i think the homeowners should not walk away. the bankers should work with the homeowners to re-fight their loans. if all we let all the american people who are under water in their homes -- what will happen? we will have such a surplus of the market. here in georgia we have houses sitting everywhere that people cannot afford to buy because the doors have any money. we have to help the american people. we are losing jobs. the bankers have to let go of the purse strings on this money and help people. the next fall we will have is the commercial market. it is all over the internet. we need to get ourselves under control. not all these people intentionally went to these sums to default. there is no way -- people have an american dream and want to own a home. that is what america is all about. i. in a double wide home that is fortunately paid for. it is older. i am so proud that i have it. but for all these people they must have help. the bakers have got to help them. -- the bankers have got to help them. we will have a homeless soci

right now homeowners can do that, can bring their second homes into bankruptcy. they can bring commercial real estate into bankruptcy. but they cannot under the law bring their first primary residences into bankruptcy. doing that would give homeowners much more bargaining leverage with banks in terms of negotiating better deals. wall street doesn't like this very much. but if the obama administration really wants to show the public that it is standing up to wall street, and if congress is willing to do that, this would be enormously helpful. as to professor feldstein's second point, i agree completely that the administration has got to do something about long-term deficits. but short-term deficits are very, very different. in fact, if anything, the administration should not worry and yet americans kind of make americans more confident that short-term deficits may be actually necessary in order to get people back to work and the economy growing again so that long-term deficits can get under control. >> woodruff: martin feldstein, let me ask you to respond to that.

the stories we have heard from these homeowners and to the picture of the lending industry's predatory practices. time and again we hear from borrowers who didn't understand the terms of their loans. for example, many borrowers thought they were being sold a load with a fixed rate only to be present at closing with papers for a loan with an adjustable-rate. worse, some borrowers didn't even know their mortgages had an adjustable rate until two or three years later when their interest rates reset your borrowers have also told us the most complex financial transactions of their lives took no more than 15 to 20 minutes to complete. additionally, based on a study of high-cost loans in the chicago area, and many of the borrowers we have heard from, we have found that the lending industry's predatory practices were often concentrate in minority communities. i and other states attorney general have been aggressively pursuing predatory lending practices for over a decade, and we continue to pursue them in the aftermath of this crisis. but there's a parallel story to the record of the states, o

the new homeowners are becoming homeowners. that was my question this morning. thank you so much, i love calling in to the show. host: led to have you. jonas, good morning. caller: good morning, america of. good morning. the fed is totally out of control. it seems that they are -- host: i did not quite hear you, you said that the fed is out of control? caller: yes, they are dismantling the republic. what we are going to see now is a police state being developed in america. the fed clearly knows that we do not have the money -- they do not have the money, they are running out and running on steam. it will be chaos. host: a couple more minutes of asking about federal mortgage aid. ben bernanke will be up for a vote in the u.s. senate. robert gibbs spoke about the nomination process yesterday. >> you have the 60 votes that you need for confirmation bella >> you saw the statement from judd gregg and chris dodd, working together to ensure stability in our financial system by approving ben bernanke for a second term. we believe that he will be confirmed. i hope that y

>> and the problem has been, julia, the banks have been demanding certain documents from the homeowners. and, that is in reaction to the whole subprime mess. they want to make sure they are making a good loan. >> well, sure, it is also part of what has been allowing them to drag their feet. and what they are doing is just trying to, you know, obviously, since we have agreed that this isn't the best deal for the lenders, then they -- agree to take the money in the first place and took the bailout money and this is part would have what they agreed to do and agreed with the obama administration they'd help lenders in these ways and are not holding up their end of the bargain. >> pat... let me get pat in now. pat? do you agree? >> well, in many cases, these foreclosure mitigation things are basically trying to keep someone in a home who shouldn't be in the home to begin with and basically they cannot afford the home or are chasing the real estate bubble and there were people fraud lengthily duped into loans where they shouldn't have gotten them and those people deserve a little bit of our p

-- used for homeowners, used for areas not intended when we voted on the tarp. there has been a sense we have been fooled once and we are not going to be fooled again. i think a fresh start would be very important. >> you mentioned the possibility of more competitive primaries. obviously, you have a couple to navigate in florida. are you concerned this is going to be tilting candidates to the right? obviously, i candidate who can win in texas is different from one who can win in massachusetts. >> each state is going to have to make that choice. you mentioned florida. i would think all of us would listen and learn from what we hear voters telling us. we heard in new york the 23rd congressional district the people hates the idea of somebody being picked behind closed doors, and what do they do? they support a third-party candidate. we need to keep these debates and contests in the primary process, he let the strongest possible nominee we can in order to -- select the strongest possible nominee we can in order to win in november. i think we can do that. a lot of fo

