Systematic Fraud

The scary thing is that I'm not optimistic that there will be any redress or punishment. It's the banksters' world, and we just live in it.

Foreclosure Fraud For Dummies

Part the first.

Hooray For Bad News

I don't really want bad news, but I do want the worst possible measurement so that maybe, just maybe, our overlords decide to do something about it.

Heckuva Job

Bank of America is halting all foreclosures.

The banksters have destroyed the housing market completely. I think we should give them a raise.

We Would've Gotten Away With It If Not For That Meddling Europe

I gather that's the story that's being told now.

ugh.

Ouch

Unemployment at 9.6%, -95K jobs.


#ifonlytheywouldlistentoatrios

Books

Been traveling.

I've read:

Gloria Feldt's No Excuses. Gloria writes about women acquiring and exercising power more effectively.

Will Bunch's The Backlash. Will describes the uprising of the populist right.

Christine Richard's Confidence Game. The book uses the crusade of a hedge fund manager against bond "insurers" to illustrate how they and the ratings agencies enabled the banksters to engage in what can only be described as fraud.

Zombie Lies

Sometimes, you can even watch in real time as the corpse is reanimated! For the next forever, please to remember the Obama Gave Dead People Money Zombie Nonsense.

This Week

I meant to highlight this before, but I happened to catch 10 minutes of This Week with Christiane Amanpour before heading out the door this past Sunday, and I was impressed enough to watch the episode online later.

My initial concerns that fringe figures like Robert Spencer might gain legitimacy were quickly assuaged by the display of reason and intellect by Amanpour and her guests. It was actually rather startling to see something like that on an American political show.

It's almost as though Amanpour is just vastly smarter than the likes of Chris Matthews and David Gregory. Now, if only she could find a way to keep George Will off the roundtable. Then she'd be golden.

Paris Going Big With Car Sharing

It really is the perfect solution to the problem of too many cars. Lots of people need or have a strong want for cars occasionally, and an inexpensive and convenient (it's certainly convenient for me, click click on the internet and then walk a block and a half to my car) way of obtaining that occasional car is perfect for urban dwellers who don't use it for the commute. And once you don't own a car, you're going to drive much less, as most of the cost of car ownership is perceived as fixed with relatively low marginal cost of driving an additional mile or hour. Car sharing takes away most of the fixed cost but increases the marginal cost.

Loud Obbs

I remember how enraged Dobbs would get at the notion that undocumented immigrants might actually...get a bank account... as if that was some serious threat to...I have no idea what.

You Know What Else Costs $9 Billion?

A goddamn tunnel under the Hudson.

Good Policy

As I've said many times, instead of worrying about how to accommodate cars, dense cities need to figure out how to reduce them. I get that there's a limit to the various "stick" approaches, and cars need to be accommodated to some degree, but if you aren't willing to do things like jack up the price of parking permits, then you should find ways to reward people who don't use them.


...and, adding, this isn't about me hating cars. Frankly none of this stuff impacts me directly. I don't sit in traffic jams. I don't ever need to find a parking spot.

Transit Nerdery

As Krugman says, even if roads did pay for themselves through gas and other fees (they don't, not even close), there's still a basic economic argument for subsidizing mass transit, because it ameliorates congestion. From an economic standpoint, there's "too much" congestion because congestion is an externality. You can reduce it by adding a toll, or by making an alternative route more attractive by subsidizing it.

Afternoon Thread

enjoy

Oh Well

Christie to kill tunnel, and apparently claim that he gets to keep the federal dollars anyway.

This project was about the one thing which gave me some confidence in the idea that this country could actually do anything.

Veto

I still haven't figured out if this is a big deal or not, but Jake the Tapper tells me on the twitter that Obama's going to nuke it.

But Newt's A Really Bright Guy Whose Ideas Should Be Listened To

One can never quite figure out the "stupid or lying" question, but...

Way Out

While it doesn't address the specific legal issues surrounding the foreclosure mess, you could reduce the foreclosure mess by... reducing foreclosures... and you could do so in a fair way which hits both lender investor and borrower by allowing bankruptcy judges to deal with all of this. Won't help the servicers, but they're just predators at this point.

It was a good idea four years ago. If it was implemented the magnitude of this mess would have been greatly diminished. It's still a good idea now.

I might be wrong, but I truly believe that one little change in law would have improved the universe in immense ways, and I don't just mean because it would have helped troubled homeowners. It would have helped most stakeholders.

Walkability

It's less of (though still) an issue for dudes, but for women especially adjusting to a lifestyle in which walking a couple of miles per day in "work shoes" is normal requires some modifications of the shoe collection.