Showing posts with label Reid. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reid. Show all posts

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Every Vote Counts: Latest Intrade Data Has GOP Picking Up 8 Senate Seats, With 12 Still In Reach

The prediction market InTrade has an impressive -- but not perfect -- record at forecasting elections.

The latest numbers for the Senate show eight pickups for the GOP with three or four more possible.

California's 18 is misleading: the number has swung wildly throughout the campaign season and promises to do so leading up til Tuesday given the breaking reports that Boxer used her position to airdrop $8 million to her son.

The numbers represent, essentially, the percentage of probability and range from 0 to 100, with the latter number indicating a virtual lock.

52 -- Democrats to control the Senate after 2010 Congressional Elections
41 -- AK Senate -- Republican Party candidate (Miller) to win
98 -- AR Senate -- Republican Party candidate (Boozman) to win +1
18 -- CA Senate -- Republican Party candidate (Fiorina) to win
65 -- CO Senate -- Republican Party candidate (Buck) to win +1
98 -- CT Senate -- Democrat Party candidate (Blumenthal) to win
91 -- DE Senate -- Democrat Party candidate (Coons) to win
90 -- FL Senate -- Republican Party candidate (Rubio) to win
67 -- IL Senate -- Republican Party candidate (Kirk) to win +1
95 -- IN Senate -- Republican Party candidate (Coats) to win +1
95 -- KY Senate -- Republican Party candidate (Paul) to win
94 -- MO Senate -- Republican Party candidate (Blunt) to win
74 -- NV Senate -- Republican Party candidate (Angle) to win +1
97 -- ND Senate -- Republican Party candidate (Kirk) to win +1
91 -- PA Senate -- Republican Party candidate (Toomey) to win +1
69 -- WA Senate -- Democrat Party candidate (Murray) to win
73 -- WV Senate -- Democrat Party candidate (Manchin) to win
90 -- WI Senate -- Republican Party candidate (Johnson) to win +1

All this means is that every... vote... counts. The stakes for this country could not be higher. Don't take anything for granted.

We must send wave after wave after wave of patriots to the polls early Tuesday morning.

You don't have to storm a beach or drop into the Stan.

You just have to vote. Wake up at 4:00am if you have to. Be the first in line and cast your vote for liberty.


Vegas Media Hack-Slash-Laughingstock Jon Ralston Runs a Last-Ditch Endorsement for Harry Reid

Jon Ralston is nothing if not consistent. Amid shrill claims of non-partisanship, the Las Vegas Sun columnist has run a homogeneous series of commercials for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, all of which were thinly disguised as op-eds.

Now his final Hail Mary pass for the Reid campaign consists of an election forecast as predictable as a Joe Biden gaffe. Cue the headline: "Atmospherics are terrible for Reid, but he will hold on."

It just feels as if Reid is going to lose.

Forget the enthusiasm gap — that word is too mild. There is a passion gap in this race that is palpable. You don’t find many people shivering with excitement to vote for Reid. But the feverish animation of voters hot to oust Reid is unlike anything I have experienced in nearly 25 years of covering politics. And it seems to have been building since January, evidenced by Reid’s inability to move his highly elevated disapproval rating.

It just feels as if he is going to lose.

But I don’t think he will... The result: Reid, 47 percent; Angle, 45 percent; rest, 4 percent; none of the above, 4 percent.

No mention of the Democrats' core constituencies: illegal aliens, felons and the dead. But it won't matter on Tuesday.

Ralston should read the weather report in Nevada. Meteorologists are looking for a category 6 hurricane named "Constitution".


Thursday, October 28, 2010

Defying the electorate once again, Democrats plan to nuke the filibuster in January no matter how badly they are rebuked in the midterms

Sleaze is as sleaze does.

Not content with defying the will of the people for two years straight; not convinced by the tsunami of anti-Democrat voter turnout promised for early next week; Democrats again intend to disregard "the consent of the governed" by destroying the filibuster as the Senate opens for business in January.

Democrats are intensifying efforts to relax Senate rules that require a 60-vote “supermajority” to pass legislation as the party plans for a loss of seats in next week’s midterm elections... A number of senators and their staff are considering different ways to end or at least modify the filibuster...