and, you could save up to 20% on your homeowner's insurance.l now - and get the system installed for just $99. broadview security for your home or bususess - the next generation of brink's home security. call now. >>> as we've been reporting tonight harry reid is apologizing for saying privately during the 2008 campaign that then senator barack obama could win the white house because he was light skinned and had no negro dialect unless he wanted to have one. president obama said he accepts reid's apologies, but two republicans hoping to challenge harry reid this fall are having a field day with his comments. nevada republican party chair woman sue louden says reid's remarks are part of a larger problem. >> it's a pattern of bad judgment that senator reid has made over the years, including the war is lost when our sons and daughters were over in iraq fighting the war, including saying, if you don't like the health care bill, then you must be a proponent of slavery. these are a series of remarks that the senator has made not just one or two times

that gives the investor significant incentive to make sure they work with that homeowner.hind us and we are off and running. i take the tarp money we are not using for housing because harp is the other program that is not working. the vote that money to principle right down and resolve this problem. convince you? [laughter] >> you heard it here first. >> since you goaded me. irst question would be, i was foreclosed on and left six months ago. now you are doing this for everybody who is line. what about me? >> you are toast. >> every policy step you take, there are winners and losers. we cannot help everybody nor should we. in a normalç time, i think this is something i would not even dream of. this is not what we should be doing. when you drive your car of the dealer lot, you are already under water. i am not advocating this is a policy. i am saying we should consider this if things are not going well this summer. >> questions. >> i used to work on the hill and now i teach a course at georgetown. i wanted to ask rudy to respond to criticisms of their opposition to infrast

by the year 2010, we must increase minority homeowners by at least 5.5 million. >> is this where you thought to politics started -- bought the politics started? >> wiig shows phil gramm -- there were a lot of things that happened, but the legislation in december of 2000 was the big one. it basically said that you could not outlaw derivatives. if you read it, it protects these derivatives and allowed them to just ballooned beyond control. phil gramm was instrumental in that. you will remember michael green berger who is now a lawyer and a professor, he was a regulator. he was on the commodity futures trading commission. as early as 1998, he would have liked to outlaw these kinds of derivatives that have gotten us into some much trouble. he said that that point was the critical moment and that phil gramm was the person that pushed that through. >> were to happen to get that video -- where did you happen to get that video? >> he is enjoying his reward as vice-chairman of the union bank of switzerland. he is still a very powerful person in texas politics. >> if you go back to that time,

i think the homeowners should not walk away.the bankers should work with the homeowners to re-fight their loans. if all we let all the american people who are under water in their homes -- what will happen? we will have such a surplus of the market. here in georgia we have houses sitting everywhere that people cannot afford to buy because the doors have any money. we have to help the american people. we are losing jobs. the bankers have to let go of the purse strings on this money and help people. the next fall we will have is the commercial market. it is all over the internet. we need to get ourselves under control. not all these people intentionally went to these sums to default. there is no way -- people have an american dream and want to own a home. that is what america is all about. i. in a double wide home that is fortunately paid for. it is older. i am so proud that i have it. but for all these people they must have help. the bakers have got to help them. -- the bankers have got to help them. we will have a homeless socie

host: you mean money to homeowners and such?>> i was not sure exactly what the right way to use the money -- my thought was give it to fannie mae and freddie mac and get them to start buying up some of this bad paper. i don't know. but the point, is it's an option that was never considered, so we'll never know whether things could have been done differently. but the within thing we do know is that the rebate didn't work at all. host: we next go to e ri e. greg, missed you earlier. caller: thanks. mr. bartlett, you just mentioned the bad paper. it really strikes me as sort of disingenuous of the right and the conservatives to complain about our deficit and the problems that the government's going through right now with financing all of these things, when you compare the deficit that the federal government has with the obligations that business has due to all of that bad paper, all the debt that they created, the trillions of dollars. i mean, credit default swaups are like $43 trillion. i mean, it's unbelievable the insurance that

homeowners are preparing for a big glass of snow, with the heaviest amounts expected overnight. -- a big blast of snow. >> i will take the cold and wind over the snow. the forecast is just ahead. >> if you are looking to find love this year, we >> researchers say they are solving the mysteries of love and attraction for science. some web sites claim a simple cheek swap could hold the secrets to live long happiness. it's an age-old story, boy meets girl, girl thinks he is kickecu. if you have not had as much luck, you might want to try the new age solution, swabbing your cheek. your hla is your immune system, detecting things like viruses and bacteria. this is your introduction to dna dating. >> i would say it is a component of partner selection, and it might be an accelerator a partner selection. >> scientific match, gene partner and other web sites promised to booster shot at long-lasting luck of biological combat ability. it turns out quite a few of their clients are sending their samples to oklahoma. typically an anonymous couple would send in their swabs in an envelope like this

