Saving for a cold winter: A new survey shows that 76% of people polled think the recession will last for at least another year. The Econ4U survey of more than 1,000 Americans also found that 40% have started saving more because of economic concerns and 64% know someone who has lost a job in the past six months.
Biggest month in six years: Fannie Mae says its refinancing volume was $77 billion in March, nearly twice what it reported in February. This was the biggest month for refinancing since 2003. Fannie Mae officials say they expect business to increase because of President Barack Obama’s Making Home Affordable plan, which allows property owners to refinance a home, even if they owe more than it is worth.
I now pronounce you husband and husband: Iowa’s Supreme Court legalized gay marriage today in a unanimous and emphatic decision that makes Iowa the third state — and the first in the nation’s heartland — to allow same-sex couples to wed. In its decision, the high court upheld a lower court’s ruling that found a state law restricting marriage to between a man and woman violated Iowa’s constitution “We are firmly convinced the exclusion of gay and lesbian people from the institution of civil marriage does not substantially further any important governmental objective,” the Supreme Court wrote in its decision. “The Legislature has excluded a historically disfavored class of persons from a supremely important civil institution without a constitutionally sufficient justification.”
