Responding to the collapse in home prices and the huge number of foreclosures, the Obama administration is pursuing an overhaul of government policy that could diverge from the emphasis on homeownership embraced by former administrations.

“In previous eras, we haven’t seen people question whether homeownership was the right decision. It was just [...]]]>

WaPo Reports:

Responding to the collapse in home prices and the huge number of foreclosures, the Obama administration is pursuing an overhaul of government policy that could diverge from the emphasis on homeownership embraced by former administrations.

“In previous eras, we haven’t seen people question whether homeownership was the right decision. It was just assumed that’s where you want to go,” said Raphael Bostic, a senior official in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. “You’re not going to hear us say that.”

Bostic, who has published leading scholarship on homeownership, added that owning a home has a lot of value, but “what we’ve seen in the last four years is that there really is an underside to homeownership.”

The administration’s narrower view of who should own a home and what the government should to do to support them could have major implications for the economy as well as borrowers. Broadly, the administration may wind down some government backing for home loans, but increase the focus on affordable rentals.

The shift in approach could mean higher down payments and interest rates on loans, more barriers to lower-income people buying houses, and fewer homeowners overall, government officials said. But it could also pave the way for a more stable housing market, one with fewer taxpayer dollars on the line and less of a risk that homeowners will not be able to pay their mortgages. And it could spell changes throughout the financial markets, as investors choose new places to put their money if the government withdraws some incentives for investing in the U.S. mortgage market.

I don’t buy it. But, it could happen.

Ed Morrissey, who is one of the more honest right-wing bloggers out there, says:

Will the White House go through with it?  It’s one thing to leak this to the Post.  It’s another thing entirely to follow through with the necessary rulemaking and legislative effort needed to succeed in it.  The Post notes that La Raza, one of the groups that gains material benefit from participating in government programs for these home-ownership efforts, is already unhappy with the idea.  At a time when Obama’s approval ratings are sinking towards Bush levels, this could alienate his ideological base and leave him utterly abandoned in 2012.

Let’s hope Obama commits to this reform.  If he does, it will easily be the most significant economic reform of his tenure, and would represent a significant retreat from the government interventions and social engineering that have ruined the American economy, and could set the stage for even further constraints on federal power.  That would show actual leadership and strength.

Pardon me if I sound about as jaded as an atheist on Easter Sunday; but it would make no sense for President Obama to do this. As it was the Democrats that created this whole mess in the first place. Social engineering is what they do; so, I will not break out the pom poms just yet. I will believe it, when the speculation of the real estate market ends. I will believe when they stop trading mortgages on the stock market. I will believe it when the sub-prime mortgages are gone. I will believe it, when Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac are gone for good.

Until then, I remain unconvinced.

“Yes, of course I want to come back to Detroit and work for an auto company after college,” I told a perplexed neighbor at my high-school graduation party. A little background might help.

At the height of the Roaring Twenties, my great-grandfather, living in Rhode Island, was an unemployed immigrant from [...]]]>

(H/T to Ryan)

“Yes, of course I want to come back to Detroit and work for an auto company after college,” I told a perplexed neighbor at my high-school graduation party. A little background might help.

At the height of the Roaring Twenties, my great-grandfather, living in Rhode Island, was an unemployed immigrant from Quebec. Desperate and looking for a way to achieve the American Dream, he turned to the “Paris of the Midwest” for hope. In a letter to Henry Ford, my great-grandfather said he was a hard worker and wanted to come to Detroit for Ford’s new $5-a-day jobs. Ford wrote him back and hired him; my family planted its roots in Detroit.

My great-grandparents endured the mass layoffs of the 1930s, they became U.S. citizens in Detroit in the 1940s, and they died in Detroit. My grandfather did his time at Ford and moved on to other sectors of the automotive industry. My father currently works for Pacific Insight Electronics, an automotive supplier that deals almost exclusively with Ford.

It was my family’s history with the blue oval that prompted me to choose Ford for my senior project. My former high school offers seniors the opportunity to take the month of May off school to study an industry.

[....]

Participating in an activity for a higher purpose is what Detroit needs if it is to truly reinvent itself. Of course, the poor economy and some poor choices made by the Big Three damaged the city’s status, but there is a lot to learn from companies like Ford. Communication, passion, sacrifice and, most importantly, hard work have reinvigorated Ford. The same traits can help reinvigorate the Motor City.

Although I am going away to college in the fall, to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., I believe my professional aspirations will eventually bring me back to the city that made me possible.

Detroit gave my forefathers hope and prosperity; I believe it is my responsibility to return the favor in whatever way I can.

Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com

Yeah, she is going to keep fighting alright; fighting for the handouts to the lazy ass idiots who would rather get a handout, instead of getting a job and being a productive part of society. Her and her [...]]]>

This comes BreitBart.TV with a H/T to Riehl World View:

Yeah, she is going to keep fighting alright; fighting for the handouts to the lazy ass idiots who would rather get a handout, instead of getting a job and being a productive part of society. Her and her socialist twit hubby, would rather give handouts to their people; than get America back to work.

Also, she makes reference to “Her people”, yeah, the people who were brought to America as damned criminals. Criminals who were freed by a Republican named Abraham Lincoln — against the wishes of the people of the South. A freeing that also destroyed the economy of the South. A people who in 1964, by an unconstitutional act of Congress, were integrated in the south; again, against the will and wishes of the southern people.

…But yet, they are still not free.

Someone needs to tell Mrs. Bambi Bitch Teleprompter to get over it and that the slaves were freed and her people are free to roam the south as they wish.

The train that is the nation’s economic recovery has slowed noticeably, unable to generate enough jobs in the last two months to keep pace with population growth, much less reduce the vast numbers of unemployed Americans.

The United States added just 83,000 private sector jobs [...]]]>

Well, looks like my job prospects just got worse:

The train that is the nation’s economic recovery has slowed noticeably, unable to generate enough jobs in the last two months to keep pace with population growth, much less reduce the vast numbers of unemployed Americans.

The United States added just 83,000 private sector jobs in June, according to the monthly statistical snapshot released by the Labor Department. The unemployment rate declined to 9.5 percent, from 9.7 percent in May. But that was a largely illusory decline, as 652,000 Americans left the work force.

Over all, the nation lost 125,000 jobs in June, but those losses came as temporary federal Census workers headed for the exits.

With the economy slowing — housing sales plummeted, while earnings and hours worked ticked downward last month — the stakes grow larger, economically and politically. The next few monthly unemployment reports will unfold during the run-up to the midterm Congressional elections this fall. Incumbents feel particularly precarious, and major economic decisions about financial reform, unemployment benefits, and aid to states still sit on their desks.

via Recovery Slows With Weak Job Creation in June – NYTimes.com.

Think maybe now the Democrats will finally get it? Guess again. (h/t The Other McCain)

Quote:

“Now, let me say that unemployment insurance, we talk about it as a safety net and the rest — this is one of the biggest stimuluses [sic] to our economy. Economists will tell you, this money is spent quickly. It injects demand into the economy and it’s job-creating. It creates jobs faster than almost any other initiative you can name because, again, it is money that is needed for families to survive, and it is spent. So it has a double benefit — it helps those who have lost their jobs, but it also is a job-creator and so, uh, for that reason — for those two reasons at least — it should be passed, and I’m optimistic that it will.”
– Nancy Pelosi, July 1, 2010

Democrats, clueless as usual.

WASHINGTON – More than 1.3 million laid-off workers won’t get their unemployment benefits reinstated before Congress goes on a weeklong break for Independence Day.

And hundreds of thousands more will lose their benefits in the coming weeks.

The House voted 270-153 Thursday to [...]]]>

I got four words for ‘em — Cry Me a River:

WASHINGTON – More than 1.3 million laid-off workers won’t get their unemployment benefits reinstated before Congress goes on a weeklong break for Independence Day.

And hundreds of thousands more will lose their benefits in the coming weeks.

The House voted 270-153 Thursday to extend jobless benefits for people who have been laid off for long stretches, but the gesture was made futile by the Senate’s inability to pass the bill. For the third time in as many weeks, Republicans in the Senate successfully filibustered a similar measure Wednesday night before senators adjourned for vacation.

A little more than 1.3 million people have already lost benefits since the last extension ran out at the end of May, according to the Labor Department. By the end of the week, the number will jump to 1.7 million. By the end of July, it would top 3 million.

“It is hard to understand how anybody can come to this floor and say, for 1.7 million people and their families, this is not an emergency,” said Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. “There is no excuse for voting no.”

The bill would extend unemployment payments for up to a total of 99 weeks, for people whose state-paid benefits have run out. The benefits would be available through the end of November, at a cost of $33.9 billion. The money would have been borrowed, adding to the budget deficit.

via 1.3 million unemployed won’t get benefits restored – Yahoo! News.

Steve Gilbert over at Sweetness and Light points out:

This is political grandstanding of the worst kind. The Republicans have repeatedly said that they would extend unemployment benefits if the Democrats would strip out all the other things they have larded up the bill with. That is to say, the Republicans have said they would vote for a stand-alone unemployment extension.

But the Democrats refuse present such a bill because they think they can score political points by claiming that the GOP opposes extending benefits for those out of work.