For more than 100 years, senators have held up legislation... Some are calling for Joe Biden, the vice-president, to invoke his power as president of the Senate to call a vote on a rule change at the start of the new Congress in January.

Such a vote – which would need only 51 of the 100 senators to support it – could swap the 60-vote supermajority needed to end a filibuster for a simple majority or a compromise option.

“There will be a vote one way or another,” said Tom Udall, a Democratic senator from New Mexico. “Every day I think we gain momentum.”

Known as the “nuclear option” – or the “constitutional option” to its advocates – such a vote would be an incendiary move from the Obama administration and would be fiercely opposed by most Republicans and, potentially, some Democrats.

On The Daily Show Wednesday night, President Obama also expressed his desire to kill the filibuster, stating that it was "going to have to be fixed".

Fixed. Which means killed. Kind of like the American health care system.

The end always justifies the means with the modern National Social Democrat Party. Which is why you must rally your family, friends, neighbors and colleagues to the polls on Tuesday.

We must send wave after wave after wave of patriots to overwhelm the Cloward-Piven leftists who are bent on the destruction of America.


Wednesday, October 27, 2010

It's official: world's most powerful financier calls the Obama-Pelosi-Reid spending spree the most brazen Ponzi scheme ever

Since Nancy Pelosi took over the federal purse-strings in 2007 and promised 'no new deficit spending', the Democrats have added $5 trillion to the national debt.

And investor Bill Gross believes America's debt-financing days may be nearing an end. Only he doesn't say it that nicely.

One more thing: Gross runs Pimco, the world's largest bond house. It oversees assets totaling more than $1 trillion. Yes, with a 't'. So he is arguably the world's most powerful financier.

Wednesday is the day when the Fed will announce a renewed commitment to Quantitative Easing – a polite form disguise for 'writing checks.' The market will be interested in the amount (perhaps as much as an initial $500 billion)...

...the American people should recognize that Wednesday, even more than Tuesday, represents a critical inflection point in determining our future prosperity. Of course we’ve tried it before, most recently in the aftermath of the Lehman crisis, during which the Fed wrote $1.5 trillion or so in “checks” to purchase Agency mortgages and a smattering of Treasuries. It might seem a tad dramatic then, to label QEII as "critical," ...

...Check writing in the trillions is not a bondholder’s friend; it is in fact inflationary, and, if truth be told, somewhat of a Ponzi scheme. Public debt, actually, has always had a Ponzi-like characteristic. Granted, the U.S. has, at times, paid down its national debt, but there was always the assumption that as long as creditors could be found to roll over existing loans – and buy new ones – the game could keep going forever...

Now, however, with growth in doubt, it seems that the Fed has taken Charles Ponzi one step further... One and one-half trillion in checks were written [by the Fed] in 2009, and trillions more lie ahead. The Fed, in effect, is telling the markets not to worry about our fiscal deficits, it will be the buyer of first and perhaps last resort. There is no need – as with Charles Ponzi – to find an increasing amount of future gullibles, they will just write the check themselves. I ask you: Has there ever been a Ponzi scheme so brazen? There has not. This one is so unique that it requires a new name. I call it a Sammy scheme, in honor of Uncle Sam and the politicians (as well as its citizens) who have brought us to this critical moment in time...

...The Fed wants to buy, so come on, Ben Bernanke, show us your best and perhaps last moves on Wednesday next. You are doing what you have to do, and it may or may not work. But either way it will likely signify the end of a great 30-year bull market in bonds and the necessity for bond managers and, yes, equity managers to adjust to a new environment.

Which is precisely why we must elect Constitutional conservatives -- who will stand for limited, fiscally responsible government.

We must slash the unconstitutional federal bureaucracies, we must outlaw public sector unions, and we must begin spending within our means.

But we must start on Tuesday. If not, I fear the great American experiment may be near its end.


Tuesday, October 26, 2010

I've Got Mail!

A delightful individual using the moniker "Further than you" offers his well wishes for the coming election.

