Foreclosure Lawyers Put Second Mortgage on Client's Homes

In order to fight foreclosures that have stemmed from not being able to pay their mortgages, many people have had to resort to hiring foreclosure lawyers who cost so much that the clients are being forced to take out second mortgages just to pay the lawyers. However, this new mortgage only goes into effect if they do get the foreclosure dismissed and the debt to the bank lowered. While this is a good strategy for the lawyer to get paid, it doesn't necessarily help out the clients a ton. It reduces the first debt to the bank and lifts the foreclosure, but it creates a new debt and the client will have to pay back a second mortgage too. This is negative because being in foreclosure means you're most likely broke.

What Grows An Economy?

This article taken from Forbes.com discusses what it takes to grow an economy. The article discusses that from 2008 to 2009 to 2010 we actually saw flat GDP numbers. The numbers from 2008-2010 were 14.3 trillion, 14.2 trillion and 14.6 trillion. As you can see the number from 2009 to 2010 was actually a bit of economic growth. The author continues to explain that that Americans have grown accustomed to growth in the economy and that is why these flat times feel like bad economic times. The economy needs economic growth to balance out population growth. The article also states that America must experience 3.3% growth or higher to get back to the good economic times. The author argues that start-up companies are the best way to gain this growth.

Democrats Divided on Tax Cut Strategy

The Obama administration and Congressional Democrats are struggling for a strategy to deal with the soon-to-expire Bush-era tax cuts, each side uncertain whether the other is up for a fight with Republicans in the wake of the Democrats’ election trouncing — or whether they could win, in any event.

That has both parties betting that the most likely outcomes could be either a truce that extends the tax cuts for all income levels for perhaps a year past their scheduled Dec. 31 expiration, or a stalemate that lets them expire temporarily, in either case delaying the battle until 2011.

Bernanke Attempts to Soothe Doubters

In attempts to keep us from having deflation, Ben Bernanke announced that the Fed would be pumping $600 billion into the economy by min 2011. Critics fear that that this will cause dangerous inflation down the road and hurt us by weakening our dollar. Bernanke said “our purpose is to provide some additional stimulus to help the economy recover and to avoid, potentially, additional disinflation.” Former president of the New York Fed does not agree and feels uneasy about this decision. “Thus there is a risk, however small, that once that nudge takes hold, it may not be easy to cap inflation and inflationary expectations at levels that are still broadly compatible with price stability.” Bernanke said that this approach “will work, or not work, in much the same way that monetary policy — ordinary, more conventional, familiar monetary policy — will work.”

The Power Of Investing In Global Literacy

The author of this article discusses her personal experiences in international business while living in Vietnam. In the mid 90's she says foreign direct investment in Vietnam was booming; however, it was difficult for her to find capable people to hire. While there was some access to education, literacy rates were still too low. The author goes onto explain the advantages that increased literacy rates would have on not only international business, but also the standards of living globally.

Obama Says Vote Turned on Economy

President Obama said in an interview broadcast Sunday night that he views last week’s mid-term Congressional elections as “a referendum on the economy” rather than a referendum on him, his policies or the Democratic Party.

While he said he should be held accountable for the economy as the nation’s leader, he did not accept the suggestion that he pursued the wrong agenda over the last two years, and he focused blame on his failure to build public support for what he was doing or to change the way Washington works.

Just in time for the holidays: Bigger paychecks

Things are looking up for the labor force. CNN reported that October saw 151,000 new jobs created, higher rates of job findings then have occurred in over six months, and to top it off there was a noticeable increase in the wages of those who already have jobs. Weekly wages increased more than any month since the Recession began which can be explained in an increase in average hours worked, which shows the largest year-over-year gain in over 25 years.

Hopefully this rise in wages will help induce consumers to start spending more, something that is already expected in the upcoming holiday season, but that could be improved upon nonetheless. If retail sees a good return for the holidays it could be a sign of more good to come.

While these are all optimistic indicators for employment, it is said that even greater rates of job higherings and wage increases will have to occur to pull us out of the Recession. But it is a move in the right direction.

Wall Street Responds Positively to Federal Reserve Plan

The Fed’s decision to resort to quantitative easing for promoting investment and boosting the economy has sparked both positive and negative responses. According to this article, the policy has already engendered a drop in the U.S dollar against major currencies.
With a divided government now in place, it might be harder to stimulate the economy on a fiscal level but for now, the proposed monetary policy is already bringing some positive changes which may or may not be beneficial in the long run, because of fears that it might eventually trigger high inflation rates.
On the other hand, G20 member countries such as France, Brazil and Germany are against quantitative easing. Even if they want a strong U.S economy, they are afraid that a drop in the U.S dollar will be detrimental to their respective economy and they are concerned about the prospect that it might eventually cause high inflation rates.

Doctors to Congress: Don't cut our pay!

The thought of doctors not accepting Medicare patients is a frightening one for 43 MILLION individuals. Yet, that could be the new reality if a new bill is passed that would cut Medicare reimbursements by 23%. The new Republican regime will have to make a lot of decisions rather quickly. They have the Bush tax cuts to deal with, issues concerning the extent of unemployment insurance, and this on top of all that. We will see if they are up to the challenge.

Just in time for holidays: Bigger paychecks

It's about time for some good news. Both wages and the number of people employed have increased. 151,000 jobs were created as noted in the October jobs report. As for wages, weekly wages have increased 3.5% from a year ago. This is not due to raises, but to an increase in the hours worked per individual. This increase in income should hopefully lead to greater consumption and likely economic growth. This is the start of optimism and this period may be looked at as the turning point of this mess.