How does he keep his job? His job with McCain I mean. We see how Davis kept his job with Davis Manafort/Freddie!

As Rachel Maddow said last night, if Davis’ firm has been getting paid but nobody was doing any work in return for the money, that really looks bad. What return did Freddie Mac expect for that money, and when?

It’s just so bizarre given how vehement Davis and Schmidt were on the call — and how pissy they were about anyone daring to call them liars. Oooopsie.

Mornin’ Christy…

$180K per year to do nothing. Yeah, we should all get that level of pay for actually working and Davis gets it to do nothing.

Anybody wanna buy a Bridge? To Nowhere?

This is death-spiral territory, then. They just lied to a bunch of reporters — as MCCAIN did on CNBC — and covered it up under a tone of indignation. Obama needs to cut an ad.

Davis himself asked for the money in 2006. Can’t say he didn’t know, can you?

yes he can,he’s a republican

when the president’s own cia said there were no wmd’s, Iraq was no threat, the president said their was

when the very person they used to claim there were uranium buys said that was a lie, they said they stand by the proof

when the president’s own records shows he was warned when, where, which buildings would be attacked and how, he said he had no idea

when told before it happened that the levees would not support katrina, he claimed everyone thought they would

lying is what they do

Great post, Christy!

Good Morning Christie,
Would a McShame cabinet ever be a joke.
Gramm as – treas sec
Ollie North – sec of Def
Liarman – Sec of state
Goodling – AG

so the fourth estate has become, at least for the moment, the fourth estate, even fox is punishing mccain for the palin united nations bull crap

wow, when you lose murdock they are REALLY pissed

It seems that when your party owns the entire Justice System, there are no lies too big to tell.

Why tell the truth, when there are no consequences for telling whoppers?

Nice “Family Values.” I’m sure their children are most impressed.

As I noted last nite, I myself am qualified, to do no work for The Association of Grass Roots Dee Cee Lobbyists. Where can I apply? Actually I am over qualified.

Calling the liars liars is disrespectful don’t ya know uppity elitists

If you haven’t listened to the audio on the press call, you really should. The most hilarious part is after Davis goes on his rant about I didn’t lobby for Freddie Mac (guess that depends on what your definition of “lobby” is, eh, Rick?), then Steve Schmidt does his full on yell at the media indignation act about the NYTimes. And, in light of all of this, it was clearly to cover for Davis just lying outright.

Completely bizarre.

Goodling – AG

which begs the question;

can the next administration take the bush career apointees and re-asign them into positions where they can do no more harm?

Do WE (the taxpayers) now own Freddie/Fannie? My economics knowledge is minuscule . . . but what exactly DID the bailout encompass? If we DO own Freddie/Fannie, do we have a right to complain that our money is being spent on the likes of Davis . . . for nothing? I expect that payments like these are made BEFORE monies are applied to the bad debt repayment?

Good morning, Christy. The Republics are running scared now. More and more of their criminal activities are coming out. Do you think there is any chance Davis will still be affiliated with the McCain campaign next week?

Here is video from comments on the house floor yesterday morning. My Gooper Congressman takes the floor at about six minutes and is entirely disheveled (my God, look at the hair sticking out at the back of his head!) and incoherent. He bungles the names of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The gist of his appearance seems to be that he just now is trying to distance himself from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac being removed from oversight by a sub-committee he chaired in 2004. I think there is something pretty big behind this. His fear here appears genuine. He is trying to spin it as fear for the future of our economy, but I think he may just be afraid of being singled out as one of many who could have prevented this catastrophe.

It was obviously a down payment for future services. They had delusions of Halliburton. And Pollster had Obama up by 63 electoral votes this morning. Yesterday McCain was up by 6. McCain is coming apart and it shows.

Dear Senator McCain:

*Please* keep pissing off and taunting the press. It’s working brilliantly.

NOW THAT THE HORSE HAS LEFT THE BARN – GALLOPING TOWARD THE NEXT COUNTY…

Credit Swaps Must Be Regulated Now, SEC’s Cox Says (Update4)

By Jesse Westbrook and David Scheer

Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox said Congress should “immediately” grant authority to regulate credit-default swaps amid concern the bets are fueling the global financial crisis.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/…..XNMd45_cio

Here’s how the scheme worked. “So-called ‘intermediaries,’ unregulated and often unscrupulous mortgage brokers, hustled their way into the housing market” and took over. Using a range of tactics, including “deceptive advertising to block-to-block solicitations to get people to buy and sell, always promising more than they (could) deliver.”

