Obama Moves Towards West to Continue His War Against Foreclosures
In the third week of February, President Barack Obama is moving towards the west to continue his war against foreclosures. This follows close on the heels of his big success in persuading the Congress to agree to the $787 billion plan to stimulate the economy. Before flying to Phoenix, Arizona he will sign the bill into law at a ceremony to be held in Denver, Colorado.
Obama said, “This is a major milestone on our road to recovery.” He was giving his weekly address over the radio on Saturday. The President was confident that his plan “will save or crate more than 3.5 million jobs over the next two years, ignite spending by business and consumers alike.” Talking about the bill he opined it “will lay a new foundation for our lasting economic growth and prosperity.”
Late on Friday 13th February the Congress gave the green signal to the package including tax cuts and new spending to rescue the shattered economy of America. There were 60 for and 38 against the bill. In the House of Representatives there had been 246 in agreement and 183 in opposition to it. After a round of many negotiations Obama has been able to press through his point and get the work done.
It was also announced on Friday that two banks in America and jumbo financial firms had clamped down moratoriums on foreclosures even before the unveiling of the comprehensive plan aiming to heal the sick economy. He will disclose the details at Phoenix.
The two banks are JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup. The mortgage giants are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They clamped down on all foreclosure proceedings. This being the core of the financial problem it is expected that now positive results will be visible.
The CEO of JPMorgan Chase, Jamie Dimon said in a correspondence to an important Democrat legislator that the bank would put on hold all foreclosures for a period of three weeks right up to 6th March.
The USA Treasury committed itself to $50 billion as a primary step towards preventing foreclosures. The bill will grant $120 billion to spending on the infrastructure inclusive of constructing highways. For renewable energy $20 billion has been set aside and $11 billion for modernizing the electrical grid. Al Gore had hotly endorsed these two some weeks previously. This would go a long way in tackling the climate change.
