Archive for May, 2009
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009
According to Bloomberg:
“A growing number of U.S. homeowners owe more than their properties are worth after prices extended their two-year decline in the first quarter, Zillow.com said…
The gain in underwater homeowners will lead to more bank repossessions, the company said.”
Barry Rithholtz notes:
The recession cut home values by $2.4 trillion last year. In a separate survey of homeowner sentiment, 31 percent of homeowners said they would be at least “somewhat likely” to put their property up for sale in the next 12 months should they see signs of a recovery.
This implies that any housing “recovery” will be about stabilization and stopping sales/price erosion — not about regaining higher prices anytime soon . . .
Posted in Financial Craziness, News, Regular Americans, What the ????? | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
Its so funny to have this chick pontificate about who is and isn’t sinning… and who should or should not be allowed to profess their marital love for each other.
I don’t see anything wrong, personally, with her flaunting her hotness. You got it, flaunt it. But then don’t stand up and say you’re saved but other people aren’t. Because I doubt that you’d blow this picture up and put it in the pulpit of your church before Sunday services…
Posted in Do you see what I see?, Justice System, News, Regular Americans, Sex, Symbols in our Culture, Um, NO! | 7 Comments »
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
1/3 of American homeowners own their homes outright, with no threat of mortgage default.
Unfortunately, the other 2/3 have equity in their homes of less than 15% of the current value.
With home prices already having dropped by nearly 35% in many counties, homeowners EN MASSE soon risk having no equity whatsoever, and having negative equity if house prices drop much further.
Add to that debacle the unseen commercial real estate bubble bursting, and Americans will not have any value in their homes.
Is this the end of the American Dream?
Posted in Do you see what I see?, Financial Craziness, Regular Americans, What the ????? | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
These napkin rings were SOLD OUT within fifteen minutes of going on-sale in retail’s smartest move yet, online email sales, the equivalent of Tupperware parties.
Um, yeah, there’s still a difference in cash flow between the rich and the middle class American…
Posted in Do you see what I see?, Financial Craziness, Regular Americans | 1 Comment »
Monday, May 4th, 2009
I just read the most AMAZING book, The Unforgiving Minute, by Craig Mullaney. If our soldiers are like this guy, then we need to step up our game and be faithful to them while they are serving our country, and when they come home. He is an amazing young man, smart but compassionate and thoughtful. He takes the lives of his platoon to his own heart.
The book is fantastic, read it!
The Amazon page has a great video, and you can get the book as a Kindle or Audiobook.
Posted in my mission statement, Regular Americans, Symbols in our Culture, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Sunday, May 3rd, 2009
It gets old.
The top Supreme Court picks that I’ve seen listed are all women.
So who is going up against them, according to the Front Page of the Huffington Post?
Except for that middle guy, he look like he’s got a heck of a Sarah Palin, Valentino, Jessican Simpson fake tan… LOLZ
But a possible fake tan does not help you understand what the majority of Americans are experiencing. Why can’t the Republicans bring out the multi-colored, multi-gendered face of Republican America instead of always trotting out the old white guy horses?
Posted in Break The Cycle, Please, Do you see what I see?, Justice System, News, Rascism, Symbols in our Culture, What the ????? | No Comments »
Friday, May 1st, 2009
According to a CNN poll, the more you go to church, the more likely you are to answer YES to:
“Do you think the use of torture against suspected terrorists in order to gain important information can often be justified, sometimes be justified, rarely be justified, or never be justified?”
Isn’t someone forgetting the central figure in Christianity, Jesus? I really doubt he would have waterboarded…
Posted in Break The Cycle, Please, Do you see what I see?, Justice System, News, Symbols in our Culture, What the ????? | No Comments »
Friday, May 1st, 2009
We need an American who will help mend the fabric of America:
Posted in Justice System, News, Silly, Symbols in our Culture | No Comments »
Friday, May 1st, 2009
Hey, isn’t the bailout money supposed to KEEP JOBS?
Otherwise, why are we giving billions to ‘slimmed down’ car companies that have fewer American workers?
Robert Reich’s Blog post, The Auto Bailout is Going Off the Road, makes MANY good points:
GM just announced it was laying of 21,000 more of its workers, as a means of assurring the Treasury Department the company is worthy of more bailout money. A Treasury official was quoted as saying approvingly that the goal is a “slimmed-down” GM.
What? Having General Motors or Chrysler cut tens of thousands of jobs in order to be eligible for a government bailout reminds me of “saving” Vietnam by bombing it to smithereens. Aren’t we giving these companies billions of taxpayer dollars to save jobs? If not, we’re just transferring money from taxpayers to GM and Chrysler bondholders and shareholders.
I agree with those who say the United States needs an auto industry. But there’s no point spending tens of billions of taxpayer dollars for an auto industry that’s a tiny fragment of what it was before. We could achieve that objective by doing nothing.
Besides, as I’ve said before, the “American auto industry” shouldn’t be defined as auto companies whose headquarters are in the United States. The true “American auto industry” is Americans who make automobiles. At the rate the Big Three are shrinking even as they’re bailed out, foreign automakers with American plants may soon employ more Americans than the Big Three do. The Big Three have gone global anyway. A Pontiac G8 shipped by GM from Australia contains far less American labor than a BMW X5 assembled in the United States. General Motors’ European subsidiaries include Opel and Saab. Ford also has operations around the world. It even owns Volvo.
The purpose of any auto bailout ought to be to help American auto workers keep their jobs, regardless of whether they work for GM or Toyota or anyone else. Or if they lose their jobs, help them get new ones that pay almost as well. Yet we’re doing exactly the opposite: We’re paying GM and Chrysler billions of taxpayer dollars to keep them afloat while they cut tens of thousands of American jobs and slash wages. There’s no good reason why taxpayers should foot any of this bill unless the Big Three agree to keep their workers employed while they try to turn themselves around.
Posted in Break The Cycle, Please, Financial Craziness, News, Symbols in our Culture, Um, NO! | No Comments »
