Philippines too...

Next to Mexico in dollar amount, Philippine economy depend on remittances from the US and other countries. Difference is Filipinos go to other countries besided USA.
From Investors Business Daily: ht: lucianne.com

Worse still, there's the remittance economy, which the government itself has encouraged to excuse itself from the kind of reform Ortiz urges. For the government, taking in some $2 billion in hard currency each month and getting rid of potential malcontents is a benefit. But for the economy itself, and the workers who need jobs, it's a bane. Legal workers in both countries are shed at lower rates than those who live outside the law, hence the drop in remittances. Dumping illegals on a dime always happens in a downturn. It not only leaves Mexicans more vulnerable in a downturn, it also deprives Mexico of its most enterprising base of talent. People who work illegally abroad cannot fully utilize their potential because only the invisible architecture of legalization can extract capital, as Hernando de Soto has noted. It's as true of illegals as it is of their money. The higher negative data on both oil and remittances suggest that whatever else may be going on, Mexico should reduce dependency on them. Mexico's central bank governor sees what is happening. It's about time Mexico's politicians took note too.

GOP platform says 'NO Bailout'

Rebuilding Homeownership
Homeownership remains key to creating an opportunity society. We support timely and carefully targeted aid to those hurt by the housing crisis so that affected individuals can have a chance to trade a burdensome mortgage for a manageable loan that reflects their home’s market value. At the same time, government action must not implicitly encourage anyone to borrow more than they can afford to repay. We support energetic federal investigation and, where appropriate, prosecution of criminal wrongdoing in the mortgage industry and investment sector. We do not support government bailouts of private institutions. Government interference in the markets exacerbates problems in the marketplace and causes the free market to take longer to correct itself. We believe in the free market as the best tool to sustained prosperity and opportunity for all. We encourage potential buyers to work in concert with the lending community to educate themselves about the responsibilities of purchasing a home, condo, or land.
Republican policy aims to make owning a home more accessible through enforcement of open housing laws, voucher programs, urban homesteading and – what is most important – a strong economy with low interest rates. Because affordable housing is in the national interest, any simplified tax system should continue to encourage homeownership, recognizing the tremendous social value that the home mortgage interest deduction has had for decades. In addition, sound housing policy should recognize the needs of renters so that apartments and multi-family homes remain important components of the housing stock.

via Erick Erickson, Redstate

What will Obama, Clinton and Dodd do today?

From Kevin Hassett at Bloomberg wrote today...

Now that the collapse has occurred, the roadblock built by Senate Democrats in 2005 is unforgivable. Many who opposed the bill doubtlessly did so for honorable reasons. Fannie and Freddie provided mounds of materials defending their practices. Perhaps some found their propaganda convincing.
But we now know that many of the senators who protected Fannie and Freddie, including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Christopher Dodd, have received mind-boggling levels of financial support from them over the years.
Throughout his political career, Obama has gotten more than $125,000 in campaign contributions from employees and political action committees of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, second only to Dodd, the Senate Banking Committee chairman, who received more than $165,000.
Clinton, the 12th-ranked recipient of Fannie and Freddie PAC and employee contributions, has received more than $75,000 from the two enterprises and their employees. The private profit found its way back to the senators who killed the fix.
There has been a lot of talk about who is to blame for this crisis. A look back at the story of 2005 makes the answer pretty clear.

Neal Boortz explains...

Townhall.com, Neal Boortz explains domino mess credit woes of investment banks in sub-prime mortgage...

Political correctness won the day. Washington made it clear to banks and other lending institutions that if they did not do something .. and fast .. to bring more minorities and low-income Americans into the world of home ownership there would be a heavy price to pay. Congress set up processes (Research the Community Redevelopment Act) whereby community activist groups and organizers could effectively stop a bank’s efforts to grow if that bank didn’t make loans to unqualified borrowers. Enter, stage left, the “subprime” mortgage. These lenders knew that a very high percentage of these loans would turn to garbage – but it was a price that had to be paid if the bank was to expand and grow. We should note that among the community groups browbeating banks into making these bad loans was an outfit called ACORN. There is one certain presidential candidate that did a lot of community organizing for ACORN. I won’t mention his name so as to avoid politicizing this column.
These garbage loans to unqualified borrowers were then bundled up and sold. The expectation was that the loans would be eventually paid off when rising home values led some borrowers to access their equity through re-financing and others to sell and move on up the ladder. Oops.

Fear lead to Panic

a friend has a money market account with a major bank that is over the limit of FDIC guaranteed coverage and wanted to withdraw the excess amount asap on Wednesday. This Wall Street Journal article mirrors her fears..

Huddled in his office Wednesday with top advisers, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson watched his financial-data terminal with alarm as one market after another began go haywire. Investors were fleeing money-market mutual funds, long considered ultra-safe. The market froze for the short-term loans that banks rely on to fund their day-to-day business. Without such mechanisms, the economy would grind to a halt. Companies would be unable to fund their daily operations. Soon, consumers would panic.

Bank money market funds are covered by FDIC and joint accounts are covered as 2 accounts.

If a couple has a joint checking account and a joint savings account at the same insured bank, each co-owner's shares of the two accounts are added together and insured up to $100,000, providing up to $200,000 in coverage for the couple's joint accounts.