Priceless
Year: 2007
» Get Two Homes For The Price Of One In Las Vegas – Housing Doom
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What’s the Deal With the So-Called Mortgage Bailout
To paraphrase Atrios:
To qualify:
- have an income and live in their homes
- are currently making their payments on time
- would default if their interest went up
- ARM mortgage has to have been taken between 1/05 and 7/7
- Has a rate reset between 1/8-1/10
The following rules you out:
- have missed payment
- can afford mortgage rate increase
- don’t have an income
- own homes which are worth less than their mortgage
So, if you are poor, you are more likely to have missed a payment, and more likely not to have put anything down, and so be under water. As Duncan Black puts it:
I became increasingly skeptical that such a broad-based bailout would be workable for various reasons, but as is usually the case with anything the Bush administration gets involved in, they aren’t even really trying.
The lower your income, the more likely you are to have missed a payment already, and the lower your income the more likely you are to have been sold a no-down loan that’s already left you underwater due to falling housing prices. Net result: no help for low-income folks.
Like Atrios, I’ve become increasingly unsure that any kind of broad-based bailout plan can work — or work well, in any case — but if you’re going to do it everyone ought to have a shot at getting help. Bush’s plan, conversely, pretty transparently doesn’t care about anyone with a modest income. Not part of his base, I guess.
My assesment is less charitable. He does not want to do anything but score political points.
National Banks Try to Bolster the Dollar
Lower interest rates overseas make the dollar a more attractive investment, so, in an attempt to bolster the dollar, you have the Bank of England cutting rates to 5.5%, the ECB, which intended to raise rates, leaving the Euro interest rate unchanged, and the Bank of Canada cutting interest rates, which is why the Canadian dollar is below parity for the first time in about a month.
It won’t last. The Fed will cut rates at the next meeting, and might do it by 50 basis points (½%).
Clinton Aids Hired to Break Writers’ Strike
Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers has hired Mark Fabiani and Chris Lehane to hit back on PR against the writers. Yep….While working for Clinton for the Democratic Party nomination, a party that is supposed to be pro labor, they are working to crush labor in Hollywood.
Seriously, Hillary Clinton makes my head hurt. Her campaign has amazing message discipline, they keep the press in line (they got Bob Novak to back down), and she actually votes when something controversial hits the floor, unlike the distinguished gentleman from Illinois.
And then she goes and surrounds herself to people who whore themselves out to strike breakers, and management in labor disputes.
Top Televangelists Refusing to Respond to Senate Inquiries
About a month ago, I mentioned that Senator Grassley (R-IA) was requisting spending data from major televangelists, in order to look for evidence of things like self dealing, living high on the hog, etc.
As I said then, requiring churches to file form 990, like other tax exempts, would make all of this data publicly available, and the cost is minimal.
It appears now that most of the televangelists are ignoring the Senate’s Finance Committee’s request. Only the Joyce Meyer Ministries has turned over data to this point.
I have to figure that some of them are overcompensating their preachers.
I would remind you that the Trinity Foundation has been doing good work for years documenting fraud, waste, and lavish spending.
The Problem is With Collateralized Debt Obligations: Cartoon Primer
This Flash animation is very useful.
It provides an easily understood depiction of the crisis.
Pat Leahy Moves on Rove Contempt Citation
I hope this happens.
Leahy Moves on Rove Contempt Citation
By Paul Kiel – December 5, 2007, 3:06PMKarl Rove is gone, but not forgotten.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy has scheduled a vote tomorrow on whether to issue contempt citations to Rove and White House chief of staff Josh Bolten for ignoring Congressional subpoenas from the U.S. attorneys investigation. Of course, Republicans might defer the vote for another week. But at the latest, the citations would be sent to the Senate floor next Thursday.
The interesting thing is that congress does actually have its own jail in the basement, and the President cannot pardon contempt of congress, because it is an offense against the congress, not the Republic.
Congress Moving to Ban CIA Torture
I would say, “what took you so long,”, but I’m pretty sure that Bush will ignore this with a signing statement.
They want to apply the 2006 Army Field Manual to the CIA.