So-called “birddogs” were used to get prospects, and all kinds of practices were employed – “abusive, illegal and predatory.” They pushed, “enticed…seduced (even) threatened.” According to the Joint Economic Report, “For 2006, Inside Mortgage Finance estimates that 63.3% of all subprime originations came through brokers….19.4% through retail channels (and) 17.4% through correspondent lenders….broker share increas(ed steadily) from 2003 through 2006.” These companies aren’t regulated and pretty much operate freely. By 2005, the percent of securitized subprime mortgages reached “a peak value of more than 81%….”

Housing sales were on a roll, and so was Wall Street, quick to see a lucrative new income stream and ready to cash in. “Now they could make fees originating loans and even more money selling the paper into (the) secondary market, where mortgages could be securitized and sold again for even more money as investments.”

http://www.freedomsphoenix.com…..oNo=038342

15,000 a month from Freddie Mac until last month—long after the Homeownership Alliance had been terminated..

Which backs up what the NYTimes had previously reported. The WaPo reports that Davis’ firm did little actual work for the payola. As does RollCall: “I never saw that Rick was asked to ever do anything

We are being to nice nobody gets paid for doing nothing Davis represents John McCain this is like giving Bush 2 a cushy corporate job as a favor to Bush 1.
This is bribery. At the very least Davis should return the money. We should be calling for his prosecution I’m pretty sure Chicago Aldermen have done time for less.

Hi I haven’t seen you in a while:) Got a link?

Thanks Christy.

digg

It’s always been a public/private hybrid that the public owned a partial stake in, since it’s inception. So, yeah, your tax money and mine was part of the Rick Davis payola…

In adition to the Cabinet…

Press Secretary — Sarah Palin

Oh I forgot she doesn’t talk to the press and isn’t she supposed to be the VP candidate? Don’t see nor hear much of her these days.

The fix is in. I wonder what the ’street’ will be named in Dubai?

Until we know all the details of the deal we cannot say for sure. However if Fannie and Freddie go under yes we will own it. If it makes money will the tax payers get paid back? Will we get a share of the profit or will the GOP insist that we sell our stake right as it gets profitable?
Again who knows?

That’s totally it — Davis got paid for doing nothing, so he obviously didn’t lobby! The McCain campaign could try to use that as an exculpation, but in doing so they’ll hit the unyielding bedrock of total absurdity. I’m hungover as hell and yet still looking forward to a very good day.

Ya know, in a world where we had a real Department of Justice, we would be starting a betting pool today on when Davis does his perp walk. What a shame. Now we are reduced to merely expecting him to “resign”, after which we can rest assured he will be just a “resigned” as KKKarl Rove.

lets see……$15,000/month == $500/day ….. sounds like the rate a call girl makes

An interview with Bruce Wilson of talk2action.org

Sarah Palin’s Extremist Religious Beliefs: The Republic is At Risk.

Prepare to be afraid..very afraid..if she gains the White House!

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/interviews/126

and 50 dollars an hr to pick lettuce in Arizona,you cant do it my friends you cant do it

in CeeCee they make that by the hr.”g”

…and have you seen the picture of Sarah Palin (on Steve Clemons blog) having ‘witchcraft’ being exorcised out of her by a Pentecostal minister??? Looks like the sky might be falling…

palm beach still has voter machine problems
they are on a third recount for a judge

I cannot believe it’s been 8 years and we still have to worry about another election being stolen because of machines

and that is why i call on ALL DEMOCRATS to not ISSUE ANY talking points AGAINST OUR CANIDATES till AFTER the election…please people…DONT HELP THE PUKES one bit

A Ponzi scheme writ large (in John McCain’s own words). Given who his top financial advisors are, he ought to know.

How did it happen:

– “warnings were ignored;” for example from Bruce Marks, the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA) CEO; in 2000, he testified before Congress and warned about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac engaging in predatory subprime lending; all for naught;

– “the (Alan Greenspan) Fed encourag(ing) the securitization of mortgages calling it ‘financial innovation;’ ” and

– “Wall Street firms ignor(ing) worries (from) their own risk managers (and engaging in) shadowy underground banking….They made a fortune – until they didn’t.”

Hundreds of small players have been indicted but only a few symbolic “truly fat cats” and none of the fattest. The way it always is.

John Kenneth Galbraith in his 1961 classic, “The Great Crash 1929,” now prophetic:

“The fact was that American enterprise in the twenties had opened its hospitable arms to an exceptional number of promoters, grafters, swindlers, impostors, and frauds. This, in the long history of such activities, was a kind of flood tide of corporate larceny.”

