» Those who refinance will feel the pinch, too: To help pay for the $33 billion cost of the extended-by-two-months payroll tax cut, the federal government will increase the cost for homeowners to get their homes insured by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who currently back nine out of ten home mortgages in the U.S. The fee, currently around 0.3 percentage points, would jump by 0.1 percentage points, which translates to roughly $17 per month for most homeowners. However, this fee would not affect current homeowners unless they refinance starting next year. Is this the best way to handle the extension?
The other shoe drops. The story lists “Bank of America Corp, its Merrill Lynch unit, Barclays, Citigroup and Nomura” as targets. The AP’s saying 17 banks in all have been sued.
Administration officials told National Journal on Wednesday what government services could cease and what could continue in the event of a shutdown.
When Congress and the President can’t reach an agreement on the budget and federal agencies run out of funding, the government is required to shut down all non-essential services. When that happens, by law, federal employees aren’t allowed to work, except in emergency situations. This forces…
Welcome to the game, federal government. We hear you’re kinda big and stuff.
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