patrick.net

Doesn’t murder as a crime involve the states of mind?

Almost all crimes have a state of mind element which needs proving at trial. We lawyers call this the "mens rea" element - a fancy term essentially meaning having a "bad attitude". Very few crimes have no mens rea requirements. We call them "strict liability" offenses and generally they are crimes or offenses with smaller penalties (e.g. driving a polluting car).

What gets dicy is that proving the mens rea element generally involves arguing from the perp's actions. If he was hiding in the bushes with a gun before he shot his ex-girlfriend, that goes to show it was premeditated and intentional.

It may be interesting to see how the MSM, REIC, and other interested parties endeavor to manipulate FB 'should I stay or should I go' sentiment over '08. I'm not sure that a coalition will form and fund soon enough to address the issue, possibly a business opportunity for any PR flacks about. Maybe a national "shame" campaign.

It's absolutely unamerican to screw your lenders!

Nobody cares at all about the tiny minority of Americans who try to save money. As best I can figure, they're the only true victims of the subprime mess but nobody gives a crap about them. (I noticed there's a new www.waronsavings.com blog, so maybe the phase is starting to catch on)

NPR, for example ran a story today about the subprime mess and Wall Street's mixed reaction I tried to set them straight with this response (below). They started with a cutesy intro about the various players "Betty" who wants to buy a house, "Claudio" who wants to sell, and "Derwood" who's upset that the value of his house is diminished. I just sent them this letter to tell them they forgot someone: Reuven:

Dear "All Things Considered:"

There was a serious omission in the Davidson / Siegel story about the market going up and the housing market going down (or returning to normal, as I see it.)

You talked about "Betty", "Derwood", and "Claudio" but you forgot one person: Reuven. Reuven is the only real victim here.

Reuven did what he thought responsible Americans should do: save money. But our government has declared War on Savings.

In order to prop up homeowners who think their houses are ATMs, our lawmakers lower the interest rates and pour money into the economy, an inflationary tactic.

Reuven wasn't pleased with house prices rising faster than wages. He knew it was an unsustainable bubble. It just caused his property taxes to rise making it harder for him to retire. Reuven doesn't care what some phony appraiser says his house is worth.

Reuven's losing money left and right. He can't barely keep ahead with inflation with CDs, and has to worry about banks going bust.

Nancy Pelosi thinks Reuven's too rich to qualify for the stimulus handout, so Reuven will get nothing. It's clear to Reuven that he's directly paying for other people's spending sprees simply because he was responsible and saved money.

While Reuven pays a lot of taxes, he gets no deductions because of AMT. Reuven's mortgage is now paid off, but when he had it he received no mortgage interest deduction because of a phase-out. However Deadbeat Betty who walked away from her mortgage got all sorts of tax breaks and is able to escape the tax on forgiven debt thanks to a law that our President just signed. (Isn't paying yourself with forgiven debt one of the tactics the Enron execs used?)

There's only one bright spot for Reuven! He saves $360 this year by not contributing to National Public Radio. Maybe then they won't forget about Reuven next year.

Sincerely,

Reuven S******
Sunnyvale, CA / Windermere FL

Don't worry Reuven, I'm sure the politicians appreciate your contribution since you give them the chance to look like heroes.

Just noticed an Arco where gas is $2.97 a gallon. Seems like it is coming down.

@danville woman,

Errrm, well, I could buy Australian Treasuries directly from the RBA but I don't know whether that avenue's available for non-nationals.

The links at www.aofm.gov.au will tell you more than you ever wanted to know, but I suggest you will just have to find a US broker with access to the Australian Bond market. I imagine most of the big players would have appropriate facilities.

Ignore my previous comment. I have just reached OO's reply to you and it looks like the direct RBA avenue IS available to non-nationals.

Good luck BAP.

BAP,

I'm very familiar with your area and the insane crap that people did with their homes with the weekly jaunts to the Homeboy Despot. I looked at a place out in the country some years back and that was suppse to have an indoor pool.

Now, GET THIS------

The livingroom floor was chainsawed out, a hole was dug and lined with a blue tarp, then filled with water. The mold and mildew was as you can imagine.

Another place was nothing more than a superfund site once the meth lab got busted. At that point, I decided to look elswhere.

Of course, the propreties that were in really good condition, and there were many, were out of my price range. I would bet my life that your offer is fair.

Good luck, Bro.

