Word: preventability
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...billion to fix the problem. Most members of Congress were so spooked they were ready to write a check, until their phone lines started melting with the angry voices of taxpayers demanding details about the likely return on the investment. But even the minimal strings attached did not prevent the first $350 billion from vanishing, with the government overpaying about $78 billion for the assets it bought. The banks told pesky reporters and congressional watchdogs that how they spent the bailout cash was really none of their business. And now, Tim Geithner informs us, the financial system needs $2 trillion...
...still possible even without an Arab-Israeli settlement. The U.S. and Iran, says Mohammad Atrianfar, a newsmagazine editor and unofficial mouthpiece for the camp led by Rafsanjani, should set up a system of diplomacy much like that between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the cold war, to prevent disagreements from turning into open conflict. "The only thing we want from the United States is for them not to mess with our country," he says. But that would mean the U.S. accepting Iran's right to have a nonmilitary nuclear program, ending sanctions, apologizing for past misdeeds, shutting down...
Consider our recent track record. Last July, Congress passed a bill to help the housing market. In an effort to churn demand and stabilize home prices, the bill created a $7,500 tax break for first-time home buyers. It also created a program to prevent foreclosures. Unfortunately, no major lenders signed up. Bottom line: only 25 loans have been rewritten...
...core issue is that too many people can no longer afford their mortgage. Maybe they took out an adjustable-rate loan that has reset higher, or they lost a job in the slowing economy. If we could stop the cycle of defaults and foreclosures, the thinking goes, we could prevent deeply discounted, bank-sold homes from flooding the market, keep losses from further impairing mortgage-backed securities and preserve property values. That's how we wind up with ideas like paying mortgage servicers to make loans more affordable and changing the bankruptcy code to allow judges to reduce the amount...
...country is the effort to save jobs more widespread than in China. The government recently estimated that 20 million migrant workers have lost their jobs as the global slowdown forces tens of thousands of factories to close. The response has been a government-led effort to prevent even more widespread losses. Last week, the central government's powerful State Council ordered companies throughout the country to notify local government-backed labor unions if they planned to cut either 10% of staff or more than 20 employees. The directive also urged companies to use any proceeds from China's $586 billion...