Congress Enacts Bigger and Better Home Buyer Tax Credit -
Enhanced Tax Credit Provides Outstanding Opportunity for Home Buyers
In its efforts to stimulate the economy and revive the housing market, Congress has enacted legislation providing a tax credit of up to $8,000 for first-time home buyers.
But time is of the essence for buyers who want to take advantage of this opportunity. Only homes purchased on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009 are eligible. Use the links below to find out more about the tax credit.
$8,000 Home Buyer Tax Credit at a Glance
The tax credit is for first-time home buyers only.
The tax credit does not have to be repaid.
The tax credit is equal to 10 percent of the home's purchase price up to a maximum of $8,000.
The credit is available for homes purchased on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009.
Single taxpayers with incomes up to $75,000 and married couples with incomes up to $150,000 qualify for the full tax credit.
www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com
For more information contact Joana Sweney @ 817-501-7309
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
PAUL B. FARRELL
New 6-part quiz: Is Obamanomics D.O.A.?
From Righteous Rush Rambaugh to Lefty Paul Krugman, a 'failing' grade
By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch
Last update: 1:40 p.m. EST Feb. 16, 2009Comments: 685ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- For 11 days the mood fit that wonderful song that the Youngbloods turned into a Top 5 hit in 1969: "Come on people now ... Smile on your brother ... Everybody get together ... Try to love one another right now." Oh yes, we could almost see Obama and the GOP dancing to the beat at their Super Bowl party.
Reality check: Warren Buffett says nobody really knows if the new Obamanomics will work at all, let alone beat Reaganomics. Others say Obamanomics is already dead on arrival.
But before you fall back on ideological clichés and jump to conclusions, please turn off today's breaking news for five minutes. If you want to understand how American democracy really works -- our politics, economics, the context behind the noise -- take this simple multiple choice quiz. Then, read on, asking yourself whether the new Obamanomics really is replacing Reaganomics:
Question: Which statement best describes American politics?
All politics is about "sound" economics and what's "best" for all Americans.
"All politics is local" said former House Speaker Tip O'Neill, who called Reagan "an amiable dunce" and his presidency "one big Christmas party for the rich."
All politics is about sticking to ideological principles that get your party elected and keep you in power with control over the taxpayer's money.
All politics is about increasing your personal wealth, whether you're one of our 537 elected officials, a wealthy donor, or one of Washington's 40,000 lobbyists.
All politics is about endless, intense, often brutal partisan battles over economic policies based on pragmatism, expediency and the "end justifies the means."
All politics fits Churchill's brilliant indictment: "Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those others that have been tried."
Good feeling's gone
Remember Obama's new "kum-ba-yah" politics? It lasted just 11 days after Inauguration Day.
First, Rush Rambaugh became the GOP's self-anointed chief policy-maker slamming Obama: "I hope he fails." Then the new Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele announced that "obstructionism" was now their party's main strategy. After that, the L.A. Times reported that "Texas Rep. Pete Sessions compared House Republicans to the Taliban, the fundamentalist Muslim terrorist group that has targeted U.S. troops in Afghanistan," adding that his "staff insists he wasn't lauding the Taliban's goals, only their tactics."
Well, it worked: First, not one House Republican voted for the economic stimulus bill. Then, instead of the predicted 80 votes, only three GOP senators voted for the compromise version. So much for the "love one another" Super Bowl feeling.
Oh, you thought the GOP lost the election? Obama won a mandate? Looks like Rambaugh, Big Mike and Texas Pete won this round on points. Sorry Mr. President, but "they're just not into you!"
No, I'm not making this up. If you haven't heard much about the GOP adopting Taliban insurgency tactical warfare, blame it on the wimpy liberal press, they're bought into "kum ba yah," are downplaying that incendiary rhetoric. Yes, incendiary ... can you imagine the backlash if Obama admitted he was using Taliban tactics last year. Or worse, if he accused McCain and Bush of Taliban tactics? Rambaugh would have gone ballistic.
'Good News?' GOP's attacking Obama with Taliban tactics!
But none of that matters. In fact, we should welcome it, demand it -- it's healthy. Three cheers for the GOP. Why? Because for over two centuries American politics seemed to work best with a highly vocal "loyal opposition" as we swung back and forth from liberal to conservative leaders. Yes, if you really want to understand economic reality, look into our political history. Nothing's new. As USA Today succinctly put it:
"Republicans voted en masse against President Clinton's deficit-reduction package in 1993 and used their criticism of its necessary but unpopular tax increases to help take control of Congress. Democrats killed President Bush's 2005 effort to reform Social Security by relying on private accounts, but they offered no alternative of their own."
The lesson here for Obama? You can pick a "Team of Rivals," as Lincoln did. But in the end, more rivals will create intense rivalries.
Still the media can't seem to stop asking: Will Obamanomics work? Or are we setting ourselves up for a big, bad "Great Depression 2?" People want results now, today.
The public's intense anxiety was captured by a Financial Times editor, Martin Wolf, ever the provocateur, in yet another rhetorical indictment: "Has Barack Obama's presidency already failed?"
Failed already? Wolf's expressing the angst of millions across America and around the world as Obama finishes his fourth week in office. Yes, just four weeks and Obamanomics is not just headed for failure, it's already D.O.A.
Is Obamanomics really better than Reaganomics?