OO,

Etrade recently stated in a letter to customers that all paid-in-full securities are "customer-owned", which I interpret to mean that they are held "in trust " for you. Whether this is "safe" or not is anyones guess. Cash apparently is different and riskier, especially if it is held in Etrade Bank (via the sweep option) and is bigger than $100k. This is one data point, perhaps others have more.

Too big to fail? Maybe Vanguard and Fidelity. Vanguard assets are again customer owned. In August, after pondering the same question, I pulled some cash out of banks and invested with Vanguard's money market funds, which pays a decent rate (check symbols VMMXX and VCTXX). Of ocurse, all yields are dropping with the Fed's actions.

Not investment advice, just an illustration of what I did.

I like today's story "Wanted: Your Toys" that Patrick posted in today's news. It's a Craigslist posting - check it out before it disappears.

That could be me posting it - even the part of being the geek math major.

Marin is too far for me, but if some of you also want to meet at the Ferry Building wine bar, that would be fun. It's very BARTable, boatable, and otherwise easy to get to and from without a DUI. And pretty cheap as wine bars go.

Maybe Fri Feb 8th at 5:00pm? It gets very crowded, so good to get there a little early.

Patrick,

I'd be in on that. Marin is a bit far for me as well.

WOW Mish did a post about this new company called You Walk Away(dot com) and he talked to the guy running it.

They give legal advice about the time frames, non recourse, and shoot a 'dont call me' letter to your lender and they tell you how long you have to live rent free for a 1k fee. awsome little bidness model. i hope they get massive press and help crash the market further faster by helping FB's do the walk. Of course anyone smart can spend two hours on google and figure all that our themselves....but if you have no computer skills its a good investment, it probably beats listening to 'the guy at work' for such advice...

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/

Im planning on posting a flyer for this fabulous company everywhere I want to buy one day and also leaving them on H2's, tahoe's etc at the mall.

I hope they get a billboard on the freeway...people with loooong commutes who are upside down must dream of walking away and renting next to work.

Hopefully this is a new trend. Instead of "Refinance Now - House payments go down again" ads for idiots we can have tons of 'Just Givver Back To Da Bank!" banner ads, that I would love to see. Animated people 'walking away' instead of those obnoxious 'dancing mortgage people'.

@Patrick,

I'm in, though 6pm would be better for me, given my work schedule.

"Marin is too far for me"

(The guy goes to AMSTERDAM but Marin is "too far") :)

I know, I know (you didn't have to drive back!

I"m happy to show up - you guys will have to come up a chartered flight to/from Prescott Municipal Airport, plus all other transportation, hotel, and $200/day for my time.

Yeah yeah, essentially you'll have to PAY me to go back to the BA, even to visit.

Hello Kitty,

What a HOOT! No kidding, they're an actual company, AND... conveniently located in Carlsbad, CA! (Must be nice offices?) That's up by San Juan Capistrano, right? Maybe the swallows HAVE returned?

I'll BET YOU MONEY those are subprime guys! I'll just bet you.

But.. but.. how we gonna' make $'s now...?

HEY! I got an idea!

Relative to "I want your toys".....

The high end luxury pre-owned car market has changed remarkably recently. I've not seen anyone comment on it anywhere, but at the auctions all the high end stuff s series mercs and 7 series bmers and the like is being bought up en masse by foreign nationals and many arabs. It's driving the price up for such models here.

What's interesting about it to me is this analysis: you've got overextended consumers spending retail on the things, taking the massive depreciation hit (helocs?), then liquidating assets for pennies on the dollar, then you've got foreign nationals coming in buying those up using strong currencies, and emptying our market of the good stuff. We are then left with streets full of korea and detroit vehicles. Good luck hoping these same folks will come in and buy up McCrapshaks as well, about the same chance as them buying Ford's and shipping them Dubai.

lol @ dinOR no doubt the walk biz is former mb's. Someone should call them and find out. That's rich.

HelloKitty,

I really like the opening bid price vs. peak price on some of those properties. WOW!

Could 2008 be 1990 on steroids?

@ Patrick et. al.

Ferry bldg is a good idea. I'll see if I can make it. High probability. Larkspur Ferry lands right there.

DinOR, Carlsbad is nearer to San Diego. It is just south of Oceanside.

northernvirginarenter,

Will do. I've been on hold and leaving a lot of voice mail msgs. but I WILL get to the bottom of that. If I let it slide (rattle my cage!) Hey you aren't the same "NOVA" from Ben's Blog back in the day are you? They seemed to have a similar profile/background.

