they make only minimum payments. the calculators are available on our website. in response to increasing reports of foreclosure rescue scams, we launched a coordinated effort to warn homeowners already struggling to pay their mortgages. a new informational piece, 5 tips for avoiding foreclosure scams, is the latest in our ongoing " 5 tips " plainlanguage consumer information series. the rapid growth of this problem led us to purchase 30 - second spot advertisements in movie theaters in 18 cities experiencing high foreclosure rates. the advertisements were intended to raise public awareness about these scams. the federal reserve expects to do more of this type of innovative outreach to consumers. collaboration across the federal reserve system in response to the home mortgage crisis the federal reserve system's unique ability to respond at both a national and regional level allowed the federal reserve to take an active leadership role in shaping a public policy response as the mortgage crisis deepened. for example, we created the homeownership and mortgage initiative ( hmi ). using economists and community development experts from across the system, the federal reserve developed a comprehensive strategy to provide information, data, and solutions that respond to the challenges of preventing unnecessary foreclosures and stabilizing communities that are adversely affected by large clusters of foreclosures. additionally, the federal reserve system is providing online data about subprime lending patterns and performance. the data are available on the federal reserve bank of new york's website. 2 these dynamic maps and data illustrate subprime and alt - a mortgage loan conditions that may assist community groups, policymakers, and local governments as they prioritize the use of their resources and develop plans to lessen the impacts that delinquencies and foreclosures may have on local economies. we have worked with the federal reserve banks to convene a series of regional conferences : recovery, renewal, rebuilding : a federal reserve foreclosure series, to clarify the challenges and the strategies for moving toward solutions by examining effective practices, creative solutions, and innovative ways to prepare for the future. 3 and we have forged a partnership with neighborworks america, a congressionally chartered nonprofit corporation, to identify strategies to address the challenges that foreclosed homes can present, such as decreased home values and vacant properties that can deteriorate from neglect. this collaboration is focused on finding ways to mitigate the impact of foreclosures and vacant homes across the country

and business spending may be beginning to abate. corporate liquidations and unemployment : better than feared the prompt and large policy actions are likely to be one reason why corporate failures have, to date, not increased by as much as might have been feared. although output has fallen by more than in either the 1980s or 1990s recessions, liquidations have risen by less than at the same stage of those downturns. companies have benefited from the fall in debt servicing costs associated with the sharp reduction in bank rate and by the government scheme allowing them to defer tax payments. and by supporting corporate credit markets, the bank ’ s asset purchase programme has also helped some firms to bypass banks and access capital markets directly. i fully recognise that the asset purchase programme has not been as of much help to many small and medium - sized enterprises – many of whom are represented here today – who are not able to access capital markets and are largely reliant on bank credit. however, i would contend that even the sme sector has benefited indirectly from the programme of asset purchases, such as from the accompanying fall in libor rates. in a similar vein, although there has been a substantial fall in employment over the past year or so, the extent of the job losses to date has, if anything, been less than we might have feared given the falls in output. this may partly reflect the greater degree of wage flexibility that has been apparent in this recession compared to that in either the 1980s or 1990s. 2 a substantial element of the workforce appears to have been able to protect their jobs by accepting slower wage growth. by comparison with the past, these relatively limited increases in liquidations and unemployment are likely to have been important in mitigating the severity of the downturn. large numbers of corporate failures are very damaging to the economy, with the loss of the skills and experience that firms have built up over the years, as well as of their investment in machinery and equipment, and with the shedding of jobs. indeed, the relatively muted increase in company liquidations in this recession may have helped to limit the falls in employment. moreover, the fact that more of the burden of firms ’ adjustment to the recession has been spread over the workforce as a whole in the form of lower wages, rather than being concentrated on those losing their jobs, is likely to have lessened the fall in consumption. this is both because households may find it easier to borrow to smooth their consumption if they still have a job and because it