Chocolate Rations Are Up | Feb 13th at 9:47am
Over at the mother ship yesterday I wrote that it was refreshing to hear someone who actually sounded as if they had some idea what they were talking about. Listening to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan I realize it’s something even more than that. During the Bush years, that administration was basically unwilling to acknowledge any problems in the domestic economy. We lived in Larry Kudlow-land, where the economy is always booming and everybody’s always getting rich. Bush’s one achievement of debatable merits was the increase in the homeownership rate which has now returned to its 2000 level. Otherwise, job growth was anemic and wages were stagnant. In normal times there are real problems which government can help address, and in crisis times there’s an even greater role.
Donovan did provide a broad outline of a supposedly soon-to-be-announced Obama comprehensive foreclosure response initiative. It will include measures to accelerate loan modifications, imposition of broad industry wide standards for loan modifications, bankruptcy reform, efforts to limit the impacts of foreclosures on communities, and measures to ensure capital is still available for mortgages.
Duncan Black has been running the blog Eschaton since 2002. He has a Ph. D in economics from Brown University, and lives in Philadelphia with his wife and two cats.