the administration focused on making it affordable for people who are responsible homeowners to stayin their homes. we have the goal of supporting three to 4 million homeowners to modify their mortgages to lower their payments. so far over three-quarters of the million homeowners have modified their mortgages under this program. this is a program which gets a tremendous amount of criticism in the press and i think it is an indication of the cynicism in the press come partly an indication of some of the difficulties of getting it very large program started. but if you think that this is a program that started at the end of march, early april and we were originally criticized for not doing enough trial modifications, the home owner has to be in a trial period for three to five months before they can convert to a permanent modification, and the program started slowly as we were signing of servicers as they were putting in place procedures to get the program running. but now we are actually ahead of schedule and my office did much of the budget scoring for this program. we are actually a

if that homeowner defaults it anytime and the next five or seven years, we get our money back.the mortgage, it is your money. that gives the investor significant incentive to make sure that they work with the homeowner to stay in that home. obvious criticism, you are helping out the banks. yes, i am. but, in my view, this only works if it is done quickly. you immediately convince these guys to do it and this is a slam-dunk for them. they will do it. we get this behind us and we are off and running. i take the tarp money we are not using for housing because harp is the other program that is not working. the vote that money to principle right down and resolve this problem. convince you? [laughter] >> you heard it here first. >> since you goaded me. irst question would be, i was foreclosed on and left six months ago. now you are doing this for everybody who is line. what about me? >> you are toast. >> every policy step you take, there are winners and losers. we cannot help everybody nor should we. in a normalç time, i think this is something i would not even dream of. this is not

"what do you mean homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods?"ches of water caused all this?" "but i don't even live near the water." what you don't know about flood insurance may shock you. including the fact that a preferred risk policy starts as low as $119 a year. for an agent, call the number on your screen. >> larry: we want to thank everyone for their contributions on monday night. we raised $8,944,956 for the people of haiti. the american red cross and unicef will administer the funds. we were wowed by your response and hope you continue to support those that need it the most in the months of years to come. we leave you tonight with the best of "haiti how you can help." thanks, good night. mick jagger, jennifer lopez, ceal, ben stiller and many others are here to say thank you because your money is going to the american red cross and the u.s. fund for unicef. ♪ i hate to see you cry ♪ lying there in that positi position ♪ >> the need is immediate. they need help right now. so that's why we're here with you tonight. >> those people out the

"what do you mean homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods?"f water caused all this?" "but i don't even live near the water." what you don't know about flood insurance may shock you. including the fact that a preferred risk policy starts as low as $119 a year. for an agent, call the number on your screen. >> larry: seal offered a musical message of hope to the people of haiti. here he is lifting up all of us with "people get ready." ♪ people get ready there's a train a-coming you don't need no baggage you just get on board ♪ ♪ all you need is faith to hear the diesels humming you don't need no ticket you just thank the lord ♪ so people get ready there's a train to jordan ♪ ♪ picking up passengers from coast to coast ♪ ♪ faith is the key there's a for all among those young and old ♪ ♪ there ain't no room for the hopeless sinner who would hurt mankind just to save his own ♪ ♪ save his own ♪ for there's no place in this kingdom strong ♪ ♪ people get ready there's a train acomin' ♪ ♪ you don't need no baggage you just get on board ♪ ♪ all you need

here nor there. >> let me ask you if the value of our big et asset, our home if you are a current homeowner, does the value of your asset get better next year and is it easier to sell a house next year in 2010? >> i think it's probably going to be a little easier than it was this year. i wouldn't expect you know, a v-shaped recovery in terms of home prices going up a lot, but i think in selected markets, we're certainly starting to see things stabilize. i'm out in california, and this is sorts of one of those places where i think there are really, there are signs of stabilities and, you know, occasional pockets where prices are, you know, ticking up a little bit. >> occasional pockets? that doesn't sound like a bull market. >> it does strike me, chris, i've been saying this for a while. depending where you live. it you live in -- eliminate the pockets really bad. for the rest of us, these 5%-ish mortgage rates ind dhat if you're the average american who take as mortgage for 15 or 30 years this might about very good time to buy. do you agree with that statement? >> absolutely completely agre

james cho say they could not afford their homeowner's insurance and they canceled it a few years ago. >> it will cost them a lot of money. because of the wind, 45 firefighters had to battle the blaze from different angles. one firefighter was rushed to hospital, suffering from exhaustion. he is expected to be okay. john gonzalez, abc 7 news. >>> the powerful wind is being blamed and southeast washington. a tree crashed down onto a car on pennsylvania avenue. lling trees also brought down power lines on branch avenue in southeast. the driver of the car was not injured. get the weather updates around the clock on our website, wjla.com. >>> gilbert arenas speaks out about the gun allegations tonight. the washington wizards star is under investigation. he and a teammate are accused of pulling guns in the locker room. richard reeve is live at the verizon center. >> he spoke briefly with reporters after the game, saying essentially he could have used better judgment. the team owners also spoke out tonight. they felt that guns had no work place -- had no place in the workplace environment. f

