Month: September 2010

It Looks Like a Commenter on the Blog Will Become Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors

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Austan Goolsbee, who I’ve posted about a dozen times or so, objected to a post of mine, and I (with permission) posted his response to my blog.

Well, Goolsbee has written extensively suggesting that things like Obama’s proposed R&D tax cut don’t offer a whole bunch of bang for the buck, though he has argued that he thinks the current situation **cough** incipient deflationary spiral **cough** create a somewhat different dynamic.

Well, the scuttlebutt is that Dr. Gooolsbee is going to replace Christina Romer as the chairman of the President’s CEA, and J.W. Mason has the best line that I’ve heard in a while about this:

Looks like Goolsbee is the perfect pick to succeed Romer — his advice is already being ignored even before he’s been hired.

It’s a reference to the fact that Romer’s thoughts on the stimulus were not even passed on to Barack Obama for review, and the point being made is that in a choice between economists and the economy (Goolsbee, Volker), and shills for finance and the finance industry (Summers, Geithner), that Obama will go with the latter unless absolutely forced to do so.

It’s a great line.

It’s Bank Failure Friday!!!! (on Saturday Night)

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I’ve been off line for Rosh Hashana, so this is a day late.

And the FDIC is back in action, albeit in a low key way, with only 1 bank closure:

  1. Horizon Bank , Bradenton, FL

I am not sure why a small suburb in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area has had 4 banks fail in the past 4 years, see the Full FDIC list, but only one bank failure is a slow day.

Also, here is the Full NCUA list of credit union closings.

So, here is the graph pr0n with trendline (FDIC only):

I would note that are now at the point where the utility of the least squares trendline is diminishing, but I’m keeping it here for historical purposes.

Actually, it may have more use. There seems to be a pattern of a lull, and then an outbreak, so Yom Kippur, next Friday, may be a bad day for banks.

911, 9 Years on

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I don’t think that I can really say anthing about the 9th anniversary of the 911 attacks, beyond the humor and sociology in this picture:

I find this really, Really funny.

I think that I would have always found this funny, but it’s not an amusement that I would have felt comfortable sharing until very recently, and now, it’s the sort of thing that I would email to friends.

I’m not sure what it all means, but then again, I rarely am sure.

H/t Dc at the by invitation only Stellar Parthenon BBS.

Offline for 3 Days

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It’s Rosh Hashanah starting this evening, so between this and the Shabbos* following I am offline until Saturday evening, though I have queued stuff various non time-sensitive stuff up, so scroll down.

Note that this notice will stay at the top of the blog until Saturday evening.

*The Jewish Sabbath, which runs from Friday evening through Saturday Sundown.

Swiss Freeze Fighter Purchase

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I think that the Swiss decision to delay any decision on fighter purchases has a number of causes.

First, they realize that changes in banking regulation may cut seriously into their revenues, and second, I think that they may be able to get some lightly used fighters cheaply from bankrupt nations like Spain, who is on the hook for a significant numbers of Eurofighter Typhoon:

Switzerland on Wednesday postponed its search for new air force fighter jets for several years, just weeks before it was expected to announce a decision on the multibillion dollar tender.

Swiss Defence Minister Ueli Maurer said at a news conference that the postponement of the replacement of about half of the Swiss army’s ageing fleet of F-5 Tiger aircraft “will last at most until 2015”.

The tender launched in January 2008 led to a fierce battle between European aerospace group EADS’s Eurofighter, French firm Dassault’s Rafale and the Gripen built by Sweden’s Saab.

I think that this impacts Saab more than Dassault or Eurofighter, as they really need a foreign client for their Gripen NG.

I Expect This to Be a Prelude to Regulatory Capitulation

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The FCC is now saying that it will delay any ruling on net neutrality until after the election.

I take this as a sign that Obama, and FCC Chair Genachowski intend to sell out completely to the incumbent telcos and cable companies, but they do not want to enrage the netroots base, as well of the users of a little service called Facebook, see the survey numbers on social media users, really care about preserving net neutrality.

In my opinion, they are waiting until after the election to screw the base in order to benefit the big players, and they know that this will cost them votes if it comes out in September of October.

I should note however, that the redoubtable Harold Feld, who does this for a living, is more optimistic than I am about such things.

Obama is Losing Bob Reich

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He cuts Obama a new one over his proposed corporate giveaways:

President Obama reportedly will propose two big corporate tax cuts this week.

……

The economy needs two whopping corporate tax cuts right now as much as someone with a serious heart condition needs Botox.

Mr. Reich took a lot of crap when he endorsed Barack Obama early in the primary cycle, because he was Bill Clinton’s former Labor Secretary, and has pretty consistently been an Obama fanboi.

When you are pissing off people like him, you are driving your somewhat less involved and motivated voters who might vote for you deeply into their couches.

This will be an ugly election.

A Court Case to Watch on HAMP

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A federal court in California has ruled that a borrower is an intended 3rd party beneficiary of the HAMP program, and so has standing to sue the bank for acting in bad faith:

This is getting interesting. A judge in U.S. District Court, Southern District of California, has issued an order that may just answer a few prayers of many homeowners. Here’s what happened…

A San Diego homeowner, by the name of Ademar Marques, was applying for a loan modification, and, although it might be hard for many readers to believe, his servicer, Wells Fargo, dba, America’s Servicing Company, wasn’t being very nice about it, or even cooperating at all. It seems that Wells Fargo wanted to just skip all of those messy and time-consuming formalities required when considering someone for a loan modification, and just jump straight into foreclosure.

