Credit-card debt has been falling for 16 straight months but consumers aren’t paying off their financial obligations as much you might think. Instead, they’re walking away from the debt, forcing credit-card issuers to write off as much as 90% of that reported drop, according to a new report by CardHub.com.

U.S. banks charged off a record $83.3 billion in credit-card losses last year. That makes up the bulk of the $93.2 billion drop in outstanding credit-card debt that was reported by the Federal Reserve for 2009.

“But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.

Unbelievable arrogance. That’s from her website, you can’t make this stuff up. In fairness, she doesn’t know either – only the lobbyists who wrote it actually know, and they aren’t saying.

Economists Mary Daly and Bart Hobijn trace last year’s surge in joblessness to unusually strong productivity growth at U.S. businesses.

Companies’ ability to keep output steady, even as they slashed jobs, meant the unemployment rate rose twice as fast as predicted by the historical relationship between gross domestic product and unemployment, known as Okun’s law, the economists found. U.S. joblessness touched a high of 10.1 percent last year.

Mary and Bart, you need to look into how imports are accounted for in the GDP statistics. I think you might find the outsize productivity gains in recent years are a mirage. Of course, this doesn’t change your conclusion, just explains it.

Taking effect on April 5, the program could encourage hundreds of thousands of delinquent borrowers who have not been rescued by the loan modification program to shed their houses through a process known as a short sale, in which property is sold for less than the balance of the mortgage. Lenders will be compelled to accept that arrangement, forgiving the difference between the market price of the property and what they are owed.

“We want to streamline and standardize the short sale process to make it much easier on the borrower and much easier on the lender,” said Seth Wheeler, a Treasury senior adviser.

The problem is highlighted by a routine case in Phoenix. Chris Paul, a real estate agent, has a house he is trying to sell on behalf of its owner, who owes $150,000. Mr. Paul has an offer for $48,000, but the bank holding the mortgage says it wants at least $90,000. The frustrated owner is now contemplating foreclosure.

It might help clear the problem bank list, though. But not in a good way. Barney Frank has figured out his decision to waive mark-to-market accounting has led banks to sit with a pile of worthless second mortgages on their balance sheets at ludicrous valuations, which they are needless to say reluctant to properly value. So Barney writes them, asking them to do just that.

Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, last week sent a letter to the four biggest U.S. banks demanding “immediate steps to write down second mortgages.” The Massachusetts Democrat sent the letter to the chief executive officers of Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. Meanwhile, the Obama administration is preparing to launch long-planned initiatives aimed at addressing these obstacles.

Ms Bair, over at the FDIC, must be having a nervous breakdown over this idiot’s antics. Be careful what you ask for, Barney, you might just get it.