Free Republic

Strapped Churches Can't Pay the Mortgage After Borrowing Binge; St. Andrew at Auction The auctioneer told the small crowd huddled outside the Talbot County Courthouse that the property would be sold "as is" -- rectory, bell tower, oak pews and rose-tinted stained glass windows included. "Who gives $700,000, 700, 700?" he called out. One man, a representative for a local bank, raised his finger. The auctioneer tried in vain to nudge the price up. "Sold!" he cried. St. Andrew Anglican Church had just been bought by the bank that had started foreclosure proceedings against it. "It's probably good for my...

Hedge funds gain access to $200bn Fed aid By Krishna Guha in Washington Published: December 20 2008 05:01 | Last updated: December 20 2008 05:01 Hedge funds will be allowed to borrow from the Federal Reserve for the first time under a landmark $200bn programme intended to support consumer credit. The Fed said on Friday it would offer low-cost three-year funding to any US company investing in securitised consumer loans under the Term Asset-backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF). This includes hedge funds, which have never been able to borrow from the US central bank before, although the Fed may not...

Runaway borrowing to trigger tax rises By Chris Giles and George Parker Published: November 20 2008 23:45 | Last updated: November 20 2008 23:45 Annual public borrowing is set to rocket towards £120bn over the next two years – far higher than City forecasts – forcing Alistair Darling to announce plans for deferred tax rises and public spending curbs when he presents his pre-Budget report next week. Treasury officials say the “mammoth shock” to the economy will cause tax revenues to fall far below previous government forecasts, even before the chancellor announces what is promised to be a “decisive” temporary...

State transportation officials are poised to issue billions of dollars in debt to help speed road construction, a move that will keep Dallas-area projects on schedule for now but will do little to shore up the state's long-term road-funding crisis. The Texas Department of Transportation will likely begin issuing $1.5 billion in bonds within 60 days, pending the recovery of the nation's upended credit markets, and is taking steps to borrow another $6.4 billion over the next few years. Historic turmoil in the credit markets is already costing the department hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra interest payments each...

No one wants to talk about who is most to blame for the financial crisis that now threatens the U.S. economy, though there is plenty of blame to go around. It is far easier to blame other people -- greedy Wall Street executives, predatory lenders, President Bush, federal regulators, members of Congress --than it is to look at ourselves. For too long, Americans have been living on borrowed money they could never pay back. We've bought houses we couldn't afford and taken out loans on home equity that didn't materialize, assuming housing values would continually move upward. We've paid for...

The Texas Department of Transportation, which has alternated between fiscal gluttony and subsistence the past few years, may be about to belly up to a feast again. A feast paid for with money to be borrowed, mind you. Given the state of credit markets, one hesitates to reach for the salt right away. But absent the financial Armageddon that the president and others have been gabbing about, TxDOT might be sitting on an $8 billion stash this time next year. Even in the zero-laden world of government spending, $8 billion would be a significant infusion into TxDOT's budget. Without that...

It's good to see the state's top three leaders now on the same page – literally – on at least a few ways to attack the problem of under-funded roadway needs. Breakthrough No. 1 – admitting a problem. Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick – never political chums – all put their signatures on a joint statement last week conceding that Texas' "ability to fund needed transportation projects in the future is limited." Breakthrough No. 2 – committing to specific fixes. The most welcome one was a pledge to quit siphoning off road money...

Much has been written about the August budget put forward by Governor Schwarzenegger last week. At his press conference announcing his plan, the Governor said that his budget plan was "a fiscally responsible compromise" and will "put our state on the road to fiscal sanity." In reality, after spending some time looking it over, and discussing it with state policy experts .., the Governor's proposal will do nothing of the sort. It includes more borrowing and higher taxes on Californians... The Governor said that more borrowing in the budget is "not a wise idea and I will not do that."...

...As consumers max out their credit lines and banks clamp down on lending, many older and middle-class Americans are resorting to pricey, often-risky alternatives to stay afloat. Some are depleting their retirement accounts, tapping 401(k)s for both loans and hardship withdrawals. Some new fast-cash options allow homeowners to squeeze equity from their houses -- without the burden of monthly payments. One new product offers a one-time payment. In exchange, the company gets up to 50% of any future change in the property's value, typically collecting its share when the house is sold. Americans are resorting to these more extreme measures...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will propose borrowing against future state lottery revenue to help close a $15.2 billion budget deficit in the next fiscal year. Administration officials told The Associated Press that the governor on Wednesday will propose raising $15 billion over the next three years by selling bonds based on anticipated lottery revenues and using about $5.1 billion in the 2008-08 fiscal year to help erase the deficit. The other $10 billion would be left in a rainy day fund the governor wants to create as part of a budget reform proposal to ease the effect of...

