Free Republic

Media: If, as they say, it's journalists who write history's first draft, then future texts will be riddled with errors about the origins of the subprime disaster, teaching future leaders the wrong lessons.Just how did Americans come to lose $10 trillion in real estate and stock wealth? And why are our children and grandchildren on the hook for as much as $8 trillion in federal bailout money? These are some of the most important questions of our time. Yet the mainstream media, plagued by monopartisan bias, are not providing the public honest answers. Take, for instance, a recent front-page article...

Why the party lasted so long… December 18, 2008 – 12:12 pm One question regular folks consistently ask about the housing bubble/financial crisis: Why did it go on so long? Why were bankers putting risky borrowers into toxic mortgage products almost engineered to blow up? One answer is that no one saw it coming. “Hoocoodanode?” says CR. “Who coulda known?” That’s part of it of course. Most everyone involved convinced themselves that “house prices never fall.” If that were the case, borrowers would be able to refinance perpetually and banks would never take losses on their loans. A more specific...

Homes in the United States have lost trillions of dollars in value during 2008, with nearly 11.7 million American households now owing more on their mortgage than their homes are worth, real estate website Zillow.com said on Monday. U.S. homes are set to lose well over $2 trillion in value during 2008, according to an analysis of recent Zillow Real Estate Market Reports. Home values declined 8.4 percent year-over-year during the first three quarters of this year, compared to the same period in 2007, the reports showed. U.S. home values lost $1.9 trillion from the first of the year through...

It's not easy being Alan Greenspan these days. As the former Federal Reserve chairman, he urged government regulators to take a light touch while banks like Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers buried themselves—and the economy more generally—under a mountain of debt. Now that his reputation is plummeting faster than the stock market, he's been forced to admit a "flaw" in his hands-off ideology. Of course, things look entirely different to members of "free-market advocacy groups," as they like to be called. One such group is the Ayn Rand Institute, named after the matriarch of the movement, whose antigovernment and anti-regulation...

Condemned: Time Inc. Shutters 'Cottage Living' by Erik Sass, Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 The shelter magazine category is starting to look more like the rubble category, with Time Inc.'s announcement late Tuesday that it is closing Cottage Living after the November-December issue, currently on newsstands. The magazine's Web site is also shutting down. The magazine's demise, following close on the heels of several other big magazines, suggests that the shakeout in the magazine industry is only beginning. The latest news is bad, but not surprising. The shelter category was one of the first to feel the effects of the current...

But who gets that help? Is it someone like me who doesn't really need a mortgage break but will take two. . . Or how about the guy who bought a bunch of rent houses and has now decided that they aren't worth what he paid for them? Does he get a bailout too? There are plenty of hardworking folks out there who need help with problem mortgages and are faced with foreclosure of their homes. Their plight is real and palpable and sure, and something should be done to help them. But if the mortgage business didn't have the...

MOUNTAIN HOUSE, Calif. — This town, 59 feet above sea level, is the most underwater community in America. Because of plunging home values, almost 90 percent of homeowners here owe more on their mortgages than their houses are worth, according to figures released Monday. That is the highest percentage in the country. The average homeowner in Mountain House is “underwater,” as it is known, by $122,000. A visit to the area over the last couple of days shows how the nationwide housing crisis is contributing to a broad slowdown of the American economy, as families who feel burdened by high...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government is considering a plan that would help around 3 million homeowners avoid foreclosure, sources briefed on the matter said. A final deal had not been reached as of Wednesday afternoon and negotiations could still fall apart, but government agencies were contemplating using around $50 billion from the recently passed bailout of the financial industry to guarantee about $500 billion in mortgages. The plan could include loan modifications that would lower interest rates for a five-year period, according to two people briefed on the plan, who asked not to be identified because details were still being...

