Housing bailout bill, The rich get richer

Housing bailout bill

Congress this week passed a massive mortgage-bailout bill that will offer $300 billion in relief to homeowners and lenders. The bill gives qualified homeowners facing foreclosure an opportunity to refinance into 30-year government-guaranteed mortgages. It also authorizes the Treasury to make loans to the troubled government-chartered mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and buy an unspecified amount of stock in both companies. The bailout of Fannie and Freddie could cost taxpayers as much as $25 billion.

The rich get richer

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The wealthiest 1 percent of Americans garnered 22 percent of the national income in 2006, their highest share since 1929, the Internal Revenue Service reported. At the same time, those at the very top of the income pyramid saw their average income tax rate fall to

22.8 percent that year—the lowest tax rate paid by the top 1 percent since 1988.