Louise Story

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner convenes a meeting of mortgage analysts and economists today to discuss the future of mortgage financing. Is home ownership still a social good? And how much should the government put on the line to encourage it?

Financial markets took a hit yesterday after jobless claims rose to their highest level since last November. This increase is feeding concern that the economy is starting to slow down again. Louise Story joins us.

New York Times finance reporter, Louise Story, breaks down the numbers. Louise reminds us that 8 milllion jobs have been lost since 2007 and that a real recovery will take years. She also looks at the effects of these numbers on the markets.

States are competing against each other with tax incentives in the battle for jobs. But once incentives are given out, some are finding it impossible to determine whether they’re getting any return on their investment.

In an investigation by The New York Times, reporters discovered that the SEC is regularly declaring that the strictest penalties for fraud, penalties it regularly imposes on other businesses, often are not imposed on Wall Street investment banks.