2011 archive
Update from the Foreclosure-Based Economy 0
Guvmint steps in to keep supply of foreclosures high:
While the volume of new foreclosures in Hampton Roads has been easing during the past year, the inventory of homes owned by HUD has been growing. By March, the number of homes owned by the government housing agency nationwide had climbed to 68,997, up 51 percent from the previous year, HUD reported.
Snark aside, what’s happening it that, after a lender forecloses on a home with an FHA mortgage, the government ends up stuck with the property. The lender has already scarfed up the profits from the fees at the time of the sale (and the fees at the time of the sale, not the investment in the loan, were the incentive for granting those iffy mortgages*), and the government is left holding the bag.
An “investor” can get one of these houses for about the price of a one-year-old Toyota.
This is called, I think, “flopping this house.”
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*Remember, borrowers weren’t knocking down the doors of lenders to get loans. Lenders were knocking down the doors of individuals to sign them up for loans; if you could breathe, they would sign you up. Remember all the junk mail you used to get from Ameriquest and CountryWide looking for more marks in their games of three card monte?
Rabbit Holes, War Spending Dept. 0
Steve Chapman sums it up in the Chicago Trib:
Why Do Persons Vote Republican? A Theory 0
Field calls my attention to this post listing ten reasons to vote Republican.
Here are the first three. Follow the link for the rest:
#9: I shall vote Republican next time because I do not belong to any union. I have been told that unions are evil, and of course I believe it since Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity said so.
#8: I shall vote Republican because the President is not a United States citizen. I have been told that from the Tea Party, the conservative talkers, and Michelle Bachman. If they say it, I know those truths to be self evident.
News of the World News 0
Andy Borowitz has a communication from Rupert Murdoch regarding the News of the World phone voicemail hacking. A nugget:
Some of you aren’t buying this argument. You maintain that a media titan like me would get his information from sources beyond newspapers – like TV, for example. Well, that’s true. But in my case, the only TV I watch is the Fox News Channel. So not only do I not know what is going on around me, I know nothing about the theory of evolution, global warming, or President Obama’s birthplace.
Scam Alert 0
The story does not say whether this does damage or is merely random vandalism:
The SOPHIS NakedSecurity blog and PCWorld.com report that the link is a malware scam.
Ryan’s Dope(smokers) 2
Planning to throw old folks into the street to keep the rich richer and the poor poorer and insurance execs supplied with country club memberships.
That dog ain’t gonna Hunts(man).
Plot Hatching 0
Shorter Orrin Hatch: Bleed the poor.
The reason they are called “the poor” is that they don’t have anything, for Pete’s sake.
Plus Ca Change 0
From DelawareLiberal, Franklin Roosevelt on Republicans, social security, and employment:
Minions of plutocracy then, minions of plutocracy now.
Light Bloggery 0
Because everyone needs a break from time to time.
I will spend today enjoying homemade bagels from this recipe.
This is what they looked like on their way into the oven.
I ad libbed: two sesame as called for in the recipe, two onion, two garlic, one salt. And one too big because it’s the first time I tried the recipe.
“Oprah, Tool of the Anti-Christ” and Other Goodies 0
Rachel Maddow rounds up a few whack-a-doodles of the right wing:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
I am hardly a fan of Oprah, but that has more to do with her unleashing Dr. Phil on an unsuspecting world than with a belief that she is a tool of the Devil.
TSA Security Theatre, Over Three Ounces Dept. 0
From El Reg:
TSA employee Nelson Santiago was spotted by a Continental Airlines employee as he was stuffing said Cupertinian foundleslab into his pants when inspecting luggage at a Florida airport.
This guy had stolen over 50 grand worth of stuff in six months, selling it over unspecified internet sales sites.
Also, fondleslab.
Pensions Pending 1
This is something that has been nagging at me for some time, but I wasn’t sure how to address it. Now a letter writer to the Philly Inquirer has saved me the trouble.
When politicians complain about the cost of retirees’ pensions, they often leave out the full term: “Unfunded pension obligations.”
It’s not the pensions. It’s the politicians who refused to plan for them, but instead have used pension funds for other purposes.
The situation with social security is similar.
Social Security isn’t broke; it’s looted, sacrificed to the fetish against taxes citizens paying for the services they demand from the government.
Dustbiters 0
Having too much fun last night to check the obits for banks, so I missed the demise of three more titans of fiscal responsibility.
These are banks no more:
