CONGRESS GIVES TO YOU ECONOMIC REPARATION FOR THEIR MESSING UP THE ECONOMY!

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GOOD MORNING FLINT !
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Date 2/15/08
By Terry Bankert
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Posted full article first to Flint Talk THEN summarized, for discussion, at:
http://flinttalk.com/viewtopic.php?p=24889#24889

Full article at Google blog Good Morning Flint, http://goodmorningflint.blogspot.com/ with citations.(AT THE VERY BOTTOM OF THIS POST) also posted to MLIVE Flint JOURNAL Flint Community blogs, Flint Citizen, Craigs list, Face Book, My Space and . Please circulate and post freely. Do you have suggestions for other sites to post to. Recent BANKERT VLOGG on :Mediation #1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnHdn-Ilu0E ______________________

CONGRESS SAYS "WE MESSED UP", HERES SOME MONEY ....$1,200 !

...the $168 billion stimulus package enacted this week will help buttress the economy. Tax rebate checks will be sent to more than 130 million Americans beginning in May, he said. The measure also includes investment incentives for businesses.[B]

...checks ranging from $300 to $1,200 were sent out[ap]

OUR ECONOMY IS DETERIORATED?

Using words like "sluggish" and "deteriorated," Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gave a starkly pessimistic assessment of the nation's economy on Thursday and signaled that the Fed will cut interest rate cuts further if needed to combat the adverse effects of a prolonged housing slump and a severe credit crisis. [AP]

WORST HOUSING SLUMP IN 25 YEARS

The worst housing slump in a quarter century has combined with lower stock prices and elevated inflation to sap household wealth. [B]

AVOIDING FULL BLOWN RECESSION

``We can't be sure because of the problems in the credit markets,'' he said, estimating the chance of a recession at ``close to 50-50.'' [B]

THERE ARE GLIMMERS OF HOPE

"Yesterday's retail sales report failed to confirm a recession-like collapse in consumer spending, [and] equity markets have stabilized since the Martin Luther King Day tumult," they said. [MW]
Others, however, interpreted Bernanke's stance as a little less dovish than he had been previously[AFP].

WE MUST HELP AMERICANS CAUGHT UP IN MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE

...that the economy could still avert a full-blown recession, but Democrats said they believed the government should be doing much more to help millions of Americans cope with a threatened tidal wave of mortgage foreclosures.[AP]

OUR NATION LOST 17,000 JOBS IN JANUARY

With a Republican President at the helm"The economy lost 17,000 jobs in January, the first drop in more than four years. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index has fallen three consecutive months, and is down 7.3 percent so far this year. Residential investment subtracted 1.2 percentage point from growth last quarter, the eighth straight decline, according to government statistics." [B]

HERES THE GOOD NEWS

Further decreases in homebuilding and related activities, consumers spending less due to rising unemployment, declining home values and higher energy prices, and maybe higher inflation due to increased food and energy costs. He also says more-expensive and less-available credit is "likely to continue to be a source of restraint on economic growth[f]

DOW DOWN

On Wall Street, Bernanke's comments pushed stocks lower. The Dow Jones industrials closed down 175.26 points at 12,376.98.[AP]

"the outlook for the economy has worsened in recent months, and the downside risks to growth have increased."[CNN]

Private economists said they viewed Bernanke's sober assessment as a clear signal that the Fed, which cut interest rates by 1.25 percentage points in two moves in January, is prepared to cut rates further.[AP]

The dollar stayed weak on Friday after a pledge by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to act as needed to support economic growth and tackle downside risks fueled expectations for another big cut in interest rates next month.[GU]

While saying that housing represented the greatest threat to the economy, ... he did not believe the economy would fall into a recession. He said the administration was working now to make ensure the government checks ranging from $300 to $1,200 were sent out without delay starting in May.[AP]

RECESSION ITS GONNA HAPPEN ECONOMIST SAY ITS TOO LATE!

That stimulus package, which Congress passed last week, is expected to give the economy a sizable jolt in the second half of this year although many economists believe it will be too late to keep the economy from recording two consecutive quarters of negative economic output, the classic definition of a recession.[AP]

HOW MUCH MONEY WILL WE GET?

... he continued to look for good ideas but at the moment did not see the need to do any more than such current efforts as encouraging the mortgage industry to freeze rates on some subprime mortgages for five years and offering a 30-day reprieve on foreclosures for homeowners seriously behind on their payments to give them time to try to work out a loan modification with their lenders.[AP]

But a group of Senate Democrats ... announced outside of the hearing that they were introducing a second stimulus measure that would have a variety of initiatives to help stem foreclosures including providing $4 billion in new community development grants to purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed properties.[AP]

Here's the problem: Bernanke and Paulson insist that the economy will stave off a recession, while at the same time admitting that the extent of the damage wrought by the mortgage meltdown and credit crunch are far from known.[F]

HOUSING CRISIS GOT US THERE

"If we really want to tackle the economic problems the country is facing, we must address the housing crisis that got us here," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., a supporter of the new stimulus measures.[AP]

HOMEOWNER PRESERVATION CORP

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn., told reporters after the hearing that he planned to explore a proposal to create a Homeownership Preservation Corp. that would buy mortgages at steep discounts from mortgage firms and banks and then rework the loans based on the reduced value of the properties, making the payments more manageable.[AP]

Dodd .... "crisis of confidence." [AP]

Stocks sold off on Bernanke's comments, soaring oil prices and more bad news from financials. The Nasdaq fell 1.7%, the Dow 1.4% and the S&P 500 1.3%[CNN]

THE PRESIDENT WAS SNOOZING NOW WE ARE A LOSING

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., criticized policymakers for what he believed was a too slow response to the housing crisis. "We count on those at the top ... to sound an alarm," during a crisis, he said. Instead, "what we got was a snooze button ... we've been behind the curve." [AP]

WE BE HELPING SAYS THE ADMINISTRATION!

Paulson said that in the final three months of last year, more than 470,000 homeowners got help from companies servicing their mortgages and almost 30 percent of those received a loan modification. He insisted the administration was working hard to help, and called the problems facing some struggling homeowners "heartrending." [AP]

Translation: The ill effects of bad debt are still working their way through the country's economic veins, and no easy remedies are available.[F]
---end article---

Posted here by
Terry Bankert http://attorneybankert.com/
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—where did this stuff come from---
[AP]
Associated Press
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080214/ap_on_bi_ge/congress_recession_threat;_ylt=An28Hqycb4Gp41kPuYHSr5ms0NUE
[B]
Bloomberg.com
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=arzVoL7HpKAw&refer=home

[CNN]
CNN.Money
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/IBD-0001-23040003.htm

[GU]
Guardian Unlimited
http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7311458

[F]
Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/business/2008/02/14/bernanke-paulson-cox-biz-washington-cx_bw_0214congress.html

[AFP]
AFP
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iRsAv9ZW1UiHfLhK6gtngefQ1QfA

[TRB]
Comments of Terry Bankert
http://attorneybankert.com/

[MW]
Market Watch
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/treasurys-mixed-after-bernanke-testimony/story.aspx?guid=%7B96AAF95B-A947-4EBB-AA8F-11A7F41FF9F2%7D

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