Bizarre Japanese Commercial

umm...thank you cheese and pepper aliens?

President Signs Bill on Student Loans

President Obama signed a bill today to make college more accessible to young Americans by bringing changes to the federal student loan program. A blog post about this event from The Caucus, a NY Times blog, said:

The new law will eliminate fees paid to private banks to act as intermediaries in providing loans to college students and use much of the nearly $68 billion in savings over 11 years to expand Pell Grants and make it easier for students to repay outstanding loans after graduating. The law also invests $2 billion in community colleges over the next four years to provide education and career training programs to workers eligible for Trade Adjustment aid.

The law will increase Pell Grant grants along with inflation in the next few years, which should raise the maximum grant to $5,975 from $5,550 by 2017, according to the White House, and it will also provide 820,000 more grants by 2020. Including money from last year’s stimulus program and regular budget increases, the White House said Mr. Obama has now doubled spending on Pell Grants.

Students who borrow money starting in July 2014 will be allowed to cap their repayments at 10 percent of their income above basic living requirements, instead of 15 percent. Moreover, if they keep up their payments, they will have any remaining debt forgiven after 20 years instead of 25 years – or after 10 years if they are in public service, such as teaching, nursing or serving in the military.

There are many who oppose this bill as there are those who oppose the health care bill. One person argued that the federal loan program would overcharge the students for their loans. It was argued that this bill would result in the loss of many jobs in education and that students would have to rely on 4 federal call centers instead of the 2,000 community and non profit lenders that are available. As with any bill that calls for more government control or aid, there is a controversy. We will have to see whether this program will indeed help college students pay back their debts.

California Home Prices Rose Unexpectedly in January

Housing prices in California for January unexpectedly rose slightly. Although this seems like a great sign that the housing market could be on its way to recovery, some analysts say that another fall could be possible.
expectations about housing's direction remain mixed as a series of government initiatives intended to bolster sales and stabilize values begin to expire. An article from the Los Angeles Times said:

Concern over a potential wave of foreclosures also remains high despite new efforts by the Obama administration to keep struggling borrowers in their homes.

"Forces that will bring home prices back down are mounting," said Patrick Newport, an economist for IHS Global Insight. "Our view is that despite this report, prices have further to fall -- about another 5%."...

...Though many economists expect the extended tax credit to give sales a further boost, they also expect another fall once the government incentive ends.

"It is way too early for this market to have rebounded the way it has," said Christopher Thornberg, principal of Beacon Economics.

With all of these mixed views and opinions on the recovery of the housing market, it is hard to say what is in store for the future. Whether this is a small sign of an improving housing market, or false hope is unknown. The only way to find out is to see how this situation unfolds.

Second Attempt at Mortage Relief

The Obama administration is still working on providing relief to homeowners facing foreclosure. The administration hasnt seen much success in trying to do this in the past, with their last attempt falling short of promised numbers. This new plan is similar to the last one where lenders would be encouraged to reduce payments for the homeowner for six months while they tried to find a job and have the lenders write off some of the loan to lessen the amount of money owed. An editorial from the Dallas News says:

Last spring, the Obama administration predicted its housing plan would help as many as 3 million to 4 million homeowners avoid foreclosure because lenders would voluntarily renegotiate distressed loans. Most didn't, and only about 169,000 households have received long-term payment relief. A similar plan and promise a year earlier from the Bush administration to encourage lenders to refinance the loans of distressed borrowers produced even more dismal results.

The Obama administration, however, remains undeterred. Even if 4 million households are aided – and history says they won't be – there are still about 8 million households currently behind on their mortgage payments or in the foreclosure process.

As painful as it is, the administration and American people need to confront two uncomfortable truths. The first is that many borrowers will remain vulnerable to defaulting again because they would still be deeply in debt even after their home-loan payments are reduced. The second is that until the economy begins to produce jobs in sizeable numbers, such temporary housing measures delay the day of reckoning and the eventual recovery of the housing market.

It is apparent that the government will not be able to dig every homeowner out of their debt and keep them from foreclosure, but any help that the government can provide to these homeowners is very important. Although continually asking lenders to lower payments can only help the situation so much.