Jose Luis Hernandez rose from vegetable chopper to sous chef at an exclusive New York restaurant -- and saved $100,000 along the way. Recently, the illegal immigrant from Mexico contacted real-estate agents in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he currently rents an apartment. "I wanted to use my money as a down payment on a house," says Mr. Hernandez, 32 years old. In doing so, he sought to join thousands of undocumented workers who in recent years have purchased homes using an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or ITIN, instead of a Social Security number. The Internal Revenue Service doesn't give Social Security...

SAN ANTONIO — A grandson of Mexican immigrants and this city’s first Hispanic mayor, Henry G. Cisneros has spent years trying to make the dream of homeownership come true for low-income families. As the Clinton administration’s top housing official in the mid-1990s, Mr. Cisneros loosened mortgage restrictions so first-time buyers could qualify for loans they could never get before. Then, capitalizing on a housing expansion he helped unleash, he joined the boards of a major builder, KB Home, and the largest mortgage lender in the nation, Countrywide Financial — two companies that rode the housing boom, drawing criticism along the...

ACORN leveraged the Community Reinvestment Act in order to attack lenders’ reputations and secure financial resources for itself; it has also endorsed loans offered by companies that fund ACORN operations• ACORN’s decades of lobbying and publicity seeking have contributed to the current housing crisis by lowering lending standards• Despite raking in a troubling 40 percent of its revenue from taxpayers over the last three years. ACORN Housing Corporation’s actions range from controversial to borderline illegal.

Earnings inflated by inadequate reserves for loan losses. Appraisers pressured to deliver home values to justify making shaky loans. A loan portfolio stuffed with risky mortgages written mainly for the higher interest rate and fee income they could generate. Stock sales by a top executive ahead of bad news. Misleading and false disclosures to investors. A "toothless" risk-management operation.Federal investigators looking into the decline and fall of Washington Mutual Bank as an independent company won't have to go far for a wealth of allegations as to the causes, or source material on those accusations. Three class-action lawsuits -- each a...

This is a blog excert from Wade Rathke, the founder and Chief Organizer of ACORN International and SEIU Local 100, AFL-CIO, etc. ACORN’s foreclosure prevention negotiations have picked up momentum behind the scenes again recently. Last week solid progress made with teams at Merrill Lynch in New York and WAMU in Seattle. Next week another face-to-face round in Dallas with GMAC and other metroplex area servicers on the docket. A call with Wells this week to finally get them into the game and discuss much needed streamlining is now set. Ocwen, a target not long ago, is piloting in three...

Not only did Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign pay more than U.S. $800,000 to a front of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform, Now, ACORN, currently under investigation in a dozen States for voter registration fraud and bribery schemes, for “get-out-the-vote-efforts”; Obama co-sponsored legislation called the “Helping Families Save their Homes in Bankruptcy Act of 2007”– that was supported by ACORN and protects them. . . . Notice now, another key reason why groups like ACORN support this legislation because it: “Prohibits the court from allowing a claim that is subject to any remedy for damages or rescission due...

Citigroup and ACORN Sign Groundbreaking Agreement to Expand Access to Financial Services in Communities Around the Country NEW YORK — Citigroup and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) today announced a landmark partnership that advances the goals of both organizations to promote homeownership in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, especially in immigrant communities, increase the availability of affordable credit, and promote financial education. The partnership also reinforces Citigroup's position as a key industry leader in responsible and innovative lending practices. As part of the partnership, announced today at an event in New York City, Citigroup and ACORN have...

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama’s call for a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures is getting negative reactions from two Arizona experts. Obama is pushing for a 90-day break for homeowners who are making efforts to pay their mortgages and keep their homes. Democratic primary rival Hillary Clinton had called for a such a moratorium during her campaign against Obama, who did not support the idea at that time. “We need to give people the breathing room they need to get back on their feet,” Obama said Monday. The moratorium should be specific to banks being helped by the $850 billion federal...

