Census Shows U.S. Becoming White Minority State Faster Than Thought

According to the U.S. census, America will become a nation in which white people are no longer that majority faster than people have expected. The Huffington Post reports:

The data shows a declining number of white adults and growing under-18 populations of Hispanics, Asians and other minorities.
Nationwide, 67 percent of adults are white, but just 54 percent of children are.
“Were it not for Hispanics, the nation’s child population would have declined,” the report’s authors wrote. According to the analysis, Hispanics saw the largest absolute increase in children, at 4.8 million. The nation’s white population grew by only 1.2 percent, far lower than the national growth rate of 9.7 percent and well below the 43 percent growth rates for Hispanics and Asians.

United States Hispanic Population Tops 50 Million

The states that are reported to have seen the most dramatic increases are Nevada, Virginia, and North Carolina. The Obama administration could greatly benefit from this demographic shift, as recent polls show that the President has held a 70 percent approval rating among Hispanic voters.

In Census, Young Americans Increasingly Diverse

“This is a huge demographic transformation,” Mr. Frey said. “A cultural generation gap is emerging.”

Congress, Obama get paid in a government shutdown

Did you know Congress and President Obama would be paid if the federal government has to shut down this weekend?
Despite attempts in the U.S. House and Senate to block such a move, members of Congress and the president are considered "essential" government employees and would be paid in the event a budget deal cannot be reached by Friday. The same goes for aides deemed "essential" in helping members of Congress in carrying out their constitutional duties.

Obama administration warns of shutdown's economic impact

A government shutdown starting this Saturday would have immediate economic repercussions for Americans, affecting everyone from applicants for small-business
loans, lower-income homebuyers to people who file their income-tax returns on paper.
That warning came from a senior Obama administration official during a Wednesday telephone conference with reporters. Unless Congressional Democrats and Republicans reach a last-minute budget compromise, some 800,000 federal employees likely will be furloughed starting this weekend, the official estimated.
Each party is attempting to deflect blame in the event that the government runs out of operating funds for the first time since 1996. A stopgap spending bill called a continuing resolution expires midnight Friday.
After that, the government must halt all operations except essential services and programs that are funded through mandatory appropriations, such as Medicare and Social Security benefits.

House GOP instructed to stay in D.C. this weekend, budget talks continue

As talks continue on an eleventh-hour budget deal that could forestall a government shutdown, House Republican members have been given guidance to stick around this weekend rather than leave Washington for their home districts, a House aide tells NBC News.The instructions mean that House leaders could be planning for a weekend session of Congress to pass some form of compromise legislation to keep a potential government shutdown from spilling into the work week next Monday.
But, while House and Senate aides say that talks are still ongoing, a concrete plan to avoid a shutdown is far from in place.

The next housing shock

April 3, 2011 5:00 PM

As more and more Americans face mortgage foreclosure, banks' crucial ownership documents for the properties are often unclear and are sometimes even bogus, a condition that's causing lawsuits and hampering an already weak housing market. Scott Pelley reports.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7361572n&tag=related;photovideo#ixzz1IiHimgzv

Mortgage mess: Who really owns your mortgage?

As it turns out, Wall Street cut corners when it bundled homeowners' mortgages into securities that were traded from investor to investor. Now that banks are foreclosing on people, they're finding that the legal documents behind many mortgages are missing. So, what do the banks do? As Pelley explains in this video, some companies appear to be resorting to forgery and phony paperwork in what looks like a nationwide epidemic.

Who's to blame for U.S. housing debacle? 

Last updated: Feb 10, 2011

As the 112th Congress begins and new committees are formed, our nation's marathon housing crisis seems far from over and no sure cures to its billion-dollar economic effects have been identified. In the meantime, agencies and laws intended to expand

affordable housing nationwide have now come under attack. So-called “risky borrowers,” the Community Reinvestment Act and two government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, have all been accused of creating the lengthy downturn in housing and more than 2.5 million foreclosures.

Lawmakers would be well-advised to focus on the facts and to seek sustainable answers instead of new villains. Before the housing bubble burst, modest increases in Black homeownership were achieved. Now, the effects of the extended housing crisis have erased those same gains.

PRAY ON JUST A LITTLE WHILE LONGER.


Prices are low! Mortgages cheap! But you can't get one

Yep, mortgage interest rates are low, but there's a catch: It doesn't matter how cheap rates are if you can't get a loan.

And these days, only highly qualified borrowers can get financing -- let alone the best rates.

Nearly a quarter of people who apply for loans are turned down, according to the Federal Reserve.

"Good borrowers with one or two blemishes on their credit are being denied credit," said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors.