Tax Credit as Mortgage Down Payment Now Official Federal Government Policy - … Well folks - it did not take long… the early results of letting people who cannot even find enough money to put 3.5% down into the housing market must of been spectacular. Because in just the blink of an eye this “adjustment” to what Congress originally approved, has now become the federal standard. … - Fund My Mutual Fund

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The FHA No Down Loan - Tom Lindmark - In January I wrote a post about down payment assistance plans and called them the bad idea that won’t die. It looks like I was right. Now the government agency that fought tooth and nail to get rid of them is all set to introduce their own version -  But Then What 

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Medicare Problems - Entitlement Lifespans Get the Axe - By Ian Mathias - The credit crunch has hastened the predicted demise of Social Security and Medicare. The Obama administration admitted yesterday that they now expect Medicare to run out of money in 2017, two years sooner than the Bush administration predicted in 2008 - The Daily Reckoning
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Slow Start to Federal Plan for Modifying Mortgages - By TARA SIEGEL BERNARD - …  So far, two months after the program went into effect, about 55,000 homeowners have been extended loan modification offers … While it is still too early to know how effective the program will ultimately be, many homeowners who have tried to gain entrance say they have been successful only through persistence — and sometimes, the help of a lawyer.  What may be a larger issue, however, is the continuing deterioration of the economy, experts say … - NY Times

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Making Home Affordable…Again - By DIANA GOLOBAY - Treasury Department … announced new initiatives within the administration’s Making Home Affordable (MHA) program. The additional programs aim to increase participation in MHA and offer alternatives where borrowers and servicers cannot achieve modification.  The secretaries announced financial incentives for servicers and borrowers who decide to pursue short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclousre as an alternative to costly foreclosure in situations where MHA-qualifying borrowers cannot complete the refinance process. - housingwire

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U.S. officials aim to force financial pay reforms - Karey Wutkowski - U.S. officials are looking at ways to force reforms in financial industry compensation practices to discourage excessive risk-taking, which is considered to have sown the seeds of the current credit crisis.  Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told Reuters Television on Friday the administration is working with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to seek industry-wide compensation reform. - Reuters