New York, October 11, 2008 – The idea that the industry lacks a central registry for over-the-counter (OTC) credit default swaps (CDS) is grossly misleading and has resulted in inaccurate speculation on a number of matters, including the overall size of the market, its role in the mortgage crisis, and the size of potential payment obligations under credit default swaps relating to Lehman Brothers. The extent to which such speculation has fueled last week’s market turmoil is difficult to determine. The facts are these: Central Trade Registry * In November 2006, The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) established its...

WASHINGTON -- As the economy worsens and Election Day approaches, a conservative campaign that blames the global financial crisis on a government push to make housing more affordable to lower-class Americans has taken off on talk radio and e-mail. Commentators say that's what triggered the stock market meltdown and the freeze on credit. They've specifically targeted the mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which the federal government seized on Sept. 6, contending that lending to poor and minority Americans caused Fannie's and Freddie's financial problems. Federal housing data reveal that the charges aren't true, and that the private...

John McCain called for suspension of the requirement that retirees must begin liquidating their retirement accounts when they reach age 70 and a half, the latest economic policy rolled out by the Republican presidential candidate. The Arizona senator announced the plan at a rally Friday morning in La Crosse, Wis. Buried a third of the way through his typical stump speech, McCain said his priority was to “protect investors – especially those relying on their investments for retirement.” “Current rules mandate that investors must beginning to sell off their IRAs and 401Ks when they reach age 70 and a half,”...

A majority of voters (52%) favor John McCain’s plan for the federal government to buy up distressed mortgages and refinance them so homeowners can stay in their homes, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Thirty-five percent (35%) oppose the plan. Democrats like McCain’s plan more than Republicans, even though Barack Obama opposes it. Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Democratic voters think it’s a good idea, compared to 47% of Republicans – and 49% of unaffiliated voters. Seventy percent (70%) of African-American voters favor McCain’s plan, as do 50% of white voters. P.S....I'm not a frequent poster.. so pardon...

The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development says there is no basis to news reports that more than 5 million bad mortgages are held by illegal immigrants. A HUD spokesman said Thursday his agency has no data showing the number of illegal immigrants holding foreclosed or bad mortgages. But news reports, including one aired on KFYI-AM 550 in Phoenix, cite HUD as a source for the illegal immigrant mortgage number. The widely read “Drudge Report” posted a link to the KFYI report, but as of Thursday afternoon the link no longer connected to the story. Anti-immigration groups point to...

Barack Obama has strong ties to the group that pressured banks into making high-risk loans.Fort Worth, TX (WiredPRNews.com)— ACORN, which stands for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, pressured banks into making mortgages to those who would otherwise not qualify for them, according to an October 7, 2008 article by Stanley Kurtz, which appeared on the website for National Review. As all Americans are footing the bill for the $700 billion bailout to prevent the collapse the financial market, ACORN leader Madeline Talbot—who has close ties to Senator Obama—personally strong-armed banks into making mortgage loans to low income minorities...

Boehner Calls for Defunding of ACORN Washington, Oct 9 - House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) today issued the following statement following mounting allegations of voter registration fraud perpetrated by the left-wing group ACORN: “The latest allegations of voter registration fraud by ACORN are further evidence that this group cannot be trusted with another dollar of the taxpayers’ money. “Election cycle after election cycle, this organization has been at the forefront of breaking the law in order to promote their left-wing agenda. All the while, they have been the recipients of millions of dollars of federal funding through various federal...

DAYTON, Ohio (Reuters) - Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama accused Republican John McCain on Thursday of backing a mortgage bailout plan that would reward banks responsible for the U.S. housing crisis, as he sought to press a perceived advantage on economic issues. "We have to act to fix our broken economy and restore the credit markets," Obama said at a rally in Ohio, one of the key battleground states for the Nov. 4 election. "But taxpayers shouldn't be asked to pick up the tab for the very folks who helped create this crisis." At a debate with Obama in Nashville,...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) made an overnight change in the homeowner bailout he proposed at Tuesday’s presidential debate, making it more generous to financial institutions and more costly for taxpayers. McCain's staff says it was always meant that way. When McCain sprang his surprise idea at the start of the debate in Nashville, his campaign posted details online of his American Homeownership Resurgence Plan, which would direct the government to buy up bad home mortgages, allowing strapped people to keep their property. The document posted and e-mailed by the McCain campaign on Tuesday night says at the end of its...

