Monday Morning Cup of Coffee takes a look a news crossing the HousingWire weekend desk.
Fiscal problems center stage?
The biggest news of the weekend is undoubtedly the selection of Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan as the Republican Party candidate for vice president. Ryan immediately joined Mitt Romney on a whistlestop tour.
However, the New York Times reports the selection is highlighting the latest strategy; Republicans want to take the nation’s financial problems center stage.
Of course, to address the fiscal cliff, the looming debt crisis, the candidates may also be tempted to try to tackle housing.
It did not start well. In introducing Mr. Ryan, the article points out Mr. Romney mistakenly called him “the next president of the United States.”
California needs a billion
The state of municipal housing projects in the state of California is not likely to register on the Romney/Ryan ticket. Nonetheless, people involved there say the current economic troubles means they are short of funding for housing projects to the tune of $1 billion.
The LA Times reports the cash shortage is the result of 400 abolished municipal redevelopment agencies, closed to help the state’s budget gap.
“On top of that, nearly $5 billion for housing raised through the sale of bonds approved by California voters in 2002 and 2006 is about to run dry,” write authors Alexandra Zavis and Jessica Garrison. “Developers around the state say they can’t remember a bleaker time for affordable housing construction.”
FDIC takes it easy, kinda
For the second weekend in a row, the Federal Deposit and Insurance Corp. did not close any banks. Of course the agency may be busy. After all, the FDIC did announce it is suing 12 major banks for selling allegedly faulty mortgage bonds to defunct Colonial Bank.
All that Gold!
And finally, the London 2012 Summer Olympics came to a close.
Regardless, of individual take aways, the editorial staff of HousingWire would like to thank all the hard-working athletes who competed on behalf of the country. And if you medalled, all the better.
The Olympics certainly got its fair share of screen time in the HousingWire news room. All reporters and editors loved the thrill of the competition.
The Telegraph UK shows the medal count by country, via an amazing bubble graph.
And the United States easily took the top spot with 104 medals, 46 of which are gold.
jgaffney@housingwire.com