Constuction of Affordable Housing in California Halted

Construction of housing units in California for low income residents has been halted since July. Money had been set aside for the construction, but due to California's budget problem, the money cannot be put to use. An article from the LA Times wrote:

Plans to build more than 16,000 housing units in California, many of them for low-income residents, have been frozen in bureaucratic limbo since July.

Voters approved funding four years ago. Last summer, state officials chose the 121 projects they want to build. Shovels were supposed to have hit the ground by now.

Yet none of the $714 million in bond money earmarked for construction has been spent -- one of the many results of California leaders' chronic inability to balance the budget.

The funding from the state is a major source of money that fund these projects. Without it, the projects cannot begin and those in charge of the construction need to have all of their money accounted for and available for use. This is not only about the issue of affordable housing in California and the U.S., it is also about California's budget problems and how it affects a lot of projects and programs that rely on the state for funding.

Texting on Motorcycle

This doesnt look dangerous at all...

Bank of America Helping Homeowners Avoid Foreclosure

In hopes of preventing more foreclosures from hitting the housing market, Bank of America has announced a program to reduce mortgage principle for some of their borrowers who got loans through Countrywide Financial. An article from the Los Angeles Times wrote:

Amid increasing government pressure to stem foreclosures, Bank of America Corp. said Wednesday that it would offer to erase as much as $3 billion in principal owed by thousands of severely delinquent borrowers who owe more than their homes are worth.

The bank's plan is by far the most ambitious and systematic effort by a major lender to help homeowners avoid foreclosures while continuing to make loan payments. Unlike previous initiatives, this one will be geared toward borrowers who are so far underwater that they are unlikely to be helped by a government housing relief plan.

This action by Bank of America will hopefully keep the housing market from being hit by a large amount of foreclosures. The current state of the housing market is very fragile at this point and having it face another wave of foreclosures would make the current situation much worse. If other banks and lending agencies made efforts similar to this one to help out homeowners facing forclosure, maybe we could speed up the recovery of our housing market and even our economy as a whole.

Housing Market Recovery on Shaky Ground

The Associated Press opened an article on the housing market with this gloomy statement:

The recovery in the housing market is at risk of collapsing.

Home sales are sliding, prices are stalling and foreclosures are rising. And mortgage rates are likely to go up after next week, when the Federal Reserve ends a program that has driven them down.

The trend could threaten the broader economy, economists warn. People whose home equity is stagnant or shrinking are less likely to spend freely.

With the housing market on shaky ground, we have to be careful with our actions that deal with handling this situation. At the moment, it doesn't seem like the housing market will be drastically improving anytime soon, and that mortgage rates will likely increase as a result of the Fed ending a program that they created to help keep the mortgage rates at an all time low. What we see in the housing market will almost indefinitely affect the rest of the economy; trying to salvage or protect the recovery of the housing market is something that should be taken very seriously if we want to see our economy pick back up in the near future.

Social Security Payouts Exceed Revenue

As a result of jobs disappearing and more people applying for social security earlier, the amount of money being paid out has exceeded the revenues from taxes for the program. Because there are less jobs, there are less taxes being paid because less taxable money is being earned. At the same time, more people are applying for social security, causing the situation that is happening now. A NY Times article says:

The long-term costs of Social Security present further problems for politicians, who are already struggling over how to reduce the nation’s debt. The national predicament echoes that of many European governments, which are facing market pressure to re-examine their commitments to generous pensions over extended retirements.

The United States’ soaring debt — propelled by tax cuts, wars and large expenditures to help banks and the housing market — has become a hot issue as Democrats gauge their vulnerability in the coming elections. President Obama has appointed a bipartisan commission to examine the debt problem, including Social Security, and make recommendations on how to trim the nation’s debt by Dec. 1, a few weeks after the midterm Congressional elections.

It is obvious that we are going to have to make changes to the social security program. We cannot continue to pay out more than we take in for the program because it will just add on to our a;ready growing national debt. Finding a working solution to this problem that everyone will be happy with will most likely not be an easy task, but something will have to be done to tackle this issue in the near future.

Obama Signs Healthcare Bill

President Obama signed the health care bill into law yesterday. After a long battle trying to get this bill passed, the president was finally able to sign something into law. A CNN article wrote:

The bill constitutes the biggest expansion of federal health care guarantees in more than four decades, and its enactment was a giant victory for Obama and Democrats after a brutal legislative battle dating back to the start of his presidency.