This kind of trivial focus on a similar video style when there are HUGE issues not being addressed by the RIGHT, is exactly why the entire country (and world) are laughing at the conservative (bowel) movement. All you "patriots", listen up:

We have an insane amount of "patriots" in this country talking about "watering the tree of liberty with blood" and carrying guns to rallies, exuding hate, intimidation, and calling their opponents traitors, socialists, communists, nazis, whatever damning title they can think of, all while dancing perfectly as their puppet masters planned, in order to distract us all from their constant game of bubble inflation and fraudulent profiteering that left our country in shambles. A few crooks deregulating markets to buy a few islands to retire on is simply criminal. But a systematic raping of our nation's wealth, a calculated funneling of money from the poorest to the richest, from Americans to foreign entities, resulting in class wars and violent division? That's called TREASON. And those that defend said treason, through blind ignorance or willful greed, are enemies of the state, in my book.

THIS MEANS YOU, ignorant teabagger, protesting Dems who want to tax companies for sending our jobs overseas. YOU ARE A TRAITOR.

THIS MEANS YOU, conservative sycophant, crying about Obama's wasteful spending (which keeps teachers in the classroom trying to teach your smug offspring something besides the bible) whilst on YOUR watch, spending reached UNPARALLELED HEIGHTS in order for your puppet masters to rake in oil profits and war contracts and tax cuts for the richest. YOU ARE A TRAITOR.

THIS MEANS YOU, forgetful republican: YOU whine about freedom while constantly treading on others'. YOU rave about your founding fathers, who started this country to have religious freedom for all, then fail to uphold that same freedom for others based on your own bigotry and fear. YOU support wars to "spread democracy" with a boot heel on one neck and a bullet in the other, exponentially increasing the very terror you claim to be fighting against. YOU preach Christian Family Values while engaging in a never-ending parade of scandals, affairs, molestations and sex acts that you rail against. YOU clap as your elected frauds block every single move to improve the damage they did during BUSH, not because they truly believe it's the right thing to do, but because crippling America into a panic-turned-hate-fest is the ONLY way to make enough of our country forget how HORRIBLE 2000-2008 was for your team to win back seats. And that's their only chance of winning. And you lick every bit of that s--- right off their boots, like starving retards at all-you-can-eat s--- buffet.

YOU ARE ALL TRAITORS.

YOU are endangering OUR country's global standing and future, our health care needs, our financial safety , and the rights of our women. And OUR PERSONAL LIBERTIES, which you SCREAM ABOUT, are most at risk when YOU are in charge.

We are a family in America. And you are the senile grandpa who's storming about the house with a loaded rifle, threatening the children. Too stupid to see the damage you cause, too blind to glimpse your own role in the travesty that enrages you . We no longer care if it's because you were raised that way or you're just brainwashed by Faux Noose or whatever. If you don't pass away from natural causes soon, we may have to put you down for the safety of everyone.

So when it comes time for blood to water that tree of liberty, WHO'S BLOOD DO THINK WILL BE SPILLING? Because all fingers (and sights) point at YOU, TRAITOR.

Breathtaking!

I know I shouldn't bother, but let's clear a few things up -- not for the rocket scientist author -- but for the (thankfully) few Democrats remaining that have a willingness to learn.

• Yes, I blame those gun-carrying teabaggers, too. Carrying all of their guns at rallies (shhh, humor him), exuding hate and intimidation by begging their representatives not to pass thousand and thousands of pages of massive new entitlements sight unseen... quite unseemly, that. As for calling people Nazis, you're right. Unlike the tolerant left, conservatives are awful, nasty extremists.

• Yes, I blame deregulation, too. That is, if George W. Bush had actually created Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the FHA, OFHEO and every other job shop for well-connected Democrats that completely destroyed the housing market by manufacturing a trillion-dollar market for subprime loans.

• Say, and about that spending that "keeps teachers in the classrooms"... how are those Blue State Utopias of California, Illinois and New York doing? Oh. You say they're bankrupt? And the federal government's bankrupt? Well, gee-zel-pete, who's gonna pay the tab? You say we should let our grandchildren pick it up? Oh. Okay.