Oh and don't be silly, (FB's will figure out how to "chop" the Korean and Detroit Iron to Mexico one part-at-a-time!)

OK, Feb 8th 5pm at the Ferry Building wine bar it is! Especially glad Randy H doesn't mind the change of venue. So far him, me, justme, and HARM. Weird to put it that way. HARM, no problem arriving at 6pm. I'll try to hold down a chair for you.

ex-sunnyvale-renter, sorry, the patrick.net budget won't yet cover the charter flight, or pretty much anything else.

I am sorry but I will not be able to make the blog party next week. :(

I have met all but justme (weird to put it this way too). Perhaps we have have another chance?

I'm thinking, given the real party is just starting, we should set up some kind of standing bi-monthly or monthly drinking spot. The ferry bldg is good because we'll be surrounded by lots of bubble-buyers homedebtor types, who we can loudly annoy with our boisterous Schadenfreude.

@Bap33,

$565k to $130k? Now *that's* what I call an insulting Lowball offer! Best of luck to you!

I bought Canadian 1 year t-notes at a yield of 4.30% and you get interest in Loonies instead of crappy USD.

HelloKitty and DinOR :

This is definitely WOW. And I thought the blogs are a step ahead of others. I mean we just started discussing this jingle mail a few weeks back. These guys already have a running business. Once again, WOW.

Ain't this a great country or what ? Of all the things that have been happening in the housing bubble, this definitely is one of THE most positive things. The quicker we all write off our bad debts, the better for all of us.

StuckInBA,

WOW is right, and the web-site design says "opportunist" to the "t". Right down to the stock photos of not just (relieved) but ecstatically, deliriously happy former FB's packin' they shit up to bag ass yo!

Within a week they'll have a companion site called "Stickin'totheman.com". Lord, and what are they offering for a grand? To stop all the harrassing phone calls while you live "rent free"? (Heard of caller I.D?) Oh and what would their considered opinion be on renting a place now dat' yo credit be sh!t?

Administrator - Yeah, I know ..... wish I could make it.... I actually like the BA, but not as a member of the slave class. If I can get my street-performer skills together though I'm really of a mind to move back up there. Yes, I am serious about this, I got so sick of being the hardworking small business owner, working my ass off to make everyone ELSE rich, ending up more in debt every month, that I started hanging out with street musicians and balloon-twister types and realized, Hey, these guys have like NO overhead. They're all ex-techies! They're all far happier than they were in the belly of the dying whale that is tech. All they have to do is come up with $500 or so a month rent somewhere, and their time is their own! They probably make that in a weekend! Their only "boss" is the customer and the customer is pretty easy to make happy, really. I drew some Indian guy's kid and I'm willing to get that drawing is framed and on their wall right next to the picture of Ganesh - and will be for years. The freaky-artist-guy in Palo Alto whom I drew probably saved my drawing, and I even got one of his crappy drawings in return, which I donated to the city via one of its trash cans lol. Oh, the Indian guy gave me $5 for what was really just a few minutes' work, and frankly it was fun, even drawing his little purple Yahoo! hat.

I have the drawing skills in the bag. What was a curse will be a lifesaving asset, it seems. But I'm also working on learning an instrument, working on trumpet/cornet but if I really am not getting anywhere in a year, I'm going to play the sax. Good street instrument, that.

So, gimme a year or so, I'll like as not be able to join you guys for a martoonie yet.

www.youwalkaway.com man what a site! They offer a "kit" how can you go wrong?

That site deserves some serious spammage. I mean, 60 Minutes, the favorite show of the blue-hair crowd, has given its blessing to "the long walk", so yeah...

Jingle mail, jingle mail.... jingle all the way!

They'll probably be hugely successful. This is where the FB Dream lives on! Live without making (real) payments. No deficiency against you and they can help you get that nasty foreclosure off your credit report and back in a home in a jiffy!

Hugely successful.

That is until the Feds shut them down.

That is until the Feds shut them down.

Then the "torch" business makes rapid growth?

Jingle mail, jingle mail…. jingle all the way!

LOL :lol:

@dinOR

No, was never a poster at Bens. Longtime lurker here and other bubble places, might have posted here a couple times years ago under a different and long forgotten screenname.

Youwalkaway.com

I like how the people are grinning ear to ear, like they are on cloud 9. They look like they are moving into their brand new home, not pooping on their lender. That's just too good.