Author: Tom Silva

While the nation’s attention was riveted on Wisconsin legislators on the lam and massive protests in the state capital, Michigan legislators enacted a law that – in effect – gives the state the unprecedented authority to control cities and school districts in financial distress. The new law, which had the support of Governor Rick Snyder, […]

January’s big snowstorms on the East Coast contributed to the creation of just 63,000 jobs nationally in that month.  In February, however, businesses started to hire workers. The economy added 192,000 jobs, the best showing since May of last year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.  The unemployment rate – which is politically important […]

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s war on public-sector unions is being brought to the national stage by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK). Coburn challenged members of Congress following the release of an exhaustive study by the Government Accountability Office that found many overlapping and duplicate programs from education to defense that cost taxpayers billions of dollars each […]

America is obsessed with the issue of trade unions again.  Labor unions have gained new prominence as Democratic legislators from Wisconsin and Indiana have left their states for the greener pastures of Illinois to avoid participating in votes to cut back or eliminate collective bargaining rights for public employees.  Thousands of protestors have taken up […]

Even though the rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has dipped below the five percent mark – to 4.95 percent —  new home sales slid by 12.6 percent in January. The mortgage rate declined five percent last week and was 5.05 percent just one year ago.  The slightly less popular 15-year fixed-rate mortgage also fell, […]

Republican congressmen searching for sizeable spending cuts are targeting Wall Street’s regulators over a plan to slash millions from the budgets of several vital agencies. They are setting their sights on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).  The workload of both agencies is expected to increase significantly as […]

Canada avoided the collapse in housing prices that devastated American homeowners and the U.S. economy, thanks to tighter financial regulations, the lack of subprime lending and securitized mortgages. Foreclosures are rare.  As a result, Canadian real estate steadily appreciated while property values in Florida, Arizona and other hard-hit American markets tanked. According to James MacGee […]

Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne says it best:  “Mayor Rahm. It will be a hoot. It could even be good for Chicago.  And in a way he has never had to do before, Rahm Emanuel will finally reveal who he really is.  If he’s slick, it’s because he’s un-slick.  All transactions with him are of […]

Wisconsin’s Republican Governor Scott Walker – a Tea Party favorite — accused the state legislature’s 14 Democratic senators of “vacationing” because they walked out of the State Legislature and took refuge in Illinois to avoid a vote that would strip most of the state’s employees of their collective bargaining rights.  Because of the Democrats’ absence, […]

President Barack Obama is proposing an option to create an insurance fund for mortgage-backed securities, similar to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation that protects Americans savings accounts. The proposal consists of three legislative options for making long-term changes to the housing finance system, while taking short-term moves to gradually reduce the government’s role in the […]