according to the fdic, farmers are falling behind in their loans at a 17-year high. often times, collateral is the form itself. if a farmer defaults on an operating loan, not only are they at risk of losing their livelihood but also their home. because of the economy and some of farm loans are indeed in trouble, several banks are telling us that regulators are seeing farm loans as suspect and discouraging community banks from carrying farm loans. this attitude is hurting rural america without making the banking system any safer. what is the fdic doing to work with banks to make sure that farmers have adequate access to credit? would the fdic consider issuing guidance on farm loans similar to the commercial real-estate guidance that was issued last year? >> thank you for that question. part of the sentiments are strong but the dairy industry has been having trouble. we appreciate that. we have guidance encouraging provincial lending and loan restructuring activity confined to small businesses and commercial loans would be open to openag lending. there are parts of that

what is the fdic doing to work with banks to make sure that farmers have adequate access to credit? would you consider offering guidance on farm loans similar to the commercial real estate guidance that was issued last year? >> thank you for that question. the dairy industry has been having some trouble we appreciate that. we have guidance encouraging prudent lending and loan restriction activity. i would be open to doing something specific to ag landing. that is a point well taken and there are parts of it that are troubled. providing clarification and better expectations is something we would be open to. >> i heard you to say that you are willing to offer specific guidance on farm loans that i absolutely. >> that is great to hear, thank you. >> because of the decrease in real estate prices, many commercial borrowers will not be able to refinance. community banks are known to have large real estate portfolios and will be hit hardest by this downturn. community bankers are not certain how regulators will treat commercial laws that they have on their books. this makes it hard for them

congress, sheila baird was with us today, the fdic, also provided they also mentioned bob menendez as others of the committee going back a long time. in fact, jim bunning and jack reid were talking about it in 2006 in hearings that they held. so we're getting near five years that we've been talking about this issue. and yet here we are still watching a problem associated with all of that, getting worse is possibly the case. whether it's out of greed or ignorance or the failure to recognize the disaster on the horizon, we are now left to pick up the pieces and try and help homeowners caught up in forces beyond their control and do everything in our power to fix the system and prevent these problems again in the future. so today we're going to hear from regulators about what they did and didn't do in i.t. as you have and i appreciate all of you being here. not only regulators prefer the academic who follow these questions. would you recommend we do, congress too done by treasury, done by regulators. we have a lot of fingerprinting finger-pointing going on. the question is what we do abo

what the fdic chairman has to say about the health of your bank right now on this show. every 60 seconds someone, somewhere, is making the switch to tempur-pedic. now it's your turn. call now for your free information kit including a tempur material sample, along with a dvd and catalog. traditional mattresses use metal springs that can cause pressure points causing you to toss and turn. only the tempur-pedic mattress automatically adjusts to your body while keeping your spine in perfect alignment. plus, because tempur-pedic doesn't transfer motion, you won't disturb your partner when you get out of bed or shift positions. best of all, tempur-pedic will let you sleep on one of their sleep systems for an incredible 90 nights before you make your purchase decision. if you want the ultimate in comfort - if you wish to get more sleep but can't, it's time you make the switch to tempur-pedic. call the number on your screen. >> lots of debate about what the right thing is to do. roland, pick it up. >> i have no faith in political leaders or american people doing the tough choice

the fdic wants minimum capital standards for all financial firms, something required by the dodd-franklaw. before the financial crisis, big banks decided on their own how much cash to hold. still ahead-- tonight's word on the street, "transportation". from autos and trucks to aerospace, thestreet.com's stephanie link tells us what sectors to watch in the coming year. >> tom: the full senate is poised to pass legislation as early as tonight to extend the bush tax cuts and extend unemployment benefits. in the meantime, house democrats are wrestling with what to do once they get their hands on the bill. some democrats believe the tax deal struck by the president and republicans is too generous to the rich. they're looking at adding a higher estate tax on the wealthy. the house vote on the tax bill is expected later this week. >> susie: even though the federal reserve is keeping its key lending rate near zero, other rates have been moving higher, especially mortgage rates. they are now at a six-month high. so what impact will this rise in rates have on the fragile housing market? erika mil

