|
Here's my thing
Sunday August 12, 2007
There's been a great deal of angst recently over sub-prime mortgages. A lot of the ups and downs of the economy can be traced to the problems with the amount of debt tied up in real estate and the issues of foreclosures and loss of loan to value stuff. I think I saw somewhere that the percentage of home loans in foreclosure is between one and two percent. Which is a small percentage but still a lot of homes on the brink.
It would appear that the vast majority of these problem loans are of the adjustable rate variety. What I don't get is how these folks got in the problem in the first place. They knew it was an adjustable rate loan when they got it. They knew the rate was going up -- did they really think they were going to keep that 1.5% interest rate for thirty years? Donald Trump can't get a deal like that! What did they expect?!
I've seen the talking heads on TV talking about how borrowers didn't know what was coming. Huh? It's an ADJUSTABLE RATE MORTGAGE! What did they think that meant?! It adjusts, duh! And the statements that borrowers couldn't find the details in the mortgage is ludicrous. You have to initial the page where it talks about how the mortgage will change. It's written right on the page about how it can increase -- prime plus whatever. How much more plain can it be? If you've got a 1.5% mortgage now, and it can adjust to 7.5% in one month, well, do you really need an accounting degree to know that's a big honkin' increase in your payment?!
I know there are cases of predatory lending, and those should be dealt with severely. But I don't believe they are any more than a tiny portion of the foreclosure situation. The biggest problem has been greed on the part of the borrowers. Some person or couple looked at a house way beyond their wildest dreams and thought, "Oh, with only a 1% mortgage that $400,000 house is completely affordable." But they knew that payment wasn't going to last. Did they think that far ahead? Did they think they could cheat the inevitable? They thought wrong.
The handwringers and socialists in Congress are talking a bail-out now. What are they thinking? Rewarding greedy incompetance? Yeah, there's a good idea -- allow citizens to completely eschew personal responsibility. Buy a house you can't afford -- no problem, the gov't will give you the money to pay it off. Smoke ten packs of cigarettes every day despite the warning labels -- no problem, the gov't will pay for new lungs and a new heart. Don't want to work -- no problem, the gov't will pay for you to sit at home and watch TV.
Is this what we really want? When no one's doing anything, how will anything get done?
| | Posted by postaldog at 1:31 PM - | |
|
|
Saturday August 11, 2007
Results of the straw poll in Iowa finally came in after some sort of glitch in the voting -- egad! Straw poll voting irregularities! Anyway, after the anticipated first place finish of Mitt Romney, I am pleased to announce that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee finished second!
Yes, I'm a Huckabee supporter. I've tried not to be blatantly political in this blog, but I think my conservative views have been fairly obvious. But I'm glad the Gov. did well. It stands as a well deserved slap at the media who have condescendingly dismissed the Gov. as a nice guy who doesn't have a chance.
See unlike candidates like Romney and Brownback, the Gov. didn't spend millions on the straw poll. He spent some money, but has been working the process like a marathon or perhaps an investment, wisely allocating resources where they can be best used, not blowing everything in an early burst. Mike relied on his message and that got him second place. And that says something.
Gov. Huckabee is a solid conservative. His positions on conservative issues hasn't varied or flip-flopped according to political expediency. He's got good ideas, some innovative, for leading the country. And he comes across well, a likeable engaging personality. Kind of like another former Gov. of Arkansas that went to the White House. Just without the messy baggage!
What really bugs me about this process is the bloggers. I expect the media to dismiss everyone but their prejudged choices. But these conservative bloggers are supposed to represent the vox populi, you know. And they all have a pretty inflated sense of self, taking on the same arrogant qualities of the main stream media. Instead of thinking outside the box on these primaries, they follow the same lock-step thought process -- Romney/Giuliani/Thompson!
I've e-mailed a few of these guys to suggest they give candidates like Mike Huckabee a little more dap, but don't even get the courtesy of a response. Perhaps it's that power corrupts thing again. They get so caught up in how important they are, how many millions of hits they get, etc., they forget why they got into the blogging thing in the first place.
Well, here's my thing -- I believe Mike Huckabee is the best candidate the Republicans can put up for election. To say that he can't beat Hillary is ridiculous. Her record for pandering and changing political positions is pretty clear. Gov. Huckabee is not some political novice like Obama, Dems will look pretty silly trying to say that he doesn't have the chops to do the job when he has a better record leaving Arkansas than their poster boy Bill Clinton.
An issue based campaign will work in Mike's favor. All he needs is a little respect from the people that ought to be supporting him.
| | | |
|
|
With the news yesterday of his neck injury and subsequent placement on injured reserve, the career of Tampa Bay Buccaneer Mike Alstott may be over.
For those of us who are from the Tampa Bay area, Mike Alstott is the face of the Bucs. Here is a guy who literally gave his all to this team, playing through injury and pain and the humiliation of being on one of the worst teams in pro sports history.
Coming out of Purdue, the real A-Train landed with the creamsicle orange Bucco Bruce Buccaneers. But he made an immediate imapact with highlight reel runs each game. Sadly very few of them made it to big time TV sports because the team sucked so bad. But when the resurgence finally came, it was great to see Mikey get some national exposure.
