“Texas Legislature used stimulus funds to help balance budget - Fort Worth Star-Telegram” plus 4 more |
- Texas Legislature used stimulus funds to help balance budget - Fort Worth Star-Telegram
- On Native Ground - American Reporter
- FHA enacts finance, mortgage reforms - New Haven Register
- FDIC shuts down Irwin Union Bank - Indianapolis Star
- Bank complaints: don't get mad, get even - Daily Telegraph
| Texas Legislature used stimulus funds to help balance budget - Fort Worth Star-Telegram Posted: 19 Sep 2009 05:30 AM PDT (Page 2 of 3) Rerouting fundsTexas used a $4.1 billion windfall from the stimulus to reduce its Medicaid costs. Pre-stimulus, the feds matched the state's Medicaid spending about 60-40. Post-stimulus, it was closer to a 70-30 split. Ordinarily, the state would have paid its share from its main bank account, the general revenue fund. By reducing the draw on that fund, money was freed up for other state programs. (The same is true for state education spending, which got $3.8 billion in stimulus funds, according to the Center for Public Policy Priorities.) Texas followed the rules in using the Medicaid funds, said Anne Dunkelberg associate director of the public policy think tank. The feds said that Medicaid eligibility and any other income-counting rules could not change and that the money couldn't be put in the Rainy Day Fund. "We didn't follow the spirit of the law, but we went by the letter of the law," said Eva DeLuna Castro, budget analyst for the center. The center advocated using some of the money to implement 12 months of continuous coverage for children. Currently it's at six months, except for infants. The cost would have been $200 million to $300 million, which would be "easily affordable" with the enhanced Medicaid match rate, Castro said. Stimulus money could also have been used to fund Medicaid at the cost estimates made by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which administers the program. Instead, lawmakers left Austin after this year's legislative session with Medicaid funding shy by as much as $1 billion, according to public policy center estimates. In setting the Medicaid budget, lawmakers had to choose between the commission's cost estimates and those of the Legislative Budget Board, which prepares budget projections for the state. The Legislature decides "which crystal ball to go with," commission spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman said. "Our caseload and cost estimates are usually higher than LBB's," Goodman said. "At one point this session, the estimates — in terms of dollars — were even farther off than in the past. In the end, LBB raised its caseload estimates to virtually match ours. "We still differed on the cost estimates, with [our] projections assuming an increase in healthcare costs and the LBB estimates keeping costs flat." For the fiscal year that started Sept. 1, the state Medicaid budget, including federal funds, is $22.1 billion. In 2011, it climbs to $22.7 billion. If the money falls short, lawmakers will draft a supplemental appropriations bill in the next session. That's happened for at least the past three sessions, Goodman said. Continuing programs Heflin, a former state representative who served as the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee in 2003, said the LBB told him that about a third of the stimulus money is being used for continuing programs, such as Medicaid, instead of one-time expenditures. LBB and health commission officials said that includes the $2.5 billion in enhanced matching funds for fiscal 2010 and 2011. DARREN BARBEE, 817-390-7126  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| On Native Ground - American Reporter Posted: 19 Sep 2009 04:40 AM PDT On Native Ground ABOUT THOSE GLIMMERS: THINGS ARE STILL LOUSY by Randolph T. Holhut American Reporter Correspondent Dummerston, Vt.
