AND AWAY WE GO...

BUT FIRST Sherman the Monkey Sneezing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irBFJel7kvg


Curious George ~ Upside Down
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNzFFvW20G0


Jobless claims overwhelm process centers
Published: Jan. 12, 2009 at 12:30 PMOrder reprints | Feedback

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- Record numbers of unemployment claims have overwhelmed computer systems in several states, a national association said.

Computer systems in California, New York, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, Colorado, Kentucky and North Carolina have crashed at some point in recent weeks under the onslaught of calls and Internet inquiries, USA Today reported Monday.

The unemployment rate leaped from 6.8 percent in November to 7.2 percent in December.

"We've had the highest number of people filing unemployment claims in a single month," said Kim Saylor Brannock, a spokeswoman at Kentucky's Office of Employment and Training.

"Many states do not have the infrastructure in place to respond better to the crisis," Richard Hobbie, executive director of the National Association of State Workforce Agencies told the newspaper.

Not a single state was spared an increase in claims the last week of December compared with the same period of 2007.

Several states, including Missouri and Michigan, have added temporary workers to their processing centers.

The federal government allocates $2.45 billion for states to process claims this year, less than what states say they could use to upgrade current systems, Hobbie said.

© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

AMERICAN DREAM
If Congress would quickly pass the “Expanding the American Homeownership Act" instead of sitting back and doing nothing, then the following situation could be avoided entirely.
Instead of losing their homes to foreclosure, American families could obtain an FHA mortgage or even refinance with the FHA, which offers incredible foreclosure-prevention measures.

Foreclosures On the Rise

A foreclosure may seem like one of those “It will never happen to me” situations, but recent studies have demonstrated that foreclosures are on the rise in America: In the first quarter of last year, 323,102 properties across America were in some stage of the foreclosure process. This amount corresponds to a 38 percent jump from 2005 and a 72 percent from 2004.

The recent increase in the number of foreclosures has given banks and other lenders the image of being greedy corporate machines who’d like nothing more than to kick a family to the curb.
The fact is, however, that foreclosures are bad news for everybody: because they have to sell the house back on an open market, banks lose an average of $40,000 per foreclosure.
Foreclosures also lower property values in the surrounding neighborhood. As Brian Montgomery put it in his recent testimony to the Senate, “foreclosures are bad for families, bad for neighborhoods, and bad for the economy as a whole.”


Foreclosure Storm Will Hit U.S. in 2009 as Loan Changes Fail

Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. foreclosure filings climbed 28 percent in November from a year earlier and a brewing "storm" of new defaults and job losses may force 1 million homeowners from their properties next year, RealtyTrac Inc. said.
Delinquencies

The share of mortgages delinquent by 30 days or more in the third quarter rose to a seasonally adjusted 6.99 percent while loans already in foreclosure rose to 2.97 percent, both all-time highs, the Mortgage Bankers Association said in a Dec. 5 report. The gain in delinquencies was driven by an increase in loans with payments 90 days or more overdue

According to Mortgage Strategist, more than $2 trillion of U.S. mortgage debt, or about a quarter of all mortgage loans outstanding, is due for interest rate resets in 2007 and 2008.

Matchbox Twenty - New Music - More Music Videos

Matchbox Twenty - "How Far We've Come"
Unless we want the American Dream to become a foreclosure, Congress must take action.