NPR and ProPublica report: Fannie and Freddie decide slashing mortgages is good business. Trayvon Martin’s death raises questions about the risks of being young and black in America. Larry checks in from annual Spring Training tour. KPCC film critics Andy Klein and Tim Cogshell join guest host Nick Roman to review the week’s new film releases, including The Hunger Games, Detachment, The Deep Blue Sea and more. TGI-FilmWeek! Is middlebrow a four-letter word for film critics?
NPR and ProPublica report: Fannie and Freddie decide slashing mortgages is good business
A recent analysis by the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac suggest that drastically reducing the amount of money owed on hundreds of thousands of underwater mortgages would be good business for everyone. They concluded that such loan forgiveness would not only keep many families in their homes but in doing so would save the companies money which in turn benefits the taxpayers who bailed out the mortgage holders to the tune of $150 billion.
Many economists and top policy makers insist that such a move would be the best course of action in keeping a fragile economic recovery going. On the other hand, a principal reduction of this magnitude could ultimately back-fire by encouraging more home owners to default on their loans. Some economists believe that if a sweeping principal reduction were to make its way to Main Street, home owners would be tempted to stop paying their mortgage to reduce the amount they owe on the home. Many borrowers who are paying their mortgages every month feel this is unfair- why should they have to pay their fair share when others who got into homes and mortgages they couldn’t afford get off the hook?
The analysis by Fannie and Freddie was presented to the Federal Housing Finance Agency last week and the decision lies directly in the hands of its director, Edward DeMarco. DeMarco has been public in his opposition to such principal reductions in the past, claiming that its bad business for both the companies and the tax payers.
WEIGH IN:
Would a principal forgiveness make sense for underwater home owners? Does it reward bad behavior by reducing the amount owed on homes that were too much in the first place? Will the burden of a bailout by tax payers be lifted if the mortgage holders reduced the principal on underwater homes?
Guest:
Jesse Eisinger, Senior Reporter, ProPublica – reported in conjunction with NPR’s Chris Arnold
Trayvon Martin's death raises questions about the risks of being young and black in America
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in New York’s Union Square Wednesday, to remember the life and protest the death of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed, black teen who was killed three weeks ago by a white neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford, Florida. Supporters at the rally, dubbed the “Million Hoodie March” by organizers, chanted “we want arrests!” and “we are all Trayvon,” as they marched.
Martin’s parents addressed the crowd and called for the arrest of George Zimmerman, who claims he shot Martin in self-defense. Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee, who has been bitterly criticized because officers didn’t arrest Zimmerman, announced yesterday that he’s temporarily stepping down, while the shooting is investigated. “This is not a black and white thing,” Trayvon Martin’s mother Sybrina Fulton told the crowd, “This is a right and wrong thing.”
But Martin’s death raises an uneasy question: would he have been killed had he not been young, black and wearing a hoodie? In an article titled “Trayvon: Murdered for walking while black,” Marian Wright Edelman writes “Every parent raising black sons knows the dilemma: deciding how soon to have the talk” about how to walk, what to say and how to act in public, to avoid suspicion. But ask any black man in America and chances are he has a “Walking or Driving While Black” story to tell.
Today, Nick Roman talks with black reporters in KPCC’s newsroom about their personal experiences along those lines, how they’ve dealt with overt or covert racism and the advice their parents gave them.
WEIGH IN:
Do you have your own stories about racial profiling to share? How have you dealt with it? Are black teens wearing hoodies more likely to be perceived as dangerous?
Guests:
Corey Moore, KPCC Reporter
Stephen Hoffman, KPCC Producer
Brian Watt, KPCC Reporter
Larry checks in from annual Spring Training tour
The Cactus League in Arizona and the Grapefruit League in Florida draw in more than just locals for the chance to check out smaller fields and get closer to their favorite players during Spring Training. Major League Baseball has had its share of upsets and victories in the last year, but the excitement of a new season is brewing as the preseason gets underway.
Teams have revamped uniforms and talented rookies are looking to make their mark. New trades like Albert Pujols from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Los Angeles Angels have people buzzing with curiosity to see what happens with both teams. Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox are looking to turn things around after last year’s surprisingly dismal season and the New York Yankees have a deep starting lineup and two new pitchers. Larry Mantle is on his annual Spring Training road trip with Morning Edition host Steve Julian, but that won’t stop him from bringing his away game back home for a chat with guest host Nick Roman about what’s happening on the field.
FilmWeek: The Hunger Games, 4:44 Last Day on Earth, The Deep Blue Sea, Detachment, The Raid: Redemption and more
KPCC film critics Andy Klein and Tim Cogshell join guest host Nick Roman to review the week’s new film releases, including The Hunger Games, 4:44 Last Day on Earth, The Deep Blue Sea, Detachment, The Raid: Redemption and more. TGI-FilmWeek!
Guests:
Tim Cogshell, film critic for KPCC and Box Office Magazine
Andy Klein, film critic for KPCC, Glendale News-Press and the L.A. Times Community Papers chain
Is middlebrow a four-letter word for film critics?
Last August, film critic Stephen Farber wrote a piece for the LA Times about how The Help, a movie based on a novel with a varied of cast of award-winners and newcomers which tackled prominent social themes, was essentially panned by the more avant-garde or independently-minded film critics. The Help, and movies like it, are considered by Farber to be middlebrow. He elaborated further by explaining these films are, “aspiring to intellectual substance without quite reaching the exalted heights.” In short, they aren’t schlock, but they aren’t fine art either.
Farber points to the past to show how these movies were once regarded highly with examples like To Kill a Mockingbird, which won Oscars and received critical praise. Now, however, even Oscar-nominated films such as The Help, War Horse and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close are derided for their “simplistic” efforts and “impassioned” attempts to put forth some sort of human viewpoint in a way that isn’t necessarily overtly artistic or challenging to the audience.
Farber cited several examples from critics who took umbrage which various movies for such offenses, and one of them, Mark Olsen, wrote a rebuttal in the LA Times to Farber’s thesis. The thrust of his argument is that times have changed, and while there once was a need for middlebrow movies, that time has passed. Audiences are smarter and braver now, and don’t need their hands to be held by movies like The Help.
WEIGH IN:
Where do you fall in this spectrum? Do you think Farber has a point, and middlebrow movies are unfairly treated? Or is Olsen right to push the film industry to go further in a more artful style? Is there a happy medium that could be reached? Why must these stances be mutually exclusive? What are you looking for from not just film, but film criticism?
Guests:
Stephen Farber, film critic for The Hollywood Reporter
Mark Olsen, film critic for Los Angeles Times, writes the Indie Focus column