White House Adviser Addresses Housing Crisis
A top adviser to President Obama over the weekend said that the administration needs to address problems in the U.S. housing market, but that the overall economic recovery will not be stalled by the housing crisis. Housing is one sector of the economy that has been consistently underperforming in recent months as it continues to struggle with a glut of homes on the market and low demand.
"We still need to deal with these housing issues and it's going to take us substantial time as a nation to work our way out of what was a 10-year-plus bubble, but I do not believe that will prevent us from recovering," said White House economist Austan Goolsbee in a Sunday interview with CNN. The administration is already trying to prevent foreclosure and give struggling homeowners relief from mortgage payments using taxpayer funds in its $700 billion bank bailout program.
Critics, meanwhile, have said that the program has had little impact on the housing market, criticism that has increased as home values have dipped further and further. Goolsbee did not elaborate on what moves the government might make to aid housing. The administration does not have a lot of leeway in increasing spending to aid the housing market as Congress is in the midst of a debate over spending cuts and tax increases meant to try and get the U.S. deficit under control.
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