Obama and Abortion: Profile in Cowardice
It turns out that when Barack Obama had the opportunity to take a stand on abortion rights, in the state senate, when called to make a vote on the proposed ban on the DNX procedure, he voted “present”. (see here,
here, and here)
During Senator Obama’s 2004 senate campaign, the Illinois NOW PAC did not recommend the endorsement of Obama for U.S. Senate because he refused to stand up for a woman’s right to choose and repeatedly voted `present’ on important legislation.
As a State Senator, Barack Obama voted `present’ on seven abortion bills, including a ban on ‘partial birth abortion,’ two parental notification laws and three ‘born alive’ bills. In each case, the right vote was clear, but Senator Obama chose political cover over standing and fighting for his convictions.
“When we needed someone to take a stand, Senator Obama took a pass,” said Grabenhofer. “He wasn’t there for us then and we don’t expect him to be now.”
At the time, Obama represented what was arguably the most liberal senate district in Illinois, so there was no need for him to duck and cover, but duck and cover, he did.
Of course, he did it on the Petraeus/Moveon vote too, he showed up for Barbara Boxer’s amendment, but was not in the hall later that afternoon for the Moveon condemnation.
He’s very well spoken. He’s telegenic.
But it appears that when the going gets tough, and let’s be clear in his Hyde Park senate district, being unapologetically pro choice is actually pretty damn safe, he is AWOL.
His dog whistle gay bashing behavior with his gospel tour appears to be a part of a pattern.
No guts, and the moreI hear him going on using Republican talking points like “hostility to religion” and :social security crisis”, the more he sounds like Joe Lieberman with a better tan.
As to the Presidential race…He’s still ahead of Mike Gravel in my mind, but if push comes to shove, I vote Hillary instead of him*.
*Yuck…I think that I just threw up in my mouth.
MBIA, Largest Bond Insurer, Risking Moody’s Downgrade
Moody’s has said that MBIA is, “‘somewhat likely’ to face a shortage of capital that threatens its AAA credit rating.”
If their credit rating slips, then the bonds that they insure will have to be re-rated….House of cards.
The loss of MBIA’s top ranking would cast doubt over the ratings of $652 billion of state, municipal and structured finance bonds that the company guarantees. MBIA is among at least eight bond insurers seeking to ward off potential credit-rating downgrades by Moody’s, Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s. The insurers guarantee $2.4 trillion of debt and downgrades could cause losses of $200 billion, according to Bloomberg data.
Banks That Purchase Loans May Be Liable for Original Lender Misdeeds
When I originally came across this story, it was just a glitch in foreclosures. Cleveland federal judge Christopher Boyko tossed 14 foreclosures without prejudice, because the plaintiffs could not show that they owned the loans.
Basically, the title on the loans was never changed, they just put it in the transfer contract.
I figured, this isn’t a big deal…It just means that before foreclosing, the banks have to do some paperwork, so amidst a sea of financial ice-bergs, this is a spring rain.
Well, once again, I am wrong.
It appears that the methods used to pool loans into CDOs and similar instruments may also mean that the organizations holding the CDOs are legally liable for any unethical or illegal tactics used whenever the loans were first made.
The problem stems from a shortcut that many players in the fast-moving securitization business have used in recent years. Normally, when a loan is sold, a simple document is prepared showing that the debt and any collateral attached to it has been transferred to the purchaser. That piece of paper is called an assignment. But in buying up thousands of mortgages at a time, Wall Street commonly skips this step, which requires separate paperwork for each loan. Instead, the industry customarily relies on a lengthy contract, known as a pooling-and-servicing agreement (PSA) to spell out arrangements for all of the loans in a pool. But, as some recent court rulings indicate, a PSA may not be good enough when it comes time to foreclose.
…
There also could be a more troubling consequence for investors, says Kathleen C. Engel, a professor at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. Players in the secondary market for mortgages rely on an obscure but critical legal theory–known as the “holder in due course” doctrine–to insulate themselves from problems with the underlying loans.
Under the doctrine, a homeowner who believes that a lender deceived him about the terms of a loan can’t press such claims against the purchaser of a mortgage, such as a mortgage-backed securities trust. The holder-in-due-course doctrine protects pension funds and the like from having to worry about any misbehavior by home lenders–and thereby greases the wheels for the whole mortgage-securities market. But it’s a different story if, as appears to be common practice, the trust waits to complete paperwork transferring a loan until after it goes into default. In that case, the holder-in-due-course protection evaporates, and anybody who tries to foreclose could face defenses from the borrower that he or she was lied to when seeking a loan.
