President Barack Obama agreed to entitlement reforms (reduced Social Security benefits) Bertrayal

WASHINGTON -- In his first Sunday show interview since his reelection, President Barack Obama admonished congressional Republicans for their unwillingness to compromise over debt reduction and implored the media to cast aside its pox-on-both-your-houses coverage.
With the deadline for negotiations over the so-called fiscal cliff looming in the backdrop, the president took to NBC's "Meet the Press" to defend his efforts to find common ground. He noted that he had moved off his initial demands for revenue (once $1.6 trillion, now $1.2 trillion), agreed to entitlement reforms (reduced Social Security benefits) and already signed hefty spending cuts ($1 trillion as part of the Budget Control Act in 2011). For all that, he added, he was still waiting for Republicans to come closer to halfway.

The Political Financial Fiscal Cliff End of 2012 Video Round Table

 

In the United States, the fiscal cliff is a term used to refer to the economic effects that could result from tax increases, spending cuts and a corresponding reduction in the US budget deficit beginning in 2013 if existing laws are not changed by the end of 2012. The deficit—the difference between what the government takes in and what it spends—is expected to be reduced by roughly half beginning in the first days of 2013. This sharp decrease in the deficit in such a short period of time is known as the fiscal cliff. The Congressional Budget Office estimates this sudden reduction will probably lead to a mild recession in early 2013.

Key laws leading to the fiscal cliff
A number of laws led to the fiscal cliff, including these provisions:^[1][16]

• Expiration of the Bush tax cuts extended by President Obama in the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010;

• Across-the-board spending cuts ("sequestration") to most discretionary programs as directed by the Budget Control Act of 2011;

• Reversion of the Alternative Minimum Tax thresholds to their 2000 tax year levels;

• Expiration of measures delaying the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate from going into effect (the "doc fix"), as extended by the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (MCTRJCA);

• Expiration of the 2% Social Security payroll tax cut, most recently extended by MCTRJCA;

• Expiration of federal unemployment benefits, as extended by MCTRJCA, and

• New taxes imposed by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.

The White House's first formal offer, presented Nov. 29 left Mr. Boehner incredulous. It included a request for $1.6 trillion in additional tax revenue over 10 years, a permanent increase in the debt ceiling and money for road projects and other year-end priorities. In return it offered spending cuts of $400 billion—25 cents for each dollar in new revenue

Fiscal Cliff Budget Negotiations, Gun Control in America: 'This Week' Roundtable Discussion

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324731304578193770576333616.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_fiscal_cliff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrjdt2LMi1M

Barack Obama to Mitt Romney at Florida third Debate 2012 'We Also Have Fewer Horses And Bayonets'

'We Also Have Fewer Horses And Bayonets'

SLAM DUNK ANSWER

Political Commentary October 19-2012 Gloom over Barack Obama Presidency

From no where Obama lost his comfortable lead and the tables turned around.
Romney speaks honey during the debates and present Bouquet of flower to the American people.
Obama looks dizzy and does not know what hit him.
The Libya terrorist attack is draining his campaign and seems how to handle this mess and tragedy and how they are going to defend the whole thing and shaky performance.
It looks also that Romney strategy was to have avalanche of advertisement for the last minute push to overwhelm Obama.

October 13-2012 Political Commentary Politics Economy Obama Romney sherifview

The economy looks stronger all the time.
There is strong rebound in the housing market and strong performance in the financial investing and banking sector as J.P. Morgan and Wells Fargo post big profits.

It looks like Mitt Romney wants to inherit strong rebounding economy and call it his own as Obama inherited collapsing market and the Republicans call it its own.



Banks see a housing rebound

America's long-suffering housing market may be on the mend, two major banks said as they reported big jumps in profits.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co., the nation's largest home lenders, each reported double-digit quarterly earnings growth Friday. The big jump in profit was thanks largely to a surge in their mortgage businesses, fueled by low interest rates and waves of refinancing.

It led JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, considered one of Wall Street's most high-profile bankers, to declare: "We believe the housing market has turned the corner."

Home lending is booming. The banks said profits on the sale of home loans were twice as high as traditional levels as the Federal Reserve kept interest rates at historical lows to help stimulate the economy.

JPMorgan and Wells Fargo, which emerged from the financial crisis as two of the strongest U.S. banks, control nearly half of the nation's mortgage volume. They reported a surge in revenue from mortgage origination and servicing during the last three months.

