A continuing steep drop in home prices combined with rising unemployment is powering a new wave of foreclosures. Unfortunately, there’s little evidence, so far, that the Obama administration’s anti-foreclosure plan will be able to stop it.
...
One of the biggest problems is that the plan focuses almost entirely on lowering monthly payments. But overly onerous payments are only part of the problem. For 15.4 million “underwater” borrowers — those who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth — a lack of home equity puts them at risk of default, even if their monthly payments have been reduced. They have no cushion to fall back on in the event of a setback, like job loss or illness.
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
The Size Of The Problem
NYT getting it
The Jonah Goldberg Song
The Jonah Goldberg Song. Lyrics by Thers. Music by the Meow Mix commercial.
Ahem. The Jonah Goldberg Song.
(Clears throat.)
Ahem. The Jonah Goldberg Song.
(Clears throat.)
Fart fart fart fart fart fart fart fartRepeat endlessly. Image of flatulence annoying human nose, forever.
Fart fart fart fart fart fart fart fart
Fart fart fart fart fart fart fart fart
Fart fart fart fart fart fart fart fart.
Monday, June 01, 2009
Gitmo the Video Game...?
Apparently so.
According to Deadline Scotland, Glasgow video game company T-Enterprise has hired Moazzam Begg, a former inmate at Guantanamo Bay, as a consultant on upcoming video game Rendition: Guantanamo, a title set in the infamous U.S. prison camp.Via.
Begg, a British citizen picked up by the CIA in Pakistan, has been brought on to make sure the camp details are correct and to appear in the game....
Begg, who says he was tortured during his stay in Gitmo, said: “The only thing I am concerned about it making sure the game does not misrepresent the prisoners. This will not demean the reality of Guantanamo but it could bring those issues to people who would not usually think about it.”
America's Most Dangerous Organization
I'm listening to someone who works with ACORN Home Defenders in Queens. Contrary to the delusional ravings of the wingnutosphere, this the kind of stuff ACORN does. Basically they mobilize in groups to make, in various ways, a bunch of noise to try to delay or stop foreclosure proceedings.
Community organizers!
Community organizers!
Tucker Is A Very Serious Person
And I look forward to the Washington Post having him back week after week.
Company Towns
Plenty of places have large employers which are important for the local economy, but some places are incredibly dependent on the good fortunes of just one.
SPRING HILL, Tennessee (CNN) -- General Motors idled it Spring Hill, Tennessee, facility as part of its bankruptcy plan Monday, leaving hundreds of employees -- and thousands of residents who rely on the plant's economic thrust -- in limbo.
Spring Hill, about 35 miles south of Nashville, is a town built on the jobs that the plant provides. The town has seen its population jump more than 1,600 percent in the almost 20 years since GM sent the first Saturn down the assembly line in June 1990.
Union Fight
I haven't really paid any attention to the ongoing battle between UNITE HERE and SEIU, but as SEIU's Anna Burger is speaking, people representing UNITE HERE are passing out fliers criticizing her and her organization.
Good
People and organizations who provide medical care for women, as well as the women who use those services, need to be protected from intimidation and violence.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Eric Holder has ordered increased security for a host of unnamed individuals and facilities in the wake of the slaying of abortion Dr. George Tiller.
We're In A Village
As I exited the Dupont Circle metro station, I overheard a young woman behind me telling her friends, upon observing the neighborhood, that it looked like they were in a village, a cute small town. This highlighted something for me, that many people perceive urban spaces as some combination of skyscrapers, monuments, and slums, and have little familiarity with the residential neighborhoods that comprise the better cities. Places like DC, Philly, San Francisco, and Boston do have recognizable central business districts with tall office towers and condos, but they also contain a collection of somewhat self-contained linked residential neighborhoods.
2nd Stimulus
At the America's Future Now conference, Bob Kuttner just said the Obama administration is likely to sponsor a 2nd stimulus package in the Fall. Not sure if this is guessing or knowledge.
Seoul's Just A Little City
The neoconservative assholes don't really care about protecting innocent lives, and certainly not maintaining peace, they just need to wake up every day and be convinced that America still has the biggest swinging dick in the universe.
But they're very serious!
But they're very serious!
Inching Downwards
While I wouldn't be surprised if per capita car registrations inch downwards a bit from historic highs, I'm actually much less convinced than some that we will move away from widespread car dependency very quickly. There just aren't that many places with decent transit and economically viable walkable neighborhoods. There are some places with decent transit which could be fairly easily transformed into good walkable neighborhoods. Then there's...everywhere else!
Crazy Talk
As Ezra suggests, lack of availability of comprehensive medical services for women is a tremendous problem. A popular charismatic president could find a way to chaange that.
Maybe
Perhaps. (V. fine snark, vintage even)
We can only hope that from this day forward, climate scientists, erratic British peers, faux-populist Fox News hosts, retired petroleum geologists, and undistinguished economists from conservatarian thinktanks will put aside all the name-calling and conspiracy theories, and meet each other as equals on the field of sober scientific inquiry. What could they possibly have to lose?
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