Feds May Offer Low Home Loan Rates to New Homebuyers; Should the Feds Help Home Builders?; Green Dot Jump Charter Schools Boosts Ailing Locke High School; U.S. Military to Beef-Up Domestic Security; Gift-Giving in Tough Economic Times
Feds May Offer Low Home Loan Rates to New Homebuyers
The recession, now official, started with the housing market. The Treasury Department is now considering a plan to revitalize that market by pushing down interest rates for home loans. The plan's still in development, but the Wall Street Journal reports that the government would use Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to encourage banks to lend at rates as low as 4.5 percent for standard 30-year mortgages. Will this work? Larry talks to the Dow Jones Newswires' Michael Crittenden and real estate finance expert Stuart Gabriel about the impact this plan may have on the housing market and the economy.
Should the Feds Help Home Builders?
Financial firms. Auto makers. Now home builders may be looking to Uncle Sam for help. New home construction is at its lowest level since the 1940s and builders say their industry is in danger of collapsing. The source of their problem is similar to other industries--they are unable to get lines of credit from banks. What's the answer? Larry talks with NPR's Greg Allen and Tim Coyle of the California Building Industry Association.
Green Dot Jump Charter Schools Boosts Ailing Locke High School
For many years, Locke High School has been the poster child for the failing inner city school with high drop out rates, low test scores and dilapidated facilities. Academically, Locke ranks third lowest in the state. Last summer, Green Dot Charter Schools took over Locke HS from LAUSD and vowed to turn it around. In a segment airing tonight, KCET's SoCal Connected reports on changes taking place at Locke High School.
U.S. Military to Beef-Up Domestic Security
Pentagon officials have announced a plan for the U.S. military to provide up to 20,000 troops by 2011 to help state and local officials in the event of a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic disaster. Critics of the plan fear that its implementation would stretch American troop strength too thin and that it possibly undermines the Posse Comitatus act which restricts the military's role in the domestic law enforcement. Larry Mantle weighs the arguments for and against with Captain Michael Collins, Scott L. Silliman of Duke University Law School and Jonathan Hafetz of the ACLU's National Security Project.
Gift-Giving in Tough Economic Times
The recession is likely influencing gift-giving decisions this holiday season. Larry talks with AirTalk listeners about how the economic downturn is altering their gift-buying plans this December.