No Republicans supported the bill in either the House or Senate, and Democratic leaders needed a separate bill that calls for changes in the new law in order to get enough support in the House to pass the measure.

The Senate started debate on the accompanying House bill later Tuesday, with Republican opponents promising to use every possible parliamentary tool or technique to undermine it.

The signing of this bill is an important event in American history. Like the article said, this is the biggest expansion of federal health care in a long time. The formation of this bill took a lot of time and effort and it would have been a shame had it not passed. Although there is strong opposition to the bill from some on the right, I have a feeling that with a few very small adjustments, we could make everyone feel on sort of satisfaction with the bill.

Mental Health Break

everyone loves chatroulette and piano improvs, so putting both of them together should be a winning combo...

Obama to Give Fox an Interview

Tomorrow, President Obama is going to take part in an interview with Fox News. This is interesting after the showdown that the Obama administration had with Fox News last year. The New York Times wrote an article saying:

The interview, with Bret Baier, an anchor and a former chief White House correspondent for Fox, will be broadcast at 6 p.m., at the height of a week in which Democrats, including Mr. Obama, are pressing allies and lawmakers to push ahead to get the health care bill passed in the House despite solid Republican opposition and the lessening of public support for the legislation.

Obama's interview may be able to win over some conservative democrats who watch the news network. It was not mentioned what the president would talk about, but it seems very likely that he will talk about health care. We will be assured an interesting show if any tensions from the past between Fox News and the Obama Administration are carried over into this interview.

Fed Keeps Rates Low

In order to help the recovery of the housing market, the Federal Reserve kept interest rates at an all time low. The Fed also decided to stop buying mortgaged-back securities. A New York Times article reported;

...The Fed voted to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged, at nearly zero percent, citing evidence of economic weakness and little sign of inflation.

The Fed’s purchases of mortgage-backed securities, which will total $1.25 trillion and end March 31, have helped hold mortgage rates to near-record lows, and the Fed left open the possibility that the purchases might have to be resumed, particularly if the housing recovery stalls.

The Fed said it would “continue to monitor the economic outlook and financial developments and will employ its policy tools as necessary to promote economic recovery and price stability.”

Whether keeping the interest rates this low for an extended period of time will cause unforeseen problems or instability is uncertain. The Fed is doing what it can to aid the recovery of the housing market and the rest of the economy. With interest rates at the lowest that they could possibly be, they will have to find other ways to provide some stability to the market.

Housing Starts Decline in February

Housing construction starts fell by 5.9% across the country for the month of February. This is due to the extreme weather that parts of the country have been experiencing and a declining demand for new house construction. An article from Bloomberg's Businessweek said:

Housing starts in the U.S. fell in February as record snowfall in parts of the country hampered construction, while fewer building permits signaled demand is stagnating.

Mounting foreclosures are making it harder to clear inventories, keeping pressure on prices and discouraging new construction. The economy has yet to create the sustained job growth that could invigorate housing demand and is one reason Federal Reserve policy makers will probably keep interest rates near zero after their meeting today.

This is certainly not aiding in the recovery of the housing market. This decline in housing starts hopefully is mostly due to the mentioned weather problems rather than indicating that the housing market is still unstable.

More Programs, Declining Tax Rates

Wagner's Law states that as a society becomes richer, its taxes will increase. Tax rates in the U.S. had been increasing up until the last few years where taxes have stopped growing, even when demand for more government programs has been increasing. A New York Times article on the issue says:

Taxes are no longer rising. They fell to 18 percent of G.D.P. in 2008 and, because of the recession, to a 60-year low of 15.1 percent last year.

Yet our desire for government services just keeps growing. We added a prescription drug benefit to Medicare. Farm subsidies are sacrosanct. Social Security is the third rail of politics.

This disconnect is, far and away, the main reason for our huge budget problems. Yes, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the recession and the stimulus have all added to the deficit. But they are minor issues in the long run. By 2020, government spending is projected to equal 26 percent (and rising) of G.D.P., mostly because of Medicare and Social Security. Taxes are on pace to equal just 19 percent.

