News From Congress, et al

Apr 4th, 2008 @ 4:25 PM by Alden Smith

I’ve collected a few stats for today’s post that I found quite interesting.  I had the opportunity to watch part of the proceedings that other morning where Ben Bernanke was before the Congressional committee that was questioning him on the bailout of Bear Stearns.  Members of the panel were asking him some pretty hard questions, and his answers were not sitting well with a lot of the members.

I get my news from the LA Times, NY Times and Reuters, and as a great source of information, they can’t be beat.  I also get Google alerts daily on the mortgage market, so that I can keep up on things.  Let’s look at some stats.

The poll is taken by the New York Times/CBS News, who have been doing so since the early ’90′s.  It is focused towards the economy, but there are some good numbers here for those interested in the mortgage market.

Since January, 100,000 jobs have been lost, with 51,000 of these in the construction trade.  The poll found that Americans blame government officials for the crisis more than banks or home buyers and other borrowers.  Forty percent put the blame on regulators.  Americans want to see help for individuals but not for financial institutions. The majority are favoring help for individuals but not for financial institutions, regardless of how the so-called “recession” leads us.  A majority say the United States is headed in the wrong direction.

Other news – the Congress killed the bankruptcy bill, which was a good thing.  Touted as something to help borrowers duped into bad mortgages leverage in getting their loan terms adjusted, its focus was really more on bailing out businesses and home builders.  The help for American homeowners?  $100 million to provide counseling to those facing foreclosure and help them to negotiate with lenders. Businesses like home builders and banks?  Now we are talking serious cash – $25 billion over the next few years.  $4 billion would be given to cities and towns to buy and refurbish foreclosed and abandoned homes, the signs of folks heading for their cardboard boxes down by the river.

From where I stand, the American public is not very happy with this situation.  Bailouts on Wall Street are okay, even though a lot of people disagree.  But a lousy $100 million to “go see a counselor”?  I don’t think so.  Mayhaps we should have a few of the regulators and bankers go see a counselor instead?  Now that, folks, is a grand idea!