What You Need to Know: 03.04.09

Obama, Brown Laud Relations
"British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday an "economic hurricane" has swept the world and U.S. leaders shouldn't view the crisis as limited to America's borders.

In a formal address to a Joint Meeting of Congress, Brown said that protectionism ultimately makes every nation vulnerable because "a bad bank anywhere is a threat to good banks everywhere.""

Treasury secretary says tax increases necessary
"President Barack Obama's Treasury secretary is defending proposed tax increases on the wealthy, saying they are necessary to limit future budget deficits.

Timothy Geithner responded on Wednesday to Republican criticism that the administration wants to increase taxes during a recession. Geithner noted that tax increases on couples making more than $250,000 per year would not take effect until 2011."

Stimulus Spurs Road Projects, Big and Small
"Kansas will widen U.S. 69 to remove a bottleneck outside Kansas City, along with a few other expensive projects. Maryland will spend its money in smaller pieces, resurfacing dozens of rutted roads and highways. Colorado will build an interchange on Elk Creek Road in Jefferson County, complete with an underpass for the elk.

There is nothing monumental in President Obama’s plan to revive the economy with a coast-to-coast building spree, no historic New Deal public works. The goal of the stimulus plan was to put people to work quickly, and so states across the country have begun to spend nearly $50 billion on thousands of smaller transportation projects that could employ up to 400,000 people, by the administration’s estimates."

Treasury Dept. Details Foreclosure Prevention
"The Obama administration today released guidelines of its massive foreclosure prevention program and it includes a refinancing program for homeowners with little equity in their homes and a loan modification effort for borrowers at risk of losing their homes.

It is expected to help up to 9 million homeowners lower their mortgage payments.Lenders can begin modifying troubled loans under the program immediately, the Treasury Department said in a statement. To be eligible for modification, the loans must have originated on or before Jan. 1 of this year. The program will end in December 2012, and loans can be modified only once under that part of the program."