and we saw many during this crisis, many differences across the -- stick with the fdic at some point was very much in disagreement with the treasury and the federal reserve and prior to the crisis only the fdic seemed to recommend the leverage ratio as one of the important measures of the capital condition. the fed was locked in on risk-based capital into the basel system, which was based on risk measures as was said in our discussions by bob that we are really inadequate. >> over here. >> mark, i run a small hedge fund here in washington. three questions. first speculation on whether the deficit commission is, in fact, going to make any headway in eliminating the mortgage deduction. secondly, how would it interface with people like you who want to raise the down payment. i think that's a great idea. that's a double whammy on house prices. and thirdly, i hear this word prosip -- prosip recall so much. they tacked up the requirements on silver and put out the fire. why wouldn't we be doing that with mortgages? >> can i start? the first point is the deficit commission and what is it's f

that would be a lot more money than the fdic ever had. >> $8 billion. >> that $8 billion in shares how many -- the value of your accounts today. the first of december. >> the assets are bad. $800 million. >> it insures the credit, the integrity of $800 billion. you think that is adequate? >> i do. >> especially in today's world? >> i do. >> ok. is that $8 billion shrinking or growing? or are they remaining constant? >> it has been constant. >> ok. my last area, and i appreciate the chairman's indulgence. the national credit union regulationsion government governing credit unions rely heavily on the use of credit ratings. specifically, the regulations allow corporate credit unions to invest in securities rated aaa or aa by credit rating agencies. we know now the credit ratings were deeply flawed on mortgage- backed securities. the dodd-frank act requires agencies to review and modify regulations to review and remove any reference to a requirement of reliance on credit ratings and to substitute a standard of credit worthiness. what steps are you and your administration taking to ensure t

and we saw many during this crisis, many differences across the -- stick with the fdic at some point was very much in disagreement with the treasury and the federal reserve and prior to the crisis only the fdic seemed to recommend the leverage ratio as one of the important measures of the capital condition. the fed was locked in on risk-based capital into the basel system, which was based on risk measures as was said in our discussions by bob that we are really inadequate. >> over here. >> mark, i run a small hedge fund here in washington. three questions. first speculation on whether the deficit commission is, in fact, going to make any headway in eliminating the mortgage deduction. secondly, how would it interface with people like you who want to raise the down payment. i think that's a great idea. that's a double whammy on house prices. and thirdly, i hear this word prosip -- prosip recall so much. they tacked up the requirements on silver and put out the fire. why wouldn't we be doing that with mortgages? >> can i start? the first point is the deficit commission and what is it's f

in those days before social security, unemployment, the fdic, the worker's family was down and out it was really pretty serious, and so the muckrakers, other progressive workers, social scientists for kind of new on the scene felt that they wanted to take action to reconcile this. kind of overriding what to do with the large number of immigrants pouring into new york as well and the question of what role government what taking this. teddy roosevelt mediated a coal strike in 1902 of the request and what steps the government could take. now the needle trade, the garment district down in the lower east side were fairly abysmal will. my friend chris nelson asked me how hot was it in the sweat shops? in the thing about sweatshops is the art about the temperature so much as with buckles wet labour which would be a way of subcontracting and down and down and down to contractors all the way down so it really is worth very little by the time it got to the seamstresses themselves in. and they put up with a lot of hard as conditions in terms of crowding. de -- work was a regular, there was no gu

when i was looking at the bank balance sheets and i drew a circle around them, since the fdic only ensures a small domestic depositors our large banks have to ensure other large banks -- that is out the system works. therwas not enough equity paid in capital to the bank that could absorb the magnitude of the permanent value destruction. not talking mark to market but talking about real permanent value destruction and really those assets really did need to be marked down to that level. but the banks could not do that because our banking system could not support it. the only balance sheet big enough was the fed balance sheet and that is why they stepped in. after having saved the bank and after having failed to regulate the banks, the fed failed to investigate them and now the fed is covering up for them. one of the ways they are covering up is changing the accounting rules so that banks can deny the fact that they still have assets, balance sheets. i could name others except mortgages, like the triple x products that it bought from insurance companies still marking almost a full value. at t

