Ha, no?
Classy.
And in other classy right blog news...
Friday, November 30, 2007
Politics
Yglesias gives David Broder a stroke:
That so many Villagers have determined that politics is just some nasty posturing which gets in the way of their cozy social cliques is truly bizarre. They're the very serious insiders who know how things really work, after all.
Meanwhile, both whatever degree of climate change can't be prevented and whatever prevention measures we adopt will all have different kinds of costs and benefits. Different policies will allocate these costs to different people. The mechanism by which we decide what to do is called "politics" and it exists so that individuals and organizations with somewhat divergent interests and ideas can make collective decisions about how to tackle common problems. The rhetoric of anti-politics isn't just an analytic mistake, it's part of the problem. A public that doesn't believe divergent interests can be reconciled and common solutions devised for common problems -- a public that doesn't believe in politics -- is going to be a public that doesn't believe there's anything that can or should be done to prevent catastrophic climate change.
That so many Villagers have determined that politics is just some nasty posturing which gets in the way of their cozy social cliques is truly bizarre. They're the very serious insiders who know how things really work, after all.
Still a Hostage
It seems they now think there's still a hostage.
...or not...
...now saying no one knows who the guy is.
Anyway, all kinds of mixed reports floating around.
...or not...
...now saying no one knows who the guy is.
Anyway, all kinds of mixed reports floating around.
More Thread
...
...elderly man known locally who had a history of mental illness and who had earlier told his son to watch the teevee.
...elderly man known locally who had a history of mental illness and who had earlier told his son to watch the teevee.
Clinton Headquarters Hostages
Well this is creepy.
...hostage taker reported to be demanding to speak to Clinton.
...two hostages released (believed to be all).
...hostage taker reported to be demanding to speak to Clinton.
...two hostages released (believed to be all).
The Real Rudy
Now that they're actually confronting him instead of drooling over "America's Mayor," the real Rudy comes out.
Giuliani refused to take questions here today about allegations that travel expenses were picked up obscure city offices when he was mayor of New York City.
“We’ve already explained it,” he said, walking past reporters after a town hall meeting.
Giuliani, who is normally friendly to reporters, bristled past them, and campaign staffers were unusually physical in keeping the press away. Several campaign aides told campaign reporters to return to the press area, and some of his security detail manhandled reporters. On other occasions, reporters have been free to video Giuliani as he is shaking hands and signing autographs after events, and he often informally takes questions from reporters.
Triage
At first glance the plan to freeze rates on some subprime mortgages actually seems sound.
I doubt it'll be enough, as the problem is much more widespread, but it at least might help some people.
I doubt it'll be enough, as the problem is much more widespread, but it at least might help some people.
More Fare Card
Basically, any transit fare system needs to be convenient and beneficial for both regular and occasional riders. The system should be as broad as possible - working for all modes of public transit - and should be as transparent as possible. A comprehensive fare card system for regular riders shouldn't displace easy single ticket sales for occasional or poorer riders. The card system should incorporate daily/weekly/monthly passes of all types within the system, as well as including cash for additional tickets outside any pass. It should be easy to add money to a pass with cash or credit - ticket machines, online, ticket windows. In Philadelphia the system would ideally be compatible with PATCO (important) and NJ Transit (nice, but less important).
This isn't rocket science.
This isn't rocket science.
Oy, They'll Screw This Up
So apparently the brain trust at SEPTA may be kinda-sorta-ready to move to some sort of fare card system. And they're very excited about a credit card-based system, instead of something actually sane, because it's "next generation" or something.
One day I hope that our transit agency has some input from people who occasionally actually ride public transit.
A real "next generation" fare card would be like the Oyster card they have in London, which keeps track of any passes you have, along with automatically capping costs at whatever the applicable daily rate is (meaning, if you take several bus trips which exceed the daily pass rate you only get charged the daily rate). You can set it to automatically top it up if you fall below a certain level if you want, and you can refill it online.
But using your Visa card is... revolutionary! not.
One day I hope that our transit agency has some input from people who occasionally actually ride public transit.
A real "next generation" fare card would be like the Oyster card they have in London, which keeps track of any passes you have, along with automatically capping costs at whatever the applicable daily rate is (meaning, if you take several bus trips which exceed the daily pass rate you only get charged the daily rate). You can set it to automatically top it up if you fall below a certain level if you want, and you can refill it online.
But using your Visa card is... revolutionary! not.
Toles
I do wish he'd address the swirling controversy surrounding Perry Bacon Jr.'s rumored multiple child rape convictions, but it's a start.
November
George W. Bush, last January:
Time to get out then, no?
To establish its authority, the Iraqi government plans to take responsibility for security in all of Iraq's provinces by November.
Time to get out then, no?
Sex on the City
You know, aside from the corruption and potential criminality of all of this it's provided an excuse (if they take it) to remind the public that Rudy was having an affair with his 3rd wife while living with his 2nd wife in the Mayor's residence. One would think that given the standard rules of such things they wouldn't need an excuse to bring this minor fact up, but there you go.
Even at the time Rudy's activities were downplayed everywhere but the New York press, with suggestions that his affair wasn't really an affair because his battle with prostate cancer made consummating the relationship impossible.
But it seems to me that while the "hide the money" system Rudy apparently used to keep things quiet is something to investigate, ultimately the "give your secret mistress a police car and police driver as a taxi" is pretty much the nail in the coffin anyway.
Even at the time Rudy's activities were downplayed everywhere but the New York press, with suggestions that his affair wasn't really an affair because his battle with prostate cancer made consummating the relationship impossible.
But it seems to me that while the "hide the money" system Rudy apparently used to keep things quiet is something to investigate, ultimately the "give your secret mistress a police car and police driver as a taxi" is pretty much the nail in the coffin anyway.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Caption
Jim Cramer is interviewing Rudy. I don't have the sound on, but the captions are funny. First one.
About 4 minutes later:
Giuliani: The US Should Increase Its Coal Supply Through Government Subsidies
About 4 minutes later:
Giuliani: Business And Government Are Separate - And That's Non-Negotiable
Oh My
Judi!
I'm sure Joe will give us his take as soon as Hoekstra gets his hand back up his ass.
(pic from watertiger)
Well before it was publicly known he was seeing her, then-married New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani provided a police driver and city car for his mistress Judith Nathan, former senior city officials tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.
"She used the PD as her personal taxi service," said one former city official who worked for Giuliani.
I'm sure Joe will give us his take as soon as Hoekstra gets his hand back up his ass.
(pic from watertiger)
The Way of the Warrior
Been amusing myself by reading the yahoo stock boards again. The prose stylings of the people who post there are pretty fascinating. While presumably these are mostly people who spend a significant amount of their time (and family's money) day trading, they quite often come across as being only marginally literate, both in terms of their ability to communicate and in terms of their understanding of The Exciting World of High Finance.
More than that, the rhetoric they invoke is very similar to that invoked by warblogger types at Redstate. Investing in the markets requires a great deal of courage and resolve - where courage usually involves holding on to tanking stocks as they tank - and words like "strategy," devoid of any actual meaning, are thrown around. People who know nothing position themselves as "experts" and snidely talk down to "beginners." And there are, of course, plenty of beginners, people who really shouldn't be day trading or God forbid have access to a margin account.
More than that there's this underlying belief that typing away on a Yahoo message board can really swing the stock price, as there's a constant pissing contest between "shorts" and "longs" in attempts to push the stock up or down.
Unlike most conservative warbloggers, at least the amateur stock touts actually have some skin in the game.
More than that, the rhetoric they invoke is very similar to that invoked by warblogger types at Redstate. Investing in the markets requires a great deal of courage and resolve - where courage usually involves holding on to tanking stocks as they tank - and words like "strategy," devoid of any actual meaning, are thrown around. People who know nothing position themselves as "experts" and snidely talk down to "beginners." And there are, of course, plenty of beginners, people who really shouldn't be day trading or God forbid have access to a margin account.
More than that there's this underlying belief that typing away on a Yahoo message board can really swing the stock price, as there's a constant pissing contest between "shorts" and "longs" in attempts to push the stock up or down.
Unlike most conservative warbloggers, at least the amateur stock touts actually have some skin in the game.
Deep Thoughts From David Ignatius
After invading Iraq and occupying it for almost 5 years, with hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead and millions displaced, David Ignatius tells us:
Indeed.
Heh.
The idea that we can butt in and give orders over there and be successful—-
Indeed.
Heh.
Early Birds Got Out
Florida has a state investment pool into which a lot of municipalities put their money. When word got out that they'd taken on a heap of Big Shitpile, they started to pull out.
It shrunk from $27 billion to $15 billion before they voted to stop allowing withdrawals.
Problem is that this isn't just some long term investment pool, it's a short term place to park funds before they're needed for teachers' salaries and whatnot.
It shrunk from $27 billion to $15 billion before they voted to stop allowing withdrawals.
Problem is that this isn't just some long term investment pool, it's a short term place to park funds before they're needed for teachers' salaries and whatnot.
ZOMG THEY FOUND THE WMD AND THEY'RE HIDING THEM
A Swampland commenter dug up this WSJ column... from 2006... talking about Iraq's WMD, written by Joe's BFF and Senator Man on Dog.
This is the person Joe trusts to explain things he doesn't understand, and who he sympathizes with because he dreams of a return to the glory days of bipartisan love.
