Speaking of "fools"....

[Tim Liston]

President Barack Obama is unveiling $1.5 billion in housing help, a boost timed to his appearance in the city with the worst foreclosure crisis in the nation. (clicky)

So let me see if I have this right. A couple weeks ago Obama is heard to say....

When times are tough, you tighten your belts. You don't go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. You don't blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you're trying to save for college.

Then the mayor of Las Vegas and most of Nevada go apoplectic. So what does he do? He flies to Las Vegas today to announce the creation of $1.5 billion in newly printed dollars (because nobody will loan us their money anymore) to be spent largely in Nevada.

That's tightening your belt?

The man is frightening....

[Bill Call]

Then the mayor of Las Vegas and most of Nevada go apoplectic. So what does he do? He flies to Las Vegas today to announce the creation of $1.5 billion in newly printed dollars (because nobody will loan us their money anymore) to be spent largely in Nevada.

That's tightening your belt?

The man is frightening....

It wasn't to long ago that the federal government spent $500 billion per year and president's had to go to Congress to authorize the expenditure of tax dollars.

We have reached the point where $3.5 trillion isn't enough and our President just offers billions that must come from his private stash.

The real scary thing is that almost half the country is standing in line crying out "Where's MINE!."

[Roy Pitchford]

It wasn't to long ago that the federal government spent $500 billion per year and president's had to go to Congress to authorize the expenditure of tax dollars.

We have reached the point where $3.5 trillion isn't enough and our President just offers billions that must come from his private stash.

The real scary thing is that almost half the country is standing in line crying out "Where's MINE!."

Forgive me for using the Glenn Beck show version of the audio. I know that hurts the credibility of the whole thing, but its the only one I found that transcribes the radio audio so you can also read it.

As for Congressional authorization, this 1.5 billion is probably a re-appropriation from some money that's already been authorized, like TARP money (which was supposed to be reapplied to the national debt when it was repaid). Its essentially become a massive slush fund.

[ryan costa]

the hypothetical free market enabled Las Vegas sprawl and appreciation.

whatever electable President we ended up with would be talked into the same thing.

[Stephen Eisel]

the hypothetical free market enabled Las Vegas sprawl and appreciation.

whatever electable President we ended up with would be talked into the same thing.

uhhh no.... but nice try...

[ryan costa]

the hypothetical free market enabled Las Vegas sprawl and appreciation.

whatever electable President we ended up with would be talked into the same thing.

uhhh no.... but nice try...

Las Vegas regional sprawl was the hero of "growth" for the last 20 years.

a bailout for housing there has been etched in stone 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, 20 years ago.

[Stephen Eisel]

the hypothetical free market enabled Las Vegas sprawl and appreciation.

whatever electable President we ended up with would be talked into the same thing.

uhhh no.... but nice try...

Las Vegas regional sprawl was the hero of "growth" for the last 20 years.

a bailout for housing there has been etched in stone 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, 20 years ago.

I was talking about the foot and mouth disease

[Charlie Page]

I was talking about the foot and mouth disease

Isn't it called "foot in mouth disease"? Kind of like what Biden has.

[ryan costa]

Here is the long and winding story:

McCain or Palin would pretty much be doing the same thing.

there is a lot of talk about the Partisanship in Congress reaching a new level of intensity.

However, there has been great Bi-Partisan support in general for Free Trade Deals and outsourcing for the last 40 years.

And Great BiPartisan support for sprawl construction and the financing and financial infrastructure that supports it for the last 30 years.

So there was great bipartisan support for the policies that lead to these finance collapses, housing price collapses, and this brand of recession. So any mainstream candidate would pretty much believe in the same treatments for them. a non-mainstream candidate would simply fiddle while rome burned, then applaud while china, taiwan, germany, south korea, Japan, and a few other nations' banks buy out nearly all of America's big banks, brokerage houses, much of remaining capital intensive industry, etc. then we could be Mexico or some other developing nation.

[Tim Liston]

Tim Liston wrote....

Now I read this from Bloomberg News....

(click here for full article)

The Obama administration may expand efforts to ease the housing crisis by banning all foreclosures on home loans unless they have been screened and rejected by the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program. The proposal, reviewed by lenders last week on a White House conference call, “prohibits referral to foreclosure until borrower is evaluated and found ineligible for HAMP or reasonable contact efforts have failed,’’ according to a Treasury Department document outlining the plan.

Now I'm sure I will draw fire for being “heartless” or something like that but since when does the Administration have the right to just step in and cancel a contract that was made between a lender and a borrower?

It seems like lenders have no legal rights anymore, that the Administration can just step in and take away a lender's right to legal recourse. It started with GM and Chrysler when their SECURED lenders were bent over a table and violated for the benefit of the UAW.

Isn't this textbook fascism?

[Roy Pitchford]

Tim Liston wrote....

Now I read this from Bloomberg News....

(click here for full article)

The Obama administration may expand efforts to ease the housing crisis by banning all foreclosures on home loans unless they have been screened and rejected by the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program. The proposal, reviewed by lenders last week on a White House conference call, “prohibits referral to foreclosure until borrower is evaluated and found ineligible for HAMP or reasonable contact efforts have failed,’’ according to a Treasury Department document outlining the plan.

Now I'm sure I will draw fire for being “heartless” or something like that but since when does the Administration have the right to just step in and cancel a contract that was made between a lender and a borrower?

It seems like lenders have no legal rights anymore, that the Administration can just step in and take away a lender's right to legal recourse. It started with GM and Chrysler when their SECURED lenders were bent over a table and violated for the benefit of the UAW.

Isn't this textbook fascism?

Don't forget about the AIG bonuses (which people seem to "forget" were smaller than the Fannie and Freddie bonuses handed out a few weeks later). The administration tried to violate those contracts OR tax the snot out of the bonuses.

No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.