patrick.net

Yes, yes the $70 bil. Economic Stimulus Package?

It was Seven-Oh right? I don't get it. Stimulate what? Were we... under stimulated?

Some reports from the front. Its probably too soon to call it a trend, but it does appear from Socketsite that condos are tettering on a knife edge in Ess Eff. Foreclosures in new buildings are popping up now and again and listing lower than their previous sales price. SpecUvestors?! I'm shocked!
In Fortress East Bay, Piedmont (yes, its the schools) is starting to show some cracks. Three green pins (NODs) showed up on my latest Trulia search -- up from no pins last time I searched for foreclosures. Also, this took place just a bit outside of Piedmont proper.

Just 'cause it's Friday,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk7hFnB4JnA

She is proposing a 30 billion dollar fund to help hard hit communities and homeowners to weather the foreclosure crisis.

"In CA you have 95,000 homes in foreclosure."

~The fund would give states resources to provide at risk families with desperately needed services like financial counseling, and legal assistance, and help refinancing these unworkable unaffordable loans. States and communities can also use these funds to offset the costs from rising foreclosures, everything from maintaining vacant properties to services like community policing.~

(The typical liberal, create a crisis to justify more power for them.)

Oh and the clincher, "vacant properties attract people you don't want in your neighborhood." (Aren't those people her voting block?)

Now the 90 day moratorium on foreclosures.

Her reasoning for the crisis:

1. We've had predatory lending practices
2. People who put homeowners into mortgages they couldn't afford because they got more money for having a higher interest rate.
3. A lot of people who could pay for a good rate but were pushed into adjustable mortgages.
4. A lot of families could stay in their houses and pay the mortages they are currently paying.
5. (Plays the race card nicely)Pressure coming from investors, understand it's not the local bank, it is someone sitting in Shanghai, or Dubai, or Berlin, or London, and what they're saying is I'm supposed to get an interest rate return up here (hand gesture) and if YOU stop me I'm not getting my return on investment.
6. She's proud to represent Wall Street, but on this issue Wall St is complicitous (WTF?) with the banks and the mortgage brokers and the lenders and everybody who took advantage of Americans in this mortgage crisis.

(Note: Not once does she blame the borrower)

Now the 5 year moratorium.

(She gets the most upset about this abusive practice.) 1st time buyers or people who moved to a larger home who didn't read the fine print, "I gotta tell ya, I skimed MY mortgage papers, I didn't read them, I didn't know what was that fine print and all those pages of legalese." ( she didn't read her own mortgage documents, I thought she was a lawyer, and yes she did just say this!!) People did what their friends and familty told them and put extra money in with their check or tried to pay their house off and were Hammered wtih a prepayment penalty. "You see the investors didn't want you to pay off your mortgage." People are being punished for doing the right thing.~

Oh, now the emergency energy assistance for the poor, I'll stop here.

No Sunny, typo, I was typing it literally as I was hearing it.

All dat legalese is a direct quote though.

I mean, "All dat fine print & all those pages of legalese."

Direct quote

“It’s imperative that we have an economy that works for everyone, that we take care of people who get up ever day and do the very best they can.”

Sounds like fluff. Scary but with no teeth.

How come Condi isn't running? She will beat Clinton and Obama combined.

It scares the hell out of me for a number of reasons. Yes, even though it is fluff it is a window to how her mind works.

The idea of her determining who is doing enough and who isn't is Khmer Rouge, and Stalinist thinking.

How can you have an economy that works for everyone, yet you are going to determine who is more deserving than another?

Also it is the typical, people that have more than other people must not be as deserving as someone 'who tries."

In my world I am a big believer in E for effort but the idea of this C@unt sitting on her high horse deciding who is basically good, and who is bad makes me want to throw a bowling ball into the middle of my nice 42" plasma when I see her on it. Thank God C-Span isn't broadcasting this in HD.

Oh God, now the white trash boomer song "Takin care of business." Someone shoot me.

Yes, Takin'

My pickup truck here in Idaho has a "Condi '08" sticker on the bumper. You would be amazed how often people comment favorably on that around here.

