Paid for by NDN.
The American Economy Post-Bailout: We Must Do More
by NDN
October 6, 2008
(Download the PDF of Keep People in Their Homes)
While NDN applauds Congress' bipartisan effort to pass legislation in response to the turmoil in U.S. and foreign financial markets, we remain convinced that much more must be done to help put our nation's struggling economy back on track.
Congress and the President must make a serious effort to slow down the continuing deterioration of the housing market that ultimately has driven the problems in financial institutions. So long as housing values continue to fall and foreclosures continue to climb, housing-based securities and derivatives will continue to default, further weakening financial institutions and the businesses and households that depend on them for credit. We should be prepared to take extraordinary steps to keep people in their homes, including a new direct loan facility for people facing foreclosures and the renegotiation of the mortgages held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Those steps, on top of last week’s bailout, can help attract new equity investment in financial institutions. To further accelerate that process, the Treasury and the Federal Reserve should actively encourage debt-equity swaps between under-capitalized financial institutions and the lenders who provided the leverage used recklessly by those institutions to speculate in mortgage-backed securities and their derivatives.
Read more about why we and others believe it is crucial to keep people in their homes:
It's About the Mortgages - The New York Times (11/11/08)
Only Half a Bailout - The New York Times (10/21/08)
FDIC Head - Keep People in Their Homes (10/16/08)
FDIC Chief Raps Rescue for Helping Banks Over Homeowners - The Wall Street Journal (10/16/08)
US Financial Crisis Goes Global. What Can Be Done? Keep People in Their Homes (10/7/08)
US Works to Launch Financial Bailout, Even as Concerns Contribute to Global Sell-off - The Los Angeles Times / Associated Press (10/7/08)
The Problem is Still Falling House Prices - Martin Feldstein in the Wall Street Journal (10/4/08)
To End the Financial Crisis, More Must Be Done to Keep People in Their Homes (9/29/08)
Keep People in Their Homes Effort Gains Momentum (9/26/08)
Notes on the Financial Crisis (9/26/08)
The Bailout Proposal Gets Hung Up Over Central Issue: Will It Work? - The Wall Street Journal (9/26/08)
The Times Comes out for Keeping People in Their Homes (9/26/08)
What About the Rest of Us? - The New York Times Editorial Board (9/25/08)
NDN Applauds Senator Clinton’s Proposal to Keep People in Their Homes (9/25/08)
Let's Keep People in Their Homes - Senator Hillary Clinton in The Wall Street Journal (9/25/08)
Back to Basics: The Treasury Plan Won’t Work (9/24/08)
Obama’s Plan Includes Appropriate Skepticism of Treasury, a Commitment to Keep People in Their Homes (9/21/08)
Keeping People in Their Homes, Continued (9/19/08)
NDN to Congress: Keep People in Their Homes (9/17/08)
