The latest podcast from CJ Radio is available here or at iTunes. It is on the housing crisis.
Tag: economy
Corzine stimulated by Obama program
Gov. Jon S. Corzine told Brian Lehrer on WNYC today that between taxes and federal spending New Jersey should see more than $17 billion in relief from the stimulus. About $7 billion will come in the form of tax relief to residents, with the rest coming in money for programs.
Corzine said that the state would have little impact on how the money is spent — the bulk come in the form of Medicaid and unemployment aid — but that lawmakers will have to sort some infrastructure dollars. The president has told governors that he expects money to be spent on shovel-ready projects that are chosen via an open process, Gov. Corzine said.
He says the stimulus money should save or create about 100,000 jobs.
He also said that there needs to be a process to track the money, to ensure that it is being used for its intended purpose.
The numbers, of course, are mind-boggling — but the spending is necessary and should be a huge help in a state hamstrung by budget problems, in terms of keeping people afloat and saving jobs.
Let’s be clear, however, federal money will not solve New Jersey’s fiscal predicament. That is something that all of us — politicians and taxpayers — created because of our unwillingness to make hard choices. There is not a New Jerseyan who has not screamed to save his or her pet program or to keep his or her property tax bill or income taxes from going up. Until we realize this, we will never climb out of the budget hole we’ve created.
Lance explains anti-stimulus vote
U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance has been in the Congress less than two months, but he seems to be getting the hang of things. He talks about bipartisanship as if it were some kind of religion, but then votes in lockstep with the rest of the House Republicans against the stimulus bill, explaining his vote with GOP talking points.
We had Lance in the office last week — the full audio will be available on our site — and he said that “he recognized the need for a stimulus plan but opposed the Democratic package because it contained too much spending and increased the national debt too precipitously.”
”I am as a member of Congress deeply concerned about levels of federal debt,” he said.
The bill’s size was an issue, he said, adding that “he would have preferred a stimulus package like the alternate proposed by Republican Whip Eric Cantor, a $500 billion package equally divided between stimulus spending and tax credits.”
But many economists — the majority, in fact — believe the bill signed by President Obama was too small and that Congress will have to pass a second, larger package to have any real impact.
Ultimately, he dismissed the notion that he voted based on pressure from his party — though he repeatedly spoke during our interview about his lack of influence as a freshman member of Congress.
“I always vote my conscience and voted my conscience on that piece of legislation,” he said.
Blowhard blowback
This is probably the best response I’ve yet heard to that CNBC blowhard’s rant last week blaming homeowners for the mortgage meltdown.
Taxpayers and shareholders
The Obama administration seems to be moving in the right direction, though it is only inching that way. Today’s announcement on the bank bailout — essentially turning the federal government into a major shareholder — should have come a few weeks ago. It basically is a
road map under which the federal government could, if it wanted to, demand a major and possibly a controlling stake in systemically important banks like Citigroup and Bank of America.
The 20 biggest banks will be required to undergo a new “stress test,” starting Wednesday, which is intended to determine whether each bank has enough capital to survive if the economy spirals down even more than most forecasters already expect.
Treasury officials plan to introduce details of the stress test on Wednesday, and it is expected to take several weeks to complete.
If a bank comes up short, Treasury officials said on Monday, the government will require it to raise more capital. If the bank cannot get that money from private sources, the government will demand that the bank swap out the government’s existing, nonvoting preferred shares — issued during the first phase of the Treasury’s $700 billion financial bailout program last September — and replace them with new preferred shares that are convertible to common stock with voting rights.
The requirements will apply both to banks that receive additional money in the months ahead and to banks that have already received money.
Hank Kalet 