Catching SportsCenter on Sunday nights was worth it only to hear Chris Berman do his "Boom, boom, besh, . . . you're in good hands with Alstott!" routine. The notoriety earned him six Pro Bowl appearances, despite criticism that he wasn't a true fullback.
I like to compare Mikey to Earl Campbell of the Houston Oilers. If you're too young to remember EC, then make sure you catch some special on bruising runners when it's shown on classic sports or something. Images of Earl plowing through defenders with his jersey literally being ripped off his back, are still staples of flashback moments. I can remember seeing an interview, it might have been Tony Dorsett of the Cowboys, who remarked that he asked Earl why he didn't just go down when he was hit, why keep fighting on? Earl's response was that he simply wasn't going to let one guy bring him down. He was going to force the whole team to stop him. Mike Alstott played with the same pride and conviction.
When he ruptured the disc in his neck two seasons ago, I knew his career was over. Having ruptured two discs in my own neck, and having a titanium plate installed, I can appreciate what Mikey was going through. If I bump my head, especially on the top, downward, it sends this bizarre shock through my system. I told all my friends and co-workers that he would never play again. Of course I was wrong. And I'm glad of it.
Two more seasons of goal line touchdowns. Two more seasons of highlight reel runs, though fewer than before. Two more seasons of me screaming at the TV, wondering why Jon Gruden didn't simply toss him the ball in the flat and let him run (offensive genius, hah!). But still, two more seasons of enjoying the greatest player in Buc history.
In this day and age of shameless greed and self-promotion, here's a guy who's played his entire career with one team. Who came into a sports hell-hole and hung in there until they reached the pinnacle of success -- the Super Bowl. Who re-negotiated his contract to help the team and even accepted a reduced role in the hopes that he could help the Bucs get back to the show one last time in his career. Can you name another player in the game today with that level of honor and commitment? I can't.
So if this is it for Mikey, I say thanks for everything you've done. Thanks for letting us see the good in sports, the qualities we always hope are there but so rarely see. Thanks for having us as your fans. I, for one, won't forget you.
See you in the Hall of Fame.
| | | |
|
|
Friday August 10, 2007
News broke that the temperature readings that have fueled the hysteria over global warming are inaccurate! Again, the data, loudly declared as undeniable and unanimously accepted is wrong! This is fairly important.
The database used for the global warming predictions is the NASA/Goddard GISS. Using this data, expert Michael Mann, of the now famous "hockey stick" chart so beloved by Al Gore, states that 1998 was the hottest year ever, with 2006 as the second hottest. Mann has arrogantly claimed these conclusions are 99% accurate.
But aside from silly things like having temperature sensors located near air-condioning exhausts (really, I'm not making that up), someone forgot to check the software for a little something you may have heard of.
THE Y2K BUG!
These are scientists, right? Remember all the hoopla over this back in 1999? How could this have been overlooked? Unbelievable! But the upshot is that all the data had to be reconfigured because of the bug. And guess what? The Goracle's (love that nickname) movie is taking on a Michael Moore-like quality.
Here's the new listing of hottest years in the last century:
1934
1998
1921
2006
1931
1999
1933
1990
1938
1939
That's a little different looking than Goracle's doomsday predictions. Also, Newsweek's headline is appearing even more dopey than it did originally.
Look, I'm no scientist, but I was a Math major eyeing a career in engineering. This is why you don't speak in absolutes. One of my professors taught me that. There are always variables. This has been my problem with the whole global warming hysteria. They are basing too much on data that cannot be 100% confirmed. And sadly, today, there is too much political influence in science. This guy Mann has conspicuous links to Gore and Kerry.
Science, like journalism, should be independent of outside influence. One of my biggest complaints has been the editorializing of news, with stories carrying political edged tints. When even science follows this sad trend, you have to be even more vigilant. This recent hysteria has global implications as well as local ones. Politicians want to change the way you live because of their concerns about global warming. But if global warming isn't the reality they think it is . . .?
| | | |
|
|
Wednesday August 8, 2007
China announced that they are willing to use their $900 billion holdings in the US Bond market as leverage against the US in ongoing trade negotiations.
The threat is that if the US attempts to raise tariffs or do anything to change the yen's value against the dollar, that China may be forced to sell off their holdings. A move that would most certainly destabilize our economy and plunge the nation into a severe recession. Of course, the Chinese have stated that they have no interest in anything that might upset the global economy and so on.
In essence, China is holding a gun to our heads. They will only allow negotiations that suit their ultimate goals. Welcome to the new world. Who needs nuclear weapons when you can cripple a nation with a keystroke? This situation cannot be stressed strongly enough.
And yet where is the news coverage? Where are the candidates on this issue? Instead of beating their chests over Iraq, Afganistan, Pakistan and global warming, why aren't we hearing insightful plans from the presidential contenders? This is terrorism just as dangerous any jihadist.
Get off the dime boys (and girl), here's a threat that must be taken seriously. Right now.
| | | |
|
|
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37
| |
Have you checked out the
new Blogstream site,
Question Stream.com?
Many Blogstream members are there
already! Quotes from members: "It's like blog lite!" -- "I like the instant
gratification!" -- "Stop spectating, get in the game!"
If you have not joined in, you are really missing out!
|
|
1658 Visitors
|
