Word: crediteers
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...carefully than they ever have. This results from the fact that there are lots of American who don't really know how much disposable income they have. They've just been spending it. And all of a sudden they've woken up and found, 'I have $20,000 in credit card debt. All of a sudden I need to face consequences that are acute.' It's fundamentally healthy over the long term, but it's painful over the short term...
...missing from the speech President Obama gave on Wednesday in rolling out the Administration's massive housing-rescue plan. That word is "subprime." That might ring a little odd, considering how religiously we've been talking about the "subprime mortgage crisis" - all the loans made to borrowers with bad credit who couldn't really handle them. The thing is, subprime isn't the entire story. In fact, looking forward, it's not even the biggest problem. While the raw percentage of subprime loans in delinquency and foreclosure still far outstrips any other sort of mortgage, the types of loans that...
Delinquencies are also getting much worse among holders of option adjustable-rate mortgages (option ARMs). These loans, typically made to borrowers with prime or near-prime credit scores, let soon-to-be homeowners pick from a menu of monthly payments - often including an option that didn't even keep up with the interest due. As home prices have fallen, the number of option ARM borrowers running into trouble has surged, with 15.25% of loans delinquent and another 7.46% in foreclosure. Some analysts think the problem in option ARMs could eventually rival the size of the subprime meltdown. (See pictures...
...addition to the increased sales tax, personal income tax rates will go up 0.25% and the dependent credit will drop from $300 to $100. Vehicle owners will now pay an annual license fee that is 1.15% of their car's value (up from 0.65%). One increase was avoided. In order to secure Republican Abel Maldonado's vote, a 12 cent on the gallon gas tax was nixed (Maldonado also included an open-primary measure and removed a stipulation that would have cost legislators their salaries during times of overdue budgets...
...while the news that Schwarzenegger finally passed a budget - any budget - does come as a relief to politicians and economists who were gravely concerned about credit ratings and business reputation, a long haul is ahead for citizens and businesses already reeling from the foreclosure catastrophe and high unemployment rates. "This is the most serious budget crisis in my lifetime - and I have gray hair," says Jean Ross, executive director of the nonpartisan California Budget Project. "It will have a significant impact on Californians for the next 18 months and for years to come...