tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post3945341480756402810..comments2024-03-29T05:30:32.626-04:00Comments on The Elephant Bar: Pushback in Italy - No minarets!Deuce ☂http://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-53186787868274154952008-09-17T04:29:00.000-04:002008-09-17T04:29:00.000-04:00Was In Yemen<A HREF="http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/09/17/yemen.blast/index.html" REL="nofollow">Was In Yemen</A>Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04145155737835511824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-30185647891229289282008-09-17T04:23:00.000-04:002008-09-17T04:23:00.000-04:00Ponzi Scheme Doomsday looms on the horizon.Fight b...<I>Ponzi Scheme Doomsday looms on the horizon.</I><BR/><BR/>Fight back with a chain letter!<BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>Seems to have just been a large car bombing at a US Embasy--think they said in Yemen, but maybe it was Kenya.Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04145155737835511824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-8438369750721315512008-09-17T03:58:00.000-04:002008-09-17T03:58:00.000-04:00Ponzi Scheme Doomsday looms on the horizon.Ponzi Scheme Doomsday looms on the horizon.Doughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16770268554450465514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-9524301583647399852008-09-17T03:57:00.000-04:002008-09-17T03:57:00.000-04:00Cost of housingCost of MedicineSkyrocket in respon...Cost of housing<BR/>Cost of Medicine<BR/>Skyrocket in response to Government "Cure."<BR/><BR/>Thanks, Guys.Doughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16770268554450465514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-15529243106108684732008-09-17T03:55:00.000-04:002008-09-17T03:55:00.000-04:00Very helpful, Teresita, thanks.Now how do I get th...Very helpful, Teresita, thanks.<BR/>Now how do I get the kid to do it?Doughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16770268554450465514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-75849283327657205552008-09-17T03:39:00.000-04:002008-09-17T03:39:00.000-04:00Ex-Cheney Aid--It Won't Be Bush That Strikes IranJ...<A HREF="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=1&cid=1221489051828&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull" REL="nofollow">Ex-Cheney Aid--It Won't Be Bush That Strikes Iran</A><BR/><BR/>Jerusalem PostBobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04145155737835511824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-21192326374962033452008-09-17T00:38:00.000-04:002008-09-17T00:38:00.000-04:00Those words of Bush are one's I agree with. Most p...Those <I>words</I> of Bush are one's I agree with. Most people do. How's the best way to go about getting a decent place for everyone is the question. And it's true, some folks are pretty much beyond helping.<BR/><BR/>Almost all these banks out here are small. I remember one banker talking to dad and I, way before that repeal your talking about, how the banks were hoping to be able to diversify into other areas.Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04145155737835511824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-46552175795613372062008-09-17T00:13:00.000-04:002008-09-17T00:13:00.000-04:00But the idea that the US should become an Ownershi...But the idea that the US should become an Ownership Society, not soley a Democratic one. <BR/><BR/><I>...if you own something, you have a vital stake in the future of our country. The more ownership there is in America, the more vitality there is in America, and the more people have a vital stake in the future of this country. - President George W. Bush, June 17, 2004<BR/><BR/>We're creating... an ownership society in this country, where more Americans than ever will be able to open up their door where they live and say, welcome to my house, welcome to my piece of property. - President George W. Bush, October 2004.</I><BR/><BR/>The GOP did not run away from or try to diminish the efforts of Fannie and Freddie in expanding property ownership.<BR/><BR/>While even now they make the same arguements, in regards healthcare, that were made for expanded home ownership, amongst those less than previously considered qualifiable.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-14557054596309631052008-09-17T00:02:00.000-04:002008-09-17T00:02:00.000-04:00No bone of contention, there, amigo.No bone of contention, there, amigo.