This is the person Joe trusts to explain things he doesn't understand, and who he sympathizes with because he dreams of a return to the glory days of bipartisan love.
Reality
Apparently the Chicago Tribune has the time and ability.
We all make mistakes. The important thing is to fix them.
We all make mistakes. The important thing is to fix them.
Sources
Joe Klein likes when Pete Hoekstra whispers in his ear and makes his fingers write the words.
Nobody Could Have Predicted
Oh never mind.
Ah. "center-left" Brookings.
BAGHDAD — The American campaign to turn Sunni Muslims against Islamic extremists is growing so quickly that Iraq's Shiite Muslim leaders fear that it's out of control and threatens to create a potent armed force that will turn against the government one day.
The United States, which credits much of the drop in violence to the campaign, is enrolling hundreds of people daily in "concerned local citizens" groups. More than 5,000 have been sworn in in the last eight days, for a total of 77,542 as of Tuesday. As many as 10 groups were created in the past week, bringing the total number to 192, according to the American military.
...
"There is a danger here that we are going to have armed all three sides: the Kurds in the north, the Shiite and now the Sunni militias," said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA analyst who's now at The Brookings Institution, a center-left policy organization in Washington, D.C.
Ah. "center-left" Brookings.
35 Month Supply
Condo builders went nuts in Palm Beach.
These are existing condo units, so what's likely going on here is that speculators snapped a bunch of new development and are now watching their money disappear. Or, more likely, the banks who lent them money are watching their money disappear.
Prices of existing condos in Palm Beach County plunged 30 percent in October - the sharpest annual decline since the Florida Association of Realtors started tracking them in January 2006.
The median price of an existing condo in Palm Beach County was $158,900 in October, the association said Wednesday, down from $225,500 in the same month last year.
"Individual sellers are becoming more realistic and lowering prices," said Jack McCabe, a Deerfield Beach real estate consultant specializing in the condo market. Seller incentives have failed, he said, and appraisers have "returned to fundamentals."
Palm Beach County has a 35-month supply of existing condo units, McCabe noted.
These are existing condo units, so what's likely going on here is that speculators snapped a bunch of new development and are now watching their money disappear. Or, more likely, the banks who lent them money are watching their money disappear.
New Home Sales Up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's what CNBC just told me. Up 1.7%!!!!
And, yes, it is true that 728K is 1.7% higher than 716K, the number from last month.
It's also true that the number from last month, 716K, was revised downward from... 770K.
You know, I don't exactly do business stuff for a living but the CNBC people presented this as good news, and there was audible cheering on the trading floor, until about 4 minutes later when it dawned on them that maybe this wasn't actually good news.
And, yes, it is true that 728K is 1.7% higher than 716K, the number from last month.
It's also true that the number from last month, 716K, was revised downward from... 770K.
You know, I don't exactly do business stuff for a living but the CNBC people presented this as good news, and there was audible cheering on the trading floor, until about 4 minutes later when it dawned on them that maybe this wasn't actually good news.
Journamalism
It's shocking that the Washington Post continues to publish the work of Perry Bacon Jr., despite the fact that rumors continue to swirl about his multiple child rape convictions.
Citi's Shitpile
CNBC:
The anchors dutifully read this and then started laughing at it. It may even be technically true, though whether or not that takes into account Citi's so-called "liquidity puts" I do not know, but in any case the real point is that a lot of the shitty loans and foreclosures aren't technically subprime even though the subprime term is thrown around as general shorthand for shitty loans.
Citi is disputing an earlier characterization on CNBC about their SIVs - special investment vehicles they and other banks use to hold securities - Citi says it has just $70 million indirect exposure to subprime assets, that all of its SIV assets are rated A or above, 80-90% are rated AA or above, and approximately 50% are rated AAA.
The anchors dutifully read this and then started laughing at it. It may even be technically true, though whether or not that takes into account Citi's so-called "liquidity puts" I do not know, but in any case the real point is that a lot of the shitty loans and foreclosures aren't technically subprime even though the subprime term is thrown around as general shorthand for shitty loans.
Stopped Clock
I was about to remark that David Broder actually wrote a good column for once, and then I realized I'd clicked the wrong link and it was actually by Harold Meyerson.
Better luck next time, David.
Better luck next time, David.
Two Friedmans Ago
Two Friedmans Ago when Iraq Study Group fever was gripping the nation, and the very serious Time Magazine was telling us that Bush was ready to leave Iraq, I wrote:
Two Friedmans from now there will be 120,000+ US troops in Iraq.
Big Shitpile
Etrade sells its bit of big shitpile for about 25 cents on the dollar.
TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- In a top-down shakeup at E-Trade Financial Corp., the New York online brokerage said it would receive a $2.55 billion infusion from Citadel Investment Group as its chairman and chief executive both step down.
The deal, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, gives Citadel a nearly 20% stake in E-Trade
E-Trade's shares advanced 23% to $6.49 in pre-market trading.
Under the terms, Chicago-based Citadel acquired E-Trade's $3 billion of asset-backed securities for about $800 million.
It will immediately buy $1.6 billion of notes paying annual interest of 12.5%. This includes an investment by funds managed by BlackRock.
Morning Thread
When in doubt, assume that racism is the unspoken motivator for all Republican behavior. It works almost all the time.
--Molly I.
--Molly I.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Hacktackular
You know, when Saletan went down his courageous racist road it at first didn't even occur to me to bother to revisit the racism of his new patron saint, Rushton, because I thought this was something that everyone already knew about. I mean, not everyone, of course, but everyone who had spent a bit of time reading about this stuff. I've been around this block several times, from when the Bell Curve came out, to when it was sliced and diced by reputable economists, to the multiple times the "Teh Science Says Black People Are Stupid" conversation has erupted in the blogosphere.
Better racism dabblers, please.
...adding, the obvious point is that if you want to declare that TEH SCIENCE says black people are stupid and that anyone who disagrees is the equivalent to a young Earth creationist a prudent step before doing so might be... having some fucking clue what you're talking about.
Maybe if Saletan wrote about how black people enjoyed monkeyfishing, or about how George Bush was full of shit about his tax plans, then he could get fired.
...and shoot me in the face for not going for the obvious joke:
...
Better racism dabblers, please.
...adding, the obvious point is that if you want to declare that TEH SCIENCE says black people are stupid and that anyone who disagrees is the equivalent to a young Earth creationist a prudent step before doing so might be... having some fucking clue what you're talking about.
Maybe if Saletan wrote about how black people enjoyed monkeyfishing, or about how George Bush was full of shit about his tax plans, then he could get fired.
...and shoot me in the face for not going for the obvious joke:
Will Saletan has neither the time nor background to figure out who's right.
...
Did I Miss a Debate?
Sorry, was out seeing Erin.
...oy, killed the site. C&P instead: http://www.erinmckeown.com/
Joe Klein do anything stupid while I was out?
...oy, killed the site. C&P instead: http://www.erinmckeown.com/
Joe Klein do anything stupid while I was out?
Howler Monkeys
If one of the "base" interest groups the GOP candidates had to pander to were tribes of meth-addled howler monkeys, could they have looked any more demented than they did during that debate?
Discuss.
Discuss.
Prediction
Watching this debate, I hereby predict that the winner of the GOP nomination will be a total asshole.
Does Matt Drudge Rule Their World?
Sometimes he does. Usually when Drudge pushes a big story from Politico it starts coming out of the cable news blabbers' mouths in about 5 seconds.
Haven't yet seen the Rudy story on CNN, though maybe they have an excuse with Wolf Blitzer's stunning interview with Mr. 24% and the debate tonight.
But somehow Republican scandals just aren't interesting. Even the Swamplanders, desperate to talk about anything other than Joe Klein, haven't touched it yet.
...okay, the Beard's on it now.
...Cafferty's going pretty nuclear.
Haven't yet seen the Rudy story on CNN, though maybe they have an excuse with Wolf Blitzer's stunning interview with Mr. 24% and the debate tonight.
But somehow Republican scandals just aren't interesting. Even the Swamplanders, desperate to talk about anything other than Joe Klein, haven't touched it yet.
...okay, the Beard's on it now.
...Cafferty's going pretty nuclear.
Racist
One of the enduring mysteries is how Pat Buchanan, who every few years or so comes out and makes sure we know he's a racist just in case we'd forgotten, manages to be a very important pundit in good standing in our liberal media.
Or maybe it isn't such a mystery.
Or maybe it isn't such a mystery.
Silly Think Progress
Suggesting that McCain has ever been anything but completely consistent on Iraq.
It wasn't that long ago that Joe Klein told me:
And John McCain says John McCain is consistent:
It wasn't that long ago that Joe Klein told me:
McCain, whether you agree with him or not, has been entirely consistent about the war.
And John McCain says John McCain is consistent:
John McCain has mainted [sic] a consistent record on Iraq since the very beginning.
Going to War
I'm not entirely unsympathetic to politicians who voted for the AUMF. But there were many moments between then and when the war started when they had opportunities to cry bullshit. And, no, "I wish the inspectors had been allowed to complete their jobs," blah blah blah, doesn't cut it.
Attack Biden
There's nothing especially unique about what Biden's saying, they just come across slightly differently because Biden's a Very Serious Foreign Policy Person in good standing.
Doddmania
Dodd's going to push for some reform of the crappy Bankruptcy reform. Looks good. Let's hope some other presidential candidates use their soapboxes to help support it.
