Housing Bust

Who Didn’t Know It Was Coming

Most everyone that was paying attention or whoever said to anyone or thought to themselves, “Can you believe how much our neighbor’s house just sold for!” should have realized the housing boom was unsustainable.

Some smart people took advantage of it by selling extra housing assets on the way up, or avoided it by not borrowing to buy more house than they could afford to pay for when things turned down, which non-delusional people knew would happen.

A few really smart investors and politicians knew to “sell short” derivatives based on artificial housing values and bad loans, because they must surely go down.

Smart money managers, like Goldman Sachs, knew to balance their “long” and “short” positions with more “shorts” in housing derivatives as the bust became evident to those thinking and looking ahead.

Now the very politicians who created it are looking to persecute and crucify those who protected their investors from this normal market adjustment. It’s true the ignorant masses never like it when someone gains from their stupidity making money while they loose. They especially hate anyone bets or invests against them winning, and is proven right, and makes lots of money while they lose their home. There's something somehow un-american about betting something will fail while the inattentive suffer.

Some of the hypocrites that are publicly persecuting Goldman Sachs money mangers are Senators, House Banking and Finance Committee members, Media Moguls, Union Officials and Political Strategists whose retirement accounts benefited enormously by their money managers playing the housing market to fail, and are now taking advantage of the terrible losses of foolish people by buying up valuable real estate at the lowest prices in many decades, using low interest taxpayer funded bailout money to do it.

Shame on those who encouraged and permitted the pillaging of the ignorant and mentally deficient during this latest artificial and politically manipulated housing boom and bust, especially those we elected and pay to safeguard us, who deliberately profited on the way up and the way down using insider knowledge by virtue of their elected or appointed positions, especially Chris Dowd, Barney Frank, David Axelrod, and Rahm Emanuel.

Throw these manipulative, hypocritical, blood sucking leeches and tyrants out.

Racist, Anti-government violence

Incited by You, Mr. President

Arizona’s law to enforce Federal and State law passed by an overwhelming veto proof majority of duly elected representatives, and signed into law by Arizona’s duly elected Governor.

The President of the United States criticized in a public address yesterday the lawful order of the Chief Executive of one of the Nation’s finest most sensible states. Deliberately raising suspicions that it was racially motivated, and that enforcing Federal and state law is somehow unconstitutional and destructive to community policing.

Immediately after he questioned the lawful order of a duly elected Chief Executive of a sovereign state, violence broke out in the streets and at its Capitol in Phoenix.

Mr. President, inciting violence and speech bordering on sedition is not your job. You are no longer a community agitator.  Nor is it proper or lawful for you to engage in hate speech, or to publicly assert racism where none has yet occurred.

These behaviors by you, Mr. President are totally and completely wrong, very unprofessional, unethical and outright violations of Federal law.

You sir, have disgraced this nations people and should immediately resign.

US Departments and Agencies

Hundreds of Them

Today I downloaded the index listing of US Departments and Agencies from USA.org. It was eleven pages in normal size print.  It included some state web pages I’ve edited out. It is my intent to review all of them to refresh my familiarity with what they think they are doing that citizens may want. Frankly, I’ve already seen many I would de-fund or cut substantially. What I’m going to do in future postings is summarize their mission and describe why I believe they should be cut severely or eliminated, and there are some that I’m suspicious of their value and constitutionally that may get in depth research. I’ve already discovered some I’ve never heard of and can’t imagine from their title what it is they could do for citizen-taxpayers.

It looks like about 250 of them, but it doesn’t seem to include many commissions, panels, boards and other activities I’ve heard of, but they may be within an agency or Department that is listed, like National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting System. Or they have changed their name to hide. I’m sure they are in there; I just haven’t found them yet.

What follows are those I would immediately un-fund and disband, and perhaps absorb a few of their functions into other Departments or Agencies where they might be useful. In this posting I’ll try to pick one from each lettered section of the index for outright abolishment, gone, history, you’re out of there.

 Agricultural Marketing Service

5000 employees’ nation wide selling farmers products.

 Broadcasting Board of Governors (Voice of America, Radio
TV Marti and more)

 Commission of Fine Arts

 Department of Education (ED)

 Elementary and Secondary Education

 Farm Credit Administration

 Global Affairs (State Department)

Isn’t this the State Department’s whole purpose?

 Helsinki Commission (Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe)

 Institute of Peace

 John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

 No K

 Lead Hazard Control (Housing and Urban Development Department)

 Millennium Challenge Corporation

 National Endowment for the Arts

 Office of Government Ethics

They’ve got to be kidding, they’ve heard of ethics?

 Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration

 No Q

 Risk Management Agency (Agriculture Department)

 Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation

 Transportation Statistics, Bureau of

 U.S. Mission to the United Nations

This should be the State Department.