• And you're right -- that "never-ending parade of scandals, affairs, molestations and sex acts" by those hypocritical Republicans are awful. Can't think of any recent ones, but you're right nonetheless. I like it that liberals don't have any family values or moral principles. That way they can't be considered hypocritical when they, say, get fellated in the Oval Office, then perjure themselves and end up disbarred! Or when they run a male prostitution ring out of their condo. Or when they abuse a series of male Congressional pages. And they don't suffer any reputational damage! Genius!

And speaking of "trivial focus", why concentrate on a wide stance when we can discuss illegal immigrants canvassing for votes, ACORN, Project Vote, the New Black Panthers, Black Liberation Theology, crushing charter schools, increasing the power of public sector unions at the expense of the taxpayer, paying off trial lawyers and increasing the Democrat core constituencies of felons, illegals, and the dead?

• And you're so right. President Obama has greatly improved our "global standing and future, our health care needs, our financial safety, and the rights of our women." It's our allies' fault that they think our relationships are at new lows. And who cares if Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are at least $50 trillion dollars underwater -- we've got wealth to redistribute in the form of socialized medicine -- the better to control the populace with. And it's Bush's fault that even though Nancy Pelosi vowed "no new deficit spending" in January of 2007, she's added $5 trillion to the national debt. As for the "rights of our women" -- yes, that abortion clause in the Constitution is a real page-turner.

As for the idiotic threats? Well, given that you're a doughy Internet troll who lives in Mommy's basement, it's kind of touching, really. But I'll offer nonetheless: three rounds in the ring or the octagon. Your call.


Sunday, October 24, 2010

Party of Locusts: a Roundup of Fiscal Destruction Wrought by Democrats in Their Awesome Utopias of California, Illinois and New York

Rhetorical question: Why aren't Democrats running on their accomplishments?

Rhetorical answer: Because they're like locusts, destroying state after state after state; running from one to the other and leaving a trail of destruction.

And they have now controlled Congress for four long years. The nation is trembling.

California: State unemployment benefits fund billions in debt
California's now-resolved $19 billion budget shortfall got plenty of attention in recent months, but a state report released Wednesday highlights the state's other massive deficit - in the unemployment insurance fund, which will be $10.3 billion in the hole by year's end.

The report by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office warns of dire consequences if California's leaders do not tackle the fund's insolvency: The federal government could impose steep taxes on California businesses beginning in 2012, and the state could lose $400 million in federal dollars annually.

The deficit is the result of the state paying out more in unemployment benefits than it collects. The shortfall is offset by federal loans, but the state must begin paying interest on those loans next year.

The report warns that the only way for the crisis to be resolved without drastic change, such as tax increases, is for the state's unemployment rate to drop to 4 percent - a near impossibility...

Illinois: 'Illinois' financial situation is worse than any other state in the country'
Illinois' financial situation is worse than any other state in the country according to a study by the National Conference of State Legislatures. The state ended Fiscal Year 2010 in worse shape than any other state (the state’s general fund balance was the lowest it has ever been at negative $4.7 billion) and the state's budget situation has been called "tenuous at best."

...State employee layoffs are not part of the plan due to a deal earlier this year in which the AFSCME agreed to defer part of its scheduled pay raises in exchange for a guarantee of no layoffs or facility closures through June 30, 2011. The study by the National Conference of State Legislatures reported in its study that the state plans to boost spending for FY2010 by 15.1%.

Illinois has a total state debt of $120,743,173,392 when calculated by adding the total of outstanding debt, pension and OPEB UAAL’s, unemployment trust funds and the 2010 budget gap as of July 2010...

New York: State faces budget gaps of $37B in next three years
The state faces budget gaps of at least $37 billion over the next three years, and state spending is far outpacing revenue.

County and city governments are proposing budgets with layoffs and service cuts — on top of the ones they've already made. Upstate is suffering from population losses, struggling urban cores and a dwindling manufacturing base.

Meanwhile, the cost of living in New York continues to rise, putting further strain on its population and economic base. The Tax Foundation last month showed that Monroe County has the highest percentage of taxes paid compared with home values in the country...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

It's up to all of us next Tuesday. To stop the spread of the Locust Party. Vote the straight Republican ticket. While the Republicans aren't perfect, most of them also aren't locusts destroying our society from within.