Zombie Bullshit Travels
Glenn informs us that this was reprinted in the Chicago Tribune today.
My nominee for Time's Man of the Year is Joe Klein, who so represents everything wrong with the corrupt ecosystem of the Village.
The Democratic strategy on the FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] legislation in the House is equally foolish. There is broad, bipartisan agreement on how to legalize the surveillance of phone calls and e-mails of foreign intelligence targets. ... Unfortunately, Speaker Nancy Pelosi quashed the House Intelligence Committee's bipartisan effort and supported a Democratic bill that -- [Rush] Limbaugh is salivating -- would require the surveillance of every foreign-terrorist target's calls to be approved by the FISA court, an institution founded to protect the rights of U.S. citizens only.
In the lethal shorthand of political advertising, it would give terrorists the same legal protections as Americans. That is well beyond stupid. ...
[W]hen the president takes the oath of office, he (or she) promises two things: to protect the Constitution and to protect the nation against enemies, foreign and domestic. If the Democrats can't find the proper balance between those two, they simply will not win the presidency.
Joe Klein, Time
My nominee for Time's Man of the Year is Joe Klein, who so represents everything wrong with the corrupt ecosystem of the Village.
Who Can Afford These Prices?
Over the past few years I've been quite puzzled over who could actually be paying typical prices in some housing markets. Who could afford them? We know now that part of the answer to that question is that plenty of people were buying houses they couldn't afford, over the long run at least, because they were getting loans with ridiculous terms.
A second group were people who were trading in a previous home in which they'd built up some equity.
A third group were people who got some sort of economic windfall - an inheritance for example - that allowed them to buy.
A fourth group were those people who actually had the household income to cover a $2500-$3000/month mortgage.
Groups one and two are drying up. I'm not sure how many people there really are in groups three and four.
A second group were people who were trading in a previous home in which they'd built up some equity.
A third group were people who got some sort of economic windfall - an inheritance for example - that allowed them to buy.
A fourth group were those people who actually had the household income to cover a $2500-$3000/month mortgage.
Groups one and two are drying up. I'm not sure how many people there really are in groups three and four.
Economic News
New home sales fall again.
Durable goods orders fall.
And stocks soar on increased belief that Ben is warming up the helicopter.
The pace of U.S. existing home sales in the United States fell 1.2 percent in October to
a record low 4.97 million-unit pace, the National Association of Realtors said, amid a nationwide credit crunch and a spike in failing home loans.
The median existing home price of $207,800 was a decline of 5.1 percent from a year ago, a record drop.
Durable goods orders fall.
New orders for long-lasting U.S.-made manufactured goods dropped for a third straight month during October and companies seemed wary about making new investments, a Commerce Department report on Wednesday showed.
Orders for durable goods fell 0.4 percent last month after declining 1.4 percent in September and 5.3 percent in August. Excluding transportation items, orders were down more sharply by 0.7 percent.
And stocks soar on increased belief that Ben is warming up the helicopter.
Ex-Presidenting
Unlike, say, for Joe Klein* or numerous others who kept their traps shut during the run-up to the war, I think it would be quite possible for Bill Clinton to have opposed the Iraq war in his heart but to have kept his trap shut due to the inconsistently observed but somewhat valid tradition that ex-presidents pull back a bit from politics.
But the quote below demonstrates that Clinton was proud of his role in opposing the opposers, in battling the Fearsome Left.
*Except that time when Joe said he supported the war, of course.
But the quote below demonstrates that Clinton was proud of his role in opposing the opposers, in battling the Fearsome Left.
*Except that time when Joe said he supported the war, of course.
Bill Clinton's War Against Norbziness
Aside from this, we also have: (from '04)
This is pretty much gibberish. If Blix had "finished his job," he still wouldn't have found any weapons, but all Clinton had a problem with was "the timing of the attack." I guess June would have been better?
Still we appreciate Bill Clinton's service to the country, defending the honorable President Bush against the all-powerful Left and their crazy beliefs that Saddam Hussein was not a threat to this country and that giving Bush authorization to go to war meant inevitable war. Someone must battle The Left to prevent them from assuming power and doing crazy things like not going to war against Iraq.
(CNN) -- Former President Clinton has revealed that he continues to support President Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq but chastised the administration over the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison.
"I have repeatedly defended President Bush against the left on Iraq, even though I think he should have waited until the U.N. inspections were over," Clinton said in a Time magazine interview that will hit newsstands Monday, a day before the publication of his book "My Life."
Clinton, who was interviewed Thursday, said he did not believe that Bush went to war in Iraq over oil or for imperialist reasons but out of a genuine belief that large quantities of weapons of mass destruction remained unaccounted for.
...
"So I thought the president had an absolute responsibility to go to the U.N. and say, 'Look, guys, after 9/11, you have got to demand that Saddam Hussein lets us finish the inspection process.' You couldn't responsibly ignore [the possibility that] a tyrant had these stocks," Clinton said.
Pressed on whether the Iraq war was worth the cost to the United States, Clinton said he would not have undertaken the war until after U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix "finished his job."
...
"I want it to have been worth it, even though I didn't agree with the timing of the attack," Clinton said.
This is pretty much gibberish. If Blix had "finished his job," he still wouldn't have found any weapons, but all Clinton had a problem with was "the timing of the attack." I guess June would have been better?
Still we appreciate Bill Clinton's service to the country, defending the honorable President Bush against the all-powerful Left and their crazy beliefs that Saddam Hussein was not a threat to this country and that giving Bush authorization to go to war meant inevitable war. Someone must battle The Left to prevent them from assuming power and doing crazy things like not going to war against Iraq.
Early Morning Thread
Bush invites "Eemee" and "Moo-moo" to the White House, no doubt to discuss the awesomeness of his rug.
Much like a Lott family reunion, but more utilitarian.
Much like a Lott family reunion, but more utilitarian.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
A Major Recession Would Be Great News For Republicans
It's definitely true, though perhaps not quite as good news for them as would be a landslide victory for Democrats.
Shocking
Wikipedia says Rick Stengel has multiple child rape convictions. While I have neither the time nor legal background to verify this allegation, it's well beyond stupid for Time to employ such a person.
Fresh Thread
According to sources, Rick Stengel has 32 child rape convictions. Stengel has yet to comment on these allegations, and I have neither the time nor legal background to figure out if they are true.
Modern Journalism
The correction.
Democrats believe that Rick Stengel (richard_stengel@timemagazine.com) and Mickey Kaus have regular threesomes with a goat, while Republicans believe Mickey has a strictly monogamous relationship with his goat.
Glennzilla has more.
In the original version of this story, Joe Klein wrote that the House Democratic version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) would allow a court review of individual foreign surveillance targets. Republicans believe the bill can be interpreted that way, but Democrats don't.
Democrats believe that Rick Stengel (richard_stengel@timemagazine.com) and Mickey Kaus have regular threesomes with a goat, while Republicans believe Mickey has a strictly monogamous relationship with his goat.
Glennzilla has more.
Your Liberal Media
Still not liberal.
They left out my favorite from Suzanne Malveaux:
They left out my favorite from Suzanne Malveaux:
And, Nancy Pelosi in Syria and in the crosshairs of Vice President Cheney. Is she on her way to becoming the most controversial House Speaker yet?
Wingnut Terrorism Porn
This stuff doesn't even pass the giggle test.
A plot by dozens of foreign terrorists who purportedly planned to attack Fort Huachuca with rocket propelled grenades and mines has proved unfounded, an FBI spokesman said Monday.
The threat, detailed by a local television station and The Washington Times after information was recently leaked to them, involved Iraqi and Afghan terrorists working with a Mexican drug cartel to smuggle themselves and weapons across the U.S. border.
...
But the attack never occurred and was the result of bad information, said Manuel Johnson, an FBI spokesman based in Phoenix.
“A thorough investigation was conducted and there is no evidence showing that the threat was credible,” he said.
Faux Business News
Hilarious.
Fox dispatched a reporter to an ESPN Zone in Washington, DC, where they were lucky to find "online shopper" Peter Perweiler, who did indeed have big online shopping plans. "I'm looking at some big-ticket items this year," he said, "so I really want to know what other people - problems they're having with items, things of that nature."
Good to know. What would also have been good to know: Peter is also the marketing manager at the National Retail Federation.
Journamalism
Rush Holt schools Joe.
I was pleased to see Time Magazine columnist Joe Klein acknowledge that he "may have made a mistake" in his column attacking the House Majority ("The Tone Deaf Democrats") and misrepresenting the RESTORE Act. Unfortunately, Mr. Klein still professes confusion toward the bill's contents and continues to question whether the House should have passed it in the first place.
As one of the bill's authors, I want to set the record straight about what's in the RESTORE Act, why it's needed to safeguard Americans from unwarranted surveillance, and ultimately, why it will lead to better intelligence gathering.
In his original column, Mr. Klein incorrectly wrote, "Unfortunately, Speaker Nancy Pelosi quashed the House Intelligence Committee's bipartisan effort and supported a Democratic bill that - Limbaugh is salivating - would require the surveillance of every foreign-terrorist target's calls to be approved by the FISA court, an institution founded to protect the rights of U.S. citizens only." It contains no such provision.
(Also, as someone closely involved in trying to produce a good bill, I cannot figure out what bipartisan House Intelligence Committee effort Speaker Pelosi "quashed" that Mr. Klein could possibly be talking about. Several Republicans proposed something close to last August's Protect America Act, but that never got anywhere.)
