Daily Archives: May 9, 2012 @ 5:12 pm (Wednesday)

61% Believe Europe Needs to Cut Government Spending to Save Economy

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In case you thought US voters were any different than their euro counterparts:

61% Believe Europe Needs to Cut Government Spending to Save Economy

May 9 (Bloomberg) — Newly elected leaders in France and Greece have signaled that austerity efforts in their countries may be coming to an end, but as far as Americans are concerned, that’s a move in the wrong direction. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 61% of American Adults believe cuts in government spending would do more to improve the economic and financial situation in France and Greece than increases in that spending. Just 20% think more government spending is the better way to go. Eighteen percent (18%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

The survey of 1,000 Americans nationwide was conducted on May 7-8, 2012 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

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Fannie Mae Won’t Seek Aid After Reporting $2.7 Billion Profit

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FNMA may have always had only a market to market issue and not a long term cash flow issue.

And its always been a public/private partnership with govt’s role that of the funding model, so I never saw govt funding as a ‘bailout’

The public purpose of FNMA is to get lower income earners in their own homes, which it has successfully done for maybe 50 years for millions of American owners and their families.

The ‘real’ cost of the program is the alternative use of the actual goods and services devoted to this mission.

(Just me, but seems like it’s been a net gain.)

Note that banking is a public private partnership as well, with govt providing the funding, directly or indirectly, and private capital pricing the risk. So for me, govt provided liquidity for banking isn’t a ‘bailout’ but a necessary and continuous condition, all presumably serving public purpose.

Fannie Mae Won’t Seek Aid After Reporting $2.7 Billion Profit

By Clea Benson

May 9 (Bloomberg) — Fannie Mae, the biggest backer of U.S. home loans, said it won’t seek Treasury Department aid after reporting net income of $2.7 billion for the first quarter.

The Washington-based company, which has operated under U.S. conservatorship since it was seized in September 2008, cited lower credit-related expenses, a decline in serious delinquency rates and a drop in its inventory of owned properties as contributors to the improvement, according to a statement released today. The company has drawn a total of $117.1 billion in aid while under government control.

The first-quarter profit reflected a “less significant decline in home prices,” the company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

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EU’s Response to Crisis Will ‘Convince People,’ Van Rompuy Says

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See below, seems 75% still support the euro vs trusting their own leaders with their own currency.

Also, unfortunately, the non MMT world pretty much still fails to grasp that mass unemployment is a macro problem and a manifestation of unspent income. That the only way the output gap gets filled is by some sector spending more than its income; and that the issuer of the currency is the only entity that isn’t inherently revenue constrained when it spends.

EU’s Response to Crisis Will ‘Convince People,’ Van Rompuy Says

May 9 (Bloomberg) — European Union President Herman Van Rompuy said the EU’s response to the sovereign-debt crisis will “convince people” of the value of being in the 27-nation bloc.

“We will convince people of the sense and the meaning of EU membership by results,” Van Rompuy said in a question-and- answer session posted on the Euronews website today. “That’s why we have to stabilize the euro zone and that’s why we have to increase economic growth and create jobs.”

“There is still a huge majority in most of the countries for membership of the European Union and the euro zone,” Van Rompuy said. “Even in Greece, I saw an opinion poll just before the election which said that 75 percent of people don’t want to leave the euro zone.”

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