There's been a lot of talk about the new Trans-Texas Corridor — the next-generation "super-highway" — and opinions are varying. Now the debate is coming to Lufkin's doorstep. On Monday, the American Land Foundation, Stewards of the Range and TURF will hold a workshop at Lufkin's Pitser Garrison Civic Center on how to stop the Trans-Texas Corridor 69. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. A portion of Texas citizens have voiced their opposition to the TTC-69 in public meetings held by the Texas Department of Transportation, but believing they are not being heard, four cities and their...

Two Democrats have introduced legislation sought by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that could broaden voter support for a twice-delayed, $9.9 billion high-speed-rail bond on the November ballot. A spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger, Sabrina Lockhart, said Thursday that the administration worked with the rail board to draft the Galgiani and Ma bill. The bill by Assemblywomen Cathleen Galgiani of Tracy and Fiona Ma of San Francisco would allow the bonds to be used for all segments of the proposed 700-mile rail system. The bond's current language dedicates the money only for the proposed segment between the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas.Ma and...

Bingeing and Borrowing: Borrowing for budget shortfall would exceed constitutional debt limit Clint Bolick, Goldwater Institute, February 28, 2008, Having spent like a drunken sailor in years of plentiful revenues, the state of Arizona now finds itself with a large and growing budget deficit. Like the mythical siren beckoning sailors to wreck their ships on dangerous shoals, Governor Janet Napolitano soothingly implores the legislature to bridge the fiscal gap by borrowing. Whatever the fiscal implications of mortgaging Arizona’s future, our state constitution is clear. The framers were intent on fiscal responsibility, and crafted two provisions—one aimed at the state, the...

The governor never tires of telling us that he grew up on a farm. Gee, who'da thunk it? Well, me for one. Over the course of these "town meetings" on his multibillion-dollar toll-and- spend scheme, our governor has undergone a personality change. The first few sessions featured docile crowds that were willing to sit back and absorb the wisdom of a Wall Street whiz who spoke with great authority on matters of high finance. But once the crowds wised up, Gov. Jon Corzine started to look like the bumbler he was when he first entered politics eight years ago. The...

A big protest is planned for Monday afternoon, ahead of the latest public hearing on the proposed statewide tollway. Lots of landowners are upset about the state’s plan to build a tollway from Mexico to northeast Texas. There have already been several town hall meetings about the Trans-Texas Corridor. Most of the people who have spoken out about the plan say it will put them out of business. But state officials argue the tollway is necessary to keep up with the growing population in Texas. Monday’s meeting is being held in Huntsville. It starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Walker...

Credit card debt accelerates Federal Reserve reports that consumer borrowing rose in October reflecting an increased reliance on credit cards. December 7 2007: 4:35 PM EST WASHINGTON (AP) -- Consumer borrowing rose in October at a slightly faster rate than the previous month as shoppers continued to depend on their credit cards to finance purchases. The Federal Reserve reported Friday that consumer credit increased at an annual rate of 2.3 percent in October, faster than the 1.6 percent growth rate for September. The gain reflected an acceleration in the growth of credit card debt which offset a second straight month...

Anti-war presidential candidate Ron Paul says his campaign is about "restoring the vanishing American dream." And he is criticizing what he calls "the cartel controlling the banking and monetary system" in the United States. Fresh off his third-quarter fundraising surprise of $5 million, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul says the libertarian "revolution" he has started is growing across America. Paul told conservative activists at the "Defending the American Dream Summit" in Washington, DC, that the conference would be more aptly called the "Defending the Vanishing American Dream Summit." The Texas congressman said his Republican rivals often talk about a "flat...

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) says it needs to spend $9 million in taxpayer money to sell its vision of transportation policy to the public. Maybe if TxDOT pursued rational transportation policies, the public support would follow, and it could spend that $9 million building and maintaining roads. Here’s why Texans ought to be concerned. Borrowing carries a price tag. The Texas Constitution has traditionally eschewed deficit spending and required existing revenue to pay for existing spending. Now, the state wants to build most of its roads by borrowing, either publicly or by getting a private firm to agree...

Decades of political neglect, coupled with high rates of population growth, left California with an immense backlog of unmet needs for public works -- something north of $100 billion by the most conservative estimates -- and Arnold Schwarzenegger made "infrastructure" a major goal when he was elected governor. It didn't happen precisely as Schwarzenegger intended, but last year he, the Legislature and, ultimately, voters agreed to issue more than $37 billion in general obligation bonds to finance improvements in highways, river levees, low-income housing, colleges and schools, and another $5 billion in bonds for water and parks projects were placed...

California stem cell debate goes back to court By Carolyn Pritchard, MarketWatch Last Update: 6:15 PM ET Feb 13, 2007 SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- The fight over control of $3 billion worth of funding for stem cell research in California goes back to court this week, as one side in the legal battle challenges an earlier court ruling on the constitutionality of the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Act. The California Stem Cell Research and Cures Act, or Prop. 71, was approved by voters in 2004 and created a state-controlled agency to oversee the issuance of $3 billion in...