It is apparent that we cannot have all of the government programs that the public wants without increasing our taxes so that these programs can be funded. Many other countries with government programs like the ones that are being called for such as health care have much higher taxes that what we are paying here in the U.S. Paying more taxes would also help keep our national debt from continuing to grow and becoming more of a problem.

Pakistani Legislators Upset by U.S. Security

In a visit to the U.S. to help imporve relations with Pakistani leaders ended in a stir when the Pakistani visitors refused to go through a secondary airport security screening at Ronald Regan National Airport. A New York Times Article says:

Meetings with the Obama administration’s top policy makers on Pakistan, including the president’s special representative, Richard C. Holbrooke, and visits to the Pentagon and the National Security Council, did not allay the anger the politicians said they felt at being asked to submit to a secondary screening on Sunday before boarding a flight to New Orleans. They declined to be screened and did not board the flight.

Pakistan is one of 14 mostly Muslim countries whose citizens must go through increased checks before they fly into the United States, a procedure mandated by the Obama administration in the wake of the failed attempt by a Nigerian man to blow up an airliner flying from the Netherlands to Detroit on Dec. 25.

It is odd that we have a country on a security list that we consider as an ally and are currently trying to improve relations with. One would think that we would at least make an exception to the visitors that we invited into our country. the article says, however, that the Pakistani officials were warned taht they might be subjected to secondary searches and that the U.S. does not make exceptions for so called V.I.P. guests in the country. This still seems like an odd policy when trying to improve relations, although what is more important: national security or hurt feelings?

Habitat for Humanity Helps Chilean Earthquake Victims

Habitat for Humanity has begun providing aid to Chileans who have fallen victim to the earthquake that struck there a few days ago. The organization is doing what it does best and is in the process of building the first of 36 new permanent homes in Chile. An article from The Christian Post reports:

Committed to helping the South American country recover from an 8.8-magnitude earthquake, the Christian organization said the building of homes is just the first phase in its long-term response.

The effort comes as Chile's government said it will need to import temporary housing to aid the 500,000 people whose homes were damaged by the quake last month...

...Habitat for Humanity Chile has provided more than 6,300 housing solutions to low-income families since 2002. After the quake, workers assessed low-income communities where the organization had built houses. None of the homes were affected by the quake.

It was only a matter of time before Habitat for Humanity would start to provide aid to Chile. The issue of housing is a global problem and this disaster has only worsened a problem in a country that was already suffering from problems with affordable housing. Affordable housing is a complex issue that has no simple solution and cant be solved over night. Solving this issue in the U.S. will require a lot of governmental aid and changes in the ways that banks lend out money.

Housing Finance Agency Program Announces Next Steps

Yesterday the Obama Administration announced the next steps in their Housing Finance Agency Innovation Fund for the Hardest Hit Housing Markets. 1.5 billion will be added in funding to help housing finance agencies in states where the house prices have fallen more than 20%. An article described the current situation:

Today the Administration released detailed guidance for eligible HFAs to submit program proposals for funding. The HFA Hardest-Hit Fund is designed to allow the maximum possible flexibility to eligible HFAs in designing programs that are tailored to the needs of their state. Today’s guidance provides instruction to HFAs to ensure that program proposals meet basic guidelines and comply with the purposes of EESA. All programs must protect home values, preserve homeownership, promote jobs and economic growth, and provide accountability to the public.

This economic aid in the housing market is much needed. Without a stable housing market, it is not possible to have a stable economy. A key to the re-stabilization of our economy is first securing the housing market and making it possible for people to buy houses again without worrying about decreasing home values.

Iran on Path to Further Enrichment of Uranium

Iran has been enriching Uranium in their nuclear facilitiesusing centrifuges to produce reactor grade fuel, which is at a concentration of about 4-5% (the natural concentration of uranium is about 0.7%). Over time, they were able to produce a stockpile of 2 tons of the concentrated uranium. Iran then announced that they would further enrich this stock pile. A Ney York Times article describes:

...On Sunday, Feb. 7, Iran announced it would begin enriching its stockpiled uranium to 20 percent — ostensibly to make fuel for a research reactor in Tehran. Nuclear experts said that although this might sound like a leap, moving to 20 percent from 4 percent was actually a fairly easy step — not at all as demanding and time consuming as raising the level to 4 percent from 0.7 percent. And the ease of further enriching uranium once it is already enriched made the world take notice.