Printable version of this story DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- There's been a lot of talk of late that there are glimmers of hope in the American economy. Since President Obama's economic stimulus package was enacted and the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department both announced plans to buy up distressed assets and backstop mortgage-backed securities, the financial markets seemed to have steadied themselves. The S&P 500 - the broadest of the main stock indices - rose 28 percent between mid-March and mid-April. But buried in that good news is a tidbit reported by Bloomberg News last week: executives and insiders at U.S. companies are unloading shares at a rate not seen in several years. Insiders from New York Stock Exchange companies have sold $8.32 worth of stock for every $1 bought in the first three weeks of April. According to Washington Service, which analyzes insider trading activity, consumer and technology companies have been selling the most stock. Corporate America has seen seven straight quarters of earnings decreases, and as a result, companies are getting cautious. Do business leaders know something that the Obama Administration doesn't know? Are the glimmers of hope just a false dawn? We do know this much. Our current recession, now officially the longest since the end of World War II, is quite different from any economic disruption we have ever experienced as a nation. Over the past 18 months, America's standard of living has been sharply reduced. The combination of falling real estate values, the collapse of the financial markets that devoured 30-50 percent of people's retirement savings, increased joblessness and the cratering of the consumer economy has left this nation in a precarious position. We've had three decades of economic expansion fueled by revolving credit in an era of cheap energy and resources. Those days are gone and they aren't coming back, no matter how many times President Obama and his Administration invoke visions of a return to the way things were. "How come Mr. Obama doesn't just lay out the truth, undertake the hard job of cutting the nation's losses, and get on with setting this society on a new course?" social and economic observer James Howard Kunstler recently asked. "The truth is that we're comprehensively bankrupt, and no amount of shuffling certificates around will avail to alter that. The bad debt has to be 'worked out' - i.e., written off, subjected to liquidation of remaining assets and collateral, reorganized under the bankruptcy statutes, and put behind us. We have to work very hard to reconfigure the physical arrangement of life in the USA, moving away from the losses of our suburbs, reactivating our towns, downscaling our biggest cities, re-scaling our farms and food production, switching out our Happy Motoring system for public transit and walkable neighborhoods, rebuilding local networks of commerce and figuring out a way to make a few things of value again." If Americans were a mature and intelligent people who could handle the truth, perhaps we could begin to face these realities. But we are not. We don't want to confront the possibility that the activities of everyday life - standards of living, ranges of commerce and levels of governance - will likely need to be downscaled to match the current circumstances. This scenario makes the Great Depression look almost pleasant. At least in the 1930s, this nation still had plenty of family farms, plenty of oil and natural resources, plenty of factories in good running order, and a population that was tough enough to not only survive a massive economic collapse, but to rise up and win a global war of survival. Do today's Americans have the mettle to adapt to an age of long-term austerity in an increasingly unsettled world? We need to get real. Obama needs to get real. It was easy to make fun of the Fox News Channel-inspired "tea parties" that were held recently around the country, but they are an early symptom of something we should be concerned about - people who are angry about their financial circumstances and are looking to lash out. As unemployment keeps rising and vast swaths of the American economy - banking, manufacturing, retailing, construction - are stagnant or falling, will Americans give themselves over to rage? Or will Americans summon up the strength and resourcefulness of our forebearers and work to create a new economy from the rubble of the old? Randolph T. Holhut has been a journalist in New England for nearly 30 years. He edited "The George Seldes Reader" (Barricade Books). He can be reached at randyholhut@yahoo.com. For extra added thrills, read his ongoing daily blogHREF> on The Harvard Classics.
Copyright 2009 Joe Shea The American Reporter. All Rights Reserved.
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| FHA enacts finance, mortgage reforms - New Haven Register Posted: 19 Sep 2009 04:11 AM PDT In the wake of the one-year anniversary of the collapse of investment banking firm Lehman Brothers, a flurry of reforms were announced Friday that would affect the mortgage and financial services industries.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| FDIC shuts down Irwin Union Bank - Indianapolis Star Posted: 19 Sep 2009 04:04 AM PDT (2 of 2) Property prices there surged in the boom years of 2002 to 2006 but since have crashed, causing Irwin's losses to soar to nearly $500 million since the start of 2007. Irwin's sale keeps all of the bank's deposits safe, secure and readily accessible, according to regulators. The bank's 27 locations in Indiana and three other states will reopen for business today, with their normal hours, as branches of First Financial, the FDIC said. First Financial will assume all $2.1 billion in deposits at Irwin Union Bank and all $441 million in deposits at the related Irwin Union Bank of Louisville, Ky., the FDIC said. "We're hoping it will be a pretty smooth process," said Troy Pogue, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Financial Institutions. Regulators didn't give the public advance notice of the takeover. It was deemed necessary because the bank "was operating in an unsafe and unsound manner, and its failing liquidity position left the bank in imminent danger of insolvency," said David H. Mills, director of the Department of Financial Institutions. First Financial will pay a premium of 1 percent to assume the deposits of Irwin Union Bank and nothing to assume the deposits in Louisville, the FDIC said. The FDIC said it also entered into a loss-share transaction on about $2.5 billion in assets of Irwin. It said the cost to its Deposit Insurance Fund from Irwin's failure is estimated at $850 million. The last Indiana bank to fail was Rushville National Bank, in 1992, according to the FDIC. The effect of Irwin Union Bank's sale on its publicly traded parent, Irwin Financial Corp., was not immediately clear Friday night. The company's shares closed Friday at 48 cents, down 2 cents.