Joe Klein In A Nutshell
Stoller on Time's journamalism:
Everyone makes mistakes, even big ones. But Klein's meltdown has been epic. He first denied the problem, then conceded it, then argued it wasn't a big deal, and then concluded he couldn't figure out if he got it wrong or right and it wasn't a big deal anyway.
Civility
I'm just going to recycle this post.
Why We Say "Fuck" A Lot
Jane has more on the latest nonsense from the Post. The problem really is that no matter how many times we try to kill right wing horseshit (or as Media Matters delicately calls it, "conservative misinformation") it keeps coming back to haunt us. It infects the media bloodstream. We politely ask for corrections. They don't happen. We start screaming for corrections. They still don't happen. Eventually some half-assed weaselly blame-the-uncivil-critics statement is released. We scream louder. And, then, the horeshit pops up again on CNN.
As we were talking about on Air America last night, this whole situation is really reminiscent of the 2004 Adam Nagourney incident. Rough version: Nagourney wrote an article which passed on Bush administration peddled horeshit about how after the handover to the transitional government in Iraq U.S. casualties had declined. But they didn't. No matter how one squinted at the data, casualties hadn't declined. There was no way to slice it and dice it to make it so. Many angry exchanges between people and Nagourney and the useless Okrent. Many denials from them. Finally half-assed correction and an Okrent column which revealed the name and hometown of a rather "uncivil" reader because of his dastardly incivility.
Major newspaper has big megaphone. Readers generally have no megaphone. Journalists have responsibilities and these ethics I keep hearing about, including the responsibility not to be as factfree as they keep claiming blogs are. When you explain, calmly and repeatedly, that 2+2=4 and they keep denying it you get a little mad. Civil behavior isn't about restraining from using insults or obscenities, it's about behaving like a fucking decent human being.
Mitt Hearts Religion Quotas
While I was turning this one over in my mind everyone already said probably everything which needs to be said about this.
But there are certain kinds of bigotry which are perfectly acceptable in our mainstream discourse, and kinds which are not.
But there are certain kinds of bigotry which are perfectly acceptable in our mainstream discourse, and kinds which are not.
Speaking of Journalists
They always tell me this nice story about how they have "editors" which prevent horseshit from slipping through and "accountability" when people screw up somehow.
Still waiting for one of those accountability moments.
Still waiting for one of those accountability moments.
That's A Lot Of Simoleans
So apparently Countrywide, a big contributor to big shitpile, has gotten the Atlanta Federal Home Loan Bank to lend them $25 billion over the last few months, on top of the $25 billion they'd already gotten. The collateral for these loans is... you guessed it... Countrywide's portion of big shitpile.
This is about 37% of the Atlanta FHLB's entire loan portfolio.
FHLB's are government sponsored enterprises but are not explicitly taxpayer financed. One can imagine who might get left holding the bag.
This is about 37% of the Atlanta FHLB's entire loan portfolio.
FHLB's are government sponsored enterprises but are not explicitly taxpayer financed. One can imagine who might get left holding the bag.
Down, Down, Down
Home prices sinking.
But Citi managed to secure billions of financing... at 11% ... so everything is ok.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Prices of existing U.S. single-family homes slumped 4.5 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, matching a record decline from the previous period as the housing downturn deepened, according to a national home price index on Tuesday.
The S&P/Case-Shiller National Home Price Index fell 1.7 percent since June, marking the largest quarterly decline in the index's 21-year history, S&P said in a statement.
But Citi managed to secure billions of financing... at 11% ... so everything is ok.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Fascinating Advice
It isn't so much that the advice is wrong, it's that it's in part based on the notion that life is miserable and meaningless and essentially not even happening unless you own a home. And, yes, I recognize that a real estate agent has a bit of an interest in perpetuating this idea.
I certainly understand why home ownership appeals to people, and I may get around to it myself one of these days, but renting isn't so bad.
I certainly understand why home ownership appeals to people, and I may get around to it myself one of these days, but renting isn't so bad.
It's Raining Money
Helicopter Ben to the rescue!
Someone on CNBC discussing the possibility of a major financial institution going down:
hilarious
NEW YORK — The New York Federal Reserve announced Monday it was implementing several measures to increase liquidity in the parched credit markets ahead of the year's end.
The New York Fed's moves included increasing the amount of funds that dealers can tap through the bank's open market account securities lending program and making an unusual long agreement to buy back securities to cover the year end.
The changes will allow dealers to tap the New York Fed's System Open Market Account program to borrow up to $750 million per issue _ up from a prior cap of $500 million per issue. The New York Fed carries out monetary policy for the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Someone on CNBC discussing the possibility of a major financial institution going down:
There are certain things that are so bad they almost can't be allowed to happen. There's never been a famine in a Democracy because people just won't let it happen and I think that's what the Fed's for.
hilarious
Car Share Everywhere
For the 8 of you who like this stuff, Jasone Fagone has long feature on Philly CarShare in Philadelphia Magazine.
But It Worked For Me!
Inevitably when discussing mortgages there are people who made decisions they stand by because either they worked out for them or they expect them to. And, yes, for people who got sensible ARMs at the right time and who either expected to and did sell within a short period of time or had low or no prepayment penalties so that they could refinance and did so before the market started to tank, your mortgage may have worked out perfectly for you. Yay you!
So, yes, basically people who got ARMs with sensible terms in a period when home prices were rising, not falling, you might have saved a lot of money. But lots of people didn't get loans with anything resembling sensible terms, have giant prepayment penalties, cannot afford their mortgages, and are unable to refinance because they're currently underwater. Bummer for them! That's the point.
So, yes, basically people who got ARMs with sensible terms in a period when home prices were rising, not falling, you might have saved a lot of money. But lots of people didn't get loans with anything resembling sensible terms, have giant prepayment penalties, cannot afford their mortgages, and are unable to refinance because they're currently underwater. Bummer for them! That's the point.
Crazy Talk
There have frequently been moments in the discourse surrounding our unfolding Iraq disaster when "only crazy people think that" magically transforms into "of course everyone always knew that" in an instant.
And we're there again. Iraq 4evah!
And we're there again. Iraq 4evah!
Inside Big Shitpile
As I've said a few times, while I've long thought that the housing bubble was indeed a bubble and I knew that people were taking out really stupid mortgages that would come back and bite them in the ass, I really had no idea that lending standards had gotten so bad. Irvine Housing Blog gives us an example.
I think it's a mistake to assume you know they were just pulling the cash out to support a fun lifestyle. For all we know they were dealing with expensive family emergencies or something. But nonetheless they had no problem pulling out their entire household equity, taking on obviously unsupportable levels of debt, because God and Nature determined that housing prices can only go up and therefore the lender would be sure to get it back if only through foreclosure.
And this illustrates that this isn't just a "subprime" problem. Million+ mortgages aren't subprime.
The property was purchased in January 2005 for $1,157,000. The combined first and second mortgages totalled $1,156,730 leaving a downpayment of $270. Let’s just call it 100% financing.
By April, they owners were able to find refinancing through Countrywide with a $999,999 first mortgage. This mortgage was an Option ARM with a 1% teaser rate. The minimum payment would be $3,216 per month.
Also in April of 2005, they took out a simultaneous second mortgage for $215,000 pulling out their first $58,000.
So look at their situation: They are living in a million dollar plus home in Turtle Ridge making payments less than those renting, and they “made” $58,000 in their first 4 months of ownership.
Apparently, these owners liked how hard their house was working for them, so they opened a revolving line of credit (HELOC) in August 2005 for $293,000. Did they spend it all? I can’t be sure, but the following certainly suggests they did.
In December of 2005, they extended their HELOC to $397,990.
In June of 2006, they extended their HELOC to $485,000.
In April of 2007, the well ran dry as they did their final HELOC of $491,000. I bet they were pissed when they couldn’t get more money.
So by April 2007, they have a first mortgage (Option ARM with a 1% teaser rate) for $999,999, and a HELOC for $491,000. These owners pulled $333,000 in HELOC money to fuel consumer spending.
Assuming they spent the entire HELOC (does anyone think they didn’t?), and assuming the negative amortization on the first mortgage has increased the loan balance, the total debt on the property exceeds $1,500,000. The asking price of $1,249,000 does not look like a rollback, but if the property actually sells at this price, the lender on the HELOC (Washington Mutual) will lose over $300,000.
I think it's a mistake to assume you know they were just pulling the cash out to support a fun lifestyle. For all we know they were dealing with expensive family emergencies or something. But nonetheless they had no problem pulling out their entire household equity, taking on obviously unsupportable levels of debt, because God and Nature determined that housing prices can only go up and therefore the lender would be sure to get it back if only through foreclosure.
And this illustrates that this isn't just a "subprime" problem. Million+ mortgages aren't subprime.
HMMMMMMM
Still wondering what this is about.
Larry Flynt, editor and publisher of Hustler magazine, just told FOX Business Network’s Neil Cavuto that he’s “hoping to expose a bombshell” that will stand “Washington and the country on its head.” Within the next week or two, he says his magazine will expose a sex scandal of huge proportions involving a prominent United States Senator. Flynt refused to comment on the Senator’s political affiliation, but alluded that he or she is a Republican.
Et Tu, Ben?
