings today in order to satisfy conservatives. He does have a primary coming up, after all:
But sharply questioning Holder, who has become the leading Republican target among Obama’s selections for his Cabinet, has the added benefit of helping Specter shore up support among conservatives, a strategy he has employed in the past.
“He tends to move right to deal with any potential primary challenge, and then he moves back to the center as the general election approaches,” said E. Fletcher McClellan, a political science professor at Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pa.
Specter keeps rambling about "yes men," which I think is pretty funny given the last eight years. The lead editorial in the Washington Post today also claims Holder needs to explain his "motivations" for his "questionable" pardons. Well, it should be an interesting day today.
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The official presidential photo of Barack Obama was released yesterday. Very nice. I will enjoy seeing that in the post office rather than you-know-who. It was taken by his new official photographer and with a digital camera no less!
I was almost blinded by the flag pin... I joke, I joke.
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Kay Bailey Hutchinson has indicated that she is serious about running for governor of Texas:
U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said Wednesday she is committed to running against Texas Gov. Rick Perry next year.
"I have said pretty clearly that that's what I'm going to do," Hutchison said in Wednesday's online edition of The Dallas Morning News.
Perry told The Associated Press in a wide-ranging interview Tuesday that he doubted Hutchison would run against him in 2010. "Oh yeah. I mean, there's plenty of time for the senator to think that it's not in her best interest, Texas' best interest or the country's best interest to leave the United States Senate and come run for governor. But that's, again, that's her call," he said.
I think that might be a little egg on your face, Rick!
And in other senatorial news, the conservative American Future Fund Political Action (kind of an awkward name they've got there) is launching a two-year campaign to unseat Harry Reid. The PAC is filled with Romney people.
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And finally, in some international news, David Miliband writes an op-ed for The Guardian illustrating why the phrase "war on terror" is so wrong:
The "war on terror" also implied that the correct response was primarily military. But as General Petraeus said to me and others in Iraq, the coalition there could not kill its way out of the problems of insurgency and civil strife.
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What's on your mind this morning?