Banks fight it out in court

BOSTON (Reuters) - General Electric Co said it would "vigorously contest" a lawsuit by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which said the conglomerate's former WMC unit made inaccurate statements about the sale of two residential mortgage-backed securities.

GE was one of 17 large banks and financial institutions sued on Friday by the FHFA, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac , over losses on $200 billion of subprime bonds.

Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE said in a statement on Wednesday that the two transactions federal regulators are questioning amounted to $549 million and that $66 million in principal remain on them.

GE sold the WMC subprime mortgage lending business in 2007.

Other big financial institutions targeted in the suit include JPMorgan Chase & Co , Royal Bank of Scotland and Bank of America Corp , including its Countrywide and Merrill Lynch arms.

Source= (Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

who owns the 2011 debt?

Jan. 20,1993 End of H.W. Bush Sr. and start of Clinton. Debt = $4.188 trillion.
Jan. 19,2001 End of Clinton start of G.W. Bush. Debt = $5.728 trillion.
Jan. 20, 2009 End of G.W. Bush start of Obama. Debt = $10.627 trillion
April 20, 2011. Debt= $14.288 trillion.

As anyone can see Debt went up 86 percent under G.W. Bush and only 37 percent under Clinton and 34 percent under Obama. Republicans own the debt.

To be fair most of Clinton's debt was caused by policy of H.W. Bush.. Clinton also
had a balanced budget for two years and Clinton used "pay Go" all of his new spending request were sent to Congress with cuts he would use to pay for his spending.

G.W. Bush did not use "pay Go" and all of his spending went directly into debt. G.W. Bush also passed a tax cut for the wealthy which was not paid for and went into debt.
All of the cost of the Iraq invasion also went into debt.

Republicans own the debt. Source= C.B.O.

Makes sense to me..

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Rick Snyder on Tuesday signed into law a stricter, four-year lifetime limit on cash welfare benefits, prompting advocates for the poor to warn that tens of thousands of residents will find themselves without cash assistance on Oct. 1.

Michigan's first-year Republican chief executive said the state will offer exemptions to the limit for those with a disability who can't work, those who care for a disabled spouse or child and those who are 65 or older and don't qualify for Social Security benefits or receive very low benefits.

Some recipients who are the victims of domestic violence also may be temporarily exempted.

Gilda Jacobs of the Michigan League for Human Services said she expects about 41,000 people to lose their cash assistance payments on Oct. 1 when the state's new budget year begins. That includes 29,700 children, according to the Michigan Department of Human Services.

"We're very, very concerned," Jacobs said. "As the days go by, new people will be meeting the 48-month limit. ... More will be falling off that cliff."

The new law will reduce the number of children and adults receiving cash assistance by nearly a fifth, from more than 221,000 to around 180,000. Enforcing a four-year limit will save the state more than $60 million annually, according to a House Fiscal Agency analysis.

Michigan ranked 38th in child poverty for 2009, defined as income below $21,756 for a family of two adults and two children. About 23 percent of Michigan's children lived in poverty in 2009, compared with 20 percent nationally. In 2000, only 14 percent of Michigan children lived in poverty. The average age of a child in a family receiving cash assistance is around 7 years old.

Snyder, a Republican, has said reducing the number of children living in poverty is a priority of his administration.

Are Republicans really that stupid?

During the 1980 recession Ohio had 12 percent unemployment. Now in 2010 it's about 10 percent.
Republicans blame Obama for no jobs in Ohio. The facts are clear from 2000 to 2010 Ohio lost 594,000 jobs. Democrats don't blame the Ohio Governor John Kasich for that loss he had nothing to do with it. The state of Ohio also had a median wage drop of 86 cents per hour from 2000 to 2010. Which is the highest of all the States. Obama did not cause that drop and Kasich did not cause it.

Kasich claims a net job grow of only 45,100 since he took office in January 2011.

Source= US Census Bureau data.

Repubs wanted Iraqi oil

Drafted with the assistance of BearingPoint, an American consulting firm hired by the US government, it will give major oil companies 75% of profits till the investment is paid for and 20% (double the normal rate) after that. A draft went to the US government and major oil companies in July. American and British troops will need to stabilize Iraq before major investments can begin, and probably for a decade after.

source= http://zfacts.com/p/719.html

Who said this?

"If we don't stop extending our troops all around the world in nation-building missions, then we're going to have a serious problem." — George W. Bush, Jan. 2001.

http://zfacts.com/p/447.html