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Bank complaints: don't get mad, get even - Daily Telegraph Posted: 19 Sep 2009 04:47 AM PDT For the first time the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has "named and shamed" the companies with the worst track record of dealing with customer complaints. Topping the list are the high street banks, some of whom are now largely owned by the taxpayer, although many credit card companies also fare badly (click here for more information on the worst offenders). Not only does this data show which companies the ombudsman receives the most complaints about, it also shows what proportion of these complaints are settled in the customers' favour. At some institutions, the ombudsman ruled in favour of the complainant in almost all cases – an indictment of the customer service standards at those financial companies. The outgoing chief ombudsman, Walter Merricks, says he hopes the publication will result in more companies resolving customer complaints themselves, which should lead to more consumers getting the redress they deserve. Last year, figures published by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) showed that almost a million people complained to their bank. The figures also revealed that six out of 10 of these complaints were rejected. By contrast, the Ombudsman Service rules in favour of the consumer in almost six out of 10 cases, although for certain types of complaints the "uphold" rate is far higher. But only a fraction of complaints get through to the ombudsman. The data published this week showed that the FOS dealt with 70,000 complaints in the first six months of this year, and this covered insurers, fund managers and credit card companies as well as banks. Hopefully the publication of these figures will cause banks to improve their service standards. Until then, consumers can improve their chances of getting redress by complaining more effectively. Emma Parker, a spokesman for the FOS, said: "People often feel defensive or embarrassed about complaining. But they should remember they have a right to pursue a complaint if there is a problem with any financial product sold. Many customers with perfectly valid complaints fail to make headway because they get upset and distressed and often fail to lodge the complaint properly." Follow the tips below to ensure your complaint gets heard and, more importantly, acted upon. What do you want? Be clear about the nature of your complaint and what action you require. It can help to write out the key points and important information, such as account or policy numbers, when the account was opened, and on what date the problem occurred. Talk to your provider Try to resolve matters with the provider before taking a case to the ombudsman. In most cases your first point of contact will be a call centre or local branch. Tell them you want to complain and ask if there is a manager or complaints department you can talk to. Stick to the point Don't deviate from the terms of your complaint. If you feel you are being fobbed off it's easy to slip into the "and another thing…" argument. But this will weaken, not strengthen your case. The more straightforward a complaint, the easier it is for the provider to resolve. Keep a record At every stage take a note of who you talk to, the time and the response. Don't accept just a first name, ask for their surname as well – companies that take customer service seriously should not have a problem giving you this information. Be reasonable Give the company a reasonable time, say 14 days, to resolve a problem. If you are describing the problem for the first time and are told someone will get back to you, say you expect a call within seven days. Keep calm Negotiating the maze of automated telephone menus, being passed from one customer service representative to another, and getting cut off, can test anybody's patience. Anger or sarcasm rarely produces results. Be courteous and polite, and the person at the other end should be more willing to help. State how you would like the matter to be resolved Are you looking for a refund, an apology or compensation? Tell the financial provider what you want. Be realistic though: don't pluck a large figure from the air to be negotiated down. This is likely to make your claim look far less credible. Follow up complaints in writing If the issue is not resolved – or you do not receive a prompt call back – send a letter. Write "Complaint" clearly at the top, and include all relevant details such as your address and account numbers. Keep things brief and to the point, setting out the facts in a clear, logical order. State when and whom you have spoken to at the organisation. Enclose photocopies – not originals – of any documents that back your case. Request a copy of the company's complaint procedure All regulated companies must publish their complaints procedure. This should give telephone numbers and the address of whom you should complain to, plus an idea of how quickly the company aims to resolve the matter. If the company has failed to comply with its own guidelines, state this clearly in correspondence. Go to the top It can't hurt to copy complaint letters to managing directors or the chief executive. Find out their names (Google or the company's website are places to start) and address the letter to them personally. Some people say complaints can be fast-tracked if they also get in touch with the press office, but this depends on the nature of the complaint. Send for the regulators Make it clear that if this issue is not resolved you will take the matter to the ombudsman. After eight weeks the company concerned has to provide a "final response" letter. If you feel the response is unsatisfactory, you can take your complaint to the ombudsman. The FOS deals with complaints about banks, building societies, mortgage companies, insurers, credit card companies, fund managers, financial advisers and pension providers (but not company pensions). This is an independent arbitration service and free for consumers; although companies pay £500 for every complaint referred, regardless of the outcome. As a result, many companies will be keen to settle smaller claims before this stage. Be patient The wheels of justice can grind slowly. The FOS will make an initial assessment as to whether you have grounds for complaint. It won't accept, for example, complaints about investment performance, unless you are claiming the product was mis-sold and the risk to capital never explained. If the complaint is accepted it can take between six and nine months to reach a ruling. Providers can appeal initial rulings, although few do. A final ruling is binding on the providers, though not usually on the consumer. Know when to give up If the ombudsman rejects your complaint it is possible to appeal against the decision through the ombudsman's independent assessor (details are on the FOS website). Customers are still free to take legal action against their provider, for example through the small claims court, but this will cost money and the judge is likely to take into account the ombudsman's verdict and reasoning. Click here for more information on how to complain, including telephone numbers and websites  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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