meantime, continuing claims rose by 40,000 to 4.56 million. a new report shows foreclosures may be slowing. realtytrac says the number of americans at risk of losing their homes grew 6% in february compared to last year. that, however, is the smallest gain over the year since 2006. and there s troubling news on the $17 billion government bailout of auto finance giant gmac. a new watchdog report says the government sank billions into the troubled company without an explanation about why it was already so deeply in debt or proof that gmac was viable. the report concludes the decision could cost taxpayers more than $6 billion. here s what the dow is doing right now. it s down about 15 points today. the s&p and nasdaq also down slightly. however, it is a day of heavy trading. one day after saying israel is undermining peace efforts, vice president joe biden today say israel is still america s best friend.
well, one of our all-platform journalists, chris welsh, took a look at this situation in st. paul. i don t know what else to do, i mean, there s nowhere you can go. i don t have any family or anything, so i don t know where else to go. reporter: that is peter, he lost a job and his home. he lives with diabetes, but on april 1st, he ll also be without health care. that s because minnesota governor tim pawlenty has cut the state s insurance program for the poorest individuals. i sat down with peter and a man named arnold here at this homeless resource center. both men used the state s general assistance medical care or gmac. arnold has trouble walking. it s the reason he s jobless. it s not important to the world, but they re important people. and they ll be disappearing fast if they don t have some kind of medical help. reporter: the folks on gmac are the folks living on the streets, they re the folks with severe mental illness, they cannot take care of themselves. they are caug
do. and to the american people and the congress, and they turned around and it s a matter of record. it s reported in all of the media. they switched from trying to address the housing to bailing out the financial institutions on wall street. whoever thought that we would when we passed that we would own general motors and chrysler, gmac. it s beyond what any one anticipated. on foreign policy and i ll complete iraq and afghanistan in one question. here is the cover of newsweek magazine this week. victory at last, the emergence of a democratic iraq. and as you follow the offensive that s taking place in southern afghanistan to make strides toward shoring up the government in afghanistan, do you think success along the lines of iraq, if you believe it s a success, is possible in afghanistan? of course. in fact, the afghans do not want the taliban back. when the surge started in iraq, things were in total chaos.
the congress, and they turned around and it s a matter of record. it s reported in all of the media. they switched from trying to address the housing to bailing out the financial institutions on wall street. whoever thought that we would when we passed that we would own general motors and chrysler, gmac. it s beyond what any one anticipated. on foreign policy and i ll complete iraq and afghanistan in one question. here is the cover of newsweek magazine this week. victory at last, the emergence of a democratic iraq. and as you follow the offensive that s taking place in southern afghanistan to make strides toward shoring up the government in afghanistan, do you think success along the lines of iraq, if you believe it s a success, is possible in afghanistan? of course. in fact, the afghans do not want the taliban back. when the surge started in iraq, things were in total chaos. i think we have significant advantages in afghanistan.
less than the mortgage payments people are making. he says without t.a.r.p., you would have 25% unemployment, that you would have had that. he said that they would be going after the toxic assets, which were the housing market. and that s what his testimony was, that s what he pledged to do to the american people and the congress. and they turned around it s a matter of record. it s reported in all of the media. they switched from trying to address the housing market to bailing out the financial institutions on wall street. whoever thought that we would when we passed that we would own general motors and chrysler, gmac. it s beyond what anyone anticipated. on foreign policy and i ll complete iraq and afghanistan in one question. here is the cover of newsweek magazine this week. victory at last, the emergence of a democratic iraq. and as you follow the offensive that s taking place in southern afghanistan, to make strides toward shoring up the government