Well Obama says he has a new mortgage refinance program – but what you see is the old Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) for those not behind on your mortgage payments in what is called the Making Home Affordable Program (MHA)’s Home Affordable Refinance Program (eligibility requires: (1) The mortgage

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gas-prices-sink-obamas-ratings-on-economy-bring-parity-to-race-for-white-house/2012/03/11/gIQAuhYO6R_story.html The above seems the story of the day – “Democratic Base abandons Obama – poll shows Romney beating Obama” – should be the headline in the media – but for some reason is not. Monday’s poll shows that Obama’s approval rating has plunged -below 50% – and he would

The City of San Jose is going bankrupt because of Police and fire Pensions and has put a change in those pensions, for all workers, for all work performed in the future but preserving the pensions earned to date, on the ballot. The Police and Fire Department Retirement Plan provides

We have some excellent economists on FDL and while my economics training before and during my training as an actuary was extensive I prefer to quote folks like them rather than pontificate as if I really have a deep understanding of economics. In that spirit I present Heidi Shierholz, an

MIT Professor Simon Johnson wrote a HuffPo column this week called “Fiscal Affairs: Making the United States More Like Greece” and in it referenced http://www.taxanalysts.com/www/features.nsf/Articles/43736B49FCB019E3852579B5006E1933?OpenDocument “Dynamic Scoring: Will S&P Have Company?” by John Buckley. Both are recommended reads. This post just mentions a few highlights about the effects that occur

The atheist blogs and the right-wing fear of Muslim blogs are discussing this week a case that really does not address any points either is interested in. A judge in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania found not guilty a person accused of attacking (an attempt to grab a sign) of an atheist in

Today Obama praised the decision by TransCanada Corp. to build the Keystone pipeline leg that drains oil out of the Midwest so that it can be refined at a Saudi owned refinery in Texas and shipped out for sale at higher world prices, calling it an opportunity to use the

It is Monday, 2/20/2012 at 10 pm Eastern Daylight Time, and we hear that the Greek second bailout is finally agreed to. The new financing did not increase over the 130 billion euros that was on offer months ago, but we understand that side agreements means the projection is that

One of the characteristics of the Greek people is their insistence that any problem can be solved without a “problem” for anyone. Indeed a favorite tourist purchase to memorialize their visit to Greece is the “no problem” T-shirt. But it is hard to get to “no problem” if one side

Obama’s proposed budget cuts should be viewed with one recalling the $2.5 Trillion Bush Tax cut cost that the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Tax Model produced (9/2009) when it reflected both the tax cuts and AMT changes passed so as to not undo the cut for the rich.