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-849430781032574142008-09-16T23:58:00.000-04:002008-09-16T23:58:00.000-04:00More on subprime being an equal opportunity politi...More on subprime being an equal opportunity political mess - from John Gibson @ Fox News via Powerline:<BR/><BR/>Fannie and Freddie have been creations of the Congressional Democrats and the Clinton White House, designed to make mortgages available to more people, and as it turned out, some people who couldn't afford them. Fannie and Freddie have also been places for big Washington Democrats to go to work in the semi-private sector and pocket millions. The Clinton administration's White House budget director Franklin Raines ran Fannie and collected $50 million. Jamie Gorelick, Clinton Justice Department official, worked for Fannie and took home $26 million. Big Democrat Jim Johnson, recently on Obama's VP search committee, has hauled in millions from his Fannie Mae C.E.O. job.j williehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13351257651406475696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-39240633379005637722008-09-16T23:52:00.000-04:002008-09-16T23:52:00.000-04:00The Feds may have pushed to greenline areas, but t...The Feds may have pushed to greenline areas, but they did not push to repackage the loans as AAA risk, or maybe they did.<BR/><BR/>I saw the same problems, anedotally, that j willie did. <BR/>But it was not amongst minorities, here. Everyone was gettin' on that on that NINJA train, that thought they were clever.<BR/><BR/>But as to who repealled Glass-Steagall, it was the Republicans.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-27110776112013935192008-09-16T23:44:00.001-04:002008-09-16T23:44:00.001-04:00Well, I cannot help myself.On further answer to j ...Well, I cannot help myself.<BR/>On further answer to j willie's question<BR/><BR/><I> the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act. <BR/><BR/>53 Republican Senators (including Senator McCain) and one Democrat voted to approved the Act.<BR/><BR/>44 Democrats and no Republicans voted against the Act.<BR/><BR/>YEAs ---54 <BR/>Abraham (R-MI)<BR/>Allard (R-CO)<BR/>Ashcroft (R-MO)<BR/>Bennett (R-UT)<BR/>Bond (R-MO)<BR/>Brownback (R-KS)<BR/>Bunning (R-KY)<BR/>Burns (R-MT)<BR/>Campbell (R-CO)<BR/>Chafee, J. (R-RI)<BR/>Cochran (R-MS)<BR/>Collins (R-ME)<BR/>Coverdell (R-GA)<BR/>Craig (R-ID)<BR/>Crapo (R-ID)<BR/>DeWine (R-OH)<BR/>Domenici (R-NM)<BR/>Enzi (R-WY)<BR/> Frist (R-TN)<BR/>Gorton (R-WA)<BR/>Gramm (R-TX)<BR/>Grams (R-MN)<BR/>Grassley (R-IA)<BR/>Gregg (R-NH)<BR/>Hagel (R-NE)<BR/>Hatch (R-UT)<BR/>Helms (R-NC)<BR/>Hollings (D-SC)<BR/>Hutchinson (R-AR)<BR/>Hutchison (R-TX)<BR/>Jeffords (R-VT)<BR/>Kyl (R-AZ)<BR/>Lott (R-MS)<BR/>Lugar (R-IN)<BR/>Mack (R-FL)<BR/>McCain (R-AZ)<BR/> McConnell (R-KY)<BR/>Murkowski (R-AK)<BR/>Nickles (R-OK)<BR/>Roberts (R-KS)<BR/>Roth (R-DE)<BR/>Santorum (R-PA)<BR/>Sessions (R-AL)<BR/>Shelby (R-AL)<BR/>Smith (R-NH)<BR/>Smith (R-OR)<BR/>Snowe (R-ME)<BR/>Specter (R-PA)<BR/>Stevens (R-AK)<BR/>Thomas (R-WY)<BR/>Thompson (R-TN)<BR/>Thurmond (R-SC)<BR/>Voinovich (R-OH)<BR/>Warner (R-VA)</I>desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-42324528001907861132008-09-16T23:44:00.000-04:002008-09-16T23:44:00.000-04:00DR, this targeting was exactly what the government...DR, this targeting was exactly what the government <B>pushed</B>. It wasn't illegal, and that anecdote can be confirmed as representative of common "no doc" lending practice (which was not discriminatory). The simple fact is that the vast majority of credit-challenged people were minorities. The government knew it, the bankers knew it, the regulators knew it - it was simply a fact of the consumer lending business. You can probably find it in hundreds of PowerPoint presentations from the marketing departments of the lenders. <BR/><BR/>In a sense, subprime lending, served effectively (and legitimately) as a nondiscriminatory vehicle for financial affirmative action. The higher loan pricing for subprime (versus prime) we now know to have been wholly insufficient for the risk undertaken by the lender. Nevertheless, at the time, the loan packagers were happy with it, the borrowers were happy with it, etc., etc. <BR/><BR/>Regarding Republican sponsorship of Glass Steagall, I noted that in my comment referencing Wikipedia and point back to my first comment about this whole topic - everybody involved is to blame - it's a bipartisan failure.j williehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13351257651406475696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-11776198189397112922008-09-16T23:19:00.000-04:002008-09-16T23:19:00.000-04:00But the big news is--Mr. Sulu is no longer solo.Ge...But the big news is--<BR/><BR/>Mr. Sulu is no longer solo.