foreclosures plague hundreds of thousands of homeowners each month. >> but then there have been low interestedit that has helped people get into the housing market. let's look at some of last year's numbers. home prices down as of october 6 pchbt 8% from a year earlier. check out home sales. now sales. hard to distinguish that line but it's actually up 21.4%. >> what can we expect this year? chris is the professor of real estate at columbia business school. he joins us now. thank you for joining us. >> that doesn't like like columbia. just saying. >> doesn't at all. >> neither here nor there. >> let me ask you if the value of our biggest asset, our home, if you are a current homeowner. does the value of your asset get better next year and is it easier to sell a house next year in 2010? >> i think it's probably going to be a little easier than it was this year. i wouldn't expect a v-shaped recovery in terms of home prices going up a lot. but i think in selected markets, we're certainly starting to see things stabilize. i'm out in california, and this is one of those places where i think there

[laughter] we've tried to be very responsive, and we'll continue to work with the homeowners to keep them in their homes. all right? you guys are forcing me to go take a break. i was going to stay here and talk to my guys. thank you. >> what are you doing after you step down from morgan stanley? >> i'm no longer the chairman, i'm the ceo. if the i can help this committee or any of the regulators in some of the issues that i see, i'll be happy to do that. >> do you think other ceos should not take bonuses like you didn't? >> i think people have to make up their own minds. i don't know. >> [inaudible] >> well, this is just the first, this is the first meeting. i think a lot of people are going to end up coming here. i think this is the first -- [inaudible] so thank you. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> if everyone in the audience can, please, take your seats. mr. vice chairman, we're going to roll forward now. okay? mr. thompson. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> mic on? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'd like to take the discussion, if i might

some proposals on the table that could raise taxes by about $5 a month for the average arlington homeowner. residents may also face a number. service cuts, and county employees may be laid off. residents can have their say in the budgeted decisions during public hearings in marchith a final vote set for next april. >>> some new home appliances are being touted as money savers. plenty of consumers are buzzing about front loading washing machines themselves sayhey are efficient and energy saving but also stinky. liz has more on how to avoid this smelly secret. >> reporter: this is wash day for virginia. the day she washes her washing machine. she fell in love with a fancy front loader. they're energy efficient, use less water, less electricity and they're beautiful and smelly. >> what happened first was early in the summer when the humidity is peaking outside, i started to notice that no matter what did i with my towels when i would start to dry off with them after they had been washed, i would smell this mildewy smell. >> reporter: about the same time her husband and son began having allerg

delinquent homeowners are arriving at the door, over the box, and on the internet. we have now taken action against 33 foreclosure rescue and loan modification firms. we also have investigations of dozens of additional companies ha are aggressively advertising colorado homeowners facing foreclosure. many of these companies are located outside much colorado. 17 of these actions were announced as part of two separate sweeps in july and november of 2009 that approximately 25 state attorney general offices coordinated with the federal trade commission. let me briefly touch on other continuing concerns. as more colorado consumers have fallen behind, we have seen an increase in the marketing of other services to those same consumers. in addition, to the foreclosure we've seen an increase in payday and other high-cost loan and an increase in debt settlement and credit repair frauds as well. under colorado law, payday loans are limited to amount, finance charge, and deliberation. in 2002, the total loan amount reported in colorado was 245.9 million. by 2007 that number had

in addition, we have talked to thousands of homeowners struggling to pay mortgages. the stories we have heard add to the picture of the lending industry predatory practices. time and again we hear from farmers who did not understand the terms of their loan. for example, menu bar were sought they're being sold alone with a fixed-rate loan is to be presented at closing with an adjustable rate. some did that even know the mortgages had the adjustable rate until two or three years later when the interest rates preset trigger borrowers have told us the most complex financial transactions ticked no more than 15 you're 20 minutes to complete. additionally based on a study of high-cost loans in chicago area, we have found the lending industry predatory practice is were often concentrated in the minority communities. i and other state attorneys general have been aggressively pursuing them for over a decade and continue in the aftermath of the crisis. there is a parallel story. one that is equally critical to a full understanding of this crisis. in the years preceding federal

right now homeowners c do that, cabring their second homes intoankruptcy. theyan bring commercial real estate into bankrtcy. but th cannot under the law ing their first primary residees into bankruptcy. doing at would give meowners much more bargaing leverage with banks in terms o negoating better deals. wall street doesn't li this very mu. but if the obama ministration really wants to show e public that it is standing up twall street, and if congress is willing to do that, th would enormously helpful. as to professofeldstein's second point, i age completely that e adminiration has got to do something about lo-term decits. t short-term deficits are very, ve different. in fact, if ything, the administration shod not worry and yet amerans kind of make americans re confidenthat short-term defits may be actually necessary in order to t people back to work d the economy growing again that lg-term deficits can get under contl. >> woodruff: mtin feldstein, l me ask you to reond to that. and i quickly want to ask you about at the president has been doing, gettin to