we should not forget the multi- trillion dollar innovations of the federal reserve and fdic, as well as the in cannot devote efforts of private market participants. -- as well as being in calculus al -- the incalcuable ever to a private market participants. it is cold comfort that to be too big to fail financial institutions aided by the t.a.r.p. are recording your record earnings. in order to better assess a t.a.r.p., we noted in our 2010 oversight report that the repayment of advances received is a misleading measure of the effectiveness, and therefore should not serve as the standard by which the t.a.r.p. is judged. the unlimited bailout of fannie mae and freddie mac buy treasury and the purchase of $1.25 trillion in mortgage-backed securities by the federal reserve no doubt materially benefited the t.a.r.p. recipients and other financial institutions. these institutions were not however required to share in any of the cost of the bailout. in effect, the bailout of fannie mae and freddie mac permitted t.a.r.p. recipients to monetize their guarantees atkins prices above what they wo

and the latest closures phos the fdic deposit insurance fund $267 million. >>> well, a two-year extension of bush era tax cuts is now the law of the land. president obama signed that bill yesterday, but as joel brown tells us, many members of the president's own party are still unhappy about it. >> there we go. [ applause ] >> reporter: the president's signature turned the tax cut compromise into law. the deal he hammered out with republicans prevents a new year's day tax hike for millions of americans. >> this is real money that's going to make a real difference in people's lives. >> reporter: the house approved the plan late thursday, after a marathon of debate in closed door deal making. the biggest critics were from the president's own party. >> the president has to understand that if he reaches out without a finger of bipartisanship, he's going to lose a pound of flesh in what he'll have to give up. >> reporter: liberals failed to win a tax hike on inherit tanses and in the deal, it went through. unemployment benefits are extended 13 months. and most workers will get a one- year cut

crisis and seeing banks fail and worrying if your bank was going to be seized friday afternoon by the fdicyou don't want to deal with the pyrotechnics of the stock make. it was a flash crash earlier this year that no one seems to understand what happened in may when the market shed 900 points in a few minutes, and i think the blame could be laid on the shoulders of these hedge fund that trad hundreds of thousands of shares every two seconds, and the individual investor by and large is saying i don't want to have my heart broken for the fourth time in 10 or 15 years, so i'm staying a way from it. >> brown: are we beginning to see changes there as people realize that their money isn't earning much anywhere else, right? >> indeed. that's the sad thing. it heart ening to see people finally coming out from their bunkers and participating in the capital markets again. but it's also, when the little guy comes in institutions say that's when they get out, that's a sign that the mom and pop investor has a pen chant for selling at the lows and buying at the highs, just doing the opposite of what you

in those days before social security, unemployment, the fdic, it was really pretty serious. and so the muckrakers, the progressive settlement house workers, social scientists were the same. they felt that they wanted to take action to rectify it. well, overriding this with these questions about what to do with the large number of immigrants who were pouring into new york and the question of what government role would take. teddy roosevelt mediated a coal strike, but there was some question about what further steps government could take. the conditions in new york, the garment district down here on the lower east side, fairly abysmal. my friend chris nelson asked me how hot it was in the sweatshops the thing is, they aren't really about the temperature so much as what we call sweated labor, which would be a way of subcontracting labor down and down and down between cut -- contractors all the way down. very little by the time they got the seamstresses. they put up with a lot of horrendous conditions. they worked with irregularities. there were no guarantees. you could be fi

the system has also shared many of the same challenges as the fdic. these steps have made a significant impact on thousands of credit unions across the country. we can have a serious conversation about the current state of the credit union industry and the impact of the increased assessments on credit unions that serve millions of americans across this country. i have certainly heard concerns from my constituents in south dakota about this matter. this is not the first and certainly not the last hearing on this financial condition of the specific sectors of our financial services and history. the financial crisis took a toll. >> it is important for these hearings to become a common occurrence. i look forward to your testimony, chairman. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i will try to be brief here today. this is a very important hearing. like other financial institutions, credit unions have faced unprecedented challenges from the financial crisis and are weak economy. five of the largest corporate credit union suffered substantial losses on mortgage- backed

as you know, that strategy detailed and included very createive programs by the reserve and fdic, and tax incentives and investments that game in the recovery act, the support for fannie and freddie that was required to avoid a collapse none of them would hav as effective without overall package. the monitory program doesn't work. tarp would not be as instrumental. i think it's important to recognize the shock that caused this great recession was larger and more powerful and dangerous in the view of economic history than the shock that precipitated the great depression. iet, despite that, two years after tarp was first passed by the congress, the economy has been growing for 18 months. : recessions. household wealth has improved very, very substantily over th period of time. the tax package that was approved by the senate yesterday and based on the comments made by the house leadership, both the republicans and democrats likely to pass the house this afternoon, provides a powerful package of support for working class familiesfamilies very powerful packages for businesses which we beli

