there bernanke is out there saying we re going to keep rates low a long time. as soon as people figure out we have a credit problem, rates goes higher and interest is higher. talked to aol about america s place in the world. it does factor in in terms of what america is actually capable of doing and around the prospect of meaningful debt reduction, which i don t really see happening this year. you re right. here is steve case. it s not helpful to the economy. it s not helpful in terms of building confidence. not just about business in this country but people all around the world, global marketplace, investment. people puzzled the united states is not able to deal with some of these issues. there s some near term challenges that need to be dealt with. but the broader issue is trying to figure out some process so the work of the nation gets done in a more responsible, disciplined kind of way. so steve, i mean, part of the politics on this for the
national level, they are going one level down to the local governments and the problem is these local governments can t do like the national government. they just can t print money. and so they have been forced to cut offices tortion raise some taxes. and now on top of all of that, these credit agencies may take their ratings down from triple-a. now, you know when you have a credit rating or credit problem that essentially if your credit goes down you have to pay more to get credit and essentially that would happen to these municipalities. and it is interesting because though many of them have gone to private investors such as california, many of them have some surpluses to cover this. it doesn t really matter because moody s if they downgrade they will be looking at how much these individual
is these rating is agencies that neil talked about are now not just looking at the national level, they are going one level down to the local governments and the problem is these local governments can t do like the national government. they just can t print money. and so they have been forced to cut offices tortion raise some taxes. and now on top of all of that, these credit agencies may take their ratings down from triple-a. now, you know when you have a credit rating or credit problem that essentially if your credit goes down you have to pay more to get credit and essentially that would happen to these municipalities. and it is interesting because though many of them have gone to private investors such as california, many of them have some surpluses to cover this. it doesn t really matter because moody s if they
obama has just summoned congressional democrats to aarr white house. to be clear, democrats only. we re also hearing the top two house republicans, john boehner and eric cantor are to meet with mr. obama at 5:00 p.m. eastern time. so clearly a busy afternoon shaping up at the white house. tell you what, i want to take you now straight to senator coburn who is live for me. sir, good to have you on the program. let me just begin with this. we mentioned these meetings at the white house. my question is, is the fact that there s a democrats only meeting happening now at the white house, does that, sir, signal to you that we have entered a new phase in these talks, these debt reduction talks that the president is now starting the process of essentially selling your gang of six proposal to his people, that the process of the arm twisting and the lining of support is under way? oh, i don t know that you can assume that. it may be that he s going to talk to them about a short-term
percentage of these sales that are foreclosures? at this point those numbers aren t necessarily factoring into the pend home sales numbers. we do know on closings, foreclosures are making up 28% of all existing home sales. and it is a lot higher in some states when you look at california and florida, up in the 50% range. that s what the market is right now. you got investors in there. one third of the market is all cash. there you have that credit problem, a lot of folks cannot get the mortgage what are you left with? you re left with all cash investors, left with a couple of first time home buyers who are using cash as well or going to the fha for the very lower priced home. so you re seeing movement on the low end of the housing market but that middle, that move up home, it is not selling, and nobody is looking to buy it right now. from someone who has a house on the market, i know. thank you. appreciate that. good luck. is your job making you obese? america s obesity problem