• Atlanta,  Economics

    The market has spoken

    This editorial from the AJC is an annoying example of the current hysteria about subprime loans

    Describing the wreckage of the subprime mortgage collapse as part of the normal business cycle is akin to characterizing the devastation of New Orleans as the aftermath of a seasonal downpour.

    In both disasters, human blunders and government inattention played pivotal roles. And the market can no more be counted on to fix the subprime mess than Mother Nature could be trusted to fix up the mess after Hurricane Katrina.

    Government must intervene quickly and firmly in the subprime fiasco, in helping desperate borrowers keep their homes if possible and, more important, in ending abusive lending practices that contributed to the national leap in mortgage defaults and foreclosures.

    New federal and state laws must couple strong prohibitions against abusive lending with equally strong enforcement and consequences. The pain must be felt by the duplicitous mortgage brokers who talked the homeowners on Elm Street into loans with hidden brokerage fees and unnecessarily high interest rates all the way up to the investors on Wall Street who profited from the bundling and selling of these subprime loans.

    The article then goes on to describe several cases of fraud that happened in the Atlanta area, fraud as everyone knows is already illegal. Foreclosure and the denial of credit IS the marketing working, mainly in stopping people from buying homes they can’t afford. Absent fraud, no one is forced into a mortgage, and everyone knows how much they’ll be paying.

    I suppose I’m more sensitive to this now (having just bought a house) than most times, but it’s quite maddening.

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  • Ron Paul

    A good one from the Agitator

    From this Ron Paul post

    So here’s my question: Why do candidates who propose abolishing federal agencies get painted as fringe wackjobs, while candidates who propose we create multiple new ones are viewed as inspiring visionaries?

    Candidate A says, “This cabinet-level federal agency isn’t working, and hasn’t in the 30 years of its existence, despite an ever-increasing budget. Let’s abolish it and save the taxpayers money.” Candidate B says, “This cabinet-level federal agency isn’t working, and hasn’t in the 30 years of its existence, despite an ever-increasing budget. Let’s spend more money on it!”

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  • Travel

    More DC


    We were out and about today, the spy museum, bureau of engraving and printing, Holocaust museum, and a monument tour.

    More photos below.

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  • Atlanta

    Random Atlanta insights

    I got sick of working and went for a drive for about 40 minutes tonight. I wound up near Atlanta Federal Penitentiary and I do have to say, that place looks like a prison, it’s like the dark side of Gotham City from the Batman Comics. Most of the places around it (I took an odd route home and got lost) are quite photogenic in a burned out, industrial way.

    On an unrelated note, Man charged with vandalism of Tupac Shakur statue. Atlanta is home (oddly, since there’s not much of a connection) to the Tupac Shakur Arts Center for some reason.

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  • Personality

    What a crappy few days

    First I find out that the “We buy ugly houses” people want a 30% discount over the market rate (I declined), a project extends by 24 straight hours, Delta won’t do anything about changing my flight, and now I’m getting sick. Humbug.

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