America's been operating at the opposite end of the political spectrum for 28 years going back to Reagan, a reign that's left Obama with a massive handicap: a huge unresolved banking system mess, an abortive $350 billion bailout that BusinessWeek labeled a "bust" and massive debt that one Nobel economist calls a "$10 trillion hangover."
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Is-Obamanomics-DOA-Take-six/story.aspx?guid=%7B2A17C73C%2DB450%2D4164%2DA412%2D4A935E738643%7D
New 6-part quiz: Is Obamanomics D.O.A.?
From Righteous Rush Rambaugh to Lefty Paul Krugman, a 'failing' grade
By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch
Last update: 1:40 p.m. EST Feb. 16, 2009Comments: 685ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- For 11 days the mood fit that wonderful song that the Youngbloods turned into a Top 5 hit in 1969: "Come on people now ... Smile on your brother ... Everybody get together ... Try to love one another right now." Oh yes, we could almost see Obama and the GOP dancing to the beat at their Super Bowl party.
Reality check: Warren Buffett says nobody really knows if the new Obamanomics will work at all, let alone beat Reaganomics. Others say Obamanomics is already dead on arrival.
But before you fall back on ideological clichés and jump to conclusions, please turn off today's breaking news for five minutes. If you want to understand how American democracy really works -- our politics, economics, the context behind the noise -- take this simple multiple choice quiz. Then, read on, asking yourself whether the new Obamanomics really is replacing Reaganomics:
Question: Which statement best describes American politics?
All politics is about "sound" economics and what's "best" for all Americans.
"All politics is local" said former House Speaker Tip O'Neill, who called Reagan "an amiable dunce" and his presidency "one big Christmas party for the rich."
All politics is about sticking to ideological principles that get your party elected and keep you in power with control over the taxpayer's money.
All politics is about increasing your personal wealth, whether you're one of our 537 elected officials, a wealthy donor, or one of Washington's 40,000 lobbyists.
All politics is about endless, intense, often brutal partisan battles over economic policies based on pragmatism, expediency and the "end justifies the means."
All politics fits Churchill's brilliant indictment: "Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those others that have been tried."
Good feeling's gone
Remember Obama's new "kum-ba-yah" politics? It lasted just 11 days after Inauguration Day.
First, Rush Rambaugh became the GOP's self-anointed chief policy-maker slamming Obama: "I hope he fails." Then the new Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele announced that "obstructionism" was now their party's main strategy. After that, the L.A. Times reported that "Texas Rep. Pete Sessions compared House Republicans to the Taliban, the fundamentalist Muslim terrorist group that has targeted U.S. troops in Afghanistan," adding that his "staff insists he wasn't lauding the Taliban's goals, only their tactics."
Well, it worked: First, not one House Republican voted for the economic stimulus bill. Then, instead of the predicted 80 votes, only three GOP senators voted for the compromise version. So much for the "love one another" Super Bowl feeling.
Oh, you thought the GOP lost the election? Obama won a mandate? Looks like Rambaugh, Big Mike and Texas Pete won this round on points. Sorry Mr. President, but "they're just not into you!"
No, I'm not making this up. If you haven't heard much about the GOP adopting Taliban insurgency tactical warfare, blame it on the wimpy liberal press, they're bought into "kum ba yah," are downplaying that incendiary rhetoric. Yes, incendiary ... can you imagine the backlash if Obama admitted he was using Taliban tactics last year. Or worse, if he accused McCain and Bush of Taliban tactics? Rambaugh would have gone ballistic.
'Good News?' GOP's attacking Obama with Taliban tactics!
But none of that matters. In fact, we should welcome it, demand it -- it's healthy. Three cheers for the GOP. Why? Because for over two centuries American politics seemed to work best with a highly vocal "loyal opposition" as we swung back and forth from liberal to conservative leaders. Yes, if you really want to understand economic reality, look into our political history. Nothing's new. As USA Today succinctly put it:
"Republicans voted en masse against President Clinton's deficit-reduction package in 1993 and used their criticism of its necessary but unpopular tax increases to help take control of Congress. Democrats killed President Bush's 2005 effort to reform Social Security by relying on private accounts, but they offered no alternative of their own."
The lesson here for Obama? You can pick a "Team of Rivals," as Lincoln did. But in the end, more rivals will create intense rivalries.
Still the media can't seem to stop asking: Will Obamanomics work? Or are we setting ourselves up for a big, bad "Great Depression 2?" People want results now, today.
The public's intense anxiety was captured by a Financial Times editor, Martin Wolf, ever the provocateur, in yet another rhetorical indictment: "Has Barack Obama's presidency already failed?"
Failed already? Wolf's expressing the angst of millions across America and around the world as Obama finishes his fourth week in office. Yes, just four weeks and Obamanomics is not just headed for failure, it's already D.O.A.
Is Obamanomics really better than Reaganomics?
America's been operating at the opposite end of the political spectrum for 28 years going back to Reagan, a reign that's left Obama with a massive handicap: a huge unresolved banking system mess, an abortive $350 billion bailout that BusinessWeek labeled a "bust" and massive debt that one Nobel economist calls a "$10 trillion hangover."
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Is-Obamanomics-DOA-Take-six/story.aspx?guid=%7B2A17C73C%2DB450%2D4164%2DA412%2D4A935E738643%7D
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