The Housing Crisis and the Plague of Potomac Fever
As
states move to crack down on predatory lending and abusive mortgage fees, Washington lawmakers
tell reporters "it's irrelevant" how many — if any — homeowners are
helped. As state legislators to demand serious aid to borrowers, Washington constructs a
bailout for financial firms. This is the contrast between minimally healthy
(though certainly imperfect) democratic systems in the states, and a federal
government ravaged by Potomac Fever — the
illness whereby professional politicians forget who they were elected to serve.
David Sirota, TomPaine.com
Surplus U.S. Food
Supplies Dry Up
usatoday.com
U.S. government food surpluses — which had
previously fed the poor at home and abroad — have evaporated because, with
record high prices, farmers are selling their crops on the open market, not
handing them over to the government through traditional price-support programs
that make up for deficiencies in market price. The upshot: USDA has almost no
extra food to supplement the billions in cash payments it spends to combat hunger
at home and in developing nations.
MARK WEISBROT
The IMF's Going Down -- Is that a Bad Thing?
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alternet.org — Thanks to disasters of its own making, the
agency is losing money and influence.
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Auto Sales Tank
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online.wsj.com — The auto industry"s sales slump
deepened sharply in March, with a 12 percent decline in total U.S. vehicle
sales, amid a powerful economic downdraft. High gasoline prices, a weak job
market and the credit crunch are all driving down car sales. Many lenders are
requiring higher credit scores and demanding bigger down payments on car
loans, especially in states hard-hit by housing foreclosures.
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SANDRA HINSON
A Supreme Setback for Voting
Rights
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ourfuture.org — On April 28, 2008, the Supreme Court
upheld Indiana's
restrictive voter ID law. On the same day, the New York Times ran an article
about ongoing voter suppression tactics in Florida. Each of these stories represents
a triumph for conservatives who have used allegations of voter fraud to push
measures that disenfranchise the most marginalized members of our society.
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Auto Sales Tank
|
online.wsj.com — The auto industry"s sales slump
deepened sharply in March, with a 12 percent decline in total U.S. vehicle
sales, amid a powerful economic downdraft. High gasoline prices, a weak job
market and the credit crunch are all driving down car sales. Many lenders are
requiring higher credit scores and demanding bigger down payments on car
loans, especially in states hard-hit by housing foreclosures.
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Failing Grade for Reading Program
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washingtonpost.com — Students enrolled in a $6 billion
federal reading program that is at the heart of the No Child Left Behind law
are not reading any better than those who don"t participate, according
to a U.S. government report. The study released by the Department of
Education"s research arm found that students in schools that use Reading
First, which provides grants to improve elementary school reading, scored
about the same on comprehension tests as their peers who attended schools
that did not receive program money.
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Oceans Getting Warmer
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time.com — Low-oxygen zones where sea life is threatened
or cannot survive are growing as the oceans are heated by global warming, a
new study warns. Oxygen-depleted zones in the central and eastern equatorial Atlantic and equatorial Pacific oceans appear to have
expanded over the last 50 years, researchers report in the journal Science.
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