Headline roundup Nov. 7 - the economy

Here are headlines snatched from the Web about the state of our economy this morning:

Crisis gives Obama a chance to leave mark
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, said last month that Congress will enact legislation next year ''comparable to what Franklin Roosevelt and Congress did in the New Deal'' to eliminate lapses that allowed the U.S. credit markets to deteriorate.
Frank has said Congress should consider either creating a separate agency or empowering the Federal Reserve to assess risk across the financial markets and intervene if necessary.

Mortgage do-overs don't keep pace with foreclosures

Last week it was reported that the federal Hope for Homeowners program to swap into 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages had only gotten 42 applications since its Oct. 1 launch. Yet realty data says foreclosures are claiming more than 8,500 homes a day now. The toll is expected to be three million failed mortgages by year's end.

The pace is utterly mismatched. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development now expects only 20,000 borrowers will apply for loan modifications by next autumn. Yet $300 billion has been made available for Hope for Homeowners.

All signs point to recession

Other indicators include car sales. Carmakers such as General Motors reported a 45 percent drop in sales in October, and measures of consumer confidence last month hit all-time lows. With 10.1 million people now unemployed, consumption, which drives more than two-thirds of U.S. economy activity, is sure to take an even greater hit.

"Employment has fallen by 1.2 million in the first 10 months of 2008; over half of the decrease has occurred in the past three months," the Bureau of Labor Statistics report says. "In October, job losses continued in manufacturing, construction and several service-providing industries."

Supplies dwindle at food bank

Food banks gear up for tough winter