Mr. Marques filed a lawsuit against Wells Fargo’s America’s Servicing Company because he read about the Home Affordable Modification Program (“HAMP”) and the program’s guidelines said that his servicer was “REQUIRED” to screen him for a hardship, and consider him for a loan modification. He also alleged that he qualified for the loan modification program based on all of the published guidelines, and that his servicer, a participating servicer in HAMP never said that his loan could not be modified, they just refused to modify it, and instituted foreclosure proceedings.

Well, I never! The gall of some servicers. Have you ever heard of such a thing? Actually, I have. But not more than 30-40 times a day for the last two years.

The court ruled that as a participant in HAMP, the bank was obligated to review Ademar Marques case, and in not doing so, they breached their HAMP contract, and so do not have the right to foreclose.

Here is the money quote:

Are you digging this? Best I can make out, if you’re the intended third party beneficiary to a federal contract you can sue for breach of contract. So, if it says in the contract that the servicer “MUST” do something, and that servicer doesn’t do it… you the borrower may be able to sue the servicer for breaching that contract.

If Wells appeals, and if I were them, I wouldn’t, because settling in this one case loses them a mortgage, and if the court of appeals rules against them, it becomes case law for a large swath of California, but bankers are not know for cutting their losses.

If there is an appeal, and Mr. Marques prevails, then it is certain that Wells Fargo will appeal to the Supreme Court, and I would bet 5 to 1 odds that if it gets that high, then the Obama administration will argue for the malefactor banks, because that’s how they roll.

Spıinal Tap Drummer Syndrome Claims ELO Cellistge 62

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Mike Edwards of ELO died on September 3 when a 700 pound hay bale that came down a slope and crushed his van.

My first thought was that it sounded like the demise of a drummer for Spinal Tap.*

I’ve never been a big fan of the band, and obviously, Mr. Edwards has been out of the limelight for 35 years, since he left the ELO, and my condolences go to his friends and family.

That being said, what is it with rock and rollers and bizarre deaths?

On a note closer to home, obviously none of us can be certain when death might strike, whether it’s a heart attack, or a 50 stone hay bale.

It’s something to think about this (Jewish) New Year.

*Spinal tap drummers have

  • Died in a bizarre gardening accident, that the authorities said was “best left unsolved”.
  • Choked on vomit of unknown origin, other than his own, because “[y]ou can’t really dust for vomit.”
  • Spontaneously combusted.
  • Creme Brulee commitments forced him to retire, but went on backing tambourine for tour in 1982.
  • Claimed he “couldn’t take this 4/4 sh%$”; according to an MTV interview with Spinal Tap in November 1991, he disappeared along with the equipment during their Japanese tour. He is either dead or playing jazz.
  • Allegedly sold his dialysis machine for drugs; presumed dead.
  • Eaten by his pet python Cleopatra.
  • Exploded onstage.

I Was Wondering When Someone Would Do This

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I had been wondering when someone would combine the fuel economy advantages of a hybrid with the fuel economy benefits of a diesel.

Well it’s Pugeout, whose 3008 Hybrid4 stakes out this ground.

In typical French fashion, their hybrid system is kind of offbeat, the 163 hp turbo-diesel engine drives the front wheels, with a 37 hp electric motor driving the rear wheels, with the road serving to keep the two drives in sync.

I’m not sure how it shapes up efficiency wise, it would appear that regenerative braking applies only to the rear wheels, but it does allow for the car to function in 4 wheel drive mode.

Sunse? Space Goatse*?

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Click for full size

There is a reason why the comments at io9 are so rude.

Space Goatse†

The Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) has published what is the most detailed photo of a The clearest photo of a sunspot we’ve seen thus far.

But this is not what I, or many of the folks who commented about the picture.

It was about 50-50 between people who thought that it looked like the eye of Sauron, and people who thought that it resembled a certain unspeakable Internet meme.

Me, I never saw the Lord of the Rings movies, so you can guess where my mind went.

In any case, if you want to review the comments on the thread, and you understand the context,* then you may find significant amusement regarding what is otherwise a straightforward science story.

H/t hedgehog on by invitation only Stellar Parthenon BBS for finding this little “gem”.

*If you don’t know what Goatse is, for the sake of all that is holy, do not Google it!
†Thank SupaChupacabra at io9 for this bit of wit.

Pass the Popcorn

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Lisa Murkowski’s people, though not Senator Murkowski herself, are making noises about her trying to run for reelection on the Libertarian ticket:

Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has received significant support since narrowly losing to Joe Miller in the August GOP primary, a spokesman said Sunday.

Murkowski has yet to endorse her Republican rival, leading to widespread speculation that she is evaluating options for a possible re-entry into the race. She has two options if she wants to re-enter: to be invited to run under the banner of the Alaska Libertarian Party or to mount a write-in campaign.

“She has received a huge outpouring of support from Alaskans, both individuals and groups,” Murkowski spokesman Steve Wackowski wrote Sunday in an e-mail to the Daily News-Miner. He cited support from Alaska Native groups and the fishing and energy industries.

I don’t think that she is going to run, and if she does, it is not clear who she would draw more votes from, though my money is on pulling more from Miller than from Democrat Scott McAdams.

Additionally, the Libertarian Party has already been cool to the idea of putting her on the ticket.

I don’t think that she will run, but that this will freeze Miller’s campaign in place, and not do so for McAdams, because Miller’s campaign is very different with Murkowski in the race, and Mcadams’ isn’t.