News Headline

House Curbs College Costs

OurFuture.org Staff — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 10:01:26 -0500

The House approved legislation aimed at curtailing rising college costs and limiting student debt. The bill requires the Department of Education to create a Web site where students and their families can compare the costs of different schools. Colleges will be grouped according to how expensive they are and how quickly their costs have increased.

EPA Dropped Wetlands Cases

OurFuture.org Staff — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:13:09 -0400

The Bush administration didn't pursue hundreds of potential water pollution cases after a 2006 Supreme Court decision that restricted the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to regulate seasonal streams and wetlands. From July 2006 through December 2007 there were 304 instances where the EPA found what would have been violations of the Clean Water Act before the court's ruling, according to a memo by the agency's enforcement chief. Officials "chose not to pursue formal enforcement based on the uncertainty about EPA's jurisdiction,' according to the memo, which was released by two Democratic House committee chairmen.

Cheney Cut Climate Testimony

OurFuture.org Staff — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:01:41 -0400

Vice President Dick Cheney's office pushed for major deletions in congressional testimony on the public health consequences of climate change, fearing the presentation by a leading health official might make it harder to avoid regulating greenhouse gases, says a former Environmental Protection Agency official. When six pages were cut from testimony on climate change and public health by the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in October 2007, the White House insisted the changes were made because of reservations about the accuracy of the science. But Jason K. Burnett, former senior adviser on climate change to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, says that Cheney's office was deeply involved in getting nearly half of the CDC's original draft testimony removed.

Fed Issues New Mortgage Rules

OurFuture.org Staff — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:55:42 -0400

With no end in sight to the turbulence in the housing and financial markets, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said that central bank would issue new lending rules to restrict exotic mortgages and high-cost loans for people with weak credit. At a forum on lending for low- and moderate-income households, Mr. Bernanke said the difficulties that led to Bear Stearns's collapse highlighted weaknesses in the financial system that policy makers were trying to address. He said they included poorly underwritten mortgages, regulatory gaps, tight credit and insufficiently capitalized financial institutions.

Mortgage Plan Gets Senate Support

OurFuture.org Staff — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:42:43 -0400

A mortgage rescue plan to save hundreds of thousands of homeowners from foreclosure drew overwhelming Senate support, inching toward passage despite Republican objections. The Senate voted 76-10 to advance the bill, a broad array of housing measures including overhauls of the Federal Housing Administration and government-sponsored home loan giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Its centerpiece is a new $300 billion FHA program to allow debt-ridden homeowners who are currently too financially risky to qualify for government-backed loans to refinance into safer, more affordable mortgages. The measure is on track for passage by an overwhelming margin. It has survived several test votes in the Senate, indicating enough support to override President Bush's promised veto.

Iraqis Want U.S. Pullout Timeline

OurFuture.org Staff — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:39:00 -0400

Iraq's prime minister said his country wants some type of timetable for a withdrawal of American troops included in the deal the two countries are negotiating. It was the first time that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has explicitly and publicly called for a withdrawal timetable — an idea opposed by President Bush. He offered no details. But his national security adviser, Mouwaffak al-Rubaie, said that the government is proposing a timetable conditioned on the ability of Iraqi forces to provide security. The White House said it did not believe Maliki was proposing a rigid timeline for U.S. troop withdrawals.

Fed May Extend Bank Loans

OurFuture.org Staff — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:36:46 -0400

The Federal Reserve is considering giving squeezed Wall Street firms more time to draw emergency loans directly from the central bank to help them overcome credit problems, chairman Ben Bernanke said. In March, the Fed agreed to let investment houses go to the Fed — on a temporary basis — for a quick, overnight source of cash. That decision has drawn criticism from Democrats that the Fed is bailing out Wall Street and putting billions of taxpayer dollars at risk. The Fed's consideration of giving Wall Street firms more time to tap the Fed's emergency loan program is part of an ongoing effort by the central bank to bring back stability to fragile financial markets and help to bolster shaky confidence on the part of investors.

G8 To Cut Emissions in Half

OurFuture.org Staff — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:31:44 -0400

World leaders say they will aim to set a global target of cutting carbon emissions by at least 50 percent by 2050 in an effort to tackle global warming. It strengthens 2007 G8 pledge to "seriously consider" the cuts. But the U.S. has refused to set any interim targets for cutting emissions — and environmentalists have criticized the progress at talks as "pathetic." Five of the world's biggest emerging economies said the G8 should increase its targets to more than 80% by 2050.

$100 "Fill Up" Arrives

OurFuture.org Staff — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:11:39 -0400

With gasoline prices high and rising, a new financial milestone has arrived: the $100 tank of gas. For decades, the $100 barrel stood as a hypothetical outlier in doom-and-gloom conversations about future oil prices. And nobody could even imagine an American family paying $100 to fill the tank. But during the first five months of 2008, about 11 percent of American drivers said they bought 24 gallons or more at their last fill-up, according to a survey of 81,000 drivers by the NPD Group, a market research firm — which at today's prices would place many of them at or around $100.

G8 Slammed on Bribery, Corruption

OurFuture.org Staff — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 09:51:27 -0400

The Group of Eight countries are failing to stamp out corruption and bribery, with damaging implications for trade, business and broader international goals such as tackling poverty, according to Transparency International, the watchdog. Christiaan Poortman, Transparency's director of global programs, said some countries had not ratified the UN convention for fear of "being put at a competitive disadvantage." Mr Poortman said that the intensified scramble for oil and minerals, as developing countries become more voracious, created a "propitious environment for corruption." He praised the U.S. and Germany for pursuing high-level prosecutions against some of their biggest companies.