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In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders. The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring. Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest...

One illegal alien was arrested this year in Tucson after allegedly using a stolen social security number to buy two homes and rack up over $780,000 in bad debt. Some five million fraudulent home mortgages are in the hands of illegal aliens, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It's not known how many of those have contributed to the subprime housing mortgage meltdown, but it has affected every state, including Arizona. The problem began years ago when banks were forced to give mortgages without confirming social security numbers or borrower identification. As a result, illegal immigrants...

LINK Case Name Buycks-Roberson v. Citibank Fed. Sav. Bank Fair Housing/Lending/Insurance Docket / Court 94 C 4094 ( N.D. Ill. ) FH-IL-0011 State/Territory Illinois Case Summary Plaintiffs filed their class action lawsuit on July 6, 1994, alleging that Citibank had engaged in redlining practices in the Chicago metropolitan area in violation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), 15 U.S.C. 1691; the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. 3601-3619; the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; and 42 U.S.C. 1981, 1982. Plaintiffs alleged that the Defendant-bank rejected loan applications of minority applicants while approving loan applications filed by white applicants with...

Something very strange is happening in the financial markets. And I can show you what it is and what it means... If September didn't give you enough to worry about, consider what will happen to real estate prices as unemployment grows steadily over the next several months. As bad as things are now, they'll get much worse. They'll get worse for the obvious reason: because more people will default on their mortgages. But they'll also remain depressed for far longer than anyone expects, for a reason most people will never understand. What follows is one of the real secrets to...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain is proposing a $300 billion program for the federal government to buy up bad home mortgages and allow homeowners to keep their houses.

Johan Norberg, on his blog JohanNorberg.net, points out the Democratic intervention that caused the financial crisis SOME milestones in the prehistory of the crisis. 1933: As part of the New Deal, investment banks are stopped from also acting as commercial banks (which would have given them bank deposits and more stability). 1938: As part of the New Deal, president (Franklin D.) Roosevelt creates Fannie Mae and in 1970 Congress creates Freddie Mac. With their implicit government guarantees they can offer cheaper loans and expand until they dominate the American mortgage market. 1989: The American government step(s) in and pay(s) for...

‘You’ve got only a couple thousand bucks in the bank. Your job pays you dog-food wages. Your credit history has been bent, stapled, and mutilated. You declared bankruptcy in 1989. Don’t despair: You can still buy a house.” So began an April 1995 article in the Chicago Sun-Times that went on to direct prospective home-buyers fitting this profile to a group of far-left “community organizers” called ACORN, for assistance. In retrospect, of course, encouraging customers like this to buy homes seems little short of madness. Militant ACORN At the time, however, that 1995 Chicago newspaper article represented something of a...

While some blame the greed of Wall Street investment bankers and the dangers of a totally unregulated system for the current financial crisis, what can’t be denied is that lives, and lifestyles, have been suddenly changed across the social spectrum and careers built up over a lifetime have vanished in an instant. Apart from the revised $700 billion bailout plan, can the U.S. government do enough to restore confidence and assuage the trauma? The real question is: Who is going to compensate the common investors across the world who have lost their wealth in the resultant market meltdown? The...

NEW YORK, Oct 3 (Reuters) - The value of credit default swaps backed by the debt of Fannie Mae (FNM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will be set on Monday in a series of auctions, which will be the largest settlement of the contracts the market has ever seen. Four separate auctions will be used to determine the value of the agencies' debt. The auctions are for Fannie Mae's senior debt, Fannie Mae's subordinated debt, Freddie Mac's senior debt and Freddie Mac's subordinated debt. Estimations on how much credit protection is...

How AIG's Collapse Began a Global Run on the Banks By Porter Stansberry Something very strange is happening in the financial markets. And I can show you what it is and what it means... If September didn't give you enough to worry about, consider what will happen to real estate prices as unemployment grows steadily over the next several months. As bad as things are now, they'll get much worse. They'll get worse for the obvious reason: because more people will default on their mortgages. But they'll also remain depressed for far longer than anyone expects, for a reason most...

Charles Elliott Fitzgerald, an admitted architect of one of the largest real estate frauds in California history, was sentenced Friday to 14 years in federal prison for his part in bilking mortgage lenders of more than $40 million. Fitzgerald, 48, pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy, fraud and other charges, acknowledging that he reaped at least $5 million from the scheme, which was based in Beverly Hills and involved high-end house flips. He is the first of 11 defendants to be sentenced in the case, which foreshadowed the wave of foreclosures now washing over the wreckage of California's real estate...

Markets flashed signs of panic Thursday as evidence of recession mounted and banks remained wary of lending to one another. Stocks and commodities slid, prices for U.S. Treasury bonds and other safe-haven investments rose sharply, and European currencies slumped amid worries that economic weakness there will deepen. In the U.S., new data showed a seven-year high in jobless claims and a plunge in factory orders, underscoring the woes in non-financial sectors of this country's economy that have gotten relatively little attention amid the recent debate over a rescue package for troubled Wall Street firms. Traders welcomed the passage of that...

Asian investors placed little faith and credit in the U.S. Senate's passage of a revised bailout package; stock indexes in Japan, South Korea and Australia deepened their morning descent into the red as Thursday wore on. Markets were moving on signs of a intensified global downturn rather than on U.S. bailout developments, some analysts said. Hong Kong managed, however, to turn around its early losses in the final hour of trading. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.9%, to 11,154.76 points, as manufacturers and financials slid. The broader Topix suffered an even steeper decline of 2.2%, to 1,076.97. Shares of Japanese automakers...

Greek officials said the state would cover "all bank deposits, whatever the amount." The move follows the dramatic decision by Ireland this week to guarantee the deposits and debts of its six biggest lenders in the most sweeping bank bail-out since the credit crisis began. "The whole of Europe will have to do same thing, otherwise Europe will have a split banking system," said Hans Redeker, currency chief at BNP Paribas. British banks are already facing a haemorrhage of deposits to Irish banks that now enjoy the AAA sovereign rating of the Irish state. Greece has so far escaped attention...

Bill Manville says he is proud of his representative, freshman Democrat Nancy Boyda of Kansas, for helping vote down the $700 billion financial-rescue bill Monday. But the Winchester farmer and staunch Republican quickly adds that doesn't mean he will necessarily vote next month for Rep. Boyda -- a top target of Republican strategists. The size and timing of the rescue plan, a month before Election Day -- and with early balloting already under way in parts of the country -- made it the most consequential vote many House members say they have ever taken. The short-term economic consequences were quickly...

Dow futures are down -110 per Fox News post bailout vote. The Hang Seng just opened at the top of the hour and is already down 2.0%. The Nikkei was up 0.7% prior to the vote, and now it is down 1.1%. I think the Asia markets don't like this bill.

Stunning new video reveals the role that ACORN has played not only in stealing elections but also in stealing billions from the American taxpayer through the sub-prime fiasco. This is the "non-partisan" group for whom Obama was the attorney.

Soros floats alternative bailout plan with Dems By Alexander Bolton Posted: 09/30/08 11:19 PM [ET] The billionaire financier George Soros, a major Democratic financial backer, is floating his own rescue plan among Democratic lawmakers who are uncertain what to do in the wake of a surprise defeat of a proposed $700 billion rescue package proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. Soros has outlined his plan in an opinion editorial in the Financial Times and circulated a concept paper among decision-makers. Specifically, the liberal philanthropist has proposed that government funds should be used to recapitalize the American banking system by purchasing...

