2009 archive
The Acme Mortgage Company. Be Popular. Fool Your Friends. 0
The Washington Post dissects the real estate crash, with a focus on La La Land. The whole thing is worth the 10 minutes it takes to read it. Here’s a nugget:
Some lenders wooed borrowers with generous terms once reserved for the most creditworthy. Mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, eager to profit, started buying more of these loans — in effect, subsidizing the market.
Blinder used the Wile E. Coyote character in the old Road Runner cartoons to explain what happened to prices next: “The coyote is running, running until he runs off the mesa, suddenly he’s out there in thin air and stays there for a while — then crash,” he said.
The markets that crashed the hardest were the ones where prices had climbed the fastest.
In Words of One Syllable (Well, Sometimes Maybe Two or Three Syllables) 0
Noz explains the recently-revealed FISA decision and the law. It’s not what it’s been reported to be (emphasis added):
let’s say that there was a law outlawing the stealing of jelly beans. a guy named george doesn’t pay attention to that law and steals jelly beans continuously for at least three years. then the new york times publishes a story revealing george’s thefts. hubbub ensues, but george is defiant. he thinks he should be allowed to steal and says he’s going to continue doing it because he thinks he should be allowed to. people still grumble that george is committed repeated felonies so after another year and a half later, george gets congress to pass a law that amends the orginal jelly bean act. the amendment makes it legal for george to steal jelly beans for a six month period (beginning with the passage of the amendment), provided that he only steals red jelly beans.
a critic of the amendment sues, claiming that the amendment is unconstitutional because it discriminates against jelly beans on the basis of their color. the court disagrees and upholds the jelly bean amendment, ruling that the constitution doesn’t prohibit that kind of discrimination.
the court’s decision would not have any relevance to the question of whether george broke the law when he stole jelly beans those first three years. first, the issue in that first three year period is not the constitutional issue addressed by the court, but rather the question whether he violated the original jelly bean statute.
Words Fail Me 0
Oh, my.
Now, This Is Just Dumb, Part II 2
Steve has the details.
Now, This Is Just Dumb 0
From Reuters:
Pfui!
It’s his for weeks and months to come.
To paraphrase the words, if not the intent, of Marc Antony: The evil that men do lives after them . . . .
Furrfu.
Broken Circuit 1
I’ve been in the local Circuit City only twice. Neither time could I find anything whatsoever to interest me. It made Best Buy, which I loathe, look good.
This may be to some extent fallout from Republican Economic Theory, but it is just as much fallout from incompetent management, marketing, and product selection.
Wonder if the local store will go back to its roots as a bowling alley?
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Huennekens approved the plan to sell Circuit City to a liquidator group, capping a tumultuous year for the specialty chain.
Bonana Fanna Fo Fanna 0
The Booman explains the name game.
Truth. No Reconciliation. 0
Criminal proceedings are not necessary, though, no doubt, deserved.
Truth, though, should be mandatory.
Paul Krugman:
And to protect and defend the Constitution, a president must do more than obey the Constitution himself; he must hold those who violate the Constitution accountable. So Mr. Obama should reconsider his apparent decision to let the previous administration get away with crime. Consequences aside, that’s not a decision he has the right to make.
Vacancies 0
Criswell predicts mass retirements from the Supreme Court over the next year.
Four Days Left (Updated) 0
Read the comments here.
I marvel at the commenters’ restraint.
And, do not forget, it wasn’t just Bush.
It was the whole rotten Republican necon cabal.
It was, in short, conservatism triumphant.
Good riddance, and how much more damage can they do in four days?
We shall see.
No doubt, we shall see.
As I remarked to someone in an email today, I have not yet been disappointed by expecting the worst from George W. Bush and his crew.
Addendum:
Ian Williams in the Guardian:
And his subsidiary achievement? Making Bill Clinton look good. Now that’s impressive.
Timothy Geithner’s Tax Problems 0
Dick Polman analyzes Tim Geithner’s tax problems as regards his nomination for Secretary of the Treasury.
I can’t say I hold a great brief of Mr. Geithner, nor for anyone who has been in any way associated with the Fed or Wall Street, even tangentially, within the past eight years.
I can, nevertheless, request some clarity in the discourse:
Apparently, what Geithner failed to pay was the self-employment tax.
That is separate from the income tax that we all know and love.
Persons who are self-employed or who are contractors who do not have tax withheld must pay the self-employment tax in addition to the income tax. It covers the social security and medicare taxes that would have been withheld had they had employee status, as well as the employer’s contribution to those taxes. For most contractors and self-employed persons, it is equal to or greater than the income tax itself.
I first encountered it about 12 years ago, when I did a little consulting gig on the side of my regular job. I wouldn’t have known about it if I hadn’t just stumbled over the requirement. I had completed my 1040, then read something and realized, gee, there’s a whole nother form I have to fill out. (Technically, it’s the Form 1040 Schedule SE.)
I have a friend, a person of good will, who failed to pay it for several years when he first entered “contractor” status, even as he faithfully paid his income tax. Now he’s in audit hell as a result.
Why? He didn’t get lucky the way I did and stumble over it, and no one told him about it.
Yeah, I know, that’s not an excuse. It is, however, a reason, and, in my friend’s case, a quite legitimate reason. I assure you, he sincerely wishes he had known about, realized about, and paid the self-employment tax.
Especially when his caller ID says, “We’re from the IRS. We need to talk.”
Apparently, IMF considered Geithner to be in a contractor status and did not withhold Medicare and social security taxes.
If Geithner did his taxes himself, he can be condemned for being stupid.
If he had a tax advisor (and at his pay level, he certainly ought to have had one), he needs to see about getting several dozen refunds of his fees. Keeping clients out of trouble is what tax advisors are for.
The point I’m making is this: Some persons are talking about this as if Mr. Geithner failed the file his 1040s.
It’s a little more subtle and a little more complicated than that.
(Aside: When my mother went back to teaching, she learned somewhere along the line that she had to pay social security for the cleaning lady. I remember her stuggling with the forms every quarter. Wonder how many tax evaders out there aren’t paying the social security and medicare taxes for their home help?)
Two-Thirds 0
From the Booman.
Nowhere To Go, Nothing To Do 0
except watch soaps and eat Chee-tos.
The gain in the most recent claims data restarts an upwards trend that analysts had expected. Initial claims had declined in the prior two weeks, likely due to difficulties in accounting for seasonal adjustments.
In other news, no beer to cry in.
Maybe If the Slots Dispensed Books? 2
Brendan points out how Philadelphia, which is looking to close libraries, many in the city’s poorer neighborhoods to save the $8,000,000.00 they have been unable to collect from the Iggles, went to Uncle Sugar to request money for casino development.
And, ya know what? if the Iggles win a championship, I bet Philly will blow more than $8,000,000.00 on the parade.
Via Phillybits.