<BR/><BR/>George Takei has gone where no famous man (but two plenty famous women) has gone before, tying the knot with his partner of 21 years, Brad Altman, Sunday night in Los Angeles in front of 200 of their closest pals, including fellow Trekkers Leonard Nimoy, Walter Koenig and Nichelle Nichols.<BR/><BR/>Proving itself an equal-opportunity celebration in every regard, the 71-year-old Takei and the 54-year-old Altman swapped self-penned vows at downtown L.A.'s Japanese American National Museum, were married by a Buddhist priest, employed Native American wedding bands and marched to the ceremony courtesy of a bagpipe procession.<BR/><BR/>So, at least in spirit, Scotty was there, too.<BR/><BR/>"May equality live long and prosper!" the erstwhile Enterprise helmsman told the crowd on his way out of the ceremony.<BR/>---<BR/><BR/>Try this in Mecca.Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04145155737835511824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-46422355646788951702008-09-16T23:17:00.000-04:002008-09-16T23:17:00.000-04:00"Well, duh. With a name like that, no wonder. Imag..."Well, duh. With a name like that, no wonder. Imagine a Christian moving to Damascus with the name Crusader Smith. "<BR/><BR/> i got my belly laugh out of that one.Deuce ☂https://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-53280123639183457082008-09-16T23:12:00.000-04:002008-09-16T23:12:00.000-04:00Spades are still spades.Just look to the Law's tit...Spades are still spades.<BR/><BR/>Just look to the Law's title, to find the true culprits.<BR/><BR/>Senator Phil Gramm (R-TX)<BR/>Rep. James Leach (R-IA)<BR/>Rep. Thomas J. Bliley (R-VA)<BR/><BR/>'nough said, about that, for now.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-46681759932495381632008-09-16T23:02:00.000-04:002008-09-16T23:02:00.000-04:00McCain economic strategists militated for years to...<I><B>McCain economic strategists militated for years to repeal Glass-Steagall</B></I><BR/><BR/>Phil Gramm, the same man that told US we were a nation of whiners, not winners, and is spoken of as Maverick's next best choice for Sec of Treasury, wrote the Law that repealled Glass-Steagall.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-72699035340238746282008-09-16T22:56:00.000-04:002008-09-16T22:56:00.000-04:00So the GOP is to blame if j willie's assertion tha...So the GOP is to blame if j willie's assertion that the repeal of Glass-Steagall is the faultline of failure.<BR/><BR/>The repeal was a GOP move.<BR/>Supported, in a seemingly bipartisan manner, by Bill Clinton.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-78051066997090817112008-09-16T22:49:00.000-04:002008-09-16T22:49:00.000-04:00Gramm-Leach-Bliley ActSenator Phil Gramm (R-TX)Rep...Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act<BR/><BR/>Senator Phil Gramm (R-TX)<BR/>Representative James Leach (R-IA)<BR/>Rep. Thomas J. Bliley (R-VA)<BR/><BR/>The Senate and House, those that wrote the Law, they were controlled by the GOP, in 1999, and the Law was written and sponsored by Repiblicans, Clinton just signed it.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-6804906016682306302008-09-16T22:43:00.000-04:002008-09-16T22:43:00.000-04:00Damned if they do and damned if they don't. Years ...Damned if they do and damned if they don't. Years ago, they took pens, drew a line, said "no loans here", now, they take a pen, draw a line, and say "make loans here". What are they supposed to do? If they use normal criteria, many won't qualify, and they are getting gov or regulatory pressure to make loans, so, lest they're accused of redlining, they loan. They make the loan hoping the fees and such will cover the loses, or they sell the loan to somebody else.<BR/><BR/>If you're young and credit worthy, all this is good for you as you can get into a home at a more reasonable price.Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04145155737835511824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-6525339901916654112008-09-16T22:41:00.000-04:002008-09-16T22:41:00.000-04:00I submit that the repeal of Glass-Steagall is the ...I submit that the repeal of Glass-Steagall is the primary cause for the Fed's takeover of AIG. AIG could NOT have even entered the business of guaranteeing CDO's and MBS's with Glass-Steagall in effect. And it is those guarantees that have everybody shitting in their pants about what would happen if AIG went bankrupt.j williehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13351257651406475696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-67017292806143619532008-09-16T22:33:00.001-04:002008-09-16T22:33:00.001-04:00May have been some criminality, there. That could ...May have been some criminality, there. <BR/><BR/>That could account for the anedotal stories. Stories that would fly in the face of am open and free market, one not directed towards exploitation of the ignorant, those that have been left to the mercy of the failed Public schools in those urban areas.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-15508925663507494192008-09-16T22:33:00.000-04:002008-09-16T22:33:00.000-04:00Ash - who deregulated the securities industry? Wh...Ash - who deregulated the securities industry? Who repealed Glass-Steagall? <BR/><BR/>From <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_Steagall_Act" REL="nofollow">Wikipedia</A> <BR/><BR/>On November 12, 1999, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which repealed the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933. One of the effects of the repeal was to allow commercial and investment banks to consolidate. Some economists have criticized the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act as contributing to the 2007 subprime mortgage financial crisis.[7][8]<BR/><BR/>The repeal enabled commercial lenders such as Citigroup, the largest U.S. bank by assets, to underwrite and trade instruments such as mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations and establish so-called structured investment vehicles, or SIVs, that bought those securities. Citigroup played a major part in the repeal. Then called Citicorp, the company merged with Travelers Insurance company the year before using loopholes in Glass-Steagall that allowed for temporary exemptions. With lobbying led by Roger Levy, the "finance, insurance and real estate industries together are regularly the largest campaign contributors and biggest spenders on lobbying of all business sectors [in 1999]. They laid out more than $200 million for lobbying in 1998, according to the Center for Responsive Politics..." These industries succeeded in their two decades long effort to repeal the act.[9]<BR/><BR/>The banking industry had been seeking the repeal of Glass-Steagall since at least the 1980's. In 1987 the Congressional Research Service prepared a report which explored the case for preserving Glass-Steagall and the case against preserving the act.<BR/><BR/>The argument for preserving Glass-Steagall (as written in 1987):<BR/><BR/>1. Conflicts of interest characterize the granting of credit – lending – and the use of credit – investing – by the same entity, which led to abuses that originally produced the Act<BR/><BR/>2. Depository institutions possess enormous financial power, by virtue of their control of other people’s money; its extent must be limited to ensure soundness and competition in the market for funds, whether loans or investments.<BR/><BR/>3. Securities activities can be risky, leading to enormous losses. Such losses could threaten the integrity of deposits. In turn, the Government insures deposits and could be required to pay large sums if depository institutions were to collapse as the result of securities losses.<BR/><BR/>4. Depository institutions are supposed to be managed to limit risk. Their managers thus may not be conditioned to operate prudently in more speculative securities businesses. An example is the crash of real estate investment trusts sponsored by bank holding companies (in the 1970s and 1980s).<BR/><BR/>The argument against preserving the Act (as written in 1987):<BR/><BR/>1. Depository institutions now operate in “deregulated” financial markets in which distinctions between loans, securities, and deposits are not well drawn. They are losing market shares to securities firms that are not so strictly regulated, and to foreign financial institutions operating without much restriction from the Act.<BR/><BR/>2. Conflicts of interest can be prevented by enforcing legislation against them, and by separating the lending and credit functions through forming distinctly separate subsidiaries of financial firms.<BR/><BR/>3. The securities activities that depository institutions are seeking are both low-risk by their very nature, and would reduce the total risk of organizations offering them – by diversification.