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WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of homeowners stung by the dramatic decline in the U.S. housing market jumped last month as foreclosure filings grew by more than 50 percent compared with the same month a year ago, according to data released Thursday.

Nationwide, more than 272,000 homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice in July, up 55 percent from about 175,000 in the same month last year and up 8 percent from June, RealtyTrac Inc. said. That means one in every 464 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing last month.

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Tags: Arizona, California, Economy, Fannie Mae, Florida, Foreclosures, Georgia, Michigan, mortgage crisis, Mortgages, Nevada, Ohio, U.S.

At least 29 states plus the District of Columbia, including several of the nation’s largest states, faced an estimated $48 billion in combined shortfalls in their budgets for fiscal year 2009 (which began July 1, 2008 in most states.) At least three other states expect budget problems in fiscal year 2010.

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Tags: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, bubble, budget deficit, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Economy, financial crisis, Florida, Georgia, Government, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Politics, Recession, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Taxes, taxpayers, Tennessee, U.S., Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin

April 15 (Bloomberg) — U.S. foreclosure filings jumped 57 percent and bank repossessions more than doubled in March from a year earlier as adjustable mortgages increased and more owners lost their homes to lenders.

More than 234,000 properties were in some stage of foreclosure, or one in every 538 U.S. households, Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac Inc., a seller of default data, said today in a statement. Nevada, California and Florida had the highest foreclosure rates. Filings rose 5 percent from February.

About $460 billion of adjustable-rate loans are scheduled to reset this year, according to New York-based analysts at Citigroup Inc. Auction notices rose 32 percent from a year ago, a sign that more defaulting homeowners are “simply walking away and deeding their properties back to the foreclosing lender” rather than letting the home be auctioned, RealtyTrac Chief Executive Officer James Saccacio said in the statement.

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Tags: Arizona, bank repossessions, California, Economy, Florida, Foreclosures, George Bush, Georgia, Illinois, insurer, Lehman Brothers, loans, Michigan, Mortgages, Nevada, New York, PMI Group, properties, Texas, U.S.

Food stamps are the symbol of poverty in the US. In the era of the credit crunch, a record 28 million Americans are now relying on them to survive - a sure sign the world’s richest country faces economic crisis

We knew things were bad on Wall Street, but on Main Street it may be worse. Startling official statistics show that as a new economic recession stalks the United States, a record number of Americans will shortly be depending on food stamps just to feed themselves and their families.

Dismal projections by the Congressional Budget Office in Washington suggest that in the fiscal year starting in October, 28 million people in the US will be using government food stamps to buy essential groceries, the highest level since the food assistance programme was introduced in the 1960s.

Disadvantaged Americans queue for aid in New York Continue reading »

Tags: Commodities, Congressional Budget Office, credit crunch, Depression, Food stamps, Foreclosures, groceries, Michigan, poverty, Recession, survive, U.S. Department of Agriculture, USA, Wall Street