How about a Condi Rice/Joe Liberman ticket for national reconcilliation? Let's stop fighting each other and go fight the you-know-who.

Malcom,

Mercy no! (That might scratch your trophy bowling ball!)

The youtube link above is hysterical ( I think ). Anytime some one has fun at Hillary's expense I... think it's hysterical.

She was named after Sir Edmund right?

I was almost hoping for the humor today of a headline reading "Hillary is Dead".

The idea of her determining who is doing enough and who isn’t is Khmer Rouge, and Stalinist thinking.

Stalinist fluff though. Very naive, or idiotic, or both.

My pickup truck here in Idaho has a “Condi ‘08″ sticker on the bumper. You would be amazed how often people comment favorably on that around here.

Better yet, she can neutralize any anti-sexist/anti-racist strategy from the other side.

Perhaps she will run for vice-prez?

Ha ha, you guys are too much. DinOR, I'd be more upset seeing all those pieces of my 3 month old TV all over the floor, but I appreciate your concern. LO really F-ing L.

I did like the youtube link BTW.

Can you imagine the terror induced in the Democrat party if the GOP ran a ticket consisting of a black woman and a jew? Especially when both were way over-qualified to be president?

Let the fun begin, boys and girls. We're off to the races to see which cynical, boomer politician can promise more of the country's treasure to swing voters the fastest.

We need another Teddy Roosevelt and fast. Unfortunately, we'll probably have to wait until every last boomer is dead, buried, exhumed, decapitated, burned, and then reburied with a wooden stake through their heart in holy ground.

Short of that we're all stuck in a never ending zombie movie. And not the modern, exciting kind. The old school, zombies-move-slow-but-never-stop-coming-for-you, in black and white kind.

@HelloKitty:

PATRICK: I recommend you consider the news links on main page each have its own comments link/thread for that story. Just what Drudge.com and others do. There IS enough traffic now to support this. take the site to next level.

OK, I'll try to do that using Wordpress. Last time I tried it was with phpbb, which is very hard to understand and modify.

I'm always short of time lately because I've been working again. Working is kind of a bad habit, but I like the extra money. My current contract job will end pretty soon. Then I plan to try out lots of new ideas.

Patrick

That's how I feel too. Have you ever been on a really bad amusement park ride, and you're thinking, OK I'd like to get off of it now, and it just keeps going? I have to just laugh I don't think I can take this much longer.

Please understand, 3 years ago I used to joke (yes at the time it was a joke) that these people were so screwed up that we would one day be bailing out irresponsible homeowners.

GLDs tonnage was up almost 2% for the week. Looks like they didn't have to sell anything from the vaults to pay Malcolm (I kid, next week could see profit taking... or not).
Trying to muster up the courage to short Wells Fargo before earnings. My stops kicked in at 31+ before Xmas so I missed the big downdraft. With $84 billion of seconds, what could go wrong? NIA...

Help us Obi Ron Paul, you're our only hope.

Patrick, you've gotta use that one somehow. Help us Obi Ron.

From DinOr's Youtube video

AR15fan (7 months ago)

"Hillary Clinton: Chairman Meow. "

From the "If you can't beat 'em, sue 'em" file:

Cleveland sues lenders over subprime:

http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/11/real_estate/cleveland_lawsuit/index.htm?postversion=2008011114

On the housing bottom prediction:

I said 2009, but not because I think the natural market conditions would cause a turnaround in 2009 (in the absence of interventions, I'd say 2010-2011). I said 2009 because it's probable that a democrat will win the 2008 election, and thus the democrats will likely control the white house and Congress.

With that circumstance, a massive bailout is all but inevitable, to the detriment of everyone who didn't recklessly get involved in the bubble. Naturally the democrats will go way too far and create profit opportunities for people shrewd enough to profit from whatever "temporary" bailouts they put in place, which will put upward pressure on the market, and likely create a "bottom".

Anyway, thought I'd throw that out there as a rationale for 2009 as the bottom.