Apparently Helicopter Ben has joined with Paulson in trying to encourage big financial institutions to sign up for Super Shitpile, the effort to set up a big fund to try to maintain the illusion that the assets that no one wants to buy are actually worth something.
Nov. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp., the nation's second-largest bank, will lead efforts by Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to convince smaller competitors to help finance an $80 billion bailout of short-term debt markets.
...
Loomis Sayles & Co. declined to invest after receiving one of 16 invitations for a personal meeting last week with current Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, said Daniel Fuss, who oversees $22 billion as chief investment officer at the Boston-based firm.
``It's so nice to get a personal invitation to go to Washington and have a one-hour visit with Ben Bernanke,'' said Fuss, who decided participating wasn't worth the risk to his firm. ``Oh, boy, did I feel important for about 27 seconds, and then you smell a rat.''
The Grand Era of Bipartisanship
It was, as we all know, due to a messed up Democratic coalition which contained significant numbers of racist assholes until they retired, died, or became Republicans. That the Villagers miss these people says much about them.
Big Shitpile
E*Trade owns a big chunk of big shitpile. E*Trade is trying to get someone to buy it, and its portion of big shitpile. Prospective buyers want to know just how much big shitpile is worth.
Of course a lot of the problem with big shitpile is that no one wants to actually own up to what "current values" are for obvious reasons.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Prospective buyers of online brokerage E*Trade Financial Corp (NasdaqGS:ETFC - News) are haggling over the value of its weakening mortgage portfolio, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday in its online edition, citing sources familiar with the matter.
According to the Journal, rivals looking at its books recently are concerned that some of the assets haven't been marked to current values, people familiar with the matter said.
Of course a lot of the problem with big shitpile is that no one wants to actually own up to what "current values" are for obvious reasons.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Financial Catastrophe Porn
If that's the kind of thing that turns you on.
The decision to use derivatives to short, or bet against, low-quality US home loans taken by a select group of hedge funds last year appears to have become the most profitable single trade of all time, making well over $20bn in total so far this year. John Paulson’s New York-based Paulson & Co, the biggest of the group with $28bn under management, is said by investors to have made $12bn profit from the trade already.
However, Mr Lahde, whose fund is one of the smallest specialists shorting subprime, has now begun to return money to investors, telling them in a letter: “The risk/return characteristics are far less attractive than in the past.”
In his letter, Mr Lahde said he expected the collapse in value of subprime mortgage-linked securities to be repeated for bonds backed by commercial property loans in a deep recession – which he also predicts.
“Our entire banking system is a complete disaster,” he wrote. “In my opinion, nearly every major bank would be insolvent if they marked their assets to market.” He also said he would be putting some of his own profits into gold and other precious metals.
Iggles Spread Watch
-6
-7
-1
Even
-6
-7
"AJ Feeley makes a perfect pass" (no one listens to Atrios)
-1
Even
-3
+3
+4
-2
-3
-7
-1
Even
-6
-7
"AJ Feeley makes a perfect pass" (no one listens to Atrios)
-1
Even
-3
+3
+4
-2
-3
Strike
It must be remembered that elite print journalism, a profession of namby pamby arty farty posers, is a heavily unionized profession.
Why?
I don't know why Joe Klein is the way he is.
The more interesting question is why he has managed to be more or less continuously employed by our elite media outlets for so many years. But that's true of a lot of people.
The more interesting question is why he has managed to be more or less continuously employed by our elite media outlets for so many years. But that's true of a lot of people.
New Train
New light rail system in Charlotte. Seems to be popular as a novelty at least for the moment. I don't know Charlotte at all so I can't even make a half-assed determination about whether it'll work more generally there in the short run. Longer term it seems to be a fairly ambitious and comprehensive plan, and if development around the system is allowed to happen in a sensible fashion it certainly could be good.
Bizarro World
If conservatives seized on a mirror image of the journalistic clusterfuckery of Joe Klein it wouldn't stop at Glennzilla beating up on him and the rest of us laughing at him. Drudge would put up a big siren. Limbaugh would spend a week turning Joe Klein into public enemy #1 for his dittoheads. Howie Kurtz would devote several columns to the "controversy" and devote his show to the topic, likely with commentary from Laura Ingraham. Instapundit would suggest that Joe Klein was working for "the other side." Bill O'Reilly would send a Fox News camera crew to his house. The New York Post would run his mug on the front page with a nice big cruel headline. The conservative blogosphere would unearth a picture of Joe Klein with his children (no idea if he has any, but if he does) and declare that they are now "fair game," digging up and publicizing as many personal details about them as they could find. All of this would continue until Joe was fired and Rick Stengel and Jay Carney apologized to Hugh Hewitt.
Just sayin'.
Just sayin'.
AJ
I will make the bold prediction that the Eagles will beat... the spread (okay, it wasn't that bold of a prediction) due to the awesomeness of AJ Feeley.
Better Reporting
There's nothing especially pernicious here but still it's probably time to push back more strongly on bad housing market reporting.
First, it's this kind of thinking about housing which helped cause the bubble in the first place.
Implicit is the idea that when the market manages to "right itself" that housing prices will, as dictated by God and Nature, continue to appreciate. It's more appropriate to think of the market as righting itself now, as sticky too high prices finally begin to fall.
And this is just silly.
We don't need any "experts" to predict something which is happening right now.
Lots of borrowers have already lost their homes - and their investment properties - and many more will do so over the coming months and years.
And this:
While subprime has become a general term for "shitty loans," the fact is the problem isn't the subprime market specifically - buyers with poor credit - but all of the shitty loans with crazy terms that were being handed out to everybody. And while the coming reset wave - again, not just on subprime loans but on lots of shitty loans - isn't going to help things, a lot of the foreclosures are happening even before the resets occur. People were being given loans they couldn't afford from day 1.
The point is that a lot of the shitty loans weren't actually in the "subprime" category. They were given to people with perfectly decent incomes and credit at terms they couldn't possibly afford over the long run because the loan balances were too large and the interest rates, especially but not only once the teaser rates and payment schedules expired, were absurd.
(ht reader m)
First, it's this kind of thinking about housing which helped cause the bubble in the first place.
Home prices will keep falling and foreclosure rates nationally will keep rising at least until the end of next year, they said. And some predictions contend that the market won't right itself until 2010.
Implicit is the idea that when the market manages to "right itself" that housing prices will, as dictated by God and Nature, continue to appreciate. It's more appropriate to think of the market as righting itself now, as sticky too high prices finally begin to fall.
And this is just silly.
Government officials have offered many proposals to help struggling homeowners with subprime loans whose rates are scheduled to increase. Some industry observers, however, question how useful these measures will be, noting much of the legislation is bogged down in Congress. Before they take effect, some borrowers likely will have to give up their homes because they can't keep up with the payments, experts say.
We don't need any "experts" to predict something which is happening right now.
Lots of borrowers have already lost their homes - and their investment properties - and many more will do so over the coming months and years.
And this:
Subprime adjustable-rate mortgages are largely to blame for the current housing mess. Borrowers were able to purchase homes because these ARMs carried super-low interest rates at first. When they adjust, many homeowners may not be able to afford the higher monthly payments, leading to a spike in defaults and foreclosures.
Nearly 150,000 subprime mortgages are scheduled to reset each month through the end of next year, according to the Federal Reserve, causing the typical monthly payment to rise about $350, or 25 percent. Goldman Sachs, meanwhile, predicts that losses on outstanding loans could balloon to $400 billion, though some experts feel that number is too high.
While subprime has become a general term for "shitty loans," the fact is the problem isn't the subprime market specifically - buyers with poor credit - but all of the shitty loans with crazy terms that were being handed out to everybody. And while the coming reset wave - again, not just on subprime loans but on lots of shitty loans - isn't going to help things, a lot of the foreclosures are happening even before the resets occur. People were being given loans they couldn't afford from day 1.
The point is that a lot of the shitty loans weren't actually in the "subprime" category. They were given to people with perfectly decent incomes and credit at terms they couldn't possibly afford over the long run because the loan balances were too large and the interest rates, especially but not only once the teaser rates and payment schedules expired, were absurd.
(ht reader m)
Sources
I can't tell if Joe Klein is still completely in the dark about the FISA legislation that he perpetually is incapable of understanding or if this is just some incredibly sloppy writing (he keeps confusing basket warrants with any kind of oversight of those warrants), but we have learned who Joe's sources on these issues are.
It's All High School
It's so depressing that genuinely serious issues are, to the Villagers, nothing more than who's up/who's down. Achieving peace isn't important, but Condi Rice's "legacy" is.
Rock star diplomat? Where do they find these people? And it isn't just the AP. This "Condi's legacy" theme is everywhere.
A year or so away? My God.
And even here.
Rice Reaches for Legacy in Mideast Talks
By ANNE GEARAN
The Associated Press
Tuesday, November 20, 2007; 9:12 AM
WASHINGTON -- Donald Trump says she can't close a deal. The pope politely declined to meet with her, saying he was on vacation.
When Condoleezza Rice travels overseas, the local papers don't do big photo spreads anymore. At home, Rice is feuding with congressional Democrats and scrambling to counter recent embarrassments including the killing of 17 Iraqi civilians by the State Department's hired bodyguards.
The rock star diplomat has become the workaday American secretary of state, with all the advantages and all the baggage that the title and Rice's long association with President Bush and the Iraq war entail.
Rock star diplomat? Where do they find these people? And it isn't just the AP. This "Condi's legacy" theme is everywhere.