one in four homeowners are under water, meaning they owe more than the homes are worth. >> hundreds of billions of dollars for foreclosure mitigation. where has it gone? s>> 7 million house homicides are behind in their payment or in foreclosure. this is going to continue to put downward pressure on housing prices in 2010. >> here is one big problem. there have been three unemployment peaks in the post war period during the kennedy administration, 1964. nixon, 1975. reagan, 10% unemployment in 1983. what they did in all three instances was essentially reduce the tax burden. right? unfortunately, obama is looking back to fdr, a public sector-led recovery. the only time we had 10% unemployment for ten straight years. the great depression. >> paul: 1930s. >> i look at unemployment at best 8.5%, if it stayed at 10 or rose. because they are raising the tax burden. i'm not shocked. >> paul: steve, chris toena romer the white house economic advisor said if you pass the stimulus, the jobless rate will not go above 8%. now it's 10%. now she says probably will not go down to 9.5%, much below tha

police say college students and homeowners away for the holidays are being targeted. police say before leaving they can ask police to check up on their residences. amid budge eliminate cuts, there could be proposed pay raises for legislators to take effect. the "baltimore sun" reports the commission could seek a $10,000 pay raise for the governor and an increase in the salaries of state legislators. recommendations will be announced in the upcoming general assembly session. >> starting today passengers traveling to the u.s. will face some tougher security measures at the airport. it comes in the wake of that attempted terrorist bombing on a northwest airlines flight christmas day. 11 news reporter nikole killion has more from washington. >> the new security rules apply to all u.s.-bound international flights, all passengers will be subject to random screening but some may face more scrutiny. beginning today the t.s.a. says passengers flying into the u.s. will face enhanced screening. the tougher measures targeted at those traveling from or through countries of interes

when needed, they return to help homeowners fill out the required documents. borrowers, our for closure prevention experts have teamed up with their housing outreach team to pilot some very creative efforts. let me tell you about one we are announcing just this week. it is a borrower help network thatç will reach out to thousas of borrowers across the nation, ççincluding detroit, who haven confused or demoralized by the mortgage modification process. the freddie mac borrower help network uses several of the nation's most trusted nonprofit organizations to give these borrowers confidential, personalized, holistic financial counseling over the phone and help them work through the different options for avoiding for closure. holistic counseling addresses credit-card and other debt, and not just mortgage debt in isolation. researchxd shows that this kind of counseling from trusted nonprofits can substantially improve a borrow worse odds of avoiding a foreclosure. -- orçç were -- a borrower's s of a boarding in foreclosure. w3southwest is an outstanding organiz

and it starts with setting a goal and so by the year 2010 we must increase minority homeowners by at least 5 and half million. >> was that right? is this where you thought the politics of all this started? phil gramm, george bush? >> well we chose phil gramm because, you know, there were a lot of things that happened. you can chose a lot of dates but the legislation in december of 2000 was the really big one because it said basically that you couldn't outlaw derivatives. you couldn't -- it made it if you read it it's very clear that it protects these derivatives, credit default swaps, et ceter and it allowed them to just balloon beyond contro and gramm was very -- was absolutely instrumental in that. and remember michael greenberger who's voice you hear and who's talking about it who's now, you know, he's a lawyer and professor at the university of maryland law schoo greenberger was a regulator so he was on the commodity futures trading commission so as early as 1998 he was -- he would have liked to outlaw these kinds of derivatives that have gotten us into so much trouble. but he hi

guess though historically, banks would make a long to a homeowner to buy a house. they would give them the mortgage in the bank would hold the mortgage until it was paid off. but over the years, people concluded that you could take these mortgages, which are just sitting in these various banks and bundle them together and have a new type of investment vehicle that people were willing to buy because you can get a higher interest rates on mortgages then you can on many other kinds of investments. and in theory, these were all backed by real estate. and so therefore, you had a least a theory of very low risk. and so for a long time it was a good deal because the banks in the past and they make a mortgage, they may not have any more money available to make additional mortgages. but now, they can sell the mortgage and get money back that they can then be lent to someone else. so for a long time it was really a good deal. the problem was that the people, the real problem with the people whose job it was that places like moody's and standard & poor's to go through these p

