Another fascinating article from two Thursdays ago in The Wall Street Journal about how Ginnie Mae and the Federal Housing Administration are playing an increasingly large role in the mortgage market (“Banks Load Up on Mortgages, in New Way: This…
In my previous post, I wrote about how the government is essentially propping up the housing market with all its programs and stimulus. Well, two of those programs are set to expire shortly. The $8,000 1st time homebuyer tax credit…
At least for the next two years, and possibly longer, it is not possible that the government would say: ‘The U.S. mortgage market no longer needs our support.’ Were they to say that, the mortgage market and the housing market…
Source: “States Shut Down To Save Cash”, The Wall Street Journal, September 4, A1 Also see: “The Coming Reset In State Government”, Mitch Daniels, Republican Governor of Indiana, The Wall Street Journal, September 4, A17 “Lights Out At The Penitentiary”,…
I want you to know that I had no role whatsoever in any of the Fed’s decision regarding payments to any of A.I.G.’s creditors or counterparties. – Hank Paulson, testimony before Congress July 2009 But according to two senior government…
So it seems that we aren’t going to have a second Great Depression after all. What saved us? The answer, basically, is Big Government. …… So what saved us from a full replay of the Great Depression? The answer, almost…
An auction of 5 year treasury notes on Tuesday and one of 7 year notes today appear to be driving the market. Everybody is focused on the federal deficit, China’s appetite for our debt and what this means for inflation…
We have revised the outlook on the U.K. to negative due to our view that, even assuming additional fiscal tightening, the net general government debt burden could approach 100% of GDP and remain near that level in the medium term. …
There is actually a federal “corporation” that guarantees private sector pensions. Private sector employees with defined benefit pension plans pay an insurance premium to the PBGC which it invests and uses to pay pensions when private companies can’t do it. …
If the ballot measures fail and the recession does continue unabated into 2010, the budget gap could widen again into the $20 billion range. But the governor and legislative leaders may have fired all their political bullets in February, leaving them…