| Dodging a bullet
At this year's gathering of the United States Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C., there's little to celebrate. Executives from hard-hit Eastern and Midwestern cities are calling on the federal government to assist them in dealing with the fallout from the subprime mortgage meltdown that has left thousands of homes vacant and undercut property tax revenues that fund municipal services. Houston Mayor Bill White, who passed on the conference this year, can sympathize with his colleagues' pain but is not feeling it locally. The city's economy, bolstered by a booming energy sector, has not experienced the nosedive in the housing market that has occurred elsewhere. Likewise, Texas leads the nation in job growth and single-family home starts and sales. Foreclosures in Harris County rose a moderate 24 percent in 2007, totaling less than a third of the record 30,742 that occurred in 1987.
Shopping frenzy as store discounts hit 70pc
Stores are offering discounts of up to 70 per cent today as they attempt to make up for the slow build-up to Christmas in the wake of the credit crunch. Full list of Harrods discountsWhite Christmas hopes washed awayShoppers are expected to flock to the high street as a host of big-name shops open their doors with record price cuts, averaging 54 per cent, industry experts say. .
ARMs Control: How to Avoid Mortgage-Reset Grief
Pay attention to the details if you have an adjustable-rate mortgage. Many three-year ARMs are due to reset to higher rates over the next 18 months, and many homeowners aren't prepared. ARMs are mortgage loans with payments based on indexes that adjust periodically. The amount due each month may go up several times over the life of the loan. Many people with ARMs still don't know when their ARMs reset, what the new rates will be or whether they face prepayment penalties, according to Allen ... .
DETAILS OF THE DEAL
I do not understand, and cannot accept, the resistance of President Bush and Republican leaders to including an extension of unemployment benefits for those who are without work through no fault of their own, Rep. Charles B. Rangel, D-N.Y., the Ways and Means Committee chairman, said in a statement.
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., the Finance Committee Chairman, said leaving out the unemployment extension was a mistake, as he announced plans to craft a separate stimulus package in the Senate starting next week.
Majority Leader Harry Reid said the goal is to send the package to the White House by Feb. 15 for President Bushs signature. Reid said senators would want to look at add-ons including the unemployment extension and possibly money for highway projects.
Bush has supported larger rebates of $800-$1,600, but his plan would have left out 30 million working households who earn paychecks but dont make enough to pay income tax, according to calculations by the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center.
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