Government

While Treasury has stated it recovered $264 billion of the $245 billion invested in TARP, Treasury Assistant Secretary Timothy G. Massad said 343 banks still remain in TARP's taxpayer-funded bank programs. Most of these banks are smaller, community lenders and are having a more difficult time with raising funds from private investors in the capital markets to repay taxpayers, Massad explained in a Treasury blog Thursday.

An Austin, Texas, man was sentenced Thursday to 61 months in prison for his role in a foreclosure-rescue scam that took place in Southern California and elsewhere, Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) announced Friday. Frederic Alan Gladle, 53, was charged in the Western District of Texas and ordered to forfeit $84,010 and 63 prepaid debit cards he used for his scheme, in addition to this sentence. Gladle pleaded guilty on January 6, 2012, to one count of bankruptcy fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

The economy added 115,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate dropped to 8.1 percent. With an upward revision of 53,000, March's payroll growth is now 159,000. Economists expected payrolls to grow by 165,000 for April. The government sector cut 15,000 jobs, and the private sector added 130,000 jobs. With these reported numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, economists from IHS Global Insight, Capital Economics, and Fannie Mae provided their own analysis on what the numbers really mean and what they may indicate for the future.

The nation added 115,000 jobs in April, far below expectations and a drop from March’s revised payroll growth of 154,000, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The closely watched unemployment rate dipped again to 8.1 percent – its lowest level since January 2009 (7.8 percent) when President Obama took office – a function of a sharp drop in the nation’s labor force. Payroll gains for February and March were revised, adding 19,000 to the February numbers and 34,000 to March. The average workweek remained at 34.5 hours – still below the level when the recession began in December 2007 (34.6) and average hourly earnings improved by one cent. The number of people not in the labor force increased, as both the number of people employed and unemployed declined.

Freddie Mac reported net income of $577 million for the first quarter of 2012. That combined with $1.21 billion in unrealized gains on securities investments resulted in comprehensive income of $1.79 billion. The GSE's finances didn't sit in the black for very long, however. After a $1.8 billion dividend payment to its primary shareholder, the U.S. Treasury, Freddie's net worth was a deficit of $18 million. Looking at the GSE's loss mitigation numbers, short sales almost equaled the number of loan modifications during the first quarter.

First time claims fell a surprising 27,000 to 365,000 for the week ended April 28, the Labor Department reported Thursday after revisions drove the prior week’s report up by 4,000 to 392,000, the highest level in five months. Economists had expected initial claims would decrease to 378,000.

Based on documents Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland.) and John Tierney (D-Massachusetts) received, Acting Director Edward DeMarco's reason for not allowing principal reduction appears to be based on ideology, not analysis, according to a May 1 letter they wrote to the director. The letter states beginning in 2009, Fannie Mae officials worked with Citibank to develop a ""shared equity"" principal reduction pilot program that was ""suddenly suspended"" in July 2010. In the letter, the representatives stated that on February 8, a former Fannie Mae employee informed them the pilot program on principal reduction was terminated by officials who were ""philosophically opposed to writing down principal balances.""

The Justice Department settled its first lawsuit involving discrimination against women and families in the mortgage insurance industry Monday. The lawsuit was against Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation (MGIC) for discriminating against women on maternity leave, a violation of the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits any discrimination in housing and mortgage lending based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, and familial status.

According to data from Clear Capital, over the last year, REO prices have increased 5.5 percent, while fair market sales prices dropped 2.9 percent. The real estate data provider explained that demand for REOs is most likely causing the increase in prices and named Carrington Holding Company, Amherst Securities Group, and Waypoint Financial as examples of investors purchasing single-family REOs with the purpose of converting them into rental properties.

Studies indicate the foreclosure crisis and its community-debilitating aftereffects are having a disproportionate impact on minorities and minority-owned real estate businesses. The National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB), the oldest African American trade group of real estate professionals in the country, has positioned itself alongside members of Congress, minority businesses, and granting agencies like the Salvation Army to face this challenge head-on. NAREB is hosting the State of Housing in Black America Issues Forum (SHIBA) on Wednesday, May 2, in Washington, D.C., with special appearances by Reps. Elijah Cummings and Eleanor Holmes Norton.