You Won't Believe What's in That Stimulus Bill

You Won't Believe What's in That Stimulus Bill
Wall Street Journal
January 28, 2009

The 647-page, $825 billion House legislation is being sold as an economic “stimulus,” but now that Democrats have finally released the details you won’t believe what’s in that “stimulus” bill. We’ve looked it over, and even we can’t quite believe it. There’s $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn’t turned a profit in 40 years; $2 billion for child-care subsidies; $50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts; $400 million for global-warming research and another $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects. There’s even $650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons.

This is supposed to be a new era of bipartisanship, but this bill was written based on the wish list of every living — or dead — Democratic interest group. As Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it, “We won the election. We wrote the bill.” So they did. Republicans should let them take all of the credit.

Banks and Investors Face 'Jumbo' Threat
Wall Street Journal
January 28, 2009

Rising defaults by affluent homeowners are raising the specter of another cloud over banks and investors, which could get stuck with thousands of expensive homes. About 6.9% of prime "jumbo" loans were at least 90 days delinquent in December, according to LPS Applied Analytics, a mortgage-data research firm. The rate was up sharply from 2.6% a year earlier. In comparison, delinquencies of non-jumbo prime loans that qualify for backing by government agencies climbed to 2.1% from 0.8% in December 2007.

Foreclosure Relief Bill Closer to House Vote
The Associated Press
January 28, 2009

A bill to save homes from foreclosure by letting bankruptcy judges alter mortgage terms moved closer to a House vote on Tuesday. The lending industry has worked unsuccessfully to stop the bill.

Fed Adopts Program To Stem Foreclosures
Washington Post
January 28, 2009

The Federal Reserve is trying to use its control of billions of dollars worth of home loans to help prevent foreclosures. Under the program, the Fed can reduce what a homeowner owes on a mortgage, lower the interest rate, lengthen the term of a loan or take other steps to keep a loan from defaulting, if doing so would offer taxpayers a better long-term payoff than foreclosure.