Good Evening Mr.Holt, Regarding the Weekend Today Show this morning I think you did a great job playing the base with Earth, Wind and Fire. You have alot of talent and certainly were enjoying yourself. That is wonderful you had the chance to spend time with them. Also, the little singing performance was fun and those dancing moves! Amy looked great too!
The mortgage relief bill might help people keep their homes to refinance. Hopefully, things will get better in the economy. Looking forward to the broadcast Mr.Holt. You do a great job filling in for Mr.Williams. Peace to You and to All!

Lots of Love to Laurel,Jackie,Stephanie,Celine,Claudia,Anna and Matt!
Be Well Always!
Stay Safe Always Richard! Hope to see you very soon on Nightly News!
XOXO

Can NBC also offering a possible "Hardball with Chris Matthews" video podcast because Matthews deserves it? You already published video podcasts of Countdown, Morning Joe, the Today Show, NBC Nightly News and Meet the Press. So it would logically to publish Matthews also on video.

I'm looking forward for such a video podcast and also looking forward for tonights broadcast which I will see tomorrow morning as video podcast because I live in Europe.

Good Evening Mr.Holt, Great broadcast this evening as usual. First of all the passing of the mortgage relief bill will hopefully help Americans keep their homes with new loans to refinance. It could spell a glimmer of hope to this extremely troubled economy. The report by Andrea Mitchell concerning Senator Obama's trip overseas shows he covered alot of ground in a week and made quite an impression on the people. Meeting with Prime Minister Gordon Brown and earlier Former Prime Minister Tony Blair show him getting to know these leaders plus all the Generals in the Middle East region along with the US troops he met with last weekend and week and the speech in Berlin. Quite overwhelming to absorb all in a week and a whirlwind schedule. Time will tell.
On another subject the report by Chris Jansing concerning the removal of trans fats and the banning of the food product in California could prove to help with the obesity problem and save lives from early heart attacks and other diseases. If it makes the food taste better as in the test with fries then it should be a good thing.
Finally, the report by Mr.Mullen about China and the etiquette lessons showed how hard China is trying to make a great impression on the world for the Beijing Olympics. Practicing of carrying medals and greeting people was nice, but the posting of 8 things not to ask visitors was interesting to see. Some of the things listed seemed common sense and alittle personal to ask a visitor. China really wants to world to have the best experience possible. Once the games begin I hope everthing goes well and peaceful. Thank you for the broadcast Mr.Holt! See you on Sunday! Peace to you and to all!

Lots of Love to Laurel,Jackie,Stephanie,Celine,Claudia,Anna and Matt!
Be Well Always!
Stay Safe Richard!!
XOXO

As a former senior account executive with Countrywide Home Loans, I can assure you that this bill being passed by congress is only a fix to give the borrower a sense of hope over the airwaves.  What the tough part about this is bill is that congress is not giving you the whole story because realistically, because of the defaults and credit status of most of these homeowners they must still qualify for those FHA products.  Now more than ever it is harder to qualify for a loan period, and 95% of these borrowers will not meet the guidelines for any lender.  The number of foreclosures will not change for years to come because of the inablility to actually qualify for an FHA fixed product.  This is beyond the adjustable mortgages and negative amortization loans where you can pinpoint blame but the real problem lies with the lack of banks having the backbone to lend.  If you are self employed and trying to qualify for a loan, you better have claimed all financials when tax season rolls around (which almost all do not) even if your credit score is perfect and not lates or derogatories show upon a credit report.  No one speaks of those borrowers and their default rates because they would rather write off their business rather than pay the government thousands of dollars come tax time.  Like I was saying before, this bill is almost a way of giving false hope but another way to cool the waters because of the financial status of this country.  I wish a nobody like myself was able to express this type of comment to the larger firms of the world and try and get a response....I do appreciate the ability to voice my opinion through your show and hope I am proven wrong

Thanks Again

Marco

Hi Lester
Yes since I have been on vacation Gov. Arnie has gone mad with the food and setting Cal. employees back to 6.55 an hour. I expect a recall for the Gov. should be out by the time I get back.

Lester I read about the Americans who live overseas and their campaign for Obama. They call themselves the MaMa's for Obama. I guess the Republicans forgot that some of those in Germany listening to Obama speak were Americans living in Germany.

Smart move on closing the two banks for the weekend this way there wont be another run on the bank.

As for the genious plan to bail out homeowners. On might think of the millions who have already lost their homes as the Govenment is asking them to save the current owners. Looks like a pick and choose bill.

Good to see Pelosi working so closely with the Republicans. First she refused to impeach Bush/Cheney now she's hiring a former Political criminal Porter Goss. Now what's interesting is Porter Goss was working with Wilkes who was found guilty of fraud and illegal deals with contracts in the CIA.  Who says crimes doesn't pay if your friends of the White House crime team.

