EconomicCrisis.US

With all the criticism of stimulus programs and bailouts, North Dakota`s senior senator is defending the federal government`s response to the national economic crisis.

Sen. Kent Conrad held a news conference in Bismarck this morning defending the actions of both the Bush and Obama administrations, as well as Congress, when the economic meltdown hit. But the state GOP questions Conrad`s timing and credibility.

The chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Conrad, says Congress had no choice but to vote for bank bailouts and stimulus, which he says averted a catastrophe.
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Does anyone really want to hear that America is in decline? For decades, most of us have been raised to believe that the United States is “number one” and that anyone who doubts that fact is a “gloom and doomer” that should just pack up and move to “Russia” or “Iraq” or some other country where things are not nearly as good. But does it do us or future generations any good to ignore the very serious signs of trouble that are erupting all around us? The truth is that it is about time to wake up and admit how much trouble we are actually in. The U.S. government is absolutely drowning in debt. The entire society is absolutely drowning in debt. We are being slaughtered in the arena of world trade, and every single month tens of billions of dollars (along with large numbers of factories and jobs) leave our shores for good. Our infrastructure is failing, our kids are less educated and our incomes are going down. We have serious, serious problems. At one time, the U.S. economy was so dominant that it was not even worth talking about who was in second place. That is no longer the case in 2010. Our forefathers handed us the greatest economic machine in history and we have allowed it to fall apart right in front of our eyes. A national economic crisis of historic proportions is getting worse with each passing month, and yet most of our leaders seem to be asleep at the switch.
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Major U.S. mortgage lenders have announced a suspension of foreclosure proceedings in the wake of damning revelations that many banks had forged documents to hasten the foreclosure of underwater mortgage properties.

Bank of America (BofA) halted foreclosures in all 50 states in the U.S. on Friday while JPMorgan Chase, GMAC Mortgage unit and PNC Financial have stopped foreclosure proceedings in the 23 states where foreclosures should be subjected to a judicial review.

According to RealtyTrac, mortgage lenders repossessed more than 95,000 homes in August, even as bank repossession activity increased 25 percent from last year and rose 3 percent from the previous month.
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General Motors Co on Wednesday posted a net loss of $4.3 billion from July to December in its first profit report since exiting bankruptcy in the US government’s grasp.

Nearly all of the loss came in North America, where the car market struggled through much of 2009. The losses included a one-time $2.6- billion pay-out to a health fund for retired union workers.

GM reported global revenue of 57.5 billion dollars over the July-December period. For the fourth quarter of 2009, GM posted a loss of $3.4 billion on revenues of $32.3 billion.
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