NorCalUrban

Today President Bush signed the emergency housing bill to law. This bill provides for the support of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which insures about half of the nation's mortgages. It also comes in the week where we have just passed a record deficit budget. I cannot but help but wonder if we are in for further hard times. As usual the poor will suffer greatly.  The New York Times reports: The law authorizes the Federal Housing Administration to insure up to the $300 billion in such loans but the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that only $68 billion of that authority is likely to be used. The original lenders will have to pay upfront fees into an insurance fund, and borrowers will pay on-going insurance premiums of 1.5 percent a year to insulate taxpayers against losses from defaults. The budget office has estimated that 35 percent of the refinanced loans will end up in trouble again. Did I read that right? Has the congressional budget office really predict...