Hat tip: Mark Levin.

Deroy Murdock's Three Charts To Make Your Blood Boil

Deroy Murdock nails it. He presents three jaw-dropping illustrations that should infuriate every taxpayer in America.

Number 3: Who got stimulated by the Stimulus bill?

This graph’s whiff of Marie Antoinette should boil every patriot’s blood. While the American people live increasingly ascetic lives, and even city halls and statehouses have displayed some restraint, Washington, D.C., increasingly resembles Versailles — an out-of-touch, extravagant, and callous place that fuels little beyond the nation’s disgust, fury, and organized rebellion.

Number 2: The rich (by that I mean: the public sector workers) get richer.

These nauseating numbers show federal employees earning 201 percent of the average private worker’s compensation. Federal benefits equal 395 percent of private-sector benefits.

Number 1: This is your brain on Obamacare.

Staff members at the Congressional Joint Economic Committee “spent four months, night and day, and weekends” assembling this amazing graphic, Rep. Kevin Brady (R., Texas) tells me by phone. “They vetted it based on all 2,801 pages of the Obamacare legislation. They captured this new law’s stunningly complexity... "

[But the JEC] personnel could not fit all of this new law’s boards, commissions, mandates, and other elements onto this chart, [therefore] 151 additional items within Obamacare do not appear individually on this diagram. As Representative Brady explains, "If we included all of these units, this chart would be three times larger."

...The JEC’s 25-megabyte creation is difficult to transmit via email. However, a convenient link opens a PDF that allows readers to zoom in and explore this chart in amazing and shocking detail...

Even those who believe that government actively should heal the American people must wonder if that goal really required something this staggeringly convoluted.

Read the whole thing. And forward the link today to your entire mailing list. The time for action grows very short indeed.


Hat tip: Adrienne.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Harry Reid Escapes From Handlers, Beclowns Himself Anew: 'But For Me, We'd Be In a World-Wide Depression'

Based upon his statements over the last few years, Harry Reid is -- at best -- a doddering old fool.

"But For Me, We’d Be in World-Wide Depression"

At worst, well, I'm not a real doctor, but I play one on this blog.

• Speaking of illegal immigration in July 2010, Reid actually claimed that there were no illegal construction workers in Nevada, blithely calling the idea “absolutely without foundation,” and declaring “[t]hat may be some place, but it’s not here in Nevada.”

• With Nevada’s unemployment the highest in the nation at 14.3 percent in August 2010, Reid claimed that his costly, unpopular health care overhaul was a “boon” for the economy, and that the majority of Nevadans’ who oppose the bill suffer from a ““very obvious… lack of understanding.”

• In March 2010, Reid declared on the U.S. Senate floor: “Today is a big day in America. Only 36,000 people lost their jobs today, which is really good.”

• In February 2010, Reid pushed for a massive new deficit-spending bill by claiming on the Senate floor that more men beat their wives because of the high unemployment they suffer under his leadership.

• In January 2010, a new book revealed that Reid expressed his excitement at Barack Obama’s “light-skinned” appearance and the fact that he spoke “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”

• And in 2007, Reid claimed the war was lost, while our own men and women in the military were on the battlefield.

Harry Reid has some very serious issues.

Support Sharron Angle for giving Reid a pink slip.


Hat tip: Drudge. Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Rand Paul: "Kneel Before Aqua-Palin, Democrats"

To be fair, I'm not sure if Rand actually said that. The dogs were barking at someone outside.

But it would have been funny if he had said it on Hannity tonight.

Trey ("Don't call me Alan") Grayson Conway's attacks on Paul's religious beliefs go beyond the pale. Throw Rand a couple of bucks. And help put a stop to this ridiculous excuse of a candidate named Grayson Conway.


Monday, October 18, 2010

Looks Like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Crossed the Streams Again: Son of Subprime About to Administer the Coup de Grâce to the Economy

You may want to sit down before reading this one.

Bad Chalupa points us to a gut-wrenching economic analysis by John Mauldin of Investors Insight. Read the whole thing, but the following digest version should serve as an adequate introduction.