Best to Lisa, Laural, Stephanie, Claudia, Anne and Matt

Hi Mr. Holt,
Did any producer actually vet Kevin Corke's piece tonight on the newly passed Housing Rescue Bill? It was fine until the tag line, after talking about how much this legislation could add to the national debt, was something to this effect:
"For all you homeowners that have been paying your mortgages on time, the best this bill can offer you is the chance to stave off more foreclosures in your neighborhood, stabilizing home values."

This over-simplification of the bill makes it sound like every American taxpayer not in mortgage trouble or with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is getting the shaft.

This is simply not true and it does your viewers a real disservice. Did Kevin actually read the legislation? Here are some highlights of the legislation:

The Housing Rescue Bill gives an extra $500 (or $1,000 for married couples) standard deduction for taxpayers who don't itemize (mortgage trouble or not), a federal tax credit for first time buyers, lower jumbo mortgage rates for any home buyer, and perhaps most important, extra protection for returning veterans against foreclosure. Here is a New York Times column detailing these benefits. Perhaps Mr. Corke would have done better to read this and maybe, his producer too.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/25/business/25money.html?scp=1&sq=Housing%20bill%20has%20something%20for%20everyone&st=cse

Please, you guys can do better than this.

Mr. Holt,

Enjoyed the broadcast tonight. I think the ban on trans fat, though still 2 years away, will be a great thing for people in California, and I hope it reaches more states. I think it will take a long while to see any real effects of the ban though, and I'm not sure how much it single handedly contributes to obesity.

The story on China was very interesting. I think the U.S. has a list that is similar to the one you showed, with maybe te exception about inquiring about ones job, though that is usually brought up in small talk I have found.

I'm also curious to see how decreasing gas prices, and especially the housing market, will help our economy, and in what amount of time it will take to get the U.S. back on track.

A shout out to all the other posters.

I just read about Obama being denied by the White House a visit to the injured soldiers in Germany. Now McCain is saying he didn't visit them. So sad let's hope the American people don't keep falling for the GOP spin/lies/tricks.

I have so much respect for the Jewish people and the Holy Land. It was sad to hear Obama's privite message was stolen from the Wall and printed. As reported from the Isreal news paper this is the first time this has happen. I'm glad this wasn't done to John McCain on his visit and I'm glad he was shown the respect he deserves. So much is happening with this election but it's bringing out the worse of so many once good people.

Mr. Holt,

For someone who has taken the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg and has visited the Von Trapp family lodge in Stowe Vermont several times, I would appreciate a clarification to your story this evening about the Von Trapps.  My husband and I met Maria Von Trapp many years ago at Stowe and then learned that she died shortly after that; a few years (approx. 3) ago we visited what I thought was her Maria's as well as Captain Von Trapp's grave right outside the lodge.  Your story mentioned that Maria is 93 years old and still alive.  Can you please clarify whether this was one of the daughters?  Thank you.  

According to our friends in Germany, the 200,000 people who were at the "rally" for Barack Obama were not there for him.  They were there for a "free concert".  Could you comment on this?

WHY AREN'T YOU AND YOUR PUBLICATION DOING MORE REPORTING OF THE CRIMES OF THE BUSH AND CHENEY ADMINISTRATION? IF YOU REALLY WANT TO HELP OUR ECONOMY AND OUR COUNTRY, THAT'S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO.

Investors and home owners had a tough year.
It started with the real estate market crash, than the mortgage crisis and now foreclosures.
Everybody is looking for help with their investments, from the homeowner down the street to the big investor up on the billboards.
In the past year 267 banks closed their doors and more banks are on the verge of closing.

Seriously let's face it "the world is in a serious trouble and no body can do anything to change it".

How did we let this great economy we had to collapse like this?
Who can we blame except our selves?

I don't think we need to look for the blame but we definitely need to fix it somehow and we can do it, home owners and investors.

Let's talk to you homeowner:
There are many options to save your home and get a mortgage.
1. Fha loans
2. Conventional loans with lower loan to value
3. Hard money loans or private money mortgage loans(which is the same thing).

Most of you homeowners are not knowledgeable enough to know how to save your homes your selves, many of you that have lost their homes already could possibly save it if you would gain some knowledge.
But no one is perfect and I'm not expecting you to go to school and study what to do with your home while you're trying to save it, but you can hire a professional to help you.
I'm a mortgage broker from los angeles california and I've seen so many people that could save their homes, but because they didn't have the knowledge they've lost it instead.

Lets help each other and ourselves to bring this great world back to what it was 3 years ago!

Know your options and hire a professional mortgage or real estate broker to help you, brokers are the one that knows better than anybody else.

Why not to go to the bank next door?
Normally banks are narrow minded and they don't know how to be creative, because they know only one thing- what their bank has to offer.
You want someone that knows how to get things done, if it's with conventional lending(which is the banks), fha mortgages(which is government loans) and the private money lending(which is private investors that are acting as the bank in some cases).
So many people don't even know that private money lending or hard money loans are an option, so homeowners loose homes with lots of equity in them.

I think that private money lending is the next thing for investors and home owners, since banks can't qualify anyone anymore.
 

Message (please, no HTML tags. Web addresses will be hyperlinked):