GNAR on tax credit extension
Posted on November 9, 2009 at 9:40 amHmm, the Realtors like it. Says Mike Nichols:
For homebuyers, it creates the opportunity to seriously consider purchasing a home based on the fact that this significant help is available. It is even better news that the program is now being made available at the reduced rate of $6,500 to repeat buyers who have owned their home for 5 years.
For the economy, it is especially meaningful. Much has been said about the housing market helping lead the way out of the current economic recession. Clearly, when people purchase homes, they often purchase other items to help furnish, equip and decorate their homes, so the impact is felt well beyond those directly involved in the actual home purchase transaction.
This is also very good news for Tennessee, as it was noted recently that this state is among the top users of the tax credit to date.
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Vanderbilt researchers: Let’s talk about containing school spending
Posted on November 5, 2009 at 10:57 am
Professors James W. Guthrie and Arthur Peng worry that the Recovery Act billions being poured into school systems across the country will lead to persistently rising education outlays “regardless of the diminishing returns in terms of student outcomes.”
Based on historic spending trends and estimating that the federal government’s stimulus contribution will grow to approximately $90 billion, Guthrie and Peng project that national per pupil revenues could increase at a rate of nearly 2.5 percent annually over the next ten years.
Yet, reading scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) have been level for four decades. And, for a half century, nearly one-third of the nation’s high-school students have failed to graduate with their class each year, while graduation rates for black and Hispanic students are even lower.
SEE ALSO: The full paper, “The Phony Funding Crisis“
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Billions more for transportation?
Posted on October 30, 2009 at 1:53 pm
TRG analyst Kathryn Thompson says the latest political posturing over infrastructure spending could push the conversation to a more productive place.
What does this all mean? Perhaps the biggest roadblock to transportation reauthorization debate has been lack of guidance from the White House. Durbin’s unique political position (i.e., Senate majority whip & close ties to Illinois based President Obama) could help bring to light to the Obama administration that the transportation bill is, in fact, a politically worthy cause to address sooner rather than later. Overall, it is clear that the pressure is mounting, driven by state DOTs, industry, and rising unemployment.
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NES misses out on smart grid stimulus
Posted on October 28, 2009 at 9:03 am
Tom Wood has the details on which three Tennessee cities will get a share of President Obama’s plan to upgrade the country’s electrical grid.
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Uncle Sam builds a floor for the housing market
Posted on October 27, 2009 at 9:21 amGoldman Sachs researchers say the government’s interventions in the housing market have added 5 percent to the value of our homes. The question is how long that crutch will carry us.
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Millions of stimulus dollars for area water projects
Posted on at 8:03 am
Officials in Nashville, Franklin and Dickson County can expect a stimulus check in the mail for water and wastewater system improvements. The total money being allocated to the three as part of the third round of Recovery Act spending is a shade under $14 million.
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Why state, local governments need more stimulus
Posted on October 26, 2009 at 9:10 am
Employment in state and local governments appears to lag that in the private sector by about a year. Given that the latter fell off cliff about a year ago, there’s a case to be made that funneling more stimulus cash to local governments now will stave off more job losses.
Bredesen and Kisber announce stimulus grants
Posted on October 22, 2009 at 8:18 amGovernor Phil Bredesen and Commissioner Matt Kisber of the Department of Economic and Community Development announced today that $9.3 million in federal stimulus funds will be available to small- and medium-sized cities and counties through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program. The competitive grants are available to assist local governments in conserving energy and reducing fossil fuel emissions.
“I am very pleased these Recovery Act dollars are available to help local governments become more energy efficient,” said Governor Bredesen. “I have emphasized how important I believe it is for government to lead by example at the state level when it comes to conserving energy. Now our local governments will have the same opportunity to promote energy efficiency in their own communities.”
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TARP opens its doors to small banks
Posted on at 7:11 amBut small banks aren’t rushing to line up for President Obama’s proposed expansion of the SBA’s main lending program. And in moves reminiscent of the ongoing health reform debate, other proposals already are making the rounds.
“There are different ways to skin this cat,” said the Senator, who suggested the creation of a $50 billion loan pool that would combine TARP funds, Federal Reserve loans and bank contributions that lenders could use to service small businesses. That idea has gained the support of about 30 other senators.
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Crunching the numbers on the stimulus’ job impact
Posted on October 13, 2009 at 11:24 amEconomist Brad DeLong rips apart a Washington Post piece and offers up some basic math to help us get a better grasp on how spending trillions of dollars affects our daily lives.
That looks like a very good deal: buying an extra productive job for an American today at a cost of $2000 per year in higher taxes looking forward–particularly when you think that some of those extra jobs build up our productive capacity to make us richer in the future as well.
Mark Thoma follows up with some more perspective on the political dynamics of a crummy labor market:
I don’t understand why the left has allowed its hands to be tied be the GOP’s framing of the stimulus issue. Of course it’s a political non-starter if you don’t fight back and present alternative arguments. There are benefits to stabilizing the economy by shifting demand from the good times to the bad times even if it doesn’t affect future economic growth (one could even argue that slightly lower growth is an acceptable trade off for enhanced stability, but that too is a political non-starter). People need jobs, and we need to put the policies in place - whatever those are - that can provide them.
Banks’ actions provide stability now, lower prices later
Posted on October 8, 2009 at 10:59 am
So says a housing market analyst in discussing the shadow inventory of homes, the massive number of troubled or foreclosed properties they will eventually have to bring back to market. The only solution? More D.C. help in stimulating demand.
“Without continued government intervention, home prices will plummet, banks and the GSEs will continue to lose money, and the economy has virtually no chance of increasing overall employment in 2010,” John Burns Real Estate said.
HT: HousingWire
We’re almost ready to put a price tag on the toxic stuff
Posted on October 5, 2009 at 10:38 am
In the long-ago days before TARP, there was talk of PPIP, a plan to use government cash to clear the worst of the bad assets off banks’ books. More than a year later, the pieces are in place for investment firms to pool some newly raised capital with federal money and begin buying mortgage-backed securities.
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Where the jobs will have to come from
Posted on at 9:52 amBelmont professor Jeff Cornwall says entrepreneurs will — as they have before — be the driving force behind a true recovery, one that really makes a dent in our painfully high unemployment rate.
So all we need is government to do more, and we will be OK? Sorry, neither big government nor big corporations feeding at the government trough have ever brought us out of a recession and into a sustainable recovery.
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Another banking bailout coming?
Posted on September 28, 2009 at 6:39 amThis time, smaller banks who were deemed too weak to get TARP cash — remember how that program was first pitched as ‘good money for good banks’ — may be given government capital. One potentially critical catch: They may have to raise private money to match the federal funds.
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The government’s money isn’t helping the people
Posted on September 24, 2009 at 8:01 amFormer Labor Secretary Robert Reich says all those federal billions being pumped into the economy aren’t making their way to the common man and woman.
Despite the happy Dow and notwithstanding the upbeat corporate earnings, most corporations are still shedding workers and slashing payrolls. And the big banks still aren’t lending to Main Street.
Trickle-down economics didn’t work when the supply-siders were in charge. And it’s not working now, at a time when — despite all their cries of “socialism” — big business and Wall Street are more politically potent than ever.
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