+ Earlybird updated Friday, October 22, 2010

Economy: Power Struggle Behind the Foreclosure Crisis

• "Though the public uproar over botched home foreclosures has focused on sloppy and often fraudulent paperwork, a much bigger battle is underway behind the scenes over how much more the banks should be helping troubled homeowners," CongressDaily (subscription) reports. "Consumer groups and state attorneys general around the country are seizing on the foreclosure mess as a way to pressure the nation's banks into making bigger and faster concessions on mortgages for millions of delinquent borrowers who want to stay in their homes."

• "Two top U.S. Federal Reserve officials gave competing views on the need for more monetary stimulus to the U.S. economy, continuing a public debate over further easing even as the core view at the U.S. central bank appears to favor such a move," Reuters reports.

«How much further can the housing market sink? | Main page

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Transforming the Highway Trust Fund

A single paragraph in the Transportation Department's fiscal 2012 budget could fundamentally alter the funding mechanism for highways and other transit. The administration is calling for replacing the current highway trust fund with a "transportation trust fund" that will have separate accounts for highways, transit, high-speed rail, and a national infrastructure bank. In the near term, this means that highways would see only a slightly smaller share of the overall national transportation funds that also go to inter-city transit and passenger rail. But over a longer period of time, the move away from a dedicated highway trust fund signals the administration's desire to wean the country away from the automobile.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says the idea is to streamline disparate pots of money into a larger pool that will make the agency more nimble in funding good projects. The department also has proposed consolidating 55 separate highway programs into five to give states and communities the opportunity to build on the projects they identify as priorities.

Is this a good idea? Does it make sense to think of the various components of transportation as a whole entity rather than parcel them into distinct areas? Are there dangers to what the administration is proposing? Would a streamlined government make it easier or harder for states and cities to navigate the funding process?

-- Fawn Johnson, NationalJournal.com

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