Just a short observation… as I take a break from sorting through my clothes. And I ask myself: now why isn’t getting rid of clothes as easy as analyzing oh I don’t know… the economy, for instance?
So I took a day off from the real, final packing stuff yesterday to take my friend to her orthopedic doctor’s appointment in NYC. We are in the waiting room and the only magazines are ESPN, Biking, SPORTS… in an orthopedic waiting room filled with old people with hip and knee problems. Okay.
So I focused on CNBC’s Power Lunch. These surreal anchors and field “analysts” were talking about Fed Chairman Bernake’s call to the banking/lending industry yesterday. Bernake suggested reducing the principla on loans and/or locking in low interest rates on adjustables to help stabilize the home foreclosure crisis in America. The response?
His comments, with an implicit call for banks to give up some of their income from mortgage loans to forestall defaults, contributed to a day of declines on Wall Street.
Stabilizing the housing crisis or taking a hit on profits. Hmmmmmmmmm. Well call me fucking lunatic crazy, but I’m thinking that stabilizing the crisis has long-term benefits to investors, the economy, and citizens. Even absent the obese profit margins, the long-term stabilization of the middle class must have benefits to the financial industry, no?
Even absent profits, helping others must have long-term benefits, no?
It’s fucking obscene. The market crashes because the Fed Chairman suggests banks help out the lenders they duped with predatory loans that should NEVER have been offered in first place.
And one asshole starts worrying that if Congress gets involved in regulating these kinds of loans, it will go too far. And hurt the interests of the 1%.
Now. Really. There must be somebody out there in the lefty sphere that can take this information, reduce it down, and make people aware of how fucking awful and obscene this is. That the only interests being protected here are those of the 1%.
Forget our banner contest. Let’s have a contest for Gabriel D’s newsletter. And pick the best, clearest, easiest-to- see-it piece on just this issue. Then let’s all take a handful of that newsletter and hand it out our shopping malls and supermarkets. I’m serious. All of us here at DD… print out 100 of these hard bills and hand them out.
… and see if it has any impact. because i’m really tired of this shit. including the very uninspiring Democratic bullshit.
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and hellooooooooooooo from moving hell.
Remember Bush talking about the importance of the “ownership society”? After all owning stuff is the cornerstone of capitalism and consuming stuff is the way we all get trapped in this quagmire. Quicksand. Sinking. Slowly.
I got a mammogram and pap smear yesterday. I would love to see the reaction of a man having to put his “stuff” in that damn mammogram machine. Actually no, I wouldn’t. But it might just inspire mass revolution.
tell me what to print!
hate to comment & run but…..
Most of whom make decent money but are still a paycheck or two away from disaster, have this weird idea that some mythical calvary is going to ride in and “save us” from economic collapse. I can’t tell if this is one of those moments of “American optimism” that I cannot grasp because I am mildly cynical and not American, or merely wishful thinking. I always tell them they better learn how to garden because in a few years that is how they will be eating and they write me off as some conspiracy buff. Ironic because I spend the other half my time, when we have free time, arguing against some of the conspiracies they like to spin.
My guess is that the powers that be are probably enjoying seeing the “collapse” for people and their homes. The divide between the rich and the poor then becomes greater still. The stronger the divide, the more opportunity the elite rich have to control the “people.”
On the other side of the coin, when a home is empty, the duration of which cannot be foreseen, what in the hell does a bank gain?
If there was any genuine concern for the economy and the “people,” it seems to me that banks would bend a little and re-mortgage people’s homes, at affordable rates on a fixed year basis. Of course, the profits wouldn’t be as great, but the homeowner could conceivably keep his home, the bank would still be in business, and the economy could at least maintain some stability.
But why use a sensible and reasonable approach to the problem, when you can take joy in “crippling” people instead?
Am I right that I’m up for writing in the raw tomorrow night?
…I was watching that show, as well. The market eventually recovered (it always drops when Bernanke speaks) and closed down just a bit. It made that bit back today.
Bernanke is a nincompoop. Actually, they all are. And “mortgage meltdown crisis” is sooooo easy to solve. It can be done in a day:
Just amoratize all affected loans for 40 years instead of 30 years.
End of problem.
Everyone makes money,
the banks avert losses,
people keep their homes,
all money is repaid,
other markets are not infected,
the housing market becomes glorious,
and homeowners create savings through equity again.
The purposeful stupidity that prevents the “men in charge” from seeing the obvious solution is what frightens me. (Although it does create low-hanging fruit as far as investment opportunities go.)
I wish I was there, helping you pack. Oh, how I envy your great adventure! Thanks for sharing.
Ah well. At any rate I presume getting in touch with S&R would put me through to the local ham net work. Actually I suppose I could drive around town looking for antenna towers too. And it will be a strech to see me with the people “doin’ bidness”, but you have to do what you have to do.
And yes, otters are in evidence in the harbor, but not in great numbers. It seems that there were more 10-15 years ago, but it might just be my observational habits.