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First-quarter growth stronger than forecast | Reuters

The economy grew at a slightly stronger pace than forecast as 2008 began, helped by inventory-building that tempered a steadily deteriorating housing sector and less vigorous consumer spending.

Bloomberg.com: U.S.

The U.S. economy expanded at a 0.6 percent annual pace in the first quarter, reflecting an increase in inventories as consumers retrenched and companies cut investment

The AP and Financial Times not happy as Newsbusters points out.

Economy grows at only 0.6 percentage point rate - Yahoo! News

The bruised economy limped through the first quarter of this year at a six-tenths of a percentage point growth rate as housing and credit problems forced people and businesses alike to hunker down.

FT.com / World - US economy avoids outright contraction

The US economy almost stalled in the first three months of this year, saved only by an increase in business inventories, as the labour market weakened, the real estate market slumped and consumers cut back on spending.

So let me get this straight, the media has almost gleefully been reporting we are in the grips of a recession but the economy actually expands?

AFP.com | Agence France-Presse, a global news agency

The US economy expanded at a sluggish 0.6 percent annual pace in the first quarter, the government said Wednesday in its first estimate of gross domestic product.

The Commerce Department report was slightly better than expected and came amid fears that the world’s biggest economy might be headed for recession, generally defined as two consecutive quarters of declining activity.

Technorati Tags: economy, media, recession

Seems most States, Towns and Municipalities across the nation can barely fix their potholes.

So now Barney Frank and the House Financial Services Committee want to give states $15 BILLION dollars to buy vacated homes??

Bloomberg.com: Worldwide

A U.S. House panel approved a measure to help states buy and refurbish foreclosed homes as lawmakers move to stabilize the U.S. real-estate market in the wake of the subprime-mortgage crisis.

The House Financial Services Committee approved creation of a $15 billion loan-and-grant program during a hearing today in Washington, sending it to the full House for its consideration. The program would focus on owner-vacated homes and split the funds evenly between grants and loans.

House Financial Services Committee

The bill would establish a $15 billion, HUD-administered loan and grant program for the purchase and rehabilitation of owner-vacated, foreclosed homes with the goal of stabilizing and occupying them as soon as possible. $7.5 billion of the funds would be for loans, and the other $7.5 billion would be for grants.

Good Grief!

Text of Bill H.R. 5818
PDF of Bill H.R. 5818

Track Bill at Open Congress

Technorati Tags: housing, hud, barney frank, mortgage, HR 5818

I like to see banks get a taste of their own medicine as much as anybody but a Washington Post article gleefully cited and misrepresented by “Think progress” tries to lead readers into believing The Mortgage Bankers Association is having trouble paying its own mortgage…….on a building THEY DON’T OWN YET !

Think Progress » Blog Archive » Mortgage Bankers Association finding it harder to pay its own mortgage.

The Washington Post notes that last year, the “Mortgage Bankers Association was thrilled to sign a contract to buy a fancy new headquarters building in downtown Washington.” Since then, however, the group “has fallen on tough times as many of the subprime mortgages dispensed by some of its members proved dicey.” The result is that the group is now finding it “harder than it imagined to pay its own mortgage“:

Housing Crisis Hits Its Own - washingtonpost.com

Scheduled to close on the building in the coming weeks, the association will have to pay millions of dollars more than it would have a year ago when it contracted to buy the 160,000-square-foot structure — millions of dollars it is now less able to afford.

I wonder if Amanda from ThinkProgress actually reads and “Thinks” about the articles she links to? ….now that would be “Progress”!

How can the Mortgage Bankers Association be “finding it harder” to make payments on a mortgage on a building it doesn’t own and a mortgage it doesn’t have yet?

Technorati Tags: thinkprogress, nutroots, washington post, media, mortgage, lending