. >> coming up, numbers are in and not good for some maryland homeowners. the brusing of the housing bubble is not good. that is coming up. >> a storm is spinning off the new england coast. they are getting snow but we are getting intense winds. when will all t >> taking a look at our hd doppler radar. the center of the storm up in new england. we've had wind and cold. there was snow in far western maryland. six inches and four inches in another part. a couple of inches this. in mont depomry county, they had a trace of snow. wind gusts the strongest i could find. we are going to be close to that situation today when you add the cold temperatures to this. bwi, only 16. 19 at the inner harbor. it feels like zero. cover up today. 44% the humidity, the air is dry. even if a few clouds came over and tried to produce a snow flurry, try to evaporate. around the beltway, temperatures right now. 16 at the belt a. fort immediate, 17. all the clouds are up north or out to the west. clouds out in pennsylvania or west virginia not producing any snow. the lake effect sno

the principle of mortgages, homeowners and their loans, things are not working out.ople in their homes. i cannot come -- comment on the bigger companies, but there is an effort to do that. Ñithis is part of the program. so we are making progress on that. some are these are not going to be permanent and will not necessarily keep people from going into foreclosure. you have to start somewhere. we started, and we have been aggressive on it, and we wanted to be very sensitive. if we have to extend it, we will do that. >> as of now, you are not thinking about agreeing to write down principle? >> i think the most important thing is to try to redo -- it has begun to shake. try a response and continue to work with the homeowners to keep them in their homes. all right, you guys, i am going to take a break. i am going to stay here and talk to my guys. i focus on clients. i am the chair, and if i can tell this committee or any of the regulators with some of the issues that i see, i would be happy to do that. >> bonuses, like you did? >> i think people have to make up their own

the administration focused on making it affordable for people who are responsible homeowners to stay in their homes. we have the goal of supporting three to 4 million homeowners to modify their mortgages to lower their payments. so far over three-quarters of the million homeowners have modified their mortgages under this program. this is a program which gets a tremendous amount of criticism in the press and i think it is an indication of the cynicism in the press come partly an indication of some of the difficulties of getting it very large program started. but if you think that this is a program that started at the end of march, early april and we were originally criticized for not doing enough trial modifications, the home owner has to be in a trial period for three to five months before they can convert to a permanent modification, and the program started slowly as we were signing of servicers as they were putting in place procedures to get the program running. but now we are actually ahead of schedule and my office did much of the budget scoring for this program. we are actually

the homeowners fill out the required documents.revention experts have teamed up with our team to pilot creative efforts. let me tell you about one we are announcing this week. it is a health network. we are reaching out to those that have been confused by the mortgage modification process. this net worth using several of the nation's most trusted non- profit organizations to give these borrowers confidential, personalized, holistic financial counseling over the phone and help them work through the different options for or boarding foreclosure. holistic counseling address is credit cards and other debts, not just mortgage debt in isolation. this can substantially improve the odds of a borrower to avoid foreclosure. here in detroit, freddie mac has a network that includes southwest housing solutions. it is an outstanding organization that is already working with over 2400 distressed detroit borrowers and successfully helps near the 1400 of them. the health network is national in scope. by working within national urban league, the nat

another important thing for homeowners, of course, is also their 401(k) and savings for retirement. ryaner i want to turn to you we. we had a bad year last year. people are saying the stock market's turning up now i can start looking at my 401(k) again. is that right thing to say? >> never. it's amazing how individuals look at market and the market's going topsy turvy and gauge emotionally, wrongfully, what to do with 401(k) averages. the same advise in 2004, the samed aadvice in 2007, make twice a year look agent 401(k)s, look at all of your statements every month to see if we need to adjust our asset allocation. do we need to start putting more money? too heavily weighted in stocks if you're 55 only have 5 years left of retirement, 80% shn. stocks should you adjust it a conservative portfolio. >> donna, is there any set it and forget it? there's not. you have to constantly check in. >> t. rowe price did a study i was look agent folks who rebalance portfolio once a year come out ahead. they're portfolios tend to be at least 4%, 5% larger over the long run than people who set it and

he got it wrong on homeowners, small businesses. he got every issue of the recession wrong. nobody will trust him on the economy at all. >> order. >> mr. speaker, a year of devastating conflict that left 400 palestinians dead, and the siege continues. the area lies shattered. although there were undoubtedly more crimes on both sides, as my right hon. friend agree what is now happening is a collective punishing of a million people, and will he make urgent recommendation to proceed in gauze on a step towards a peace settlement? >> my rightful friend is -- proceed in gaza on a step towards a peace settlement? >> my right hon. friend is exactly right. we are pressing the israeli government to do more to get more aid in, and i will look at exactly the points she has made and see what more we can do in this new year. in the end, this will require a political settlement between israel and the palestinian state, which gives israeli security and palestine a viable state it can manage, but in the meantime, we must avoid unnecessary suffering. >> i would like to add my profound condole