Ouch!
Oh Well, Another Day,
Another Giuliani Associate in a Bribery Scandal.
Seriously….This guy must have been separated from Tony Soprano at birth.
Huckabee Pressured Parole Board to Pardon Rapist Who Later Murdered
This could be compared to Willie Horton, but it’s not.
With Willie Horton, Dukkakis supported a furlough program to rehabilitate people. He had no other connection with the guy. With Wayne Dumond, Mike Huckabee specifically lobbied for his release, because the victim was a relative of Bill Clinton, and the daughter of a Clinton contributor.
According to Murray Waas, who has also been all over the Plame affair, Huckabee went so far as to imply that he would grant clemency if Drumond was not paroled.
Noose Tightens Around Curt Weldon: Aide Copps Plead
It should be noted that Caso was Weldon’s chief of staff, so the ties here are pretty solid.
Former congressman Curt Weldon’s chief of staff has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy charges for allegedly helping a consulting firm championed by Weldon obtain federal funds and for concealing money the firm paid his wife, according to court papers filed yesterday.
Russell James Caso Jr. and a top official at the unnamed nonprofit consulting firm met repeatedly with Weldon to seek the Pennsylvania Republican’s help in obtaining federal funds for the organization’s defense projects, according to the court papers.
The ways things work, they got the plea, and now he has to roll on someone else. FWIW, Weldon is identified as “Representative A” in the document.
Old Family Friend Gets Prestigious Award
My father met Michihiko Kunihiro in College. The Japanese foreign service had a policy of sending young diplomatic staff to foreign colleges for a year to learn the language, and to get exposure of the generation that they would be dealing with.
Kunihiro-san recieved the The Cordon of The Order of The Sacred Treasure, which was personally given to him by emperor.
At one point, he was the Chinese Ambassador.
Military Takes Control of Contractors, State Department Bozos Who Screwed Up Contractors Get Bonuses
The military has basically taken control of oversight of contractors, “The agreement requires all State Department convoys in Iraq to coordinate their movements with the military’s main operations center in Baghdad, sets minimum standards for training the contractors and outlines when armed guards may use force in self-defense.”.
In related news, “two key deputies who worked closely with the security contractors, Kevin Barry and Justine Sincavage, received quiet promotions“, and “On November 20, an internal cable, listed as State 158575, went out to State employees announcing the recipients of bonuses ranging from $10,000 to $15,000 for “outstanding performance.” Among them: Kevin Barry and Justine Sincavage.”
My head hurts.
US Policy is Not Good for Refugees, or Other Living Things.
So says Canadian Justice Michael Phelan.
According to Canadian news accounts, Justice Michael Phelan’s ruling struck down an agreement that once barred thousands of refugees seeking asylum in Canada. The judge said the United States does not protect refugees fleeing political persecution and torture, which international conventions require.
Instead, it adheres to rigid policies which may result in mistreatment, including forcing victims of abuse to return to the countries in which they were mistreated, he said.
As a result, the United States can no longer be considered a safe place for refugees, Phelan ruled. His ruling nullifies an existing U.S.-Canada agreement saying that if a refugee is turned away from one country, he or she cannot seek refuge in the other. The agreement was intended to reduce so-called “asylum shopping,” in which immigrants attempt to obtain refugee status from multiple countries.
I’d be offended, if I didn’t agree.
As a result of 911 we have abdicated our moral authority to sadists, cowards, and the delusional.
Facebook Has Not Jumped the Shark, It Is In the Tank, Being Devoured
Josh Quittner has a very well written essay on Facebook, and I loved the opening ‘graph:
A lot of people say that Facebook has jumped the shark. That’s flat out wrong. In fact, Facebook is now being devoured by the shark. There’s so much blood in the water, it’s attracting other sharks. And if Facebook’s not careful, one of them is bound to come along and finish it off. I’ve never seen anything like it in the annals of fast-rising tech companies that fail.
Love the devoured by shark bit. Go read the essay, and the comments.
ObituaryL Sally Smith, 78; Lab School Founder
She founded Washington DC’s innovative Lab School for children with learning differences. My wife has worked with them, and my daughter went to the Baltimore Lab School summer camp following 1st grade, which improved her reading skills sufficiently so that she was not held back (she has a reading delay).