We are going to quickly review a few charts from Gary Shilling's latest letter, where he review the housing market in depth. Bottom line, the housing market has not yet begun to recover, and it is not only going to take longer but the decline in prices may be greater than many have forecast. I wrote three years ago that it could be well into 2011 before we get to a "bottom." That may have been optimistic, given what we will cover in this letter...

The homebuilding industry, which was the source of so many jobs last decade (aka the good old days), is on its back. This country needs a healthy housing construction market to get back to lower unemployment, and until the overhang in the foreclosure market is cleared out, that is unlikely to happen.

...Shilling thinks prices are likely to fall another 20%. Given what I am writing about in the next section, that is a possibility. There is certainly no demand pressure to push up housing prices...

Finally, [a word] on foreclosures. Residential mortgages in foreclosure are near all-time highs, close to 1 in 21 of all mortgages, up from 1 in 100 just four years ago. That's got to be bad for your profit models.

[Editor's Note: arrow and caption added by your beloved editor.]

The Foreclosure Mess


"Homeowners can only be foreclosed and evicted from their homes by the person or institution who actually has the loan paper...only the note-holder has legal standing to ask a court to foreclose and evict. Not the mortgage, the note, which is the actual IOU that people sign, promising to pay back the mortgage loan...

"...once mortgage loan securitization happened, things got sloppy...they got sloppy by the very nature of mortgage-backed securities. ...These various [securitized bundles of loans or] tranches were sold to different investors, according to their risk appetite... the loans were 'bundled' into REMICs (Real-Estate Mortgage Investment Conduits, a special vehicle designed to hold the loans for tax purposes)...

"But here's the key issue: When an MBS was first created, all the mortgages were pristine...none had defaulted yet, because they were all brand-new loans. Statistically, some would default and some others would be paid back in full...but which ones specifically would default? No one knew, of course. If I toss a coin 1,000 times, statistically, 500 tosses the coin will land heads...but what will the result be of, say, the 723rd toss? No one knows.

"Same with mortgages.

[Since investors didn't know which mortgages would actually default and needed to tie the loan to the tranche,] "Enter stage right the famed MERS...the Mortgage Electronic Registration System... "MERS was the repository of these digitized mortgage notes that the banks originated from the actual mortgage loans signed by homebuyers. MERS was jointly owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (yes, those two again ...I know, I know: like the chlamydia and the gonorrhea of the financial world...you cure 'em, but they just keep coming back).

"The purpose of MERS was to help in the securitization process. Basically, MERS directed defaulting mortgages to the appropriate tranches of mortgage bonds... legally [however]...and this is the important part...MERS didn't hold any mortgage notes: the true owner of the mortgage notes should have been the REMICs.

"But the REMICs didn't own the notes either, because of a fluke of the ratings agencies: the REMICs had to be 'bankruptcy remote,' in order to get the precious ratings needed to peddle mortgage-backed Securities to institutional investors.

"So somewhere between the REMICs and MERS, the chain of title was broken.

"Now, what does 'broken chain of title' mean? Simple: when a homebuyer signs a mortgage, the key document is the note. As I said before, it's the actual IOU. In order for the mortgage note to be sold or transferred to someone else (and therefore turned into a mortgage-backed security), this document has to be physically endorsed to the next person. All of these signatures on the note are called the 'chain of title.'

"You can endorse the note as many times as you please...but you have to have a clear chain of title right on the actual note: I sold the note to Moe, who sold it to Larry, who sold it to Curly, and all our notarized signatures are actually, physically, on the note, one after the other.

"If for whatever reason any of these signatures is skipped, then the chain of title is said to be broken. Therefore, legally, the mortgage note is no longer valid. That is, the person who took out the mortgage loan to pay for the house no longer owes the loan, because he no longer knows whom to pay.

"To repeat: if the chain of title of the note is broken, then the borrower no longer owes any money on the loan.

"Read that last sentence again, please. Don't worry, I'll wait.

"You read it again? Good: Now you see the can of worms that's opening up...

