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Uploaded: Thursday, January 24, 2008, 3:31 PM
Economic stimulus plan will offer tax filers refunds of $600-1,200
Congressman McNerney lauds plan, despite difficulty in reaching bipartisan compromise
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| Congressional leaders and the White House have forged a deal to stimulate the U.S. economy by offering tax filers refunds of $600-1,200.
As part of the agreement reached today, refunds will go out to approximately 116 million families, according to the Associated Press. Individual tax filers are eligible for $600, while joint-filers are eligible for $1,200. Families with children will also be eligible for an extra $300 per child.
The refunds are expected to go out sometime in late May or June.
Congressman Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, said he was pleased that Democrats and Republicans were able to reach a compromise. He added he is especially satisfied with the stimulus package's plan to raise the limits on Federal Housing Administration loans and housing mortgages.
"I'm particularly pleased that the conforming loan limit will be raised--an issue I raised with the Speaker (Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco) directly," he said. "Raising that limit will mean more people throughout California will have lower-interest loans, helping stabilize the real estate market and allowing more people to refinance into lower interest rate mortgages."
As McNerney and mayors in the Tri-Valley announced Wednesday that the congressman will also seek $2.6 million in federal money to fund the Tri-Valley Housing Opportunity Center in Livermore so the center can help homeowners facing foreclosure with such things as buying down their interest rate, refinancing or going with a preferred mortgage lender.
Democrats in Washington, while in support of the stimulus plan, weren't happy about having to give some concessions to reach a compromise. A bid for increases in food stamps was dropped and Democrats have also expressed disappointment that the refunds won't aid the unemployed--only those who file taxes based on income.
"The package isn't perfect," McNerney said. "I would have liked to have seen an unemployment insurance extension and incentives for renewable energy job creation. But so many people across the 11th District are facing difficult economic times, it is critical that a bipartisan agreement has been reached and that we move as quickly as we can to stimulate the economy and prevent any further economic downturn."
Sen. Dianne Feinstein agreed, saying the stimulus package is a "good start and is urgently needed."
"Americans are being squeezed by a series of economic forces, including a volatile stock market and the fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis," she said. "But more needs to be done. This measure will be debated in the Senate next month, and we need to ensure that it includes provisions targeted to help the neediest of Americans."
--Janet Pelletier Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.
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Posted by Anthony L. Jones Jr. (T.J.), a member of the Donlon Elementary School community, on Jan 24, 2008 at 7:04 pm This is actually a very good thing. I'm in the business and have been doing mortgages for a long time. I'm not just saying this because of the business. People like me are doing a great business through all the turmoil. This is no different than when interest rates were 16%+ in the 80's and no different than the liquidity crunch of the 90's. The move upward in the conforming limit would mean many troubled homeowners and non-troubled could refinance at lower rates. Many can buy now that wouldn't be able to buy otherwise and I'm speaking of responsible wage earners or business owners. They will still have to qualify for the loan in terms of income, assets, and credit. California and other states are far behind the standard in terms of the conforming limit. Hawaii and Alaska have higher conforming limits. Other high cost states should have the same. $625,000 would still not be enough for some people in New York or California to purchase under first time buyer type programs.
(portion of comment removed by PW staff)
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Posted by Anonymous, a resident of the Another Pleasanton neighborhood neighborhood, on Jan 25, 2008 at 5:23 am Gee -- TJ's post so smacks of advertising.
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Posted by Ads, a resident of another community, on Jan 25, 2008 at 6:40 am I hope the weekly deletes his post or charges him for advetising on here. Half his post is advertising and the other half is him talking himself up.
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Posted by Anon., a resident of the Another Pleasanton neighborhood neighborhood, on Jan 25, 2008 at 10:16 am Note to self:
Do NOT ever call TJ Jones!!!
How sleezy...
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Posted by frank, a resident of the Pleasanton Heights neighborhood, on Jan 25, 2008 at 9:08 pm It is interesting that the leading post in this thread is by someone who unabashedly implies how profitable it is for him in the mortgage business, especially because of the turmoil. Rather than call for the posts removal, it is best to leave it exposed to the wrath of other posters who follow.
....Now y'all got a sense of the greed that fueled the debacle that is now known as the credit crisis caused by a wall-street-gamed-mortgage industry that in turn fueled high housing prices resulting in a housing boom instigated by a policy of abnormally low interest rates by a federal banking system trying to keep going an excessive consumer economy whose population has lost its capacity to produce wealth and to maintain its average personal income and standard of living because low-worker-cost countries have taken this country's jobs and those low-cost countries now are producer economies generating wealth enjoyed by their citizens whose standard of living is rapidly rising like ours once did in the period after WW II through about the late 70s but now longer rises.....
As citizens our guilt lies in our addiction to consumption. This addiction fuels those producer economies. We define ourselves by what and how much we have, not by who we are. So, if our incomes cannot keep pace, we use our homes as ATM machines to get the cash to buy that SUV that we just have to have as well as to purchase the gas, with the result that our money ends up funding Iran, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, etc. Don't forget that is also funds China where we get our clothes, toys, and everything else under the sun.
So, in response to the current situation our great leaders respond by sending the nation deeper into debt in order to put spending money in consumer's pockets to keep the game going..... They expect you to do your patriotic duty and SPEND your tax rebate! That's the propaganda, isn't it? Is this true leadership?
The Roman empire decayed by the time it hit 300 years of age, and the US is now 233 years old. Hopefully, there is enough time left to make some fundamental changes. But I think it has to start with you and I.
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Posted by Plaudits to Frank, a resident of the Another Pleasanton neighborhood neighborhood, on Feb 3, 2008 at 1:39 pm Frank...I appreciate your comments given above on 25 January, 2008.
A pundit (Joel Stein of the LA Times) in a article in todays Tri Valley Herald dated 3 February noted the following hypothesis "Say, for instance, I got $600 and I spent it on strippers. Those strippers would then buy clothes at Bebe, and the person who owns Bebe would would buy the crappy house I overpaid for and get me out of the financial predicament caused by unscrupulous mortgage lenders and not by my addiction to strip joints."
He concludes that "An empire that believes spending is a patriotic act is perilously close to its end...."
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