According to scientists in the article, it doesn't take much to continue enriching enriching uranium to levels needed for a bomb, in fact, the process gets easier as you get more concentrated. The concentration that uranium needs to be enriched to for use in bombs is about 90%. There is no doubt that Iran now has the capability to produce weapons grade uranium because they have all of the equipment and supplies that are necessary. This is a problem that world leaders will have to address in the near future before this gets out of hand. It will be much harder to negotiate when Iran has a nuclear bomb or two in their possession.

China and India Join Climate Change Agreement

China and India, two countries that are major sources of greenhouse gas emissions, have finally joined the Copenhagen Climate Change Accord. The agreement aims for limiting the rise in global temperatures to at most 2 degrees celcius beyond temperatures before the industrial era. A NY Times article on the inclusion of these two developing countries in the agreement states:

The 192 nations gathered at the Copenhagen climate meeting did not formally adopt the accord but merely voted to “take note” of it. The inclusion of China and India in the accord has only a minor practical effect but will provide a boost for the agreement’s credibility.

“After careful consideration, India has agreed to such a listing,” Reuters quoted India’s environment minister, Jairam Ramesh, as telling Parliament on Tuesday. “We believe that our decision to be listed reflects the role India played in giving shape to the Copenhagen accord. This will strengthen our negotiating position on climate change.”

The inclusion of these two large greenhouse gas producing countries in the Copenhagen Agreement will not solve global warming, but it will greatly reduce the amount of global warming gasses that we will continue to pump into our atmosphere in the future, that is, assuming that the countries reach their promised reductions in emissions.

Government Housing Program Has Failed

Many Republicans are claiming that The President's 75 billion dollar Housing Program that was designed to provide incentives for mortgage companies to modify the mortgages of homeowners and prevent more foreclosures has failed to accomplish its goal. An ABC news article said:

"By every empirical measure, HAMP has failed," concluded Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio., citing a record number of homeowners in foreclosure.

The administration's program provides incentives for mortgage companies to modify the loans of qualifying borrowers. When the administration unveiled the program last March, officials said the plan would help 3 to 4 million homeowners avoid foreclosure.

The two GOP lawmakers that released the report say that the Home Affordable Modification Program is actually hurting the economy's recovery. The progam may have helped reduced the numbers of foreclosures that would have happened had there been no program in place, but it fell far from its intended goal of 3-4 million avoiding forclosure.

Obama Listens to Republican Ideas in Heath Care

President Obama is going to address some of the concerns that the Republicans share about the current health care bill. In a letter, Obama said that he was open to ideas from the Republicans in regards to health care. A New York Times article states:

In a letter to Congressional leaders of both parties, Mr. Obama said he was open to four specific ideas raised by Republicans at the daylong health care forum last week, including encouraging the use of tax-advantaged medical savings accounts and increasing payments to doctors who treat Medicaid patients.

By signaling that he is open to the opposition’s ideas, Mr. Obama struck a bipartisan tone even as the White House prepared the ground for Democratic efforts to pass comprehensive legislation on a party-line vote. Mr. Obama is scheduled to speak about his strategy for passing the bill in remarks at the White House on Wednesday.

Listening to the opposition is a good for Obama, but it is clear that he will not be able to include all of the things that the Republicans want in the bill. Republican suggestions to stop and start over were also rejected once again by the president. At this point it seems that starting over is not an option because the government needs to get something out soon that will fix our poorly constructed heath care system.

Obama to Announce New Plans on Health Care

On Wednesday, the president will most likely share his plans on how a health care bill will be passed. A CNN article says:

President Obama is likely to lay out a political road map Wednesday for passage of sweeping health care legislation, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday.

Gibbs said the president will talk about "the way forward" to pass a bill. Among other things, Obama is expected to advocate for an "up or down vote" in Congress if necessary, Gibbs said.

This will be reassuring news that the government is making progress in getting new health care legislation passed. Obama's speech will also cover some of the most recent changes and provisions to be offered on this new bill.