as you know, that strategy detailed and included very createive programs by the reserve and fdic, and tax incentives and investments that game in the recovery act, the support for fannie and freddie that was required to avoid a collapse alongside the t.a.r.p. programs. none of them would have been as effect i have without the overall package. monitor policy doesn't work without a functioning financial system. t.a.r.p. went out without the other instruments. that's an important thing to recognize. i think it's important to recognize that the shock that caused this great recession and crisis was larger and more powerful and more dangerous in the view of economic historians than the shock that was precipitated the great depression. despite that, two years after the peak and t.a.r.p. was as -- passed, the economy has been growing for 18 months. roughly 1.2 million jobs more and more quickly than followed the last two recessions. household wealth has improved very, very substantially over this period of time. the tax package that was approved by the senate yesterday and based on the commen

as you know, that strategy detailed and included very createive programs by the reserve and fdic, and tax incentives and investments that game in the recovery act, the support for fannie and freddie that was required to avoid a collapse alongside the t.a.r.p. programs. none of them would have been as effect i have without the overall package. monitor policy doesn't work without a functioning financial system. t.a.r.p. went out without the other instruments. that's an important thing to recognize. i think it's important to recognize that the shock that caused this great recession and crisis was larger and more powerful and more dangerous in the view of economic historians than the shock that was precipitated the great depression. despite that, two years after the peak and t.a.r.p. was as -- passed, the economy has been growing for 18 months. roughly 1.2 million jobs more and more quickly than followed the last two recessions. household wealth has improved very, very substantially over this period of time. the tax package that was approved by the senate yesterday and based on the commen

while the fdic is not the supervisor, we have a significant interest in these institutions.miners have been working on site as part of a review team at 12 of the 14 mortgage servicers. the witnesses that have been identified during the mortgage prices are a byproduct of the rapid growth of the number of loans. the traditional structure of third-party mortgage servicing deals put in place is based on a flat fee and does not provide additional compensation for the proper management of distressed loans. large servicers aggressively automated systems to maximize short-term returns. the historic rise in mortgage defaults has created incentives to cut corners at a time when servicers needed to be committing more personal attention to problem loans. the problems we are seeing go beyond documentation issues to include questions about private securitization trust. this is damaging to the nation's health and recovery. one implication is the risk of destruction of the foreclosure crisis. it is painful, but necessary for the recovery of our housing market and our economy. mortgage docum

it's persistent shortcomings our of nation's largest mortgage servicers while the fdic is not the primary supervisor we have the ensurer of many of the institutions the through auerbach up examination. they've been working on-site as a review team at 12 of the major 14 mortgagers. weaknesses identified in practices during the mortgage crisis are a by product of o rapid growth and a design not modified for this. third party mortgages fees put in mace well before the crisis is based on the outstanding mortgage balance and does not provide for additional management. large servicers aggressively automated systems and consolidated to maximize short-term returns but the drive has driven up structures creating incentives just as the time as they need more attention to the momming meant of problem loans. the problems we're seeing go behind this and other technical documentation to include questions regarding tight tunneled proper establishment of private secureization trust. it's potentially damaging to our housing and nations institutions relating. transparent functioning for closure process is

the least focused on are the bank regulators whose purpose the fdic and the federal reserve, each of which have a jurisdiction over the large servicing companies. their purposes the solvency of those institutions. they have a variety of risk- based capital requirements. these issues clearly intertwine with them. the federal reserve is going to be running stress tests on the big banks again trade the results are not going to be public, but they will be looking at the mortgage irregularities as a contributing datapoint to this test. >> of want to ask a bigger question -- mike showed a graph that demonstrated this is a new model for financing and it's grown exponentially and not living up to its first test. in the next year, congress is expected to take up gse reform. can this continue with all the risk that is inherited or a threat for way to approach it? what should we look for when we talk about fixing the gse where this process originated? >> i will answer this by admitting it by a -- by saying i will answer it sideways. if you believe and what they were set up to do, namely promote

