US – Saturday, November 7
National
Military base is site of soldier’s rampage
An Army psychiatrist who had treated soldiers wounded in foreign wars opened fire with two handguns on soldiers preparing for foreign deployment at the Fort Hood U.S. Army post in Texas on Thursday, killing 12 and wounding 30 others.
 
International
Sante D’Orazio: You can’t hide from this lens
With Sante D’Orazio behind the camera, celebrities will do the craziest things. Famous faces from Angelina Jolie to Pamela Anderson have posed for the photographer. Now D’Orazio presents his favorite photos from the past 10 years in a new book, “Barely Private.”
 
The Word
A wee little way to try to get famous
There are hundreds of ways to get your name in the paper: appear on reality TV, get knocked up by a reality star, film yourself while getting knocked up by a reality star ... the list is endless. But here’s a new one: A model named Yvette Monet has put a restraining order on ex-boyfriend Verne Troyer, according to RadarOnline.
 
Movies
A ‘Carol’ that hits some high notes
REVIEW. There is something creepy about the way Robert Zemeckis makes movies. In his last three films — first “The Polar Express,” then “Beowulf,” and now “A Christmas Carol”— the director has employed a hybrid method that crosses live action with animation. He no doubt thinks the work is pioneering, but “pioneering” usually has a positive connotation.
 
Business
Wal-Mart: $20 meal for 8 people
NEW YORK. Wal-Mart has cut prices on turkeys and other Thanksgiving staples. U.S. stores began yesterday selling whole, 12-pound turkeys for 40 cents a pound. That’s a third of last Thanksgiving’s average price.
 
My Travel
Get your groove back in Jamaica
Haunted colonial mansions, triathlons and motivational theme parks — not things you think of when you think of Jamaica? Think again, mon. Jamaica is fast becoming the health and activity capital of the Caribbean. Feel like you need to recharge rather than merely relax? With direct flights on JetBlue launching in January and locals that welcome you with open arms, you’ll be getting your groove back in no time.
 
Updated 21:23, December the 4th, 2008
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Bernanke Says U.S. Must Step Up Foreclosure Prevention Efforts


NEW YORK.  Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke Thursday urged using more taxpayer funds for new efforts to prevent home foreclosures, saying the private sector is incapable of coping with the crisis on its own.

The Fed chief outlined four possible options, including buying delinquent mortgages and providing bigger incentives for refinancing loans. He called for addressing the “apparent market failure” where lenders aren’t modifying mortgages even in cases where it’s in their own economic interest to do so.

Each option would require “some commitment of public funds,” Bernanke said, underscoring his position that the central bank alone can’t revive the economy through its interest-rate cuts and emergency lending programs. The Republican’s stance may also put him in line with President-elect Barack Obama, who said Wednesday that “we’ve got to start helping homeowners in a serious way.”

“More needs to be done,” Bernanke said in a speech to a Fed research conference on housing and mortgage markets in Washington. “Policy initiatives to reduce the number of preventable foreclosures should be high on the agenda.”

The government could buy “delinquent or at-risk mortgages in bulk,” then refinance them through the federal Hope for Homeowners program, Bernanke said. Congress could also help reduce loan rates and lender insurance premiums, he said.

Estimates show as many as 20 percent of borrowers may now be “under water,” where their mortgage is bigger than the price of their home, Bernanke said.

“Despite good-faith efforts by both the private and public sectors, the foreclosure rate remains too high, with adverse consequences for both those directly involved and for the broader economy,” he said.

Some foreclosures are happening “even in cases in which the narrow economic interests of the lender would appear to be better served through modification of the mortgage,” Bernanke said. That is partly the result of packaging loans as securities for sale to investors, where there’s the risk of lawsuits and a lack of “clear guidance,” he said.

Bernanke said a mortgage-guarantee proposal by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has “strengths,” including that the government is involved only if a borrower defaults again. FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair is pressing the Treasury Department to use authority in the $700 billion financial-rescue package to implement the program to spur mortgage modifications.

Another option is to have the government share costs when a loan servicer reduces a borrower’s monthly payment, Bernanke said. While this would put a “greater operational burden on the government” than the FDIC plan, it would “build on, rather than crowd out, private-sector initiatives,” he said.

The Hope for Homeowners program, run by the Federal Housing Administration, has signed up few lenders since it started in October because banks must write off a large portion of the loan and pay high fees. The Fed sits on a board that oversees the program.

Bernanke ’s proposed changes would go beyond those announced last month by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston, who oversees the FHA. The agency will lower the amount of the loan a lender must forgive, allow banks to extend mortgage terms to 40 years from 30 years and give subordinate holders immediate payment for releasing their liens.

Congress could make the program more attractive by reducing the up-front insurance premium paid by the lender, which is now 3 percent of principal, and the borrower’s 1.5 percent annual premium, Bernanke said.

Lawmakers should also consider reducing borrowers’ interest rate, which may be near a “quite high” 8 percent, he said. That could be accomplished by having the Treasury buy Ginnie Mae securities, or having Congress directly subsidize the rate, Bernanke said.

Bloomberg