NINE BIG BANKS NOW HAVE DEALSBoth sides eager to wind down TARP
By David Cho and Binyamin Appelbaum Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
The federal government continued to wind down its bailout of the nation's biggest banks on Monday, reaching an agreement to eliminate its stakes in Citigroup and Wells Fargo.The willingness of banking regulators to strike a deal with the two firms -- both of which continue to face serious problems -- underscored the eagerness of both sides to end an extraordinary period of federal support for the financial industry. Banks have chafed at some of the conditions placed on the federal rescue money, such as limits on executive pay, while the administration has been criticized for using taxpayer funds to bail out Wall Street.
House Democrats discard larger debt limit
By Paul Kane, Washington Post Staff WriterTuesday, December 15, 2009
House Democratic leaders, bowing to their party's deficit hawks, will move the year's final must-pass piece of legislation without a long-term increase to the national debt and without a large boost in infrastructure funding that was aimed at creating jobs.
Obama calls on banks to ramp up lending
Executives brought to White House as loans dry up in recession
By Binyamin Appelbaum and Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday
December 15, 2009
President Obama exhorted the nation's biggest banks on Monday to make "extraordinary" efforts to increase lending, even as some of those firms are racing to distance themselves from government control.
Ending the Housing Crisis One Short Sale at a Time – How One Company Provides Security to the Process
By Paige Tepping, RISMEDIA
December 14, 2009
Short sales and home warranties seem to go hand in hand, especially considering the realities of today’s real estate market. “Short sales have a hundred moving parts; a hundred problems that all need to be solved at the same time,” says Bonnie Overbeck of Three Blondes and a Short Sale. “While you are dealing with a stressed seller, a buyer who doesn’t entirely trust the situation and money problems everywhere, the home warranties we provide through HSA Home Warranty act as an extra layer of security.”
Obama presses bank chiefs to lend more
White House to push for greater regulation, curbs on executive pay
By Binyamin Appelbaum
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 14, 2009
President Obama, who lashed out Sunday at "fat cat bankers" who "still don't get it," plans to gather the heads of major banks at the White House on Monday to urge them to make more loans and to accept the necessity of greater regulation...
Turnaround seen for area retailers
STUDY POINTS TO NEW D.C. JOBS.
Dismal sales in 2009 mirrored rest of U.S.
By V. Dion Haynes
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 14, 2009
While steady expansion of the federal government has shielded metropolitan Washington from the soaring unemployment rates seen elsewhere, troubles among the region's retailers are mirroring national losses in that sector with steep job cuts and a sales decline projected to reach 7 percent this year, a new study says.
Home buyers can afford to wait awhile
By Steven Goldberg
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Mortgage interest rates are at a 50-year low. Congress has extended a tax credit for home buyers through April. The economy is beginning to crawl out of what by some measures is the deepest recession since the 1930s. One survey already shows housing prices beginning to rise.
So isn't it time to buy a house? If I were in the market for a new home, I would wait. Housing prices typically don't rebound quickly after a bust; instead, they level out and stay near that low base line for years.
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