Servicers, White House Point Fingers as Foreclosure Plan Fails « President Barack Obama (WDCpix) Only a year ago, hopes were high that a big push by the government to stop foreclosures would be a great success, living up to its billing as “Help for America’s Homeowners.” Last January started out with a foreclosure moratorium, allowing time for the Obama Administration to put the final touches on Making Home Affordable — its $75 billion signature program aimed at helping 3 to 4 million homeowners. After bailing out banks and the financial system, the administration turned its efforts to borrowers on the verge of losing their homes. The program rolled out with fanfare in the spring. [Economy1] But as 2010 begins, it is already clear that Making Home Affordable has fallen far short of its goals, with only 31,382 permanent loan modifications completed by Nov. 30. Last year, lenders were doing far more loan modifications on their own, before the Obama plan was launched. Housing counselors and attorneys find that argument infuriating.
People to be respected. Obama wrote letter to N. Korean leader, official says. President Obama, left, sent a personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, a U.S. official says. U.S. envoy delivered Obama's letter while visiting North Korea, official saysSpecial envoy Stephen Bosworth went to North Korea last weekBosworth visit called "positive," although it did not win promises from PyongyangU.S. wants North Korea to return to six-party talks aimed at ending its nuclear program Washington (CNN) -- President Obama wrote a personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il that a U.S. envoy delivered, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday. Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special envoy for North Korea, delivered the letter for the North Korean leader during a three-day visit to North Korea last week, the official said. The official declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.
As Obama "has made it clear, the United States is prepared to work with allies [and] partners in the region to offer ... Video: Engaging with North Korea. Person of the Year 2009. Castro mocks Obama visit to Copenhagen. Beck Calls 'Bullcrap' On Palin's Non-Answer About Favorite Found. Senior Dem: Kill the Senate health reform bill and start over -
The Senate's healthcare bill is fatally flawed, a senior Democrat atop a powerful committee said on Wednesday. Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), the chairwoman of the House Rules Committee and co-chairwoman of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, said that the Senate's bill is so flawed that it's unlikely to be resolved in conference with the bill to have passed the House. "The Senate health care bill is not worthy of the historic vote that the House took a month ago," Slaughter wrote in an opinion piece for CNN's website. Slaughter argued that while the House bill is far from perfect, the Senate bill's exclusion of a public option, along with abortion funding restrictions and other measures, make the bill undeserving of a vote.
Specifically, Slaughter said, the Senate bill would charge seniors higher premiums, would fail to nix health insurers' antitrust exemption and would not go far enough in extending coverage to people in the U.S. The C-SPAN Lie? See Eight Clips of Obama Promising Televised Hea. Jack Cafferty Rips Obama on Failed Openness Pledge: 'Just Anothe.
Gay Group Demands Letterman Apologize for Mocking Transgender Ap. The country's largest gay-rights group today demanded an apology from David Letterman, for making what it called "inappropriate and incendiary remarks" regarding President Obama's appointment of a transgender woman to the Commerce Department. In his monologue Tuesday, Letterman remarked that Amanda Simpson, a transgender woman, had been appointed to work in the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security, where she will monitor the export of military technology.
As a photograph of Simpson was shown, announcer Alan Kalter shouted, "What? Amanda? Amanda used to be a dude? " "Oh my God! " In a letter to Letterman and CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler, Human Rights Campaign called the bit "inappropriate and incendiary" and said it reflected "transphobia," a fear or hatred of transgender people. Robinson said the punch line of the bit has "been used as a defense in nearly every hate crime perpetrated against transgender people that has come to trial. " Conservatives Finish 2009 as No. 1 Ideological Group. PRINCETON, NJ -- The increased conservatism that Gallup first identified among Americans last June persisted throughout the year, so that the final year-end political ideology figures confirm Gallup's initial reporting: conservatives (40%) outnumbered both moderates (36%) and liberals (21%) across the nation in 2009.
More broadly, the percentage of Americans calling themselves either conservative or liberal has increased over the last decade, while the percentage of moderates has declined. Since 1992, there have been only two other years -- 2003 and 2004 -- in which the average percentage of conservatives nationwide outnumbered moderates, and in both cases, it was by two percentage points (in contrast to the current four points). "The proportion of independents calling themselves "moderate" held relatively steady in the mid-40s over the last decade, while the proportion of Republican and Democratic moderates dwindled.
" Trends of the Past Decade Republicans Become More Solidly "Conservative" Peggy Noonan: The Risk of Catastrophic Victory. The First Senator From the Tea Party? Assembly committee OKs bill to legalize marijuana | L.A. NOW | L. A proposal to legalize and tax marijuana in California was approved by a key committee of the Assembly this morning, over the dire warnings of police chiefs and prosecutors. The Public Safety Committee voted 4-3 to approve AB 390 by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), who said the bill would provide tax revenue to the state and regulation of the drug. The new law includes a requirement that users be at least 21 years old. The measure next goes to the Health Committee, but proponents worried it would not be acted on by that panel by Friday's deadline, which would require the proposal to be reintroduced to be heard this year by the full Assembly.
"The way it exists now is harming our youth,'' Ammiano said. "Drug dealers do not ask for ID. Assemblyman Danny Gilmore (R-Hanford), a former CHP commander, said the $50 tax on each ounce of marijuana sold to pay for drug education and treatment is not worth the grief that will be caused by legalization. --Patrick McGreevy in Sacramento. House To Rebuke Obama On First Veto. Bipartisanship is alive on Capitol Hill -- House Democrats and Republicans came together Tuesday morning to join forces against a common, longstanding enemy: the executive branch and the "pocket veto". On December 16, Congress passed a war-spending bill to fund the Department of Defense just as money was about to run out for the agency. So that President Obama would have time to read the full bill before signing it, Congress also passed a "continuing resolution" (CR), funding the DoD for an extra week.
Obama decided not to take that time and quickly signed the DoD bill, making the CR redundant. But instead of vetoing it, he sent it back to Congress on December 30, without his signature, asserting his "pocket veto" powers. Congress hates pocket vetoes, considering them an affront to its constitutional authority. Even more to the point, Obama sent the bill -- parchment and all -- back to the House.
Rep. In a rare moment of agreement, Rep. Read Obama's veto message: Biden derides supermajority rule - Ben Smith. Columnists / Gideon Rachman - Why America and China will clash. US Does Not Have Capitalism Now: Stiglitz. Layers of money managers that don't bear the brunt of losses but walk away with big payouts when things go well have turned the US economy to a type of "ersatz capitalism," Joseph Stiglitz, Columbia University professor and Nobel laureate, told CNBC Tuesday. "An awful lot of people are not managing their own money," Stiglitz said.
"In old-style 19th Century capitalism, I owned my company, I made a mistake, I bore the consequences. " "Today, (at) most of the big companies you have managers who, when things go well, walk off with a lot of money. When things go bad the shareholders bear the costs," he said. Even worse, those giving the money to the companies are entities like pension funds that are managing money on behalf of other people, so there are "layers and layers of agency costs," Stiglitz said.
It's a system where "you socialize the losses and privatize the gains," which is not capitalism, he said. There's "moral hazard everywhere," he added. Need for Better Rules, Better Refs.