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...alternative to HAMP would be the proposed "cramdown" legislation, whereby a bankruptcy judge would be given carte blanche power to modify a loan by lowering the interest rate, reducing the principal amount or extending the term of the loan to make the monthly mortgage payments more affordable to the troubled homeowner. Under this program, firms would not get the big subsidies, since the judge would be acting unilaterally in modifying the loan. (See how Americans are spending...
...fires. By the time of Bobby Kennedy's assassination in the early hours of June 5, 1968, the dreamy promise of Camelot seemed like a mirage. The City on a Hill was burning down, American power and goodness both turning to ashes in Vietnam. In New York the murder rate jumped 21% in 1968 alone; and then murder swept away first Martin Luther King and then Bobby, who had become, in the words of New York psychiatrist Frederic Wertham, a natural target for "magnicide - the killing of somebody...
...think Congress is going to be tempted to do it again? It will be wait and see for at least the next couple of weeks. If the auto-sales rate drops below expectations, there is always a chance Congress may come up with a similar or totally new stimulus idea, but that won't likely happen unless we experience another period of sustained sub-10 million level [in annual car sales], which I hope never happens again...
...This is good news for sure, but the data don't come without caveats. First of all, as economist Robert Shiller has pointed out, the index that bears his name has shown signs of turning a corner in the past. In early 2008, the rate of monthly home-price declines started dropping (that is, the housing situation looked to be moving from really bad to less bad). That momentum didn't stick, though, owing to the broader economic downturn. This time around, a first-time homebuyer tax credit is giving a huge boost to the market - nearly a third...
...Even if house prices and sales are on the mend, that doesn't equate to a clean bill of health for housing overall, since woes in the mortgage sector continue to surface. Another number out this week was the delinquency rate among loans backed by the federal housing agency Freddie Mac. The number of people 90 or more days behind on their mortgages continues to rise - in July, 2.95% of Freddie Mac loans were late, up from 2.78% the month before, and 1.01% a year ago. Furthermore, a new study from the credit-rating agency Fitch found that among people...