Geithner: U.S. Should Retain a Mortgage Backstop

Treasury rolex Secretary Timothy Geithner said Sunday the government should retain "some type" of federal guarantee to ensure that Americans can easily finance aion kinah home loans, in what could be the latest salvo between the Obama administration and Republicans over the future role of the public sector in the housing market.

The statement cuts to the heart of one of the most vexing policy questions in Washington: what to aion power leveling do with the costly government-run mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Both companies were taken over by the U.S. in 2008 as they teetered towards collapse. So far, the Treasury has injected $145 billion in taxpayer aid acheter kamas to keep the afloat and that figure could climb in the coming months.

Republicans have said the firms and their distortive role in the housing market need to be addressed dofus gold immediately. They say that their quasi-government nature allowed them to grow so large they helped fuel the financial crisis. The Obama administration has said the firms should not return to their original state. But they haven't buy ffxiv account gone as far as some Republicans that have hinted at abolishing the functions the companies performed, such as offering mortgage guarantees.

Mr. Geithner promised the administration would "bring fundamental change" and said it wouldn't "preserve cheap ffxiv gil Fannie and Freddie in anything like they're current form" during a Sunday appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press." But, he added, "there's going to be a good case for taking a look at preserving or putting in place a carefully designed guarantee so, again, homeowners have the ability to borrow to finance ffxiv gil a home even in a very difficult recession." The stance illustrates the challenges facing lawmakers as they seek to remake the companies, which own or guarantee more than half of the nation's $10.2 trillion in mortgages.

For decades, a fuzzy, "implied" guarantee allowed the companies to borrow cheaply because investors ghd straighteners assumed—correctly, it turned out—that the government would bail the firms out if they ever floundered. The arrangement allowed Washington to hide the expense of the generous subsidies that lowered borrowing costs for homeowners by making the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage widely available. The administration has promised to sketch out more details by early next year. Last week, a 90-day public ghd planchas comment period established by the Treasury closed after drawing scores of responses from an array of market participants. YWJ

Ending air classic a decade-long campaign led by African-American lawmakers, the House Wednesday approved and sent to President Barack Obama a measure to reduce the disparity in penalties between use of crack and powder cocaine. Under a 25-year-old law, mandatory minimum sentences involving crack cocaine -- a drug more commonly used by blacks than whites -- led to far more severe penalties than buy aion kinah for offenses involving powder cocaine, generally preferred by whites.

"The gucci shoes for women Fair Sentencing Act will reduce sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine from 100-to-1 to 18-to-1," said Congressman John Conyers, D-Michigan, who applauded the passage. Conyers said the crack mandatory sentences had pushed the number of drug offenders in federal X458 prisons from fewer than 5,000 in 1980 to nearly 100,000 in 2009.

The law X678 drops the five-year mandatory sentence for first time offenders, and for repeat offenders with less than 28 grams of crack. Current law sets the mandatory sentence for conviction at five grams. Support for reducing the disparity with powder cocaine offenders increased with reports beginning in 2002 by the U.S. Sentencing Commission calling for Congress to change the crack cocaine law. The commission X348 is independent agency in the judicial branch that develops national sentencing policy for the federal courts.

The House caterpillar drive chain measure, passed on a voice vote with bipartisan support, follows passage by the Senate in March. President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder had both pressed for passage of the law. "This day was long in coming," said Holder. He said the bill will "go a long way toward conveyor rollers ensuring that our sentencing laws are tough, consistent, and fair."

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus had led the battle for passage for 10 years. Holder also singled out key Republicans including Sens. Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama, and Lindsey Graham, R-South belt conveyor Carolina, who had joined with Democrats. Conyers tipped his hat to House GOP members Dan Lungren, R-California, James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisconsin, and Ron Paul, R-Texas, for their support. Not all Republicans joined the majority, however. YWJ

Israeli officials said Sunday that the rocket fire over the weekend would likely not lead to an escalation Chaussures nike of hostilities in the short term, but was likely an attempt by Hamas to send a message that it should not be ignored if peace talks are launched. If the talks between Israel and the PA pick up speed, some officials predict that Hamas will escalate its terrorist activity in an attempt to force Israel to launch another operation in Gaza, a move which would most likely derail the talks.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned at the beginning of Sunday’s cabinet meeting that Israel nike air max holds Hamas “directly responsible for any attack on Israel that originates in the Gaza Strip, and this is how the international community must see things.” Netanyahu characterized as “miraculous” the fact that the Grad missile fired Friday at the heart of Ashkelon did not cause any casualties.

“Israel nike max reserves the right to defend its citizens and we will continue to take all necessary measures in order to defend the State of Israel, Israeli citizens and Israeli children,” he said. National Infrastructures Minister Uzi Landau (Israel Beiteinu) said before the meeting that Israel was reaping “rotten fruit” caused by the failure of the IDF to “finish the job” against Hamas during nike max air Operation Cast Lead.