Writer Mike Whitney updates it in one of his commentaries saying:

“The financial system has been handed over to scam-artists and fraudsters who’ve created a multi-trillion dollar inverted pyramid of shaky, hyper-inflated, subprime slop that they’ve sold around the world, with the tacit support of the ratings agencies and the US political establishment.”

Consider a recent “truly stunning but not widely reported” Bank of America study on current “Credit Crisis” losses – $7.7 trillion dollars in equity value globally since the October market peak. Affecting nations everywhere, B of A called it “one of the most vicious (crises) in financial history.” Investor George Soros calls it a “systemic crisis,” the result of “easy credit, financial innovation and contagion.”

And economist Ludwig von Misses once said:

“There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought on by credit expansion. The question is only whether the crisis should come sooner as a result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved.”

Schechter concludes by adding:

“Bubbles are rarely foreseen (or want to be seen), as investors scramble into opportunities delivering high returns….self-interest and money-making are the real drivers in the world of finance.” They also drive politics, and now at a time of crisis, it’s “hard to believe that as the house of cards comes tumbling down, there seems to be a trifecta of failure. The government is unwilling to act decisively. The Congress prevaricates. And the media (engages in) boosterism” and keeps the public uninformed “at the very time when exposure might have stopped these practices before they became too deep and/or expensive to ‘fix.’ “

http://www.freedomsphoenix.com…..oNo=038342

Yeah get a passport Jesus Camp Sarah will set up her own Spanish Inquisition in preparation for the End Times.
Spain never recovered from losing the scientific and artistic talents of the Jews and Muslims who lived in harmony together in those days.
America won’t stay first among nations without us either.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Inquisition

they planned it,EXACTLY AS they did when KEATING and the other puky Bush NEIL by name DEFRAUDED …THE SAVINGS AND LOANS and the people of America in the 80s SCHEME after SCHEME,with the same result….SET THE MARKS (you and me) and GAME THE SYSTEM

The page at time magazine has McCain’s response. Here is part of it.
Today the New York Times launched its latest attack on this campaign in its capacity as an Obama advocacy organization. Let us be clear about what this story alleges: The New York Times charges that McCain-Palin 2008 campaign manager Rick Davis was paid by Freddie Mac until last month, contrary to previous reporting, as well as statements by this campaign and by Mr. Davis himself.

In fact, the allegation is demonstrably false. As has been previously reported, Mr. Davis separated from his consulting firm, Davis Manafort, in 2006
http://thepage.time.com/

The last sentence should be highlighted also… Just don’t want you to think that I wrote that.

Some of the media reports on the Davis’ no-show lobbying gig with Freddie Mac are referring to Rick Davis as “a McCain campaign aide”. He is the campaign manager, not the guy who goes out for the coffee and doughnuts.

of course with the corrupt FED (Alan Greenstein)

email them,and call bullkacky on them

YES I CAN we really need $50 an hour to pick food as a commercial:)

This is what I find particularly troubling . . . though I guess it’s the way things have always been done. As you said, should Freddie make a profit, there will be some politician touting the benefits of “free market” and “privatization” . . . so we will “sell” the taxpayers’ interest for pennies on the dollar so another private ‘big boy’ can profit from our underwriting.

She’s prancing around the UN like a beauty queen. Gotta get that “Ive met with foreign leaders” cred.

WHAT. A. JOKE. I can’t wait til Nov. 5th when she has to crawl back to Alaska WITHOUT Mcnutjob’s high paid lawyers and face the music. Hopefully we will never see or hear from her again. Until Alaskans throw her out.
How fun!

Although there is some question these days about who really is calling the top spot shots at the McCain campaign — Davis or Schmidt, Rick Davis is still technically the campaign manager. Plus, he’s one of McCain’s oldest cronies in DC — which Freddie Mac clearly knew, eh?

The McCain response this morning is carefully crafted and does not address the New York Times article. Maybe the response was to confuse the press and give morning joe and sean something to talk about.

THIS WOMAN IS PRESIDENTIAL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…..ptur-d-oh/

Good Morning Christy and Firedogs,

been buggin’ me for weeks, Rick Davis reminded me of someone else… ?!?!?

mystery solved

Yes I agree also it does make me even more nervous about Bush saying we must approve Paulson’s plan now without it seems even enough time to read it much less look at the fine print.