the third and most important least focused on other bank regulators, whose purpose the fdic, occ, and the federal reserve, each of whom have jurisdiction over large servicing companies -- their purpose is the solvency of those institutions. they have a variety of risk- based capital requirements. these issues clearly in a time it down. one of the most salient issues is gone to come up very fast your -- is going to come up very fast here, that the federal reserve is going to run stress test on a bank and the results are not going to be public, but it seems clear that they will look at mortgage irregularities as a contributing data points to the test. >> i want to ask a bigger picture question as well. mike showed the graph that demonstrated this is a relatively new model for housing finance, not living up to its first test. in the next year, congress is expected to take up gse reform, looking at fannie mae and freddie mac. is this a model that can continue, securitization of mortgages, with all this inherited -- with all the risks inherited? but should we look at next year -- what shou

credit corp., and familiar with that, eight members breech kick the federal crop insurance corp., 10, the fdicguaranty corp., three -- maybe it is odd to me, but in all my years, i do remember having a board that consisted of three appointed secretaries of departments. usually boards are made up of people who have some expertise and background and continue on so as -- so there is not an abrupt change from one administration to the next. i'm going to ask again for the record, your own views from having looked at this, i want you to think about should these boards be expanded? i don't have in mind, but least get continuity that would go from one administration to the other. this is one area that ought not to be political and ought not to be partisan. we have to get the best people to be on the boards that have these backgrounds where you would have a hold over, some rotational system so that you keep some expertise on these boards from one administration to the next. i want your views on that and how important is it right now for us to pay attention to? >> i cannot dictate or would not want to b

that's the important thing to look for. fdiceven worse this time of year. what are the things you can do if you're struggling with credit card debt to help get from underneath it. >> what you can do is turn your credit card over and there's a phone number on the back. call that number on the back of your credit card and ask them about their hardship programs. these are programs by the way, they don't always go by hardship programs. but they're programs that let people lower their interest on a credit card so that if you can't make your bill payments the bank will say, okay let's work together to modify your program. in many cases they will lower the interest rate. they won't always lower the principal. they're usually not going to do that but sometimes they'll do that if you're really in a bind. make sure when you call them you tell them your financial situation. explain to them what you think can you do as far as payments and sometimes they'll work with you. >> okay. flexible spending accounts. we've just gone through the renew

according to the fdic the total mortgage delinquencies was 10%. in my state of georgia it exceeded 12%. the 100% f.h.a. mart the delinquency is 13%. in my state of georgia in the third-quarter it rose above 20%. one in every five. we have mounting problems with greenhouse gas housing inventory, problems made worse with growing fees keeping many from being able to refinance affordable loans and therefore becoming delinquent and foreclosed loans. i am, however, extremely proud of the bipartisan provision that senator hagan, senator landrieu and myself added to the financial reform bill. earlier this year i began working with senators landrieu and hagan to develop the concept of a qualified residential mortgage or as i call it a new gold standard for residential mortgages, which ultimately was included in the credit risk retention title of 941-b in the financial reform bill. while risk retention can serve as a strong deterrent through excessive risk taken by lenders, it also opposes the potential of a restriction of credit in the mortgage market. i w

i had a bank that went belly up and the s -- fdic was there. there was no reason for me to have to go through the steps of experiencing a bank to go that way. i will wait for your response and allow me to respond. guest: first of all, let me respond to the question about the lobbyists. they take tremendous hits. i may have been in washington too long, but there is a real function for people who lobby congress. what congress is dealing with is exceedingly complicated. we want to be as sure as we can that when decisions are made and laws are passed, at least all of the organizations, people who will be affected adversely by those laws have had their views fully understood by the congress people, the house members and senators, who are voting. i hear a lot about lobbyists being troubling and there are many lobbyists who have caused a lot of controversy because of what they did and some of it was not entirely honest. there is real value in having people who are representing others and telling congress how things would actually work. as to the questi

and because the mark to market being applied by the fdic and the other cease and desist orders that the banking institution and lenders are under, nobody's extending cred credit. in my state of gonch george, in atlanta -- in my state of georgia, in atlanta, georgia, in 2006, there were 63,000 housing per in its in that area, 2006. four years ago. last year -- this year, there were 5,300. that is a 90% reduction in new construction. now, granted, we were in a hypereconomy in 2006. granted, overbuilding probably contributed to the decline of the economy later o. but a 90% reduction sun healthy, and if we continue to -- reduction is unhealthy, and if he we continue to sustain that, we'll sustain what is a difficult economic period. so we need to look to the future. so my recommendations are first, give he is predictability and extend existing tax rates and not raise them in a recession. second, recognize there's no liquidity in mortgage money in the united states of america. and the longer we wait to address the question of what happens after freddie and after fannie, the longer the housin