Tourism Minister Stas Meseznikov (Israel Beiteinu) said that Israel needed to make clear an automatic “price tag” for any attacks from Gaza on Israel. Maybe, he said, Hamas would be deterred air max ltd if it knew clearly beforehand what price it would have to pay for each attack. If the government does not set a price tag, he said, there was no difference between this government and the previous government under Ehud Olmert.

Since nike air max Ltd coming into office last year, Netanyahu has said consistently he would not tolerate the constant “rain” of missiles from Gaza without responding harshly.Hamas has significantly upgraded its military infrastructure and capabilities since Operation Cast Lead last year and is believed today to have thousands of rockets that have a range up to 20 kilometers, and hundreds more that have Abey a range over 40 km.Hamas is also believed to have several dozen rockets – made in Iran – that are capable of hitting Tel Aviv. YWJ

Citing national security concerns, the United Arab Emirates said Sunday that it will block key features air 90 on BlackBerry smartphones because the devices operate beyond the government's ability to monitor. An official in neighboring Saudi Arabia indicated that it will follow suit. The decision could prevent hundreds of thousands of users in the UAE from accessing e-mail and the Web on their devices starting Oct. 11, putting the Middle Eastern federation's reputation as a business-friendly commercial nike air max 90 and tourism hub at risk.

BlackBerry transmissions are encrypted and routed overseas, and the measure could be motivated in part by government fears that the messaging system might be exploited by terrorists or other criminals air max 90 who cannot be monitored by local authorities. However, analysts and activists also see it as an attempt to more tightly control the flow of information in the conservative country, a U.S. ally that is home to the Persian Gulf business capital Dubai and the oil-rich emirate of Abu Dhabi.

This isn't the first time BlackBerry and UAE officials have had a run-in over security and the popular max 180 handsets, a fixture in professionals' pockets and purses the world over. Just over a year ago, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion criticized a directive by the UAE's state-owned mobile operator Etisalat that told the company's more than 145,000 BlackBerry users to install software described as an "upgrade . . . required for service enhancements." RIM said tests showed that air 180 the update was actually spy software that could allow outsiders to access private information on the phones. It strongly distanced itself from Etisalat's decision and provided instructions for users to remove the software.

Within hours of the UAE's decision to block BlackBerry services, a Saudi telecommunications official said the desert kingdom would begin blocking the BlackBerry messaging service starting later this month. The Saudi official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized 180 air to talk to the media, said the country's telecommunications regulator would issue a statement on the move soon. Ali Mohammed of Saudi Telecom, however, said the company had "not received any instructions about BlackBerry from the ministry."

As in Saudi Arabia, government censors in the UAE routinely block access to Web sites and other media deemed to carry content that runs contrary to the country's conservative Islamic values or that could stoke political unrest. It was unclear whether the UAE ban would affect only local Abeni users or foreign visitors with roaming services as well. The government said it is targeting the BlackBerry, and not other phones that can access e-mail and the Web, because the devices are the only phones in the country that automatically send users' data to servers overseas. YWJ

A failure air max 87 of the cooling system on the International Space Station forced astronauts to re-route power Sunday as NASA planned emergency spacewalks to fix the problem. One of two cooling loops shut down Saturday night, triggering alarms throughout the orbiting station, which is manned by three Russian and three American astronauts. NASA said the crew is not in any danger, but an attempt overnight to close the circuit breaker and restart the pump module that feeds the vital ammonia to the air max shoes cooling system failed.

Astronauts closed down two of the gyroscopes that position the station as they re-routed power from the classic air Destiny Laboratory research module to keep the temperature system stable. One gyroscope was later put back on line. "The station is in a stable configuration with most systems receiving cooling and many systems operating with redundancy following the installation of jumper cables from the Destiny Lab's power system overnight," the US space agency said. "The crew is not in any danger classic max and is monitoring systems and relaxing on an otherwise off duty day," the statement added.

"Temperatures on the main bus switching units, which route power to various systems, are a little higher than normal, but well within normal parameters and are stable." Despite the reassurances, Abbra NASA approved a preliminary plan for two US astronauts, Doug Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson, to conduct a spacewalk to fetch a replacement pump module.

"The most likely scenario would call for an initial spacewalk no earlier than Thursday by Wheelock and Caldwell Dyson to replace the pump module and structurally bolt it into place on the S1 truss, with an additional spacewalk by the duo two or three days later to mate fluid and electrical bw classic connections," a statement said. According to NASA figures, without thermal controls the ISS's sun-facing side would roast at 250 degrees Fahrenheit (121 Celsius), while the outpost's dark side would plunge to some minus 250 degrees Fahrenheit (-157 Celsius).

A statement posted some years ago on NASA's website suggested: "There might be a comfortable spot air classic somewhere in the middle of the Station, but searching for it wouldn't be much fun!" Before the module can be replaced, any residual ammonia must first be pumped out of the system, according to NASA, which announced a briefing at 2000 GMT Monday to discuss the latest developments. Wheelock and Caldwell Dyson had already been scheduled for a spacewalk on Thursday to do routine air classic bw maintenance work. YWJ