While the Bush administration has worked to suppress expectations for the Middle East peace conference Tuesday in Annapolis, observers say the professional and political stakes for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are much harder to minimize.
An outcome resembling success could restore some of the former Stanford professor's diplomatic credibility, they say, and perhaps add a line to her career's postscript that doesn't contain the word "Iraq."
Something less than success could extinguish whatever progress she has fostered as the president's top diplomat in the past three years, and perhaps worsen relations with a part of the world considered vital to American security and foreign policy.
"She's about a year or so away from being judged as a kind of inconsequential secretary of state," said Aaron David Miller, a Middle East expert and adviser to six secretaries of state, and a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington.
A year or so away? My God.
And even here.
- REPUTATION AT STAKE
An ardent football fan, Rice is hoping to rewrite her legacy in the next 14 months, beginning with what amounts to a Hail Mary pass this week at a Mideast peace conference that she has organized in Annapolis, Md.
More than any other Bush administration initiative, the conference to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace is Rice's, with Bush mostly supporting from the sidelines. Rice has traveled to the Middle East eight times this year to assemble the conference and has staked her reputation on its outcome.
''This is basically her baby,'' said William Quandt, a University of Virginia scholar who worked on the first Camp David peace talks under President Jimmy Carter.
Rice's effort got a boost Friday, when Saudi Arabia and several other Arab countries grudgingly said they would attend the meeting. That could give Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, both of whom are weak politically, some cover to make compromises.
Sunday Bobbleheads
Document the atrocities.
NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Guests: Mary Matalin and Mike Murphy, Republican strategists; Bob Shrum and James Carville, Democratic strategists.
•“Fox News Sunday,” Guests: former Sen. Fred Thompson, Tennessee Republican; Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican; Sen. Carl Levin, Michigan Democrat.
•ABC’s “This Week,” Guests: Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican; New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat.
•CBS’ “Face the Nation,” 9:30 a.m. on Channel 13; 1 a.m. Monday on Channel 5 — Guest: retired Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni.
•CNN’s“Late Edition,” Guests: former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Republican; former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi; Saeb Erekat, Palestinian envoy; Miri Eisen, spokeswoman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
As Predicted
Awesome that Social Security is now a central campaign theme. Given that Obama's now ruling out benefit cuts or the raising of the retirement age that leaves... a tax increase.
Simple Answers to Simple Questions
The Associated Press asks:
No.
This has been another edition of simple answers to simple questions.
Have We Seen Worse of Mortgage Crisis?
No.
This has been another edition of simple answers to simple questions.
Bye Asshole
Glenn's right that it's almost always a mistake to perceive the domestic politics of another country as having all that much to do with US politics, but it's also the case that Howard was a tremendous asshole and it's lovely to see him being defeated.
Not Over
It's starting to sink in that the "subprime" mess isn't really just about subprime mortgages and more importantly that the whole mess is just beginning.
- While many accounts portray resetting rates as the big factor behind the surge in home-loan defaults and foreclosures this year, that isn't quite the case. Many of the subprime mortgages that have driven up the default rate went bad in their first year or so, well before their interest rate had a chance to go higher. Some of these mortgages went to speculators who planned to flip their houses, others to borrowers who had stretched too far to make their payments, and still others had some element of fraud.
Now the real crest of the reset wave is coming, and that promises more pain for borrowers, lenders and Wall Street. Already, many subprime lenders, who focused on people with poor credit, have gone bust. Big banks and investors who made subprime loans or bought securities backed by them are reporting billions of dollars in losses.
The reset peak will likely add to political pressure to help borrowers who can't afford to pay the higher interest rates. The housing slowdown is emerging as an issue in both the presidential and congressional races for 2008, and the Bush administration is pushing lenders to loosen terms and keep people from losing their homes.
Bye John
Bush's BFF John Howard will no longer be Australia's PM, or apparently even a member of its parliament at all.
Morning Thread
Freedom toast, anyone?
French Prosecutors Throw Out Rumsfeld Torture Case.
It was the doll, wasn't it?
--Molly I.
French Prosecutors Throw Out Rumsfeld Torture Case.
It was the doll, wasn't it?
--Molly I.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Such Powers
It's really amazing that small groups of Republicans - sometimes as small as one! - have the powers to stop things from happening in the Senate. Wacky.
The House has passed several major housing-relief measures in recent weeks, but the Senate hasn't passed even one. On the eve of its two-week Thanksgiving recess, the House approved by a bipartisan vote the most sweeping reforms of the national mortgage system in more than two decades. Meanwhile, the Senate stalled legislation that would strengthen the Federal Housing Administration's mortgage programs, a key resource for homeowners who need to refinance out of adjustable-rate loans into more affordable fixed-rate ones.
...
The bill was blocked from a floor vote on Nov. 15 by Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) after a hold by Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.). Dole objects to the FHA's plan to begin pricing mortgages based on credit risk starting in January, whether the reform bill is approved or not. Dole is an ally of the private mortgage insurance industry, which would have to compete with a revived FHA in the low-down-payment segment of the mortgage market.
Subprime
It's true that subprime has just become shorthand for "shitty loans" which extend far beyond the actually technical category of "subprime." And, yes, it is a buck passing thing. The whole catastrophe is the fault of bad people.
Meanwhile
Over there.
BAGHDAD - Two bombs exploded hours apart Friday in a central Baghdad pet market and a police checkpoint in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, killing 26 people and wounding dozens, officials said.
The attacks were among the deadliest in recent weeks, underscoring warnings by senior U.S. commanders that extremists still pose a threat to Iraq's fragile security despite a downturn in violence since a U.S.-Iraqi security plan began in mid-February.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Radical Leftist Blogs
Gene Lyons.
Lyons is wrong when he says that liberal blogs are not "extremist," though. Of course they are. Very often they say "fuck," which is tons worse than anything Stalin ever did.
Lyons is wrong when he says that liberal blogs are not "extremist," though. Of course they are. Very often they say "fuck," which is tons worse than anything Stalin ever did.
Thread
I'm done for the day. Even though it's Thanksgiving, don't hesitate to say "up yours!" to any deserving assholes.
Rushton
Having been around this block several times, I'm well aware of the racist lunacy of racist Will Saletan's patron saint. But for those who aren't click through for some fun.
But increasingly I just find the response of The Hon. Dr. St. Rev. Bradley S. Rocket, Esq, PhD, MD to be the right one when confronted with this stuff.
As for NPR, UP YOURS ASSHOLES.
But increasingly I just find the response of The Hon. Dr. St. Rev. Bradley S. Rocket, Esq, PhD, MD to be the right one when confronted with this stuff.
UP YOURS ASSHOLE!!
As for NPR, UP YOURS ASSHOLES.
DNA pioneer James Watson caused a furor recently after saying Africans were intellectually inferior to Westerners. Farai Chideya talks about why the conversation of race and intelligence persists with Phil Rushton, a professor of psychology at the University of Western Ontario.
Like Watson, Rushton says people of African descent have a lower IQ and smaller brain size, which he says is "50 percent genetic and 50 percent cultural."
Rushton is the head of the Pioneer Group, an organization dedicated to the research of intelligence and racial differences.
Fools
Could our elite chatterers even pretend for about 5 minutes or so that anything actually matters?
I mean, Jeebus, at least Dowd occasionally has an insight (very occasionally). Collins can't write, can't think, has nothing original to say, and most of all wants us to believe that none of this is important at all. It probably isn't important to her, but it is to some of us.
Just go away.
I mean, Jeebus, at least Dowd occasionally has an insight (very occasionally). Collins can't write, can't think, has nothing original to say, and most of all wants us to believe that none of this is important at all. It probably isn't important to her, but it is to some of us.
Just go away.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Are Black People Stupid? Opinions Differ
Here's how The Bell Curve was handled on PBS's Newshour back when Andrew Sullivan courageous devoted his magazine, the liberal New Republic, to pushing the idea that black people are stupid. 10-28-94.
MR. MAC NEIL: Let's take a look at another issue that has decided public policy implications and political overtones which has attracted enormous attention this past week after the publication of a book entitled Bell Curve [The Bell Curve, Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life by Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray].
MR. MAC NEIL: The thesis advanced by authors Charles Murray and the late Richard Herrnstein in The Bell Curve is that IQ is the best predictor of a person's success in life. If you have an average or above-average IQ, you'll do well. A below average IQ, your chances of success are lower. The book further argues that as the economy becomes more and more sophisticated and technological and, therefore, dependent on educated people, the disparity in incomes between those with high and low IQ's will grow.
CHARLES MURRAY, Author, The Bell Curve: [ABC, "Good Morning America" Clip] There is an important factor in understanding what's been going on in this country, and it's called intelligence. High intelligence at the top, low intelligence at the bottom doesn't explain everything, but you are not going to understand unless you understand the role of this factor.
MR. MAC NEIL: This argument is not new, nor all that controversial. What has landed The Bell Curve on the cover of many magazines and Charles Murray on numerous talk shows is that the book also links IQ with race. On Murray's Bell Curve of IQ scores blacks as a group have an average IQ of 85, whites 100, Asians 105. This is why, the book claims, blacks are disproportionately living in poverty and also more likely to commit crime. While many scientists attribute IQ differences to environment and circumstance, Murray argues it is mostly due to heredity.
