Month: March 2011

Your Moment of Schadenfreude

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David Dayen notes that, “A Liberal Is a Villager Who’s Been Screwed By a Mortgage Servicer, and if this is the case, Washington Post hard core villager Dana Milbank has just discovered liberalism:

Behind the foreclosure crisis, big banks’ reign of error

By Dana Milbank
Sunday, March 6, 2011;

The problem in the nation’s housing market now isn’t subprime lending. It’s subpar lenders.

Last fall, my wife and I refinanced our mortgage with Citibank. Sixty days later, we received a “cancellation notice” from our homeowners insurance company “for non-payment of premium.”

Turns out Citibank, which had been collecting hundreds of dollars a month from us to pay the insurer, hadn’t made the payments. It was, I later learned, one of the usual tricks mortgage servicers use to squeeze more cash out of their customers. About a month later, I learned of another trick: Citibank informed us that it was increasing our monthly payment by nearly $300.

Along the way, a simple refi became a months-long odyssey: rates misquoted, interest charged on a phantom account, legal documents issued in wrong names, a mortgage officer who disappeared for days at a time (first it was his birthday, then his laptop was in the shop), a bounced check from Citibank’s own title company, and the freezing of our bank accounts.

For me, this amounts to no more than the hassle of arguing with Citibank to fix its “mistakes.” But consumer advocates tell me these are typical of the screw-ups by the big banks that service home mortgages. And these errors – accidental or otherwise – are driving large numbers of people into default and foreclosure when it otherwise would not have happened.

It’s a bad situation – and the new majority in the House is poised to make it even worse.

He got seriously boned by his bank, and now he realizes that it ain’t just a bunch of deadbeats who are trying to stiff the banks.

Unfortunately, he’s also singing the praises of HAMP, which was clearly constructed for the benefit of the banks at the expense of homeowners by Obama and His Evil Minions™, so he’s still that lovable clueless scamp we’ve always known.

I Generally, Don’t Approve of Armchair Generals…

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But with all the inside Beltway pukes, (and yes, I do mean you, John Kerry) calling for aggressive air strikes in Libya under the fig leaf of a “no fly zone”, I think that I need to put on my incredibly incompetent tactician cap, and kick some metaphorical butt.

First, I think that a lot of people think that a “No Fly Zone” is where we wave some sort of magic wand, and fly planes over hostile territory to keep the other guy from flying his planes.

It’s a lot more involved.

In order to enforce a no fly zone, you have to be able to fly over hostile territory with impunity, which involves:

  • Thoroughly disabling every SAM site in the country.  (Bombing)
  • Thoroughly disabling every AAA site in the country.  (More bombing)
  • Crippling the command and control systems (yet more bombing, and likely boots on the ground to confirm this).
  • Bombing all the air fields, and pretty much anywhere that an attack helicopter might be based.

A no fly zone is invasion-lite.

OK, so, if you want to support the anti-Gaddafi forces, what do you do, if you don’t want to go Nixon’s secret bombing of Cambodia on his ass?

Well, here is where I put on my stupid hat, and make a military suggestion.

What you do, is that you give the insurgents some sort of aid that:

  • Has a low marginal cost.
  • Cannot be transferred to entities who are hostile to the US (see Stinger missiles given to the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan)
  • Is highly perishable, so that you can withdraw it and get them to stop when you want it to stop.

The thing is that there IS something that fulfills all this criteria:  Accurate real-time tactical intelligence.

Between satellites, long range radars on AWACS and E-2Cs, and signals intelligence (Sigint), we could be giving warnings of things like air-strikes, and the specific order of battle of Gaddafi’s forces.

Ironically, about a decade ago, the US Army thought that this sort of situational awareness would allow them to largely dispense with armor on their vehicles, which brought forth the abortive FCS, but the Army, as is the rest of the Pentagon, is constrained by a need to have zero casualties, while the rebels in Libya are under no such artificial constraint.

They just need to die less than their opponents.

Then again, my military experience would fit in a thimble with room to spare.

Economics Update for the Week

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The news has been good this week.

First, the jobless rate rate fell to below 9% for the first time in about 2 years, and initial unemployment claims fell to a roughly two year low as well.

Note that while the improvement in the labor force was good, 193,000 that rate means that something like 7 more years would be required to reach something approaching a normal employment picture.

Additionally, productivity rose strongly in the 4th quarter, while the Institute for Supply Management’s Manufacturing and Non-Manufacturing indices both rose strongly.

The only real question is whether the pain caucus calling for government austerity will screw this all up by cutting government spending, and possibly tightening monetary policy, too soon.

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So, the good algorythms at Google™ Adsense™ are at it again.

Another poll from Newsmax™ and its gaydar tripping* publisher Joseph Farah trying to manufacturing consent.