As for me; I have no pity for those people who have been on the Government dole and are now losing the dole. Why? Because when I became unemployed back in 2005. I was not eligible for unemployment, at all. Why? Because I quit my job. The job was making me physically sick and I could not take it anymore and I quit. So, that automatically disqualifies me from getting any benefits. (Looking back on it, I MIGHT have been able to collect… But, at the time, I thought I had another job lined up. Needless to say, that never happened…)

So, since 2005; I have been having to basically live off my folks and making whatever little this blog brings in for cash. Which really is not much at all, when you get right down to it. But I do much enjoy writing about politics and the idiotic Democrats!   You think the Government would push aside its rules and regulations for this white boy? Yeah Right! Now maybe if I was some sort of an oppressed minority or something. But, I am just another evil white man and the Government hasn’t established a fund for the evil poor white man yet.

You would think that the condition that the Country is in that the Democrats would just say, “Okay, Unemployment Benefits only.” But, no, they would rather grandstand an issue, all just to try secure votes come November. Which to be truly honest, is not going to guarantee the Democrats anything at all. Heck, if I were a Republican or a Democrat right now; I would be very worried, because there is a good deal of anti-incumbent sentiment in American right now.

This, in a long list of issues, is why I will never, ever vote Democratic Party again, ever.

We had to take some tough steps to pull the country out of the freefall we faced when I took office. Back then, the economy was shrinking faster than it had in decades. Today, it’s growing again. Back then, we were losing an average of 750,000 [...]]]>

The pie in the sky from Bambi Teleprompter:

We had to take some tough steps to pull the country out of the freefall we faced when I took office. Back then, the economy was shrinking faster than it had in decades. Today, it’s growing again. Back then, we were losing an average of 750,000 jobs a month. Today, we’ve added private sector jobs for five months in a row.

So now the economy is headed in the right direction.

The Goodyear meets the asphalt reality of the situation on the ground:

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending June 26, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 472,000, an increase of 13,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 459,000. The 4-week moving average was 466,500, an increase of 3,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 463,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.6 percent for the week ending June 19, unchanged from the prior week’s revised rate of 3.6 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending June 19 was 4,616,000, an increase of 43,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 4,573,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,567,500, a decrease of 25,250 from the preceding week’s revised average of 4,592,750.

The fiscal year-to-date average of seasonally adjusted weekly insured unemployment, which corresponds to the appropriated AWIU trigger, was 5.077 million.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 438,305 in the week ending June 26, an increase of 14,867 from the previous week. There were 559,857 initial claims in the comparable week in 2009.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.4 percent during the week ending June 19, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 4,311,264, an increase of 3,471 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 4.5 percent and the volume was 6,078,254.

Extended benefits were available in Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin during the week ending June 12.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 2,083 in the week ending June 19, a decrease of 64 from the prior week. There were 2,381 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 118 from the preceding week.

There were 18,082 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending June 12, an increase of 245 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 34,334, a decrease of 2,589 from the prior week.

States reported 4,515,499 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending June 12, a decrease of 217,513 from the prior week. There were 2,503,379 claimants in the comparable week in 2009. EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.

via ETA Press Release: Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report.

Heckuva Job Berry!

This right here ought to be text book proof that you just do not spend your way out of a recession.

Others:  Hot Air,  protein wisdom

Like a mad aunt, the Fed is slowly losing its marbles.

Kartik Athreya, senior economist for the Richmond Fed, has written a paper condemning economic bloggers as chronically stupid and a threat to [...]]]>

Now 20 years ago; this would have been considered crazy talk! Now, it’s main stream… Somewhere Ron Paul is smiling broadly.

Like a mad aunt, the Fed is slowly losing its marbles.

Kartik Athreya, senior economist for the Richmond Fed, has written a paper condemning economic bloggers as chronically stupid and a threat to public order.

Matters of economic policy should be reserved to a priesthood with the correct post-doctoral credentials, which would of course have excluded David Hume, Adam Smith, and arguably John Maynard Keynes (a mathematics graduate, with a tripos foray in moral sciences).

[...]

“Economics is hard. Really hard. You just won’t believe how vastly hugely mind-boggingly hard it is. I mean you may think doing the Sunday Times crossword is difficult, but that’s just peanuts to economics. And because it is so hard, people shouldn’t blithely go shooting their mouths off about it, and pretending like it’s so easy. In fact, we would all be better off if we just ignored these clowns.”

via Time to shut down the US Federal Reserve? – Telegraph Blogs.

I encourage you to go read the rest of this; because it is very, very interesting. I just cannot believe that talk of closing the fed is now mainstream! WOW!

Others: The Other McCain

Read the Story at RightOhio

(H/T JWF)

Normally, I would not even credit or link to anything on Infowars, because I happen to believe that Alex Jones is a  rube. But, this was quite good and I think it warranted [...]]]>

This comes from CNBC: (H/T to James Best on Facebook, who found it on InfoWars.com)

Normally, I would not even credit or link to anything on Infowars, because I happen to believe that Alex Jones is a  rube. But, this was quite good and I think it warranted credit.