fiscal stimulus on the recovery and got it wrong on the unemployed and he got it wrong on helping homeowners. he got it wrong on small businesses. he got every issue of the recession wrong. nobody will trust him. not just on married couple's allowance but nobody will trust him on the economy at all. >> order, order. >> mr. speaker, a year on from the devastating conflicting gaza which left 1400 palestinians dead, the siege continues. humanitarian relief is hard to come by and gaza lies shatteredg although there are crimes on both sides, does my right honorable friend agree with me that what is happening is the collective punishment of a million people? and will he now you make representations to end the siege on gaza as a critical step towards a peace settlement? >> my friend is right and she speaks on many people on this. we must not forget the people on gaza. i have raised with prime minister netanyahu aid and assistance in gaza and we are pressing to get more aid in and i will look at exactly the points she has made and see what more we can do in this new year. in the end, this will requi

we took action to help small businesses but that is why we coordinate government action to help homeowners and we are seeing the results of our action. the unfortunate thing is that conservatives oppose every single measure that we have proposed. >> mr. speaker, today's employment figures are good news for my constituents and there are now almost 7000 fewer people unemployed then during the last tory recession. would this have happened if the government had simply let the recession take its course and what more can the government do to help my constituents get back into work? >> mr. speaker, from this government unemployment is not a price worth paying. and for this government, we have taken action so that in the '80s recession, unemployment apprising for five years. in this recession we have taken action so that we can see unemployment falling and we can see the action that is helping young people into work. it is interesting that the leader of the opposition is not asking me about the economy today. >> thank you, mr. speaker. the chilcott inquiry has heard the current prime minister was

and that their homeowners insurance... protects them. it doesn't. stop pretending.en to you. protect your home with flood insurance. call the number on your screen... for your free brochure. >>> a message of hope for the people of haiti. people, get ready. >> people get ready. there's a train coming. you don't need baggage you just get on board ♪ all you need is faith you don't need no ticket. you just thank the lord. so people get ready there's a train ♪ open up the doors of boredon't among those loved the most ♪ ♪ just to save and have pity on those whose chances and there's no other place and kingdamage om ♪ ♪ oh people get ready there's a chain acoming ♪ ♪ we don't need no baggage you just get on board ♪ you don't need a ticket. you just thank the lord ♪ people get ready there's a train acoming ♪ ♪ don't need no baggage don't need to ticket you just thank the lord ♪ my mother made the best toffee in the world. it's delicious. so now we've turned her toffee into a business. my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee comp

upfront could have forestalled a collapse that cost more to take care of later on -- >> money to homeowners and such? >> guest: i wasn't the right way to use the money. my thought, give it to freddie mac and fannie mae and buy up the bad paper. the point is it's an option that was never considered so we will know over in what could have been done differently. the rebate didn't work at all. >> host: we next go to erie, sorry re missed you. you're on now. >> caller: mr. bartlett, you just mentioned bad paper. it really strikes me as sort of disingenuous of the right and the consecutives -- conservatives to complain about the deficit the problems the government is going through right now with financing all these things. when you compare the deficit the federal government has with the obligations that business has due to all that bad paper, all the debt that they created, this the trillions of dollars -- credit default swap is like $43 trillion? it's unbelievable, the insurance that business took out on itself against its bad decisions, and now all of that is coming due. when you compare -- can

in providence, rhode island this weekend homeowners dug out from under seven inches of snow. and they didn't seem to mind. >> i pushed the driveway with a broom the first time. and now i'm just going over it again. you know, you keep up with it, it's not so bad. >> reporter: even florida is dealing with the cold. in pinellas park as temperatures were expected to dip below freezing shelters opened their doors. >> we can do up to about 200 folks. right now i think we're hovering somewhere around 50 or 60. >> reporter: but there's some good news. ski resorts in maine are hopping with eight inches of fresh powder this morning at sunday river. >> it's like a winter wonderland. >> reporter: 2010 is off to quite a start. jeff rossen, nbc news, new york. >>> still to come on this first sunday of the new year, catching a killer. weeks after a thanksgiving massacre triggered a massive manhunt, police say they have their man. >>> and we spend a day at the office with the blue angels on a wing and a prayer. >> i was really at the edge of blacking out. ...kept coming back... ...or that i

the culprit is unemployment, which is pushing homeowners with the best credit into default. and that is business news. i am ellen braitman reporting for abc 7 news. back over to you. >> thank you. >>> 5:25. >> still ahead, another rate hike for pepco. we will tell you how much the latest proposal could cost maryland customers. >> the new normal at the airport. that story just ahead. >> at our new normal weather pattern is cold air. how many layers when you need? -- will you need? have you gotten your seasonal flu vaccination? great - but your work's not done yet. we still need to get the h1n1 flu vaccination. you, me -- we should all get one. the vaccine is safe and proven effective against this highly contagious new strain of flu virus. wean help prevent the spread of this virus if we all just roll up our sleeves. to learn more about the h1n1 flu vaccination visit h1n1get1.com or call your local health department it's up to you to fight the flu. ♪ mmm... hot fudge sundae. ♪ ooh! frosted blueberry?!? ♪ over 25 flavors of kellogg's pop-tarts®. and they're all for fun and fun

