The WonkLine: October 19, 2009

Just three years ago, “foreclosure was rarely a factor in how people became homeless,” but according to a new survey by the National Coalition for the Homeless and six other advocacy groups, an average of 10 percent of the homeless people that social service agencies have helped over the last year lost their homes to foreclosure.

A report examining recent bankruptcy filings by small U.S. businesses reveals that “50 percent were current with one or more of their lenders when they threw in the towel,” which Reuters calls “a trend that could complicate lenders’ efforts to identify at-risk borrowers.”

A McClatchy investigation lays out how the credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service “sold its ratings — and sold out investors.”

Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio conducted another one of his controversial immigration sweeps this weekend, despite the fact that federal immigration authorities recently stripped him of his authority to do so.

Immigrant advocates have asked US retailers that are selling an offensive “illegal alien” Halloween costume — which includes an orange jumpsuit, space alien mask, and fake green card — to stop selling the outfits, which are described as an “ignorant attempt to poke fun at a small community.”

Police are offering a reward for any information provided in connection to the brutal beating of an undocumented Mexican immigrant living in Brooklyn, NY, that left him so brain-damaged that he can’t recognize his own family.

The Washington Post explains that the Congressional Budget Office is not God. “Much of what the CBO does is akin to trying to forecast your grocery bill in 10 years.”

“The president of one of America’s largest labor unions, Gerry McEntee, has emerged as a major obstacle to the White House’s efforts to maintain a unified front in the health care debate.”

Al Hunt lays out “A Roadmap to Health-Care Overhaul by Christmas.” “Over the next couple of months, a sausage factory will seem tidier than the U.S. Congress. The disposition of the huge health-care overhaul will be a messy dance of legislation,” he concludes.

“Iranian officials claimed Monday that they had evidence of American and British involvement in the country’s worst suicide bombing attacks in years, raising tensions as Iran meets with Western nations for another round of delicate talks on its nuclear program,” The New York Times reports.

BBC reports that “a panel probing fraud claims in the Afghan election has found Hamid Karzai did not gain enough valid votes for an outright win…Karzai’s vote share had fallen below half after a number of votes were ruled invalid.”

Bloomberg reports that “Pakistan’s army said it was targeting the hometown of the architect of the Taliban’s suicide bombing campaign as it presses an offensive against up to 10,000 militants.”

“The Maldivian president and ministers held the world’s first underwater cabinet meeting on Saturday, in a symbolic cry for help over rising sea levels that threaten the tropical archipelago’s existence.”

Jairam Ramesh, India’s environment minister, “has urged the prime minister” to abandon the Kyoto Protocol structure and “take on carbon emission reductions under a new global deal without insisting on finance and technology from rich nations,” saying India “should try to curb emissions in its own interest” and instead push for diplomatic gains like “a permanent seat on the Security Council.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) is “one of those who will keep my mind open as we move forward” in supporting climate legislation “if it also contains a vigorous expansion of nuclear energy and domestic oil drilling,” although a spokesman said “she will oppose any move by Democratic leaders if they try to debate the legislation on the floor before a major round of U.N. climate negotiations this December in Copenhagen.”

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