News that the Fed is going to provide additional liquidity for the credit markets help boost stocks to huge gains today The Dow scored its best one day percentage increase in 5 years according to Reuters. The Dow climbed 416 on the day and the Nasdaq was up 86 points.
At the same time cities are starting to feel the impact of the tough housing markets. There are more homeless people. There is more crime. There are less revenues for U.S. cites.
The mortgage foreclosure crisis has caused a drop in cities' revenues, a spike in crime, more homelessness and an increase in vacant properties, a survey of elected local officials out today shows.
About two-thirds of 211 officials surveyed by the National League of Cities reported an increase in foreclosures in their cities in the past year, according to the online and e-mail questionnaire. A third of them reported a drop in revenues and an increase in abandoned and vacant properties and urban blight.
"There's a reduction in revenues at the same time that more services are needed," says Cynthia McCollum, president of the National League of Cities and councilwoman in Madison, Ala., a suburb of Huntsville. "Because of foreclosures, people are stealing, crime is on the rise and we don't have more money for cops on the street."
The market had a boost today but the foreclosure crisis is worsening.