My Boss asked me to do some research on the cause of the mortgage mess. We make equity investments. I am not a partisan. However, after looking at the evidence, it has become crystal clear. I have included these links without commentary. I think that they speak for themselves. Articles: 1993 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n25_v45/ai_14779796/print?tag=artBody;col1 1999 http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260&scp=1&sq=september%201999%20fannie%20mae&st=cse http://www.dcwatch.com/issues/fanniemae.htm 2000 http://www.city-journal.org/html/10_1_the_trillion_dollar.html 2002 http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_10/b3773052.htm 2003 http://rpc.senate.gov/public/_files/bk090903.pdf http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E3D6123BF932A2575AC0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1 2004 http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9802E4DF123CF936A15751C0A9629C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41165-2004Sep22.html 2006 http://www.govtrack.us/congress/record.xpd?id=109-s20060525-16&bill=s109-190 Other articles: http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/07/top-senate-recipients-of-fanni.html http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aSKSoiNbnQY0 http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=avPV2OxmwF9w http://www.kfor.com/Global/story.asp?S=9080306&nav=menu99_5_4 http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/700499,CST-NWS-Obama-law17.article http://investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501&status=article&id=306544845091102 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121745181676698197.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121581650524447373.html?mod=todays_columnists http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/09/obamas_fannie_mae_connection.html Videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGT_cSi7Rs&eurl=http://5.gmodules.com/ig/ifr?pid=dell&url=http://www.google.com/ig/modules/youtube_videos.xml&nocache=0&up_pre http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bLFPjLaXPM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgctSIL8Lhs http://www.darkskiesblog.com/2008/09/25/whos-responsible-for-the-freddiefannie-mess-the-democrats-in-congress-foxnews-video-embed/ http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=658_1222431921 http://www.bu.edu/today/2008/02/12/what-caused-subprime-crisis http://www.taxfoundation.org/blog/show/23617.html (see comments on 4:45 and 26:48) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvzLucaOu3g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsc-6T9JD9E http://search.bloomberg.com/search?entqr=0&access=p&getfields=wnnis&getfields=wnnis&output=xml_no_dtd&sort=date%3AD%3AS%3Ad1&sort=date%3AD%3AS%3Ad1&ie=UTF-8&client=wnews&q=barney+frank+video&filter=p&ud=1&site=wnews&oe=UTF-8&proxystylesheet=wnews&ip=64.25.10.146&start=30 Acorn: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/election/s_584284.html http://acornloans.org/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dTvZKjaVFw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6rMSd-JRuk...

ACORN activists at the side of L.A. mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (at lectern) yesterday * * * * * The vote fraud factory known as ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) is apparently supporting Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s crazy push for $5 billion in so-called affordable housing. (See above photo from yesterday which shows the mayor surrounded by ACORN activists wearing red shirts bearing the ACORN logo.) As the nation stares into the economic abyss precisely because of housing-related tomfoolery, Villaraigosa’s plan calls for $1 billion in government to be spent as part of the $5 billion...

In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders. The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.

“Wall Street Plummets on Bailout Failure” -- or so read dozens of headlines Monday, as if trillion dollar government schemes are the normal course of events and their sudden and unexpected “failure” can shock an otherwise healthy market into collapse. The stock market dropped Monday because the fundamentals of the economy and many corporations are in rotten shape. America has been on a borrowing binge for decades, artificially inflating housing prices and encouraging promiscuous credit in a vicious cycle. Excess credit caused the problem, but now a credit contraction is being blamed for it. And what is the alleged solution,...

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate is set to vote Wednesday evening on its version of the emergency financial rescue package rejected Monday by the House of Representatives, which will include an increase in the cap to the level of deposits in bank accounts insured by the federal government up to $250,000, a senior senate Democratic aide said Tuesday. The vote will also include the Senate version of an extension to a series of renewable energy and other business tax credits. There had been speculation throughout Tuesday that the Senate might move to act on the bailout legislation after a surprise...