<BR/><BR/>4. In much of the rest of the world, depository institutions operate simultaneously and successfully in both banking and securities markets. Lessons learned from their experience can be applied to our national financial structure and regulation.[10]<BR/><BR/>Ash, you might want to get your facts straight before you make silly assertions...<BR/><BR/>To be fair, Republicans (including Phil Gramm, who should have known better) sponsored this legislation, so it was truly a bipartisan effort - but it was not Bush who did it.j williehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13351257651406475696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-26270321544146270922008-09-16T22:30:00.000-04:002008-09-16T22:30:00.000-04:00The credit crunch is part of the challenge for the...The credit crunch is part of the challenge for the global village of western civilization, j willie.<BR/><BR/>Not an unilateral problem for the US.That's all that is indicated by UK's torrent of forclosures.<BR/><BR/>Even those in Russia are starting to feel the pinch.<BR/><BR/>But maybe you're right, according to the NYTimes minority borrowers seem to have been targeted for exploitation, by the financiers.<BR/><BR/>From October of last year.<BR/><BR/><I>The analysis, by N.Y.U.’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, illustrates stark racial differences between the New York City neighborhoods where subprime mortgages — which can come with higher interest rates, fees and penalties — were common and those where they were rare. The 10 neighborhoods with the highest rates of mortgages from subprime lenders had black and Hispanic majorities, and the 10 areas with the lowest rates were mainly non-Hispanic white.<BR/><BR/>The analysis showed that even when median income levels were comparable, home buyers in minority neighborhoods were more likely to get a loan from a subprime lender.<BR/><BR/>In Jamaica, Queens, for example, where the majority is black and the median household income was $45,000 in 2005, 46 percent of the mortgages were issued by lenders who specialize in subprime loans, the second highest rate in the city. In Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, which had a median income of $50,000 and is mostly white, the rate was among the lowest in the city, with 3.6 percent of home loans coming from subprime lenders.<BR/>...<BR/>...A separate analysis of mortgage data by The New York Times shows that even at higher income levels, black borrowers in New York City were far more likely than white borrowers with similar incomes and mortgage amounts to receive a subprime loan.<BR/><BR/>“It’s almost as if subprime lenders put a circle around neighborhoods of color and say, ‘This is where we're going to do our thing,’” said Robert Stroup, a lawyer and the director of the economic justice program at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc.<BR/><BR/>The New York State Division of Human Rights is investigating whether subprime lenders have been engaging in discriminatory practices by singling out minority communities.<BR/><BR/>The Furman Center analysis is based on 2006 data that lenders disclosed under the federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. </I>desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-64546195213916634652008-09-16T22:16:00.000-04:002008-09-16T22:16:00.000-04:00j willie said... Ash and DR attempting to lay resp...j willie said... <BR/>Ash and DR attempting to lay responsibility for the subprime credit mess at Bush's feet is bullshit<BR/><BR/><BR/>No, the subprime mess should not be laid solely at Bush's feet. The problems we are now experiencing though are not simply a funciton of the subprime mess either and Bush et al hold much reponsibility for what is occurring, but, as always, the roots of the problems go a long ways back. Bush can be faulted for ignoring the problems as they grew (this did not come out of the blue), he (and congress, republican dominated) can be faulted for the overspending lowering taxes deregulating/bad regulating craziness that we have been propagating for the last 7 years.<BR/><BR/>In short, the subprime mess was just the trigger, the detonator, igniting the whole mess that has been building for many a year. Bush and Republican rule have been like throwing gas on this smoldering fire. Now she's blowin' up good. They can't duck culpability.Ashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06232405130481114127noreply@blogger.com