Wells said it issued $139 billion in mortgages from July through September, compared with $89 billion in the same period last year. JPMorgan wrote $47 billion in mortgages, compared with $37 billion last year.

"Both companies clearly expressed a view of signs of recovery, if not stabilization" in the housing market, Sterne Agee banking analyst Todd Hagerman said. "These guys should continue to report very healthy [mortgage] numbers for at least the next several quarters, if not through 2013."

There were some signs, though, that the boom isn't as strong as it might seem. The large majority of mortgage lending was driven not by people buying new homes but by owners refinancing mortgages, which is less helpful to the housing market.

Still, the numbers were eye-catching.

At Wells Fargo, mortgage business revenue rose 55% to $2.8 billion during the third quarter from $1.8 billion in the year-earlier period. The San Francisco bank posted an overall profit of $3.94 billion, which easily surpassed Wall Street projections.

JPMorgan's mortgage business posted a 71% increase to $2.4 billion from $1.4 billion last year. This led the bank to beat expectations with an overall profit of $5.7 billion.

Americans have been scrambling to take advantage of a low rate environment in which the 30-year fixed loan this month hovered at about 3.4%, down from 4.1% a year ago. In 2008, the rate was well above 6%.

And it's all against a backdrop of signs nationwide that the fractured housing market could be healing. A Federal Reserve survey this week found that a stronger housing market helped economic growth in almost every part of the country. Home sales are up, prices are rising more consistently in most places and builders are more confident.

Economists have been predicting that any lift in the housing market could boost the broader economy. When homeowners have more equity in their homes or gain extra cash from a refinancing, it tends to free up more money — and that boosts consumer spending.

The top executives of JPMorgan and Wells Fargo said housing still has room to recover further.

Dimon noted that there are still plenty of homeowners who can't afford their mortgages and that the bank is still seeing a high level of souring mortgage loans. He expects high default-related expenses "for a while longer."

Meanwhile, Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf acknowledged that the housing market is still "not back to where we need to be, and it is not as robust as we would all want it to be."

The banks reported increasing loan defaults and worrisome consumer delinquencies. Both also reported high costs associated with servicing older mortgages, and JPMorgan set aside an additional $684 million in the third quarter for litigation expenses.

The disclosure of that pretax expense came a week after New York Atty. Gen. Eric Schneiderman hit JPMorgan with a lawsuit stemming from mortgage bonds sold by Bear Stearns, the investment bank that JPMorgan purchased when it ran into trouble during the financial crisis.

And in the latest in a long series of lawsuits against mortgage lenders, federal prosecutors in Manhattan this week accused Wells Fargo of defrauding the Federal Housing Administration of hundreds of millions of dollars by wrongly certifying that loans were good enough to be insured by the FHA.

Tim Sloan, Wells Fargo's chief financial officer, said the bank planned to vigorously defend itself against the government's claims.

"We're proud to still be the largest FHA lender, and the performance of mortgages we've underwritten has been excellent for a very long time," Sloan said. He refused to rule out forcing the government to take the FHA case to trial. "Anything is possible in litigation."

With record profits and a robust mortgage business in the spotlight Friday, JPMorgan seemed to be able to rebound from Schneiderman's legal maneuvering. The bank also seemed to emerge from the shadows of losses caused by the risky derivatives bets made by a trader nicknamed "the London whale."

The bank had pegged the losses at $5.8 billion as of the second quarter, and on Friday said they had widened modestly by $449 million.

http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-bank-earnings-20121013,0,4792256.story

Numbers are used to lie at Biden and Romney Debate

It has been said that numbers do not lie @ in light of t Joe Biden & Paul Ryan Debate were numbers used to lie

The Kentucky Debate between V.P. Joe Biden ana Congressman Paul Ryan October-11-2012

Joe Biden laughed unnecessary.
The statement of Paul Ryan that in the first half of Obama when the Democrats have majority in congress Obama could have done anything he wanted is untrue.
The were dozen or so Blue Democrats who oppose on every thing and in addition he needed 60 votes in the Senate to pass some of his legislation's.
Martha the moderator was unfair from her to bring into discussion the events of Libya and the tragic death of the Ambassador Stevens. This put Biden on the defensive and in backward position.
Biden should have explained in better way how Obama turned the economy around.
Paul Ryan theorized nonsense about tax cuts and balancing the budget,
Paul Ryan is more articulate even his premises are wrong and faulty.