Tag Archives: Barack Obama

Instead of bringing America together and setting us forth on the path towards economic growth and prosperity, what President Obama did in his State of the Union address was offer of the same misguided, go-it-alone ideas we've heard before, as opposed to real job creation and economic growth. Rather than go through the same divisive rhetoric and "stale political arguments" Americans have grown tired of, let's agree to put politics aside and do what's best for everyone, not just the chosen few.

In his speech Tuesday night, the president only directly mentioned housing twice: first to describe the market as "rebounding" and again to demand from Congress "legislation that protects the taxpayers from footing the bill for a housing crisis ever again." While the second might be seen as a nod toward legislative movements to abolish Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the topic wasn't explored any further. Instead, much of Obama's focus went toward addressing wage stagnation.

Overall, Fannie's outlook is "largely unchanged from the previous forecast," although "fiscal uncertainties associated with the federal government shutdown, the protracted negotiations to raise the debt ceiling, and the timing of the Federal Reserve's tapering of its asset purchase program, pose significant downside risks to economic activity in the current quarter," said Doug Duncan, chief economist at Fannie Mae. As such, the GSE is revising its forecasted GDP growth for this year from 2 percent to 1.9 percent.

The summer is over and with it the end of re-runs of (some of) our favorite shows. Still, there├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós one more re-run we have to endure, but with a new twist: Republicans in Congress balking at increasing the debt ceiling and threatening a government shutdown when the federal fiscal year ends October 1--unless (and this is the twist) legislation passed by the Congress and signed into law by the President is tweaked, modified, changed, delayed, or otherwise abandoned.

President Obama spoke to the nation Monday--one day after the five-year anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse that kicked off the financial crisis--to tout the progress the country has made and to urge Republicans to action as a potential government shutdown looms. The president wasn't the only one to speak--other current and former government officials and analysts offered their own commentary on the country's circumstances, and not all of it was charitable.

The debate over TARP is only one of several five-year anniversaries we mark this month, all related to the mortgage meltdown.

Following a speech Tuesday night in Phoenix, in which President Barack Obama discussed his ideas for housing finance reform, the president today took questions from American citizens during a live discussion hosted by Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff. During the question and answer session Wednesday, Obama reiterated his stated goals to bring a gradual end to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to bring private capital into the housing market, and to offer affordable housing options--both rental options and 30-year mortgages.

President Obama embarked this week on a series of speeches designed to highlight the nation├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós continued economic stress. The immediate response and from both ends of the political spectrum was to decry his efforts as same-old, same-old. And, it is true the President has made this pitch before, emphasizing that the significant progress has made is not enough.

When Congress enacted Dodd-Frank in retribution for perceived ills, you had to know banks would come up with new ways to replace lost revenues, but bankers were too clever by half.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced Thursday that Treasury is extending the Making Home Affordable Program for another two years. The new expiration date is now set for December 31, 2015.