Help The Middle ClassNews and Information For The Heart Of America
Obama’s Populist Stance On Banks Has Many Skeptics (New York Times)
President Obama wants to cut down to size those too-big-to-fail banks. But his vow on Thursday to rewrite the rules of Wall Street left many questions unanswered, including the big one: Would this really prevent another financial crisis?
The president’s proposals to place new limits on the size and activities of big banks rattled the stock [...]
POTUS Poll Numbers Slip: Americans Mixed On Health Care Plan
Americans are divided over how they want health care fixed and whom they trust most to do it, refusing to forge a consensus for or against President Barack Obama as he and Congress march toward a historic overhaul.
A new McClatchy-Ipsos poll released Wednesday found people torn over several key questions that are likely to dominate [...]
THE RECESSION HITTING THE MIDDLE-AGED THE HARDEST
IN this recession, it is better to be old. Being young has some advantages, too.
But being in the middle of the spectrum — in your 30s or 40s — seems to be the worst place to be.
The Pew Research Center released a poll of Americans this week that found people over 65 were generally suffering [...]
Slow Start to U.S. Plan for Modifying Mortgages
The Obama administration’s plan to help millions of troubled homeowners avoid foreclosure by reducing the size of their mortgage payments is just getting off the ground.
So far, two months after the program went into effect, about 55,000 homeowners have been extended loan modification offers, according to a senior administration official. At the same time, foreclosures [...]
Stimulus Aid Trickles Out (Just 6 Percent), But States Need Quicker Relief
Nearly three months after President Obama approved a $787 billion economic stimulus package, intended to create or save jobs, the federal government has paid out less than 6 percent of the money, largely in the form of social service payments to states.
Although administration officials say the program is right on schedule, they have actually spent [...]
STIMULUS WATCH: AP Study Finds Counties With The Most Jobless, Getting The Least Aid
Counties suffering the most from job losses stand to receive the least help from President Barack Obama’s plan to spend billions of stimulus dollars on roads and bridges, an Associated Press analysis has found.
Although the intent of the money is to put people back to work, AP’s review of more than 5,500 planned transportation projects [...]
Obama Makes Push For Credit Card Legislation
Putting himself on the side of fuming consumers, President Obama is pushing Congress to send him legislation by Memorial Day that would put a tighter rein on the credit card industry.
“Americans know that they have a responsibility to live within their means and pay what they owe,” Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet [...]
Republicans in Distress: Is the Party Over?
These days, Republicans have the desperate aura of an endangered species. They lost Congress, then the White House; more recently, they lost a slam-dunk House election in a conservative New York district, then Senator Arlen Specter. Polls suggest that only one-fourth of the electorate considers itself Republican, that independents are trending Democratic and that as [...]
Opinion/L. A. Times: It’s Barack Obama’s Problem Now
Political observers say that with the events of the last week, accountability for the nation and its current problems has clearly shifted from Bush.
Reporting from Washington — In the span of a single week — from the day Arlen Specter turned Democratic to the moment Congress passed the White House’s budget blueprint and on through [...]
SWINE FLU UPDATE: FIRST U.S. DEATH REPORTED – MORE CASES AROUND THE WORLD
A Mexican toddler who came to the United States for treatment has died in Texas of the swine flu, state officials said, as President Obama recommended that schools with confirmed or suspected cases of the disease “strongly consider temporarily closing.”
“This is obviously a serious situation, serious enough to take the utmost precautions,” Mr. Obama said.
Texas [...]