and at the same time, we would rate regulate them so that homeowners would get a good deal. and that is attractive to some people. and also we have rate regulation and/or to ensure that there was a fair return to the shareholders. i'm assuming here that this utility would be deemed privately owned, because i think the notion is to make sure that it doesn't go on the federal budget. the reason and he was in fact originally privatized was to get it off the budget. and i don't think as i indicated before, there's much likelihood that anyone is going to want to put it back on the budget in any form. so if we have some sort of utility structure, it would be privately owned. and then you would have to have a steady return to the shareholders, like a public utility the way and electric utility or a water utility would work. i think that's the model some people have in mind. the trouble is this is quite a bit different from an electric utility or a water utility, and that is that these institutions, if they are in the securitization business which i think is what people are assuming

the homeowners fill out the required documents. to reach even more the lynwood borrowers, our foreclosure prevention experts have teamed up with our team to pilot creative efforts. let me tell you about one we are announcing this week. it is a health network. we are reaching out to those that have been confused by the@@ >> to give these borrowers confidential, personalized, holistic financial counseling over the phone and help them work through the different options for avoiding for closure. holistic counseling addresses credit cards and other debts, not just mortgage debt in isolation research shows that this kind of counseling that this can substantially improve a borrower's odds of avoiding for closure. -- for closure -- forclosure. this includes a southwest solutions. they are an outstanding facility. they have successfully helped nearly 1400. the health network is national in scope. by working within national urban league, the national council and other established non-profit organizations, our goal is to make the same counsel

this year we will step up refinancing so that homeowners can move in a more -- into more affordable mortgages. and it is precisely to relieve the burden on middle class families that we still need health insurance reform. we do. now, let's clear a few things up. i didn't choose to tackle this issue to get some legislative victory under my belt, and by now it should be fairly obvious that i didn't take on health care because it was good politics. i took on health care because of the stories i've heard from americans with pre-existing conditions whose lives depend on getting coverage, patients who have been denied coverage, families, even those with insurance, who are just one illness away from financial ruin. after nearly a century of trying, democratic administrations, republican administrations, we are closer than ever to bringing more security to the lives of so many americans. the approach we've taken would protect every american from the worst practices of the insurance industry. it would give small businesses and uninsured americans a chance to choose an affordable health care plan in a

and, you could save up to 20% on your homeowner's insurance.just $99. broadview security for your home or business-- the next generation of brink's home security. call now. >> larry: president and mrs. obama are a donating $15,000 for recovery efforts for haiti. a spokesman says they were inspire bid the millions of americans who are contributed to the cause. joining us now in the miami airport is jill wilkins and her husband, they were in the process of adopting a haitian boy, and out the record were in the rubble. they managed to work it out. jill is the at airport. joe, are you going to bring samuel home? >> it looks that way, larry. everything is not final until the airplane gets off the ground. we hope that is soon. >> larry: e understand you are bringing back other orphans as well-being adopted? >> that is the case. again f the flight gets off the grown, it looks like the babies that are adopted in the united states will be heading home, hopefully very soon. >> larry: i understand the plane was donated by -- do you know who donated the pl

and that their homeowners insurance... protects them. it doesn't. stop pretending.t can happen to you. protect your home with flood insurance. call the number on your screen... for your free brochure. >> larry: an incredible stories of students from one university, all safe. meet them in a minute. let's check in at port-au-prince, with elizabeth. what is up, elizabeth? >> reporter: larry, i am at a makeshift hospital at the airport on the u.n. compound. things have gone from bad to worse here. larry, we keep seeing the pictures and video of people getting pulled out of rubble, and of course it's a wonderful moment, but once they get out of the rubble, they still face huge challenges. the people behind me in the facility, they were pulled out, but half the people here, they have wounds that have become gang greenious. and once you have that, you could have a systemic infection that can kill you. things are difficult. in the last 24 hours or so about five people died here. >> larry: elizabeth cohen, i don't know how you do it. elizabeth cohen on the scene. now, we are

>> well, it's also the communication with the homeowner. so an honest conflict is there are state laws that govern the foreclosure process. remember, i earlier said, 2/3 of the people that start that process have not gone to foreclosure and they get worked out. it's cumbersome that people are working on modifications and going down the route of foreclosure. that happens a lot because the state laws govern timelines, etc., on foreclosure versus the workout. some of the workouts do not pass the testing and the rigorous testing that goes on, but i might also add many people make 30 or 40 attempts to reach the homeowner, door knockers and don't have any communication, sometimes until after the foreclosure process. again, those are pretty good facts on the grounds of what attempts have been made, but we should do better at measuring that to understand where the breakdown is for the borrowers to call. >> i'm not going to dispute that. i guess my position is we don't have time. >> i know. >> i don't think that the american public is aware nor memb