by KYW's John McDevitt
An area economist says banks need to be more flexible when it comes to granting mortgage loans than they have been in this weak economy.
Dr. Benjamin Liebman, assistant professor of economics at Saint Joseph's University, says if the billions of dollars being used in the bailout plan are also applied to helping people get loans, we could see house values head back up:
"The money that is being channeled from the treasury into the banks needs to be lent back out to people who actually still want to buy houses. So if people can get new loans to buy houses, that will boost the price of houses."
Several lawmakers are looking into setting requirements for banks to make mortgage loans more available to customers.
In another local development, Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter says cities are bearing more than their share of the economic crisis.
Along with the mayors of Atlanta and Phoenix, Nutter has sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Paulson, proposing that some of the government bailout package be set aside to help cities deal with infrastructure spending, city worker pension funds and short-term borrowing.
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