| President Readies Final State of the Union Address
Watch FOX News Channel and FOXNews.com for President Bush's State of the Union address live at 9 p.m. ET Monday night. As usual, the president will be escorted by members of Congress on both sides of the aisle into the packed room for the 9 p.m. ET address. His Cabinet, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Supreme Court Justices will all get ringside seats. The gallery where first lady Laura Bush sits will be filled in part with guests of the White House. Lawmakers will sit according to party on either side of the chamber. Despite the emphasis on achievements over the last seven years, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said Monday night's address will not be a walk down memory lane. .
Lenders cold to the idea of forgiving mortgage debt
A mortgage broker has an idea for reducing foreclosures: Encourage lenders to forgive debt. So far, the notion hasn't gained traction. Jeff Lazerson, founder and president of the online brokerage Mortgage Grader, believes that some foreclosures could be prevented if delinquent borrowers could refinance their loans, but with some of the debt forgiven. This type of transaction, called a short refinance or short refi, is rare. Lazerson wants to set up a streamlined system to make short refis more common. Greatly simplified, this is how a short refinance works: You owe $200,000 on a house that you bought at the top of the market. Since then, house values in your neighborhood have fallen by 20 percent, and your house is now worth $160,000. The rate on your subprime adjustable-rate mortgage has gone up, and you can't afford the higher payments.
Google Searches For Foothold in Video
CEO Eric Schmidt and the founders of Internet search giant Google demonstrated their confidence in the potential of viral videos created by amateur Web surfers with their eye-popping decision last week to shell out $1.65 billion in stock to acquire YouTube. A ROYAL WEB WEDDING The deal marries "two kings" of the Internet — the king of search and the king of grassroots video — as YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley put it in a wacky video he shot with co-founder Steve Chen, which was posted on their Web site last week. Hurley and Chen will be majestically rich as a result of the buyout, which comes less than a year after YouTube officially launched. But buying YouTube doesn't mean that Google stays at the top of the fast-moving heap of competitors in online video.
Fed auctions $30B to dull credit crisis
WASHINGTON—The Federal Reserve, working to combat the effects of a serious credit crisis, said Tuesday it had auctioned $30 billion in funds to commercial banks at an interest rate of 3.95 percent. It marked the third in a series of innovative auctions the Fed began last month as a way to provide cash-strapped banks with the reserves they need. The hope is that the increase in resources will keep banks lending to consumers and businesses and prevent the credit turmoil that hit in August from pushing the country into a recession. There are indications the Fed's efforts are having an impact. The 3.95 percent interest rate was the lowest of any of the three auctions it has held. The other two auctions saw rates of 4.65 percent and 4.67 percent. Analysts said the significant drop in rates reflected in part the view of markets that the Fed will cut a key interest rate by a half-point at the end of the month and keep reducing rates as needed to try to keep the country out of a recession.
Sound Financial shares are being quoted on OTC
Shares in Sound Financial, the newly organized holding company for Seattle's Sound Community Bank, will start being quoted on the OTC Bulletin Board today, a day after the company completed a $12.97 million initial stock offering. The nearly 1.3 million shares sold represent a 44 percent ownership stake in Sound Financial. One percent, or 29,480 shares, were contributed to a foundation; the remaining 55 percent is held by Sound Community MHC, a mutual holding company controlled by the bank's depositors. Most of the proceeds from the offering ultimately will flow to Sound Community Bank. The bank, which has five branches in the Puget Sound area, will use the money to repay short-term borrowings from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle. Earth Class Mail VC funding raises $13 million Seattle-based Earth Class Mail, which scans postal mail and delivers it online, said Tuesday it raised $13.3 million in venture capital.
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