The Washington Independent

Posts Tagged credit crunch

Could the U.S. be headed for a second sub-prime crash?

By | 03.29.11 | 12:13 pm

Image by: Matt MahurinThe most succinct and uncontroversial explanation as to just how the recession began is that a massive surge in foreign capital in the early 2000s sent banks scrambling for investment opportunities and they found them by offering more loans to more people. This meant opening loans to consumers with a More…

Congress Passes Small Business Bill

By | 09.23.10 | 3:31 pm

Today, the House approved the Small Business Jobs Act, a deficit-neutral act to help small businesses grow, access credit, and hire new workers, 237 to 187. The Senate has already passed the legislation, which stalled in the upper chamber from July to September, so it now goes on to President More…

WaMu’s Killinger on ‘Too Clubby to Fail’ Banks

By | 04.13.10 | 4:42 pm

Kerry Killinger was the chairman and chief executive officer of Washington Mutual, the $300 billion savings-and-loan organization, from 1990 until 2008. During his tenure, he made more than $100 million in compensation, including more than $14 million in 2007 and $21 million in 2008 — granted for More…

Mortgage Fraud Threatens Housing Rebound

By | 11.30.09 | 3:28 pm

With home prices continuing to fall and more foreclosures yet to come, it’s clear that tough times remain for a housing market recovery. And to add to the troubles, another threat to any rebound is emerging: mortgage fraud.

The risk of mortgage fraud in More…

Ties Run Deep Between Subprime Lenders, Financial Literacy Groups

By | 11.02.09 | 2:00 pm

As a credit squeeze continues, calls to beef up financial literacy among America’s consumers are taking on a new urgency.

In Massachusetts, Democratic Senate candidate Stephen Pagliuca is pushing for a national financial literacy campaign, saying it would help avoid a repeat of the financial system collapse More…

Only Forceful Action Can Change Foreclosure Crisis Tide

By | 07.13.09 | 6:00 am

The time may be ripe for a shift in strategy as the foreclosure machine grinds on, and new foreclosure notices reach the troubling milestone of 10,000 per day.

A weak economy has added job losses and falling home values to the mix of toxic loans that prompted More…

There Is No Joy in Doddville

By | 05.27.09 | 1:03 pm

The latest Quinnipiac University poll results are in for Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) re-election bid — and they’re being cast as a win for the senator, even though he still trails a possible Republican challenger. The survey found that nearly half of Connecticut voters don’t trust Dodd More…

Risky Mortgage Program Resurfaces in Congress

By | 05.08.09 | 9:34 am

A housing program blamed in part for high default rates on government-backed loans, derided as a “scam” by the Internal Revenue Service and targeted for years for elimination by the agency that ran it looked like it finally had reached its end this fall, after Congress finally banned it. But More…

Credit Union Collapse Signals Depth of Financial Crisis

By | 03.26.09 | 3:09 pm

In a sign of how widespread the nation’s financial crisis has become, even the credit unions are getting creamed.

Problems in the credit union system, once considered a largely mom-and-pop operation immune to turmoil, came to light last week, when their regulator seized two of the nation’s More…

Automakers Suffering, Regardless of Their Business Model

By | 12.16.08 | 12:40 pm

In a move that spells nothing but bad news for Detroit’s struggling automakers, Toyota announced yesterday that it’s suspended plans to produce its Prius hybrid in the United States.

Why is that bad news for the Big Three? Because there’s been this line of argument that Ford, General Motors More…