 Vietnam Educational Foundation

 Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

 No X, Y or Z

I’m sure the people who work at these organizations and their sponsors are just positive their functions and services are important and even essential. If they are asked I would bet they would provide an elaborate, convoluted, important sounding and way too long of an explanation of why they are necessary.

I say, “If you can’t explain the need for it in two simple sentences or less, close it, it isn’t necessary!”

Coldwater

John went to visit his 90 year old grandfather in a very secluded, rural area of Saskatchewan, Canada.

After spending a great evening chatting the night away, the next morning John's grandfather prepared breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast.

However, John noticed a film like substance on his plate, and questioned his grandfather asking,

'Are these plates clean?'

His grandfather replied,

'They're as clean as cold water can get them. Just you go ahead and finish your meal, Sonny!'

For lunch the old man made hamburgers. Again, John was concerned about the plates, as his appeared to have tiny specks around the edge that looked like dried egg and asked,

'Are you sure these plates are clean?'

Without looking up the old man said,

'I told you before, Sonny, those dishes are as clean as cold water can get them. Now don't you fret, I don't want to hear another word about it!'

Later that afternoon, John was on his way to a nearby town and as he was leaving, his grandfather's dog started to growl, and wouldn't let him pass.

John yelled and said, 'Grandfather, your dog won't let me get to my car'.

Without diverting his attention from the football game he was watching on TV, the old man shouted!

'Coldwater, go lay down now, yah hear me!'

Sanctions and Embargos

And Smugglers, Bandits and Pirates

Those who think sanctions will work to influence the cultures of the Middle East are ignorant of thousands of years of pure commerce as practiced in the real world.

I can’t recall a single episode of successful embargo anywhere in the world especially the Middle East. These ancient cultures have found and used every possible type of trade, commerce, bribery, extortion, piracy, smuggling, robbery and many other crimes for profit. Nomads and ancient city states used every trick and gimmick at their disposal to survive, prosper, build and destroy nations, cultures, enemies, families, friends and rulers since the time before Mesopotamian clay tablets.

Iraq traded “oil for food” for US currency, munitions, weapons, and many other prohibited products and services while under increasing scrutiny of more than a dozen UN sanctions. They may have moved “Weapons of Mass Destruction” to neighbors while under intense surveillance by the US in preparations for attacks.

Nomadic tribes have trafficked in every imaginable commodity across vast deserts by camel caravans in broad daylight and through raging sand storms on moonless nights finding willing customers hundreds of miles away for thousands of years.

Iran built and destroyed dozens of empires by conquering and controlling trade routes for thousands of years some still in use today.

It is highly unlikely that a non trading partner like the US can thwart the movement of anything, especially in concert with two or three of Iran’s current trading partners (Russia, China, Japan, India, Italy, turkey, South Korea, France) regardless what they may promise. Not to mention numerous other neighbors who will act as an intermediary with anyone to supply their needy neighbor for a massive profit. It has long been the regions way of life.

Keeping suppliers and customers apart is a lot like keeping rabbits from mating; futile.

Extreme efforts and precious resource will be required for marginal, if any, results. Any real success will require military interdictions at key locations with likely violence and international condemnation, leading most likely to an all out war with Iran and a few neighbors.

Don’t waste our time and money on silly sanctions and embargos. The US can’t even control prohibited commodities in its own country.

Stop Iran dead in their tracks now, or police them closely from now on.

Religion, Politics and Government

Few people irritate me more than politicians that attempt to legitimize themselves by invoking the blessings of God upon themselves and their political endeavors or trying to sanctify government events, processes or programs.

These horrifyingly corrupt, underhanded, manipulative, backstabbing, conniving, and often illegal and illegitimate activities should not have pleadings to God even mentioned during conducted ceremony or presentation any place or any time.

I’m not opposed to personal prayers by individual believers of any religious belief for guidance and strength to make the best possible decisions on behalf of all the people, including non-believers. Some of them could certainly use the extra help; many of their individual motives and behaviors could be improved by any divine influence.

But, their collective activities and unholy behaviors, their processes and programs cannot and should not be dignified by being self-blessed by someones appeal for spiritual intervention. It’s just a very thinly veiled attempt to insinuate that somehow God is involved or approves. It is hideous and probably unconstitutional to conduct any kind of prayer at taxpayer expense on taxpayer property. It is a thinly disguised attempt to portray the proceedings and themselves as somehow officially ordained by that religious idea. Publicly appearing to officially ask their God to cloak their ill-conceived and misguided self-serving behavior in any holiness is surely blasphemous, and clearly unconstitutional.

The business of government could not possibly be ordained nor even consented to by any true God. If Christ could see what the moneychangers and thieves (congress and lobbyists) are doing he would certainly throw them from the temple.

They don’t need Gods help to do what is right for our citizens. We just need honorable statesman and women to do the job for which we elected them and pay them.

If they can’t do that, then we’ve chosen poorly and need to repair that mistake at the very next opportunity.

Throw the moneychangers and thieves out.