House Committee Passes Mortgage Aid Plan

WASHINGTON — The House Financial Services Committee on Thursday pushed forward with an aggressive effort to help troubled homeowners, approving a package of legislation that would make up to $300 billion in federally insured loans available to refinance the mortgages of borrowers in danger of foreclosure.

With passage of the bill virtually assured in the House, the debate over how best to address the downturn in housing now shifts back to the Senate where Democrats drafting a similar plan must overcome the reservations, if not outright opposition, of a more robust Republican minority.

President Bush has called on Congress to pass very specific legislation to update the operations of the Federal Housing Administration; to tighten regulation of the government-sponsored lending companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; and to let state and local housing authorities use tax exempt bonds to refinance bad loans.

But Mr. Bush opposes the more expansive legislation pursued by Democrats.

The Financial Services Committee approved the bill by a vote of 46 to 21, with 10 Republicans joining the Democrats in favor of it.

Interesting Times For Forex Trading Beginners

The first quarter of 2008 saw the United States Dollar lose about 12% of its value against the Japanese Yen. It also sunk to new lows against the Euro. While these facts may have profound implications for the movers and shakers of the world economies, what do they really mean for those just beginning to break into forex trading?

To make the above data more relevant to the beginner, this particular example can be applied–an American consumer with one dollar could buy 110 Yen worth of Japanese candies at the start of 2008. But towards the middle of March, the same one dollar could only buy about 96 Yen worth of Japanese candies.

This kind of volatility can have disastrous consequences in the real world, especially to an American importer of Japanese candies as the example above would suggest. On the other hand, forex traders, especially those with their ears firmly planted on the ground, could actually have cashed in big time on this kind of currency fluctuation.

During times like this, veteran forex traders might actually issue a caution to those just beginning to test the forex trading waters. The reason is simple–beginners might become too spoiled. They may think that making huge amounts of money is this easy.