Wow, I didn't realize the relative size of GLD's holdings:

Indeed, the total amount of gold held in the StreetTracks trust stood this week at 642 metric tons, according to the fund. (One metric ton is equivalent to 1,000 kilograms or about 2,205 pounds.) That's more than the gold reserves held by many national governments, including China, Russia, the European Central Bank and the Netherlands, according to data compiled by the World Gold Council, the trade group that sponsors StreetTracks Gold Shares.
To put that figure into perspective, about 3,400 metric tons of gold is sold each year for commercial production, mostly jewelry, and industrial uses.

With that circumstance, a massive bailout is all but inevitable, to the detriment of everyone who didn’t recklessly get involved in the bubble.

You think a massive bailout will work at all?

I think it will:

1) Destroy the currency
2) Cost taxpayers dearly
3) Enrich some people
4) Help nobody else

I kinda want Hillary to win the primary. Perhaps she has enough haters out there to give GOP a good chance.

I thought so too, but there are a lot of people like me who aren't going to show up in November unless Paul wins the nomination, so I'd rather not risk it.

Stalinist fluff though. Very naive, or idiotic, or both.

Hillary is neither naive or idiotic. This a calculated plan to buy votes. She will make a point to blame all misfortune not on any individual's action, but upon society itself.

Tell the overweight to exercise and eat less? Nope, blame society that force feeds people fast food, then blame society for making fat people feel bad with undo emphasis on looks.

Tell debtors to stop buying what they do not need with money they do not have? Nope, blame society with its acquisitive values that force people to live beyond their means.

Smoke? You are a victim of cigarette ads that made smoking seem cool.

It's "not your fault" and "gov will bail you out" will draw more votes than "take responsibilty" and "gov will leave you alone."

I don't know what counseling or refinancing will accomplish to someone who owes more on their house than it is worth. These people just don't get it. They still don't understand the problem.

Peter P--Thanks for the Tesla reference. Just about made me fall over.

Nice to see you back, Randy!

It did occur to me that when the drug companies refer to "prescribers" they may also be cozying up to nurse practitioners and physician's assistants. My kids' pediatric practice runs heavy to PA's and NP's and advanced nurses these days. We don't mind, as we tend to see a lot of an NP we like. But medicine isn't just for doctors anymore.

In fact, I don't know whether an all-MD insurance-based practice would work out, money-wise--at least not in the Bay Area.

Peter P says

You think a massive bailout will work at all?

1) Destroy the currency
2) Cost taxpayers dearly
3) Enrich some people
4) Help nobody else

If it comes to that Niccolo, try to be number 3.

If it comes to that Niccolo, try to be number 3.

Perhaps that shinny yellow metal will help.

SAN CARLOS, Calif. — More than a dozen employees, including several senior-level executives, have been cut by Tesla Motors, which is struggling to bring its oft-delayed $100,000 Roadster to market.

On his new Web site late Thursday, Tesla's deposed co-founder, Martin Eberhard lists more than a dozen people who have left the company in the past few days. "Watch to see more fall in the coming weeks," Eberhard writes. "Maybe this explains why I got the boot first." Eberhard's blog posting was titled "Stealth Bloodbath."

"This is about accountability," Darryl Siry, Tesla's vice president of sales, marketing and services told the San Jose Mercury News. "If you don't get the job done, there are consequences."

The first production Tesla Roadster was originally slated for delivery in early 2007. But the launch of the two-seater has been stalled, largely due to the high-tech transmission. In late December, the company said it will install an "interim" transmission in the first production models and replace it later with an upgraded transmission.

"Obviously, transitions are always difficult, even with careful planning," said Eberhard. "But axing nearly the entire executive staff, letting the world's foremost EV motor engineer go, trimming down the service organization before the job of opening the first service center is done, ripping through the firmware team — and doing it by random firings on a daily basis — are all hard to explain."

Perhaps "Tesla" really means all work and no pay.

Poor Nikola.

"nurse practitioners and physician’s assistants"

Can they prescribe medications?

Technology is overrated. People is what matters.

No amount of science or research can alter human nature.

Who Killed the Electric Car?

Reality.