VOA慢速英语2009-Economics Report - Obama Offers a Rescue Plan fo

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

President Barack Obama has a plan to deal with a central cause of the economic crisis: America's troubled housing market.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: "Through this plan, we will help between seven and nine million families restructure or refinance their mortgages so they can avoid foreclosure."
　
A home in Phoenix¹, Arizona. The Phoenix area has been hit hard by the housing crisis.

The Homeowner Affordability² and Stability Plan is the biggest effort yet to help struggling homeowners. It could cost as much as two hundred seventy-five billion dollars.

Under the plan, up to five million owners could refinance their loans through the two mortgage companies now controlled by the government. These people are current in their payments but unable to get lower interest rates because their home value has fallen.

Millions of owners are "underwater," meaning they owe more than their home is worth.

The government will ease rules for loans owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And it will buy an additional one hundred billion dollars of stock in each company.

Another part of the plan is expected to cost seventy-five billion. It could help as many as three to four million owners change the terms of their mortgages to avoid foreclosure.

The goal is to reduce monthly payments for five years to no more than thirty-one percent of the borrower's monthly income. If a lender agrees to a reduction, the government would partly match the amount.

Mortgage servicers, lenders and borrowers will receive incentive³ payments for the success of restructured loans.

Past efforts have excluded homeowners who continue to pay their loans. The Obama administration says the earlier those in trouble can get help, the more chance for long-term success.

But some critics say the plan does not do enough to deal with parts of the crisis, such as rewriting loans that were sold as securities.

The president announced the plan Wednesday in Arizona, a state with many houses repossessed by lenders. A day earlier, he signed his economic recovery plan in neighboring Colorado.

He says the housing plan will not help dishonest lenders or irresponsible borrowers, or save every home. "But," he says, "it will give millions of families resigned to financial ruin a chance to rebuild."

The administration will release more detailed⁴ guidance on March fourth. It says major parts of the program use authority already provided by Congress, but some pieces require approval. For example: giving bankruptcy⁵ court judges new powers to reduce mortgages without lender approval -- so-called cramdowns.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Doug Johnson.

1 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

2 affordability   

可购性

参考例句：

• Performance-Based Logistics Affordability: Can We Afford Categorical Conversion to Performance-Based Acquisition? 基于性能的后期的可承受性：能否担负得起向基于性能的采办的无条件的转变？
• There would be no crisis of affordability, as't for food or clothing. 就想食物与服装一样，因为供给没有危机。

3 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

4 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

5 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。