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...filled the void left by the private sector, it has assumed the risks of those loans. And now that a growing number of people have stopped paying their mortgages, the FHA has had to pay out more in claims that it forecast. The agency has just $3.6 billion on hand to cover any unexpected losses in its $685 billion portfolio. That paltry level of reserve funding, less than is mandated by the government, has left some members of Congress in a twitchy mood and some onlookers to wonder if the FHA will eventually need a massive infusion of cash...
...global travelers in 2000 to 173 million last year, annual overseas visits by foreigners to the United States have ticked down, from 26 million in 2000 to 25.3 million in 2008. The absolute drop-off seems small, until you consider that it has cost the country an estimated $27 billion in lost tax revenue over the past decade. With unemployment levels now topping 10% in the U.S., the economic benefits of foreign travel have never been more urgent, yet visitors have never been scarcer. "We're welcoming fewer and fewer visitors every year," laments Geoff Freeman, senior vice president...
...regulations and entry requirements, offering destination data and sponsoring marketing campaigns. Most importantly, by promoting the entire nation - rather than a specific airline or destination - TPA supporters say the bill could entice up to 1.6 million additional tourists to visit America each year. That translates to an estimated $4 billion in economic benefits, potentially resulting in some 40,000 new jobs...
...says spending hundreds of millions before there's any proof that the plan will work is an ill-advised investment of finite malaria funds. "In the absence of evidence, it's a little difficult to make that leap," he says. Last year Congress specifically forbid any of the $48 billion the U.S. government slated for AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria from going to the AMFm program until it proved successful. "The biggest bang for the buck is prevention," says Nahlen...
Instead of giving $182 billion to insurance giant AIG, he said, the government should take such action as promising to buy 5,000 electric cars in 2013 and building electric charging stations along the highway system...