CHARLES MURRAY: I don't know of any reputable study that doesn't say that intelligence is at least 40 percent inheritable and no more than 80 percent inheritable. Dick and I talked about that range. Probably it's in the order of 60 percent.
MR. MAC NEIL: While Murray and Herrnstein base their findings on various studies and extensive research, many of the conclusions they draw are fiercely disputed. Even the President of the United States has stated his disagreement with the book's findings.
PRESIDENT CLINTON: [Oct. 21] I have to say I disagree with the proposition that there are inherent racially based differences in the capacity of the American people to reach their full potential. I just don't agree with that. It goes against our entire history and our whole tradition.
MR. MAC NEIL: Given The Bell Curve's thesis that intelligence, in large part, is something one is born with and can't be changed, Murray and Herrnstein argue that the current anti-poverty programs such as "Head Start" and affirmative action are ineffectual and a waste of money.
CHARLES MURRAY: ["The Think Tank" with Ben Wattenberg] What has puzzled the people who work in this area is how extremely hard it is to take the environment, enrich it, and then produce the increases in cognitive functioning that you think you ought to get. It's real tough to improve IQ.
MR. MAC NEIL: Ed Baumeister, what's your reaction to The Bell Curve and all the publicity it's attracted?
MR. BAUMEISTER: It runs across a two-centuries-old idea in this country. Whether the founding fathers were drunk on the enlightenment or not, they said in five words, "All men are created equal." And that's infused our politics from then to the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which is very expensive but it gives people with disabilities access. Man has always taken the measure of other men, from the cave, when they measured strength or the size of the club, so the measuring is, has always been there, and conclusions based on that measuring have always been there. But when you say that you're founding a country on the notion that despite the measures, all men are created equal, then you've put in place a notion that fights with this species-old habit.
MR. MAC NEIL: Lee Cullum, what's your reaction to all the brouhaha about this?
MS. CULLUM: Well, Robin, I'm afraid it can do some harm. If it's not true, I think we can see people damaged unjustly. If it is true, I don't think that's any help either. It's kind of like eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and you get expelled, of course, from the Garden of Eden, the Garden of Eden of American ideals, which Ed was just talking about. So I would like to introduce another idea that has come to my attention, it's a theory called means, not genes, means. I am told that means are psychological carriers of culture. They are inherited in a way, and they are quite susceptible to evolution, susceptible to mutation, and I think they are carriers of hope. And I just wouldn't want the Murray thesis to extinguish hope, regardless of the truth of it.
MR. MAC NEIL: Erwin Knoll, do you think there's a danger of the Murray thesis extinguishing hope?
MR. KNOLL: No. I don't think it's ever dangerous to advance a thesis and debate it, but I do think we should be mindful of the fact that The Bell Curve isn't really a scientific treatise. It's a political track, and its politics I believe are fundamentally racist. I believe the book serves a purpose for those who want to advance its ideology, and that purpose is to, to blame the disadvantaged for their own plight and to make sure we don't help them with it at all. I think though the assumptions of the book are extremely questionable. Spend an evening watching Congress on C-Span, and you can't possibly accept the notion that America's elite is endowed with high IQ. It just doesn't work that way.
MR. MAC NEIL: Cynthia Tucker.
MS. TUCKER: Well, Robin, I don't think much of The Bell Curve at all. I think Erwin Knoll hit the nail on the head. It's not a scientific treatise. It's a political track. Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein are trafficking in some racist ideas that are at least 100 years old. What is particularly disreputable is that the people who first advanced those ideas may not have known much better. But science has become a lot sharper since then, a lot better. Bimolecular scientists now map genes. Those ideas have been discredited. Those people, and the hard scientists who actually look at genes say that there are very few differences among the races. In fact, the very idea of race, itself, is one that many scientists are being to call into question. So Charles Murray has absolutely no excuse for advancing this point of view.
MR. MAC NEIL: Gerald Warren, what's your view of this, and what impact do you think it's going to have on policy debates about education and other policies?
MR. WARREN: I have no idea whether it is a scientific book or not, Robin. I am told by people whom I admire that Charles Murray is a reputable scientist, a reputable social scientist. I question some of his assumptions as well. I question the doomsday ending to the book. I think -- I think people of goodwill can overcome this IQ difference that is probably quite right, that there is this difference between, between these groups, but we don't, we don't deal with people in terms of groups. We deal with individuals, and that's the way we should be. I do know this. I do know that there are successful experiments where young black children are taken out of at-risk situations, neighborhoods, and put into schools with their parents, and both parents and students go to school at the same time, and the reading ability of these children from age three to age six is enhanced immeasurably. So I think over time, with parental involvement, which was left out of this book, the Head Start kids and the Early Start kids, and these kids I'm talking about have an equal chance.
MR. MAC NEIL: Caroline Brewer, what impact do you think it's going to have on the debates about affirmative action and other, other, and education and other policies?
MS. BREWER: Well, I hope that wise and learned people will rise to the forefront as the conservatives have and denounce this book for everything that it is, and it's simply pseudo science. There's nothing remarkable in this man's work. It's, it's like he has come along and with a fresh coat of paint on a very old house. This stuff has been around for as long as humans have been around, and in our recent times, it's the basis for slavery and oppression all across our land. And it is -- if it were not for the belief by a number of Europeans and Americans that they were racially superior to black people, then we would not have had slavery, and we would not have had oppression. And it is simply necessary that they believe in their own natural superiority in order to justify the oppression and, and the enslavement of black people. And so this is just a continuation of that. I don't see a whole lot that's new in it. I don't see a whole lot that's remarkable about it. And I don't think it takes another scientist to look around the world community and see that it is simply untrue, that it simply cannot be backed up. Right now in Russia, you have a situation where a number of families are falling apart. They are getting involved in crime. There are alcoholics, and that is happening because of the economic conditions in that country. And so for him to say that blacks have a propensity to be involved in these kinds of behavior simply because they are black is absolutely ludicrous, when you can look around the world and see environmental situations that contribute to this kind of behavior.
MR. MAC NEIL: Okay. Well, thank you very much, Cynthia Brewer, ladies and gentlemen.
I Forget Where In the Order He Falls
But Will Saletan, no matter what his genetic code says, has got to be one of the top 10 stupidest fucking guys on the face of the planet. Quoth The Racist Fuckwit:
I really picked the wrong week to stop huffing paint fumes. No link as I have no desire to support a business model centered around the courageous notion that black people are stupid.
The lowest black IQ averages in the United States show up in the South, where the rate of genetic blending is lowest.
I really picked the wrong week to stop huffing paint fumes. No link as I have no desire to support a business model centered around the courageous notion that black people are stupid.
Future Cable News Panel From Hell
Are black people stupid? To discuss this pressing issue, from the left we have Will Saletan, and from the right we have Pat Buchanan.
Simple Answers to Simple Questions
Big Media Matt asks:
Because he's a racist fuckwit.
This has been another edition of simple answers to simple questions.
...adding, this is at least the 5th time we've had a round of this horseshit since I started blogging. It always attracts numerous commenters who are dumber than dirt - even dumber than Saletan is presenting himself as - who do not understand the words they use but know the Very Deep Truth that black people are stupid. God it pisses me off that mainstream publications think ignorant racism is the hottest thing since the Spice girls, but kudos to all of them for their brave embrace of phrenology.
Why?
Because he's a racist fuckwit.
This has been another edition of simple answers to simple questions.
...adding, this is at least the 5th time we've had a round of this horseshit since I started blogging. It always attracts numerous commenters who are dumber than dirt - even dumber than Saletan is presenting himself as - who do not understand the words they use but know the Very Deep Truth that black people are stupid. God it pisses me off that mainstream publications think ignorant racism is the hottest thing since the Spice girls, but kudos to all of them for their brave embrace of phrenology.
Holiday Schedule
Posting will be inconsistent over the next couple of days due to this wonderful holiday which was enacted so that everyone has a chance to gave thanks to their favorite bloggers.
Shorter Joe Klein
If the president orders it then it isn't illegal, and anyone who disagrees is an extremist.
And he's Time's liberal!
And he's Time's liberal!
Freddie
LA Times:
Keep in mind that Freddie can only scoop up supposedly high quality "conforming loans" which have certain characteristics. They're losing on those loans, and aren't able to continue scooping them up.
Countrywide Financial Corp. survived the first phase of the mortgage meltdown this summer thanks in part to a $2-billion investment from Bank of America.
But the Calabasas-based lender suffered a major new setback Tuesday when mortgage giant Freddie Mac posted a big loss and said it needed new capital -- which could curb Countrywide's ability to make loans.
When the mortgage crisis began last summer, Countrywide said it would cut back making higher-risk loans to concentrate on the safer loans it could sell to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the government-chartered buyers of home loans.
That approach is now looking dicey in the wake of Freddie Mac's surprising $2-billion loss and its announcement that it must raise more capital before its regulator will allow it to step up purchases of loans from lenders such as Countrywide, said Fox-Pitt Kelton analyst Howard Shapiro, who downgraded Countrywide shares.
Keep in mind that Freddie can only scoop up supposedly high quality "conforming loans" which have certain characteristics. They're losing on those loans, and aren't able to continue scooping them up.
Social Security
The Villagers will say anything to try to destroy it.
...more here.
- Ruth Marcus shows two things in her commentary today, "Krugman vs. Krugman". First, she hasn't a clue about Social Security financing. Second, she has no problem at all presenting a distorted picture to rationalize her clueless position.