With his poll numbers in Wisconsin falling faster than Pan Am flight 103, it’s not surprising that they are coming up with internet polls with slanted questions in order to allow them to pretend that Walker is really doing the public’s business.

Well, to the degree that Google™ and I make money off of this, at least there is some poetic justice.

Also, please note, this should be in no way construed as an inducement or a request for my reader(s) to click on any ad that they would not otherwise be inclined to investigate further. This would be a violation of the terms of service for Google™ Adsense™.

*Which is kind of surprising, since I did not know that I even had gaydar.

Trophy Active Protection System Has First Successful Combat Engagement

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Here is some Video Pr0n from Rafael

Rafael’s active protection system, Trophy, received its baptism of fire along the Gaza border, when it intercepted an RPG fired by Palestinian militants:

According to IDF sources, the Merkava tank was patrolling the border with Gaza, when a missile launch was detected by the tank’s radar system. The Elta System’s EL/M 2133 ‘WindGuard’ sensors classified the threat as ‘severe’, alerted the crew and tracked the missile closing-in on the tank. As the RPG entered the system’s kill-zone, Trophy fired at the missile, destroying it at a safe distance from the tank.

The “on patrol” bit appears to indicate that the tank was on the move when Trophy intercepted the RPG, which is particularly significant, since one of the tougher nuts to crack for such systems is the ability to work when the target is in motion.

I’m not clear on its ability to counter long rod penetrators, or EFPs, both of which through a slug at something in excess Mach 2, as opposed to the subsonic speeds of typical ATGWs and RPGs.

My only question is what excuse the US military, which is looking to smaller, lighter, and more mobile, forces will use not to buy the system.

They will come up with a justification, but the real reason is that retired generals don’t get lucrative consulting gigs at Rafael, and they do from Raytheon.

Yes, This is a War Crime, and Barack Obama is Authorizing It

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So now alleged Wikileaks source Bradley Manning is forced to stand outside of his cell naked for extended periods:

Manning, a 23-year-old Army private suspected of passing thousands of classified documents to the online site WikiLeaks, was placed on suicide watch for two days this week – against the recommendation of the jail’s forensic psychiatrist, attorney David E. Coombs said.

During this time, Manning was forced to stay in his cell around the clock, stripped to his underwear, the lawyer said. His prescription eyeglasses were taken from him, except for the hour of television he is allowed to watch or when he was reading, Coombs added.

The circumstances of Manning’s confinement have drawn public attention. The United Nations special rapporteur on torture has said he submitted to the State Department a formal inquiry about Manning’s treatment.

You know, the other stuff, covering up the war crimes by Bush and His Evil Minions™ is a secondary crime, an accessory after the fact.

This is something different. This is him authorizing torture on his own, because he is at the top of the chain of command, and he knows it is going on, and he is allowing it to happen.

I’m with Mark Kleiman on this, “This is a total disgrace. It shouldn’t be happening in this country. You can’t be unaware of this, Mr. President. Silence gives consent.“

There is a part of me who wants a Republican to win the 2012 election, who then prosecutes Obama  for war crimes.

Of course, they won’t, because it would apply to them then, but the fact that there have not been cabinet level prosecutions over this is a travesty.

Again, I Invoke Saroff’s Rule

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Click for full size

Here’s a Shocker, MERS is a Fraud

As I have said many times, “If a financial transaction is complex enough to require that a news organization use a cartoon to explain it, its purpose is to deceive.”

Well, Michael Powell and Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times, cover it, and I think that this is the important take away:

Apparently with good reason. Alan M. White, a law professor at the Valparaiso University School of Law in Indiana, last year matched MERS’s ownership records against those in the public domain.

The results were not encouraging. “Fewer than 30 percent of the mortgages had an accurate record in MERS,” Mr. White says. “I kind of assumed that MERS at least kept an accurate list of current ownership. They don’t. MERS is going to make solving the foreclosure problem vastly more expensive.”

(emphasis mine)

Regardless of issues of law, on matters of basic fact MERS is completely unreliable, and the attempts by regulators to protect it are actually an assault on basic property rights, which depend on the rule of law, in the United States.

I’m not suggesting that anyone should go full Tyler Durden at “Library Street, in Reston, VA,” but I am suggesting that someone with a law go full avenging angel on their asses, with a good dose of RICO mixed in.

H/t Barry Ritholtz.

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

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Click for full size


Here’s what I saw on the way to the lab

It’s a fairly slow week, no banks, and one credit union failed, so banks remain at 24 failures, see the Full FDIC list

And here is the credit union closing:

  1. Wisconsin Heights Credit Union, Ogema, WI

Full NCUA list

I also have a special bonus pictorial. I snapped some pix of K-Bank, which was closed in November. I noticed when I was walking to the lab to get some bloods drawn.

