December 27, 2007
The clueless and their delusions
Bush is happy about the economy. He thinks the prospects are great!
The White House is betting that the steps it has taken to address the housing and financial crises will be enough to avert a recession without resorting to a major tax cut or new spending, as leading economists in both parties have urged, senior administration officials said.In a news conference yesterday, President Bush said he is considering various measures to stimulate the economy but made clear his belief that it is not time to pull the trigger. "My view of the economy is that the fundamentals are strong, that we've had strong growth for a reason: that we're competitive, we got flexible workplace, that we kept taxes low, exports are up," Bush said.
Bush's comments reflect a consensus among his economic advisers that it is still possible to avoid a recession and that their efforts should focus on executing the programs they have already announced for containing problems in the mortgage markets -- such as the plan to freeze interest rates on certain subprime mortgages or an initiative to pay for mortgage counselors who would advise people at risk of losing their homes.
Bush is talking about FHA Secure which can help as many as 80k people. A drop in the bucket for the 3 million currently at risk. But, at least 80k would be something. They announced the program in August and I know a lot of people would want to jump on it. What may surprise you is that only 266 have closed.
That's right. Two hundred and sixty six homes have been refinanced to FHA Secure.
A program unveiled by U.S. President George W. Bush in August that is trying to save tens of thousands of homeowners from foreclosure has aided just 266 borrowers so far, according to government data released on Monday. The initiative, which helps high-risk or low-income borrowers win better loan terms by insuring mortgage payments, targets recent homeowners whose loans have a built-in interest-rate spike that made them miss a payment. More than 1.8 million borrowers could face mortgage rate spikes by the end of next year, according to the Federal Reserve Board, with the mortgage costs rising $350 a month. Until Bush relaxed the rules, borrowers who missed a payment would not have been eligible to refinance under the Federal Housing Administration -- a program from the Depression era designed to make home ownership more affordable. Officials behind the new initiative, called FHA Secure, said it is on track to move 60,000 delinquent borrowers into stable, fixed-rate home loans. But between September and mid-December, only 266 such borrowers have cleared all FHA hurdles, according to data compiled by the Department of Housing and Urban Development that was provided to Reuters.
At that rate, it'll only be 80 years until all them are done! Greenspan and Lawrence Summers think that we need to expand benefits. That might actually help someone like this.
Griffin, 49, like hundreds of thousands of homeowners across the country, is in foreclosure. Recently, she sat at the dining room table where for six years she has served holiday meals to her large, extended family of 19 brothers and five sisters, where they all hope to gather again this Christmas, and shook her head. "What will I do if I lose this house? What will I do? I think about it all the time."
Good to know the President thinks things are going well! If only he could translate his wishes to reality.
Posted by mcblogger at December 27, 2007 10:18 AM
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