...more here.
Liquidity Put
Thought we took care of all that.
Basically the "liquidity put" involved investment banks taking a piece of the shitpile, offloading it to someone, but then promising to buy it back at a given rate if it tanked in value. Because of the Magic of Modern Accounting, they would do this to take bits of the shitpile off their books, even though it meant that the worst of the shitpile - the stuff which would tank - would inevitably return to their books in the future.
Delightful.
Investment banks are only now disclosing their real losses, and it echoes the accounting scandal that brought down energy giant Enron Corp. in 2001. Many investment banks sold mortgage bonds with a little-known take-back provision — called a liquidity put — that never appeared on balance sheets. It allowed investors to return the bonds if the market sours. Banks are suddenly writing down the value of their assets to the tune of billions of dollars.
"We thought after Enron that we had put an end to off-balance-sheet financing," said Coffee, who added that even directors of some investment banks were unaware of the take-back provisions. "Just six years after Enron we're seeing some of the same problems surface."
Basically the "liquidity put" involved investment banks taking a piece of the shitpile, offloading it to someone, but then promising to buy it back at a given rate if it tanked in value. Because of the Magic of Modern Accounting, they would do this to take bits of the shitpile off their books, even though it meant that the worst of the shitpile - the stuff which would tank - would inevitably return to their books in the future.
Delightful.
Paulson Finally Smells It
Discovers there's a wee problem.
And the OECD:
The peak of the subprime rests is in March, with foreclosures presumably peaking a few months later. But subprime loans aren't the only problem, and there's an additional peak in "option adjustable rates" - many of which were likely written in terms the borrowers have no chance of meeting once teaser rates disappear - in 2010 and 2011.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the number of potential U.S. home-loan defaults "will be significantly bigger" in 2008 than in 2007, the Wall Street Journal's online edition reported.
"The nature of the problem will be significantly bigger next year because 2006 (mortgages) had lower underwriting standards, no amortization, and no down payments," Paulson said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, according to an excerpt on the newspaper's Web site.
And the OECD:
"We still have not hit the worst point in resets, delinquencies and ultimate losses on mortgages," the OECD said, adding some $890 billion of sub-prime, or poor credit quality, mortgages will have rates reset in 2008 -- with the peak expected about March.
The OECD said a hypothetical 14 percent loss on subprime mortgages being reset in 2008 could result in $125 billion in losses. If so-called Alt-A mortgages are included, cumulative losses in the $200-$300 billion range "seem feasible," it said.
The peak of the subprime rests is in March, with foreclosures presumably peaking a few months later. But subprime loans aren't the only problem, and there's an additional peak in "option adjustable rates" - many of which were likely written in terms the borrowers have no chance of meeting once teaser rates disappear - in 2010 and 2011.
Morning Thread
Bush knows from Conservapedia what Democracy means:
President Bush yesterday offered his strongest support of embattled Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, saying the general "hasn't crossed the line" and "truly is somebody who believes in democracy."
Bush spoke nearly three weeks after Musharraf declared emergency rule, sacked members of the Supreme Court and began a roundup of journalists, lawyers and human rights activists.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
The Biz of the Biz
I admit I've been having fun following the business news lately in part because it's provided a distraction from the presidential primary, which I hate. But aside from its value as a distraction its been an interesting education. Business news is probably even more absurd than our political news. It's hard to imagine how Fox Business News could get any more bizarrely right wing than CNBC, though that's obviously its aim. That isn't to say there are no good business reporters - of course there are - just that the chatter overwhelms the journalism.
More seriously, I really can't see how Big Shitpile manages to get the roses to bloom. Fun times ahead.
More seriously, I really can't see how Big Shitpile manages to get the roses to bloom. Fun times ahead.
Business Proposition
For very tiny fees the LLC I am about to create will insure slices of Big Shitpile.
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE
ACA's where Big Shitpile would pretend to shift a big bunch of risk so they could grow their shitpiles ever higher while pretending everything was fine. If ACA goes under, all that risk goes on their books and the shitpile does come a tumbling down.
Politics for Really Stupid People
It had been awhile since I heard from my good friends at Unity 08, but I see that they've given out 123,695 Political Capital points which is a very exciting development. And they came through with a Thanksgiving greeting!
Dear Duncan,
What would Thanksgiving be like if we cooked the same turkey over and over, year after year, and served it bland, tasteless, and downright inedible? Well, it would be kind of like Politics-As-Usual, which has been feeding us that turkey for many years now. It's time to cook up a new way to lead the country, as you well know, and Unity08 has the recipe.
For this 10 Minute Tuesday, we ask you to review the cooking instructions below. Then, visit our web site to download the final ingredient, complete the meal, and bring the whole family together for the good of our country.
For your own health, our meal is pork-barrel and mud-slinging free.
Ingredients:
1 package of Our Country (divided)
1/2 teaspoon of American Values (hard work, ingenuity, inspiration)
1/2 teaspoon of New Technology
5 cups of Crucial Issues
1 box of Questions to Ask the Candidates
1 handful of Candidates (formed into teams)
1 Online Convention pressure cooker (the largest you can find)
Instructions:
Boil Politics-As-Usual, pour it out, and start anew.
Combine American Values with New Technology (stir vigorously).
Sift and rank Crucial Issues.
Mull over Questions to Ask the Candidates.
Place Crucial Issues, Questions, and Candidate Teams into Online Convention pressure cooker.
Reduce to Unity Ticket.
Serve hot and complement with election of the next President of the United States.
For the final ingredient, download our sign up form so that when you bring your friends and family to the table they can easily join us. After you've added them to the form, simply follow the instructions to mail it back to us.
It won't be easy to successfully execute the cooking instructions above, but it is absolutely necessary for the good of our country. The timing is right for our new recipe despite those that say that it's too late to impact the coming election. In fact, well-known names have been talking more frequently about the likelihood of another option winning the election. Alan Greenspan, Tom Brokaw, Mario Cuomo, Tom Kean, William Weld, and more have realized that the country is desperate for change.
Unity08 is the new recipe to reunite our country.
The Most Popular Threads on the Internets
Always seem to be the ones where people spend lots of time arguing that black people really are stupid. Been true since I started this blog.
Big Movers
Countrywide is down 18%.
Etrade is down 17%.
Fannie Mae is down 25%.
Freddie Mac is down 30%.
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Etrade is down 17%.
Fannie Mae is down 25%.
Freddie Mac is down 30%.
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Lenders
Bob Herbert gives us a taste of what some mortgage lenders were up to. Yes plenty of people snared in the mortgage crisis "should have known better" for a variety of reasons, but plenty were victims of fraud and deception.
I think a fundamental issue here is that culturally we've been trained to see banks as regulated beasts which aren't going to engage in bad behavior. So we trust them more than we'd trust a used car salesman. We're not aware that they can engage in corrupt practices and so we assume they aren't.
Oh well.
...adding, plenty of players in this weren't technically banks, but they were engaged in traditional banking behavior and thus seen by people as banks.
I think a fundamental issue here is that culturally we've been trained to see banks as regulated beasts which aren't going to engage in bad behavior. So we trust them more than we'd trust a used car salesman. We're not aware that they can engage in corrupt practices and so we assume they aren't.
Oh well.
...adding, plenty of players in this weren't technically banks, but they were engaged in traditional banking behavior and thus seen by people as banks.
The Tragedy of Iraq
Is that all of the dead brown people are making it a little bit harder to go kill a lot more brown people.
Weird
Custody issues.
Authorities were investigating the disappearance Monday of three grandchildren of Southern California Rep. Gary Miller.
The children were reported missing at about 1:30 p.m Monday from their Diamond Bar residence east of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said.
Investigators were looking into whether the children were taken by their "non-custodial mother," said sheriff's spokeswoman Deputy Aura Sierra, referring to a parent without custody rights.
Monday, November 19, 2007
And Then?
That really is the unanswered question. I have no idea if the Atlanta area drought issue is acute enough to cause a catastrophic water shortage. But it seems people are at least a wee bit concerned about the possibility. Whether or not they should be I really don't know, but there seems to be enough concern about the issue that the "what if?" question should have an answer.
I haven't seen one.
I haven't seen one.
O.C. and the Inland Empire
In Orange County about 20% of properties on the market are considered to be distressed properties, either in foreclosure or a short sale.
And we learn a new word: trash-outs.
(via hbb)
And we learn a new word: trash-outs.
Foreclosed homes all over the Inland Empire are turning into what Lisa Carvalho calls "trash-outs" - wooden and stucco carcasses with piles of junk left behind by former tenants.
In the big picture, the Riverside-San Bernardino area ranked No. 3 in the United States on the home-foreclosure chart for metro areas, according to a Wednesday report by RealtyTrac, a real-estate data company in Irvine. There were more than 20,600 foreclosure filings during the third quarter of this year, it stated.
It's partially Carvalho's job to get junk hauled out of these abandoned homes.
"There's usually debris and clothing and beds," said Carvalho, co-owner of Casablanca Associates Inc. in Ontario.
The company, among others, has its hands full cleaning out foreclosures in the San Bernardino and Ontario areas.
...
The High Desert offers even more interesting tales.
The area is full of tract homes in subdivisions that have stacks of furniture piled inside every room, she said.
"These typically look like they're occupied, but they're not trashed," she said about these homes. "(The owners) just walk away and wash their hands of it."
(via hbb)
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