"...Now, the banks had hired 'foreclosure mills'...law firms that specialized in foreclosures...in order to handle the massive volume of foreclosures and evictions that occurred because of the housing crisis. The foreclosure mills, as one would expect, were the first to spot the broken chain of titles.

"Well, what do you know, it turns out that these foreclosure mills might have faked and falsified documentation, so as to fraudulently repair the chain-of-title issue, thereby 'proving' that the banks had judicial standing to foreclose on delinquent mortgages. These foreclosure mills might have even forged the loan note itself...


"Wait, why am I hedging? The foreclosure mills did actually, deliberately, and categorically fake and falsify documents, in order to expedite these foreclosures and evictions. Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism, who has been all over this story, put up a price list for this 'service' from a company called DocX...yes, a price list for forged documents. Talk about your one-stop shopping!

"...[But the] alarm bells started going off when the title insurance companies started to refuse to insure the titles... In every sale, a title insurance company insures that the title is free -and clear ...that the prospective buyer is in fact buying a properly vetted house, with its title issues all in order. Title insurance companies stopped providing their service because...of course...they didn't want to expose themselves to the risk that the chain of title had been broken, and that the bank had illegally foreclosed on the previous owner.

..."The fact that Ally Financial (formerly GMAC), JP Morgan Chase, and now Bank of America have suspended foreclosures signals that this is a serious problem...obviously. Banks that size, with that much exposure to foreclosed properties, don't suspend foreclosures just because they're good corporate citizens who want to do the right thing, and who have all their paperwork in strict order...they're halting their foreclosures for a reason.

"[And] Bank of America halted all foreclosures, nationwide... Why do you think that happened? Because the banks are in trouble...again. Over the same thing as last time...the damned mortgage-backed securities!

"The reason the banks are in the tank again is, if they've been foreclosing on people they didn't have the legal right to foreclose on, then those people have the right to get their houses back. And the people who bought those foreclosed houses from the bank might not actually own the houses they paid for.

"And it won't matter if a particular case...or even most cases...were on the up -and up: It won't matter if most of the foreclosures and evictions were truly due to the homeowner failing to pay his mortgage. The fraud committed by the foreclosure mills casts enough doubt that, now, all foreclosures come into question. Not only that, all mortgages come into question.

"People still haven't figured out what all this means. But I'll tell you: if enough mortgage-paying homeowners realize that they may be able to get out of their mortgage loans and keep their houses, scott-free? That's basically a license to halt payments right now, thank you. That's basically a license to tell the banks to take a hike.

"What are the banks going to do...try to foreclose and then evict you? Show me the paper, Mr. Banker, will be all you need to say.

"This is a major, major crisis. The Lehman bankruptcy could be a spring rain compared to this hurricane. And if this isn't handled right...and handled right quick, in the next couple of weeks at the outside...this crisis could also spell the end of the mortgage business altogether. Of banking altogether. Hell, of civil society. What do you think happens in a country when the citizens realize they don't need to pay their debts?"

...All those subprime and Alt-A mortgages written in the middle of the last decade? They were packaged and sold in securities. They have had huge losses. But those securities had representations and warranties about what was in them. And guess what, the investment banks may have stretched credibility about those warranties. There is the real probability that the investment banks that sold them are going to have to buy them back. We are talking the potential for multiple hundreds of billions of dollars in losses that will have to be eaten by the large investment banks. We will get into details, but it could create the potential for some banks to have real problems.

The culprits, once again, are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- the job-shop for connected Democrats that has utterly and completely destroyed the housing market.

And these are the same geniuses who tell us they can run the health care system using a Soviet-style, authoritarian, centralized bureaucracy.

What's that number for Goldline again?


Saturday, October 16, 2010

El Perplexed Presidente



The Declaration of Dependence

IN WASHINGTON DC, JANUARY 20, 2009
The unanimous Declaration of the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Executive Branch

hen in the course of political expediency it becomes necessary for one party to ignore its country's Constitution and legal system which hath guided it for 233 years, Gaia and Generation Investment Management require that it declare the causes which impel them to high treason.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all workers can be divided into races, income levels, religions, genders, and so on, to advance Statism; that they possess certain unalienable rights, that among these are health care, food stamps, iPhones, MTV, and a three-bedroom condo within walking distance of a Starbucks --

That to redistribute these rights, Governments are seized by politicians, deriving their powers by the theft of private property and the confiscation of liberty --

That whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of centralized, authoritarian Government, it is the Right of the Democrats to ignore the Constitution or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on the teachings of Marx, of Engels, of Alinsky, of Cloward and of Piven.

