The Congressional Oversight Panel is warning that losses on commercial real estate loans could reach $300 billion, potentially wiping out “hundreds more community and midsize banks” and drying up the credit needed to restore the economy to health. (USA Today)

After a U-turn in the politics of poverty, food stamps, a program once scorned as “welfare,” enjoys broad new support. Following deep cuts in the 1990s, Congress reversed course to expand eligibility, cut red tape and burnish the program’s image, with a special effort to enroll the working poor. (New York Times)

Silicon Valley’s economy took a big hit during the global meltdown and could have trouble climbing out, according to a report released Wednesday. The 2010 Index of Silicon Valley said the region is entering a “new phase of uncertainty.” (Associated Press)

Seeking alternatives to the nation’s struggling foreclosure prevention efforts, federal and mortgage industry officials increasingly are looking for ways to get distressed borrowers to leave their homes voluntarily, without going through the expensive foreclosure process or a messy eviction. (Washington Post)

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve’s chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, outlined a strategy — but not a timetable — for scaling back the extraordinary measures it began taking in 2007 to prop up the economy as financial markets teetered on collapse. (New York Times)

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Wednesday the world’s leading economies were close to agreeing a global bank tax. Brown believes that opinion has shifted decisively in favor of a globally co-ordinated tax after President Barack Obama’s move last month to raise $90 billion from a U.S. bank tax. (Financial Times)

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