we'll give you an exclusion but within a year, the values because there's a lot of dumping the land around there, fdic and all that, values fell $600 or $700 so the i.r.s. took every single acre of that farm that took over 100 years and generations to build. it is immoral. it is immoral for this body to say, you worked too hard, saved too much, accumulated things for your family, so we're going to take over half of it. that's outrageous. it needs to stop. but the gavel was handed to the democratic majority in january of 2007, we have to give some credit where credit is due, despite what my friend across the aisle said about bush giving us $4 gas, actually he was trying to do things like drill in areas that would have brought down the price of gasoline and yet this administration and this majority, majority beginning january of 2007, began to take actions, it seemed like it was basically monthly, where we were putting more and more land off limits to drilling, off limits to production of minerals and oil and gas and things that people relied on to have lower gas prices. let's give credit where credit i

i had a bank that went belly up and the s -- fdic was there. there was no reason for me to have to go through the steps of experiencing a bank to go that way. i will wait for your response and allow me to respond. guest: first of all, let me respond to the question about the lobbyists. they take tremendous hits. i may have been in washington too long, but there is a real function for people who lobby congress. what congress is dealing with is exceedingly complicated. we want to be as sure as we can that when decisions are made and laws are passed, at least all of the organizations, people who will be affected adversely by those laws have had their views fully understood by the congress people, the house members and senators, who are voting. i hear a lot about lobbyists being troubling and there are many lobbyists who have caused a lot of controversy because of what they did and some of it was not entirely honest. there is real value in having people who are representing others and telling congress how things would actually work. as to the questi

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the estate tax. unfortunately, this was this was 1986 and that also happened to be a time when fdic and the slic, later the r.t.c., they start aid cumulating and dumping land around that area. mr. gohmert: land had been valued at around $2,000 at the time of her death in 1986 but within a year or so, when the estate was being settled because of land being dumped in the area, it fell to $600 or $700 an acre. the i.r.s. took every acre of the estate because at the time the land fell to $600 or $700, and the i.r.s. did allow a year or two extension, hoping the land value would come back so they'd get to save an acre or two, but out of 2,500 acres, when the land value went -- it was around a $5 million estate, 2,000 acres, some comparables around that when she died to show it was that value but when it fell to $600 or $700, the i.r.s. said, it's all ours. it will take all, every acre of land to pay your 55% estate tax even after the exemption. they forced the sale of every acre of land and her home where she had designated specific bequests, i want you to have my china, i want you to have my crystal, i wan

the last time he saw fdic chair sheila bair, he wouldn't stop bark. hairman bair has not one but two degrees from the university of kansas. i think she sniffed it out, bond said. kit has a tremendous career in public service. he's been elected seven times in missouri from state auditor to his four terms in the senate, more than anyone else in the history of the show-me state. looking back, kit says his political adversaries kept him nimble and the media kept him humble. whatever the formula, kit has been an outstanding senator and we will miss him terribly. i'm sure it is hard for missourians to imagine kit outside of office. it's no easier for his colleagues to imagine the senate without kit. as his fourth term draws to a close, history will show he has served the people of missouri and the people of this nation with passion, honor, and integrity. he will be missed. and let me just add, mr. president, back in the mid-1980's, i started off in the very last seat back there and then two years later -- these were not great years for republicans; we had tw

the number was academic. there was no social security. there was no medicaid. there was no unemployment. there was no fdic. you dropped, there was no one to catch you. that week on december 18, a small ad appeared in the canton repository newspaper. it was addressed to the community and basically said if you're hurting, you write to me, tell me what you are going through, and i will help you in a small way before christmas. this was the summer 18, 1933. the ad was about as big and it ran on the inside of the can repository. the writer instructed the community to write to mr. b. virdot, general delivery, canton, ohio. and he said it's not my real name. you will never know who i am. and those of you who write to me, no one will ever learn your identity. the offer was so electrifying that the newspaper or a front-page story about it the same day, which ensured that everyone in the committee would know about it. and word spread for hundreds of miles. and within a couple of days hundreds of letters, perhaps more, forward in address to mr. b. virdot. a couple of days later checks went out to 150 families for $5.