The key feature is what “separated from the firm” means. Here is what is in the NYT report

Mr. Davis took a leave from Davis Manafort for the presidential campaign, but as an equity holder continues to benefit from its income. No one at Davis Manafort other than Mr. Davis was involved in efforts on Freddie Mac’s behalf, the people familiar with the arrangement said.

A Freddie Mac spokeswoman said the company would not comment.

Jill Hazelbaker, a spokeswoman for the McCain campaign, did not dispute the payments to Mr. Davis’s firm. But she said that Mr. Davis had stopped taking a salary from the firm by the end of 2006 and that his work did not affect Mr. McCain.

If in fact Davis still holds equity in the firm with his name on it, then he is benefiting from these continued payments even while not drawing a salary. The firm is obviously not giving out this pure profit stream to anyone else.

OK Alan Greenspan…new coffee this morning..Krogers INSTANT organic…not enuf punch i fear….”g”

Crafty fellow that McCain. At #48, I think the response is intended to confuse the media and give FOX and friends stuff to talk about.

hahhaahahahahahahahaaha707

Well, of course they KNEW…and they knew what they were paying FOR, too…access to McCain. That guy is bought, paid for and delivered…let’s see now who has he taken money from all these years that he has been chairing that Senate Commerce Committee?

file this under “Could he possibly be more OT”:

Lat night, we got to talking about Frank Zappa. I found this YouTube from October of 1986 where Franks faces down the nuts on Crossfire” over censorship.

It’s 21 minutes long, but some here might wanna bookmark it for later.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ISil7IHzxc

(my favorite part is where Frank says that Reagan is driving the country toward ‘fascist theocracy’, immediately followed by simultaneous winger head-explosions)

McCain has to be very careful when he throws Davis under the Straight Talk Express. McCain has to show surprise and outrage that Davis would continue to allow his firm to take money from Freddie Mac while managing the campaign. If McCain doesn’t deny that he was aware of the arrangement, then it’s game over. In fact, a case might be made for McCain to be included when charges are filed.

he is the poster child/old geezer…of pay to play politics…he is a total disgrace,not one chinchilla(g) of integrity

In a sharply-worded statement released to the Huffington Post, David Donnelly, director of the watchdog group Campaign Money Watch, said:

“John McCain’s campaign manager and Freddie Mac essentially had a secret half a million dollar lay-a-way plan. For almost three years, they made secret, monthly payments of $15,000 to Rick Davis for apparently no other work than for him to provide special access to a future McCain White House in exchange. If McCain knew about this, his presidential campaign should be over. If he didn’t know about it, he ought to fire Rick Davis immediately.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..28770.html

oh priceless
Bwahahahahahahahaahahaa

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ndAy…..812238.jpg

i bet he didnt know…just sayin

35 – 40% of all home sales in August were distressed or foreclosed properties.

Sen. Mukasey up on CNBC. Sez sunshine the best disinfectant.

How irrelevant can he be.

For you amusement, CNBC has an anchor in DC as well as NYC. Calling it the duelling financial capitals. DC andchor in interviewing a UPenn finance prof said that they’ll have to change bus school courses to all political science.

Link?

Schumer’s got the R talking points down pat. Gotta do it now, no Christmas treeing.

Just hear it reported on the TeeVee

Schumer: We’re doing due dilligence by holding hearings.

Bwahaahahahahaha.

Appearances of congressional spines is kabuki.

Given that he represents NY, and his prior role in some of the deregulation, did we really expect anything different from Schumer? SIGH

McCain has to show surprise and outrage that Davis would continue to allow his firm to take money from Freddie Mac while managing the (McCain) campaign.

I’m just thinking that the fact that the *man in charge of McCrazy’s campaign* is apparently dirty doesn’t seem to be getting enough notice.

Davis isn’t just a low-level flunkie – he’s *in charge* of the whole damned thing – and quite possibly guilty of ethical/criminal violations.

If nothing else, The Man In Charge embodies everything that McCrazy *now* supposedly is against.

And he still not only has a job, McCrazy is defending him.

Nope.

Another episode of simple As to simple Qs.

im so intuitive…I SAW HIM doing an over the top dramatic piece yesterday (holding his head) and KNEW he was about to cave…HE IS THE LARGEST RECIPIENT of Wall Street money…INVESTIGATE him stat!!!!!

Schumer’s got the R talking points down pat.

umm, didn’t you forget something?

Thanks. Very much.

I expect him to defect to the GOP.