I have been aware for some time that Maryland banks have been closed, but this is the first time that I’ve seen one with an FDIC notice on its door.

                                                       
In any case, here is the graph pr0n with last years numbers for comparison (FDIC only):

And since it’s early in the year, here is a detail of the first few weeks:

And A Maryland Democrat Joins the Ranks of the Morally Repugnant

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And here he is tweeting his support a month ago

When Maryland Delegate Sam Aora (D-Silver Spring) ran for office, he said that he supported gay marriage.

He’s one of the cosponsors for the bill that provides for recognition of Gay marriage in Maryland.

Well, now that it’s passed the state Senate, and looks like it is going to pass , he says that he is going to vote against it.

This isn’t just about a politician lying. This is about a politician making the issue the core of his campaign, and then betraying the people who supported him because of it.

It was at the core of his campaign.

He campaigned on in, and raised money on it.

Unsurprisingly, there is now a drum beat of people who are asking for their campaign contributions back, particularly since it looks like his vote will kill the bill.

This guy might be the biggest slime ball in Maryland, and that says a lot!

Little Davey, Don’t You Know That This Was a Political Ploy? Why Do You Hate America?

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Fresh on the heels of claiming that Afghan parents burn their own children for crall political purposes, little Davey Petraeus is apologizing for a helicopter strike that killed 9 children who were collecting wood:

A NATO airstrike that Afghan officials said Wednesday killed nine children collecting firewood in eastern Afghanistan the day before became the latest irritant in the tense relationship between President Hamid Karzai and the international force in the country.

Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top NATO commander here, issued an apology for an error that military officials attributed to faulty communication as an air weapons team responded to an attack on a NATO base Tuesday in Konar province.

“We are deeply sorry for this tragedy and apologize to the members of the Afghan government, the people of Afghanistan and most importantly, the surviving family members of those killed by our actions,” Petraeus said in an unusually contrite written statement. “These deaths should have never happened and I will personally apologize to President Karzai.”

The strike increased the already high tension between Karzai and NATO commanders, who came under scrutiny late last month because of another case in which Afghan officials alleged that dozens of civilians were killed in a U.S. military operation, also in Konar province.

Why does he hate America?

Doesn’t he know that whenever we blow up innocent civilians, it’s because they were trying to get killed, because it helps the Taliban?

“Unusually contrite” my ass.

I’m not sure why he isn’t following his usual pattern, lie, release phony facts, and a few weeks later issue a correction on the weekend, but somehow or other the truth got out despite his best efforts.

This is not typical behavior for him.

Could Wisconsin Democrats Please Send Some Spare Backbone to Washington, DC?

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After a couple of weeks of a growing grassroots effort to initiate recall campaigns against 8 Republican state Senators, the Wisconsin Democratic party has officially joined the effort:

The Wisconsin Democratic Party has decided to throw its weight behind a nascent grassroots drive to recall a number of GOP state senators, a move that will considerably increase the pressure on them to break with Governor Scott Walker, the Dem party chair confirms to me.

“The proposals and the policies that Republicans are pushing right now are not what they campaigned on, and they’re extreme,” the party chair, Mike Tate, said in an interview. “Something needs to be done about it now. We’re happy to stand with citizens who are filling papers to recall these senators.”

Previously, Wisconsin Dems had not publicly supported talk about recalling GOP Senators, in hopes of privately reaching a negotiated solution to the crisis. The Wisconsin Democratic Party’s decision to support the recall drives represents a significant ratcheting up of hostilities and in essence signals that all bets are off.

Eight Republican Senators are eligible to be recalled right now, [the state Senate has staggered terms, and you cannot initiate a recall in the first year of a term] and various groups around Wisconsin are beginning to file papers to make it happen. Tate told me that the party would throw its organization behind such efforts.

You know, I think that when the base is motivated, this might be a better idea than what they do in DC, which is to try to defang motivated Democrats, and call them names like “Professional Left.”

Then again, what do I know.  I don’t have experience engineering the biggest electoral reversal for Democrats in history with the realities of politics.

Maybe deliberately demoralizing the party faithful actually works.

And maybe I’m Charlie Sheen.

Now They are Charging Bradley Manning With a Capital Crime

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They have added, giving aid to the enemy, which carries the death penalty to the list of charges against the soldier accused of leaking diplomatic cables, and probably the “collateral murder” video, to Wikileaks.

What is going on here, with his pre-trial detention, with 23 hour a day solitary confinement, which is best described as torture, and now the threat of execution, is that they are clearly attempting to coerce perjured testimony, so that they can gin up some charges to engage in a political prosecution of Julian Assange.

Yet another truly repulsive embrace of Bushes Stalinesque embrace of the unlimited national security apparatus by Barack Obama and His Evil Minions™.

There’s his campaign slogan for 2012: Marginally less morally repugnant than whoever he is running against.