fdic-insured. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 the schwab bank high yield investor checking® account.dd# 1-800-345-2550 the biggest thing in checking tdd# 1-800-345-2550 since checks. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 open an account at 1-800-4schwab or schwab.com. - will you marry me? - before saying those words, there's one word every man should know. - leo. - the leo diamond, certified to be visibly brighter, at kay, the number one jewelry store in america. - yes. >>> good morning. i'm theresa garcia. the chp is investigating why a man was apparently walking on highway 101 in burlingame this morning when he was truck and killed. highway patrol reports a person on the ground in the fast lane north of broadway. happened about 1:25 this morning. a driver was injured. four lanes of the freeway were closed for a time. it took about two hours to clear that accident scene. let's check on the traffic with myles. good morning. how are you doing? >> doing well, thank you, theresa. walnut creek no reports of accidents but traffic is low on southbound 680. northbound no problems as you can see. the bay brid

fdic-insured. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 the schwab bank high yield investor checking® account.# 1-800-345-2550 the biggest thing in checking tdd# 1-800-345-2550 since checks. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 open an account at 1-800-4schwab or schwab.com. >>> this morning on "today's travel," on the go this holiday season. between thanksgiving and new year's nearly a third of americans will be on the road or in the air. what should you expect and where can you find the best deals? mark orwall is the international editor for "travel & leisure" magazine. >> good morning, lester. >> we heard a little while ago unemployment numbers are still up. but other signs of the economy suggest people are back in a spending mood. >> that's right. that figure you just mentioned, about 5% increase over last year. people in this recent merits poll saying that the average holiday traveler is going to spend around $1200 on their trip. which is up above 40% over last year. maybe more confidence in their own personal finances at this point. >> and of course a lot of those people are going to be flying. there's b

a piece of legislation last year that when the tarp money came back again, it could not be respected. in addition, a number of programs, everything from fdic bailouts to medicaid, a number of programs were way up during the recession and then they come back down again as the recession receives and it gets better. over time, if we simply do not get carried away and start trying to make sure that these things have that impact on the budget, that will help us. >> i wanted to do a little exercise with you. you have the bird's-eye view of looking at president's from the vantage point of congress and the relationship between the two branches. i would just want to run through the names of presidents that were in office when you were in office and give me your recollection of them. do you mind doing that? >> sure. >> start with president reagan. >> he made people understand that communication is part of the policy -- the process of setting political policy. yet to make people feel good about it. he made americans feel good about stuff again which was quite an accomplishment. >> mr. bush 41? >> a very decent guy who limited -- who did not capture t

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testimony and outlining all the different federal at department's that we have that have boards now -- credit corporation -- i am familiar with that from my ag work -- fdic10, opec, 15. also, it just seems may be odd to me, but in all my years, i don't remember having a board that consisted simply of three appointed secretaries of departments. usually, boards are made up of people that have expertise and background and continue on, so that there is not one abrupt change from administration to the next. i would just ask you again for the record, your own views from having looked at this -- mr. porter, you, too, i want you to think about to these boards expanded -- i don't have a number, i don't know if they are expended, but to a least a continuity from one administration to the other -- i agree with everything that has been said that this is one area that ought not to be political or partisan. we ought to get the best people of all to be on the boards to have these backgrounds, where you have a hold over, some rotational kind of system, so that you keep expertise on these boards from one administration to the next. i just want your views on that, and how

and during the financial crisis, the fdic created a program to guarantee that business and trust checking accounts that do not pay interest are insured, they're guaranteed, and iolta was included in this because they do not pay interest to the client. now, the dodd-frank reform bill that we had extended these arrangements for two years for accounts that do not pay interest to the clients. but they forgot to include the iolta accounts that do not pay interest to the clients but do pay interest that goes to fund civil legal services for poor americans in all 50 states. so we are seeking to fix this glitch, and i that hundreds of thousands of americans who don't otherwise have access to legal services are in a position to benefit when they need such services across our nation. now, in oregon, we have the oregon law foundation, the nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that administers legal aid for the poor. they benefited to the tune of over a million dollars in revenue in 2009. when interest was a little better, they had more revenue in 2008, $2.2 million, and that was a decrease from 2007,