The House hearing of the Financial Services Committee will begin at noon ET but the comedy team of Hank and Ben won’t start until 2:30 ET. CSPAN 3 it looks like is going to begin its coverage at 1:00 ET. There will also be a stream here:

http://www.house.gov/apps/list…..2408.shtml

I heard Barney Frank for a few minutes last night on Charlie Rose. I really don’t think this guy is our friend. He thought that Paulson and Bernanke had done a good job so far. He thought limiting golden parachutes was a waste of time. Hey, they’re already millionaires. So unless he shows something different I’m guessing he’s going to huff and puff some but the bottomline will be tweaks to the Paulson bailout plan. Not good news.

Digg and reddit this post!

SCHUMER NEEDS to go…i want to know …what he knows and when did he know it

?

phone every Dem and tell them we know that Schummer is the designated SWORD FALLER…not one dime!!!

The best solution is to buy ALL of the million homes presently in or heading into foreclosure. It is the ONLY thing that will stop the housing market from its continued collapse. Pay off the mortgages and put the deeds in the name of the American people. Rent them at fair market rents and re-sell them back into the market over time as market conditions allow.

Eff the banksters.

Hi eCAHNomics whats your take on the Treasury Secretary’s deal?

I bet Mukasey’s children pelt him with rotten vegetables. He’s a shamtastic hack.

-G

Schumer -> Mukasey!

When is he up for reelection maybe a primary challenge?

I heard Barney Frank for a few minutes last night on Charlie Rose. I really don’t think this guy is our friend. He thought that Paulson and Bernanke had done a good job so far. He thought limiting golden parachutes was a waste of time. Hey, they’re already millionaires. So unless he shows something different I’m guessing he’s going to huff and puff some but the bottomline will be tweaks to the Paulson bailout plan. Not good news.

———
we need to make it more politically painful for him to help them “rob us blind”,than he can imagine

Ha!

I started off calling him Sen. Mukasey. Thought once was enuf.

That might be cheaper than bailing out the banks. The banks sold these loans to the hedgefunds and gave the hedgefunds loans with interest to buy them.
We need some numbers.

That’s a very good article! One of the money questions and answers for me was:

“[Buzzflash]: It is reported that Palin won her bid for mayor of Wasilla because she ran on an anti-abortion platform, bringing in religious and culture war issues to a race in which only a few hundred votes were cast. Is there any reason to believe that she won’t seek to impose her religious beliefs on America were she to become president?

[Bruce Wilson]: No. This is also one of the most aggressive movements in the push to tear down the wall between church and state. They actually go further than many in the Religious Right and believe that their Apostolic structure will become the new authority in the United States and the world.”

…and have you seen the picture of Sarah Palin (on Steve Clemons blog) having ‘witchcraft’ being exorcised out of her by a Pentecostal minister??? Looks like the sky might be falling…

We pronounce that different around here. In any case, it didn’t work. *g*

what a disgrace,i dont know ,but go HE MUST…this PONZI game will be played over and over …with the lines …NOBODY COULD HAVE IMAGINED…..its just SUCH EASY MONEY for them

Vetting – that is sorta like going for a ride in a vette

how I wish someone…anyone…would run against that guy

This info was so easy to dig up you’d think te mccain people, if they were going to lie, wouldn’t toss a shit-fit at the NYT whe they clearly would get caught in a lie within a day or two. Unless tossing a shit-fit at the NYT is, in and of itself, the strategy. Just seems dumb any way you view it.

Knowing that the W crew are crooks, knowing that they’ll do everything they can to rob the country blind before Jan 20, I nonetheless found their audacity breathtaking. And today we learn they’ve been working on this plan for 6 months & timed the release to the last weak congress is in session.

My imagination is too weak to keep up with W, as hard as I try.

Thought once was enuf.

You’re probably right, but for better or worse, I plan to keep trying to hang Mukasey’s rotten ass around his neck for as long as possible. *g*

the last couiple times I’ve seen him on with Bill Maher I said “What’s happened to Barney? That’s not barney. Where’s Barney?”

and lets face it folks
McCAIN is avery sick old man,and prolly wont survive…4 melanomas …we must expect her to be PREZ with Cheney still rtaining power in the backround

Eli has a shiny new post up for us.

Great if Rep Frank is in the tank for those guys and we get a bad bailout/bailout that favors WallStreet then the economy really might not recover this time.
England went through the same thing as they lost their empire. We have military power because we have a great economy not the other way around.
If the economic elite are protected from their mistakes they will keep making them until we can’t afford to protect them any more.

can i interest you in a tin foil hat????..”g”

Not only would it be cheaper, it would be finite. It would cost a shitload, but the result would be to stop the deflationary spiral that is absolutely going to lead to depression – AND – the taxpayer would own hard assets rather than paper for their money.

