It's endangering the legal and economic stability of this state. And it's exposing an appalling lack of leadership, first for allowing such a breakdown in the legal system and, now, for failing to own up to this mess and get it fixed.
How bad is it? Laws governing who actually owns a foreclosed home are becoming so suspect a new buzzword is emerging: blighted titles. Even the tepid rebound of Florida's economy may face crippling delays in resolving hundreds of thousands of foreclosures in the Sunshine State.
...
Even the credibility of the state's court system could be questioned. Pressured by legislators (who control the court system's budget) to clear Florida's huge foreclosure backlog, many judges employ what derisively are known as "rocket" dockets. They speed foreclosures by minimizing legal arguments. But in the name of expediency, they bend the rules governing individual property rights.
Saturday, October 02, 2010
Blighted Titles
The banksters keep on giving.
Crazy Conspiracy Theories
I hate articles like this which dutifully ignore the fact that we went to war in Iraq, in part, because of assholes like Jeffrey Goldberg who peddled conspiracy theories about 9/11.
Crazy conspiracy theories in our own country have caused hundreds of thousands of deaths.
Crazy conspiracy theories in our own country have caused hundreds of thousands of deaths.
All Just Players At The Casino
I don't pay as much attention to the world of CNBC and satellites as much as I used to, but I'm still struck by how much people in that world actually believe "investors" know things.
Friday, October 01, 2010
Exercise And Diet
In my personal experience, both exercise and diet are good for weight loss, but I think people tend to underestimate the amount of exercise necessary to really contribute significantly to weight loss. More than that, people who aren't in great shape aren't in good enough shape to exercise enough for it to really make much difference. Jogging 3 miles a few times a week will help get you in shape in the sense of making jogging 3 miles easier, and eventually being able to go faster and farther, but it doesn't increase calorie burn by all that much until you start increasing the miles/speed/frequency by a bit. Then eventually you get in good enough shape to increase your base metabolism, which persists for a bit even if you go through a lazy stage.
Importantly, of course, is aside from being hard (especially when you first start), that kind of exercise is very time consuming. Also recognize this analysis is for relatively young relatively healthy people without any mobility impediments.
Importantly, of course, is aside from being hard (especially when you first start), that kind of exercise is very time consuming. Also recognize this analysis is for relatively young relatively healthy people without any mobility impediments.
A Depressing Read
This interview with Summers is fairly depressing. He's like the embodiment of "nobody could have predicted," and speaks as if his thoughts at any point in time, though wrong, were Universal Truths at their moment. And this is just wrong.
I mean, "many" is a copout and could be referring to random zombie unicorns, but right now the economy is doing worse than the administration projected when Obama came into office even if there had been no stimulus. I don't fault them for failing to have a perfect crystal ball, I fault them for not having a serious plan 'B' and for embracing austerity rhetoric long before things had turned around (which they still haven't.)
Also, catfood commission.
Summers: If you look at where the economy is relative to what many expected and feared on the day the president took office, it is considerably stronger, with the gathering force of depression we had at that time having been contained.
I mean, "many" is a copout and could be referring to random zombie unicorns, but right now the economy is doing worse than the administration projected when Obama came into office even if there had been no stimulus. I don't fault them for failing to have a perfect crystal ball, I fault them for not having a serious plan 'B' and for embracing austerity rhetoric long before things had turned around (which they still haven't.)
Also, catfood commission.
They Make Promises
LaHood:
Having a Jerry Maguire flashback.
In less time than it took to plan and pave our vast system of inter-connected highways, you will see high-speed trains carry significant numbers of Americans within and between regions.
Having a Jerry Maguire flashback.
Pretty Pictures
Can't tell if this is completely true with simple observation, but what both the fairly dense and less dense places seem to have in common is their isolation from any retail.
I get why people like the less dense places. Some people like a bit of land and a bit of isolation. It's the quite dense but with no benefits of density places which confuse me.
I get why people like the less dense places. Some people like a bit of land and a bit of isolation. It's the quite dense but with no benefits of density places which confuse me.
Punk'd
After all this time, journalists are still covering for the fact that they let O'Keefe punk them the first time.
Deficiencies
All just mistakes and technicalities.
A top federal bank regulator said Thursday that he has directed seven of the nation's largest lenders to review their foreclosure processes after learning about the widespread mishandling of homeowner evictions by the industry.
John Walsh, acting director of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, told lawmakers during a hearing on the financial regulatory overhaul enacted this summer that some lenders "clearly had deficiencies" in their system for foreclosures.
Bust Heads
I have no idea what Rahm does or doesn't know about urban policy, but I think the press tends to see the chief qualification of a local chief executive as being somebody who can go in there and bust the right heads and diminish the power of entrenched interests. As a resident of my particular urban hellhole I won't say there's nothing to this particular qualification, as there are in fact a lot of entrenched interests who are a drain on things, but it isn't the only qualification.
Slowing Down The Foreclosure Mills
Then how about starting to arrest people.
Evictions are expected to slow sharply, housing analysts said, as state and national law enforcement officials shine a light on questionable foreclosure methods revealed by two of the country’s biggest home lenders in the last two weeks.
Even lenders with no known problems are expected to approach defaulting homeowners more cautiously and look more aggressively for resolutions short of outright eviction.
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