The actual cost needs to take into account the money not spent to account for the millions of new homeless that will hit the streets absent this alternative.

If we’re going to be forced to spend billions, let’s demand that they spend it all on hard assets – that people can live it.

And today we learn they’ve been working on this plan for 6 months & timed the release to the last week congress is in session.

My imagination is too weak to keep up with W, as hard as I try.

Pure Shock Doctrine

Get some numbers this should be real good:)

im not up on their economic history,can you recomend any books on it,that would be enjoyable reading?

oh i hope this is the decision

Fox Noise is using race baiting to explain Shock Doctrine. “Minorities”, especially the scary type are to blame. Democrats and bleeding heart liberals made lenders use “affirmative action” in making loans.

Here is an example, although I do not know what minority Raymond Zwego is.

If you wonder how we got to this point — a $700 billion Wall Street bailout for toxic mortgages — the case of Raymond Zwego is a good place to start.

While on probation from a previous Kansas City federal bank fraud conviction in 2003, Zwego began constructing his own little housing bubble. He purchased 61 area properties, in many cases using straw buyers and falsified paperwork. He fueled the exercise by illegally obtaining $16.9 million in mortgages, willingly contributed by lenders who never realized they were dealing with a career con man until it was far too late.

Almost all of the homes he purchased eventually went into foreclosure, contributing to the tsunami of red ink that has come perilously close to sinking the country’s financial system…

Chief U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan sentenced Zwego to 10 years in federal prison and slapped him with an additional three years for violating probation on his bank fraud conv

But there were other minorities helping Zwego’s fraud.

In addition to Zwego, eight other co-defendants pleaded guilty or were convicted at trial. They included everyone a scheme like this needed, including straw buyers, a loan officer, a title company closer, an appraiser, a real estate agent, a certified public accountant and Zwego’s office help.

My understanding is that Trash for Cash would protect the lenders from the minorities who caused the loss of

$5.6 million in losses to 25 mortgage lenders, including some of the biggest names in the industry, such as Washington Mutual and Countrywide Financial. One lender, IndyMac Bank, closed earlier this year.

It all depends on the parameters you put on it. You might pick the June 2003 timeframe as the basis for setting prices based on market comparables at that time. You might limit gross buyouts to not more than $500K – and in no case would you pay more than 20% below the price the home most recently sold for.

hahahahaahhaahahaha
a pebble in the sand compared to Mr.Paulsons ZILLION dollar scams

Sarah and the pope could maybe make policy together? His last job was taking care of the archives of the Inquisition..

She caters to whatever religion that serves her purpose on any given day, so hey, why not? But then, he might have to have a talk with her about that witchcraft stuff!

I would like to have some mental health experts exam her…she would be a real great study…

Passport?…Nope! I live between you and her…thankfully!

All joking aside, she is evil in my opinion. And she needs to be kept from getting into the White House. My hope for the world is that she is defeated, gets voted out of Alaska politics, and never gets a position of power ever again…anywhere….

The only way her and McCain will win is through vote theft…too bad that the Republicans are so experienced at that!

I like the Robert F. Kennedy, Jr quote: “We’re the most entertained, least informed people in the world.” In this country we have the media. We do not, however, have a news media. We may have had one at some point but we certainly do not have one now.

Oops wrong thread.

and in no case would you pay more than 20% below the price the home most recently sold for.

If housing prices are expected to decline around 40% why would you limit the downside to 20%. This would result crap mortgages at a premium.

I have such old fashioned ideas about actually working to get paid.

oooops – my bad.

Poorly stated.

Let’s say someone bought a home six months ago for $400,000. In no case would the new fund be allowed to pay a price greater than $320,000 (a 20% haircut) for the house. I recognize that the market has fallen greater than that amount, but would recommend that some rules be crafted to ensure that some significant pain is felt to enter the program, but not so onerous that the program does not successfully put a floor under home values.

Obviously those rules would need to be crafted with real world pricing in mind.

The general premise is to turn home owners who are over-leveraged into renters, as painlessly as possible for the entire system, without the dislocations and depreciation that come with foreclosure and eviction.

The next big crisis is homelessness, so it makes a hell of a lot of sense to keep people housed in their own homes with the prospect of earning their way back into ownership over time (and the likelihood that they will take better care of their homes than they would if they were simply renting someone elses home – thereby protecting the asset of the US taxpayers who bailed them out.