Prudence, indeed, would reject our claim to change government for light and transient causes, seeing as how we must reject facts, logic, history and reason to advance our tyrannical measures. Indeed, we rely upon our experience that hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer so long as government cheese and Jersey Shore are freely available to anyone who asks, whether citizen or not.

And when some object, after a long train of abuses and usurpations by we, the callous, unheeding Democrat leadership, it is our right, and it is our duty, to play the race card, to tar them as 'extremists' and 'crackpots', to use the media to ridicule them, and to create a "Civilian National Security Force" to ensure their ultimate destruction.

Such has been our suffering abuse of these Tea Parties; and such is now the necessity which commands us to eradicate their former Systems of Government. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a receptive media.

- He has refused to allow the vaporization of our Laws including the Constitution, which is no more useful to Democrats than a piece of toilet paper and which, may in fact, be emblematic of witchcraft.

- He has expressed feigned outrage over so-called 'lawlessness' by our Department of Justice, which has offered reparations to the New Black Panthers, illegal immigrants, and other workers deserving special treatment.

- He has refused to accept our order to adhere to socialized medicine and death panels, despite our agitprop designed to fool the general public.

- He has harangued our House of Representatives and our Senate, causing them to skip town hall meetings because of their loaded questions.

- He has endeavoured to prevent our de-population of these States; whether through abortion or in pursuit of our green agenda; both of which command us to reduce the numbers of the human virus.

- He has resisted our dictates to nationalize more than the one-third of United States land that we already have federalized.

- He has complained endlessly about our refusal to enforce the borders, which can only strengthen our numbers in subsequent elections with cadres of dependent migrants.

- He has resisted our assignation of Wise Latina Marxists and Socialists to the Highest Court.

- He has rejected our multitude of New Offices, Agencies and Bureaucracies, and all of our swarms of Officers that must harass them to ensure we confiscate as much of their private property as is our just due.

- He has fought our imposition of new Taxes, which must be installed to combat carbon dioxide pollution, light pollution, non-conforming toilet tanks, and sound pollution.

We, therefore, the Democrats of the united States of america, in General Congress and in the Executive, Assembled, appealing to Mighty Gozar the Traveler; We ask that he will come in one of the pre-chosen forms--During the rectification of the Pelosi transjunction, the traveler came as a large and enchanted Mikulski! Then, during the third resolution of the Reid supplicants, they chose a new form for him: that of a giant Barney! Many Tea Partiers and Free-Marketeers knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Barney that day, I can tell you!

And for the support of this Destruction, with a firm reliance on the Proletariat, we mutually pledge to Gaia our support, unless it interferes with our pursuit of personal wealth, aggregation of power or the acquisition of our third home -- this one in the Hamptons.


4 Most Shocking Photos Stolen From iOwnTheWorld

Cub Reporter Biff Spackle told me that if iOwnTheWorld can't figure out how to copy-protect its images, they're getting lifted and moved over here where they'll find a better, safer, more child-friendly home.




Remember, folks, iOwnTheWorld doesn't have the requisite level of respect for our beloved Democrat ruling class. You know, they don't exhibit the kind of courtesy and admiration for their wonderful policies that we do here. Besides, we serve better drinks including Red White & Blue beer and Big K brand soft drinks.


Image #1: The People's Cube.
Image #2: iOwnTheWorld.
Image #3: HopeNChangeCartoons.
Image #4: Diogenes Sarcastica.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Gee, how can we blame Bush for this? In the last two years, the basic federal budget has exploded by an earth-shattering 21%

Writing at National Review, Veronique de Rugy describes the money-dispensing leaf-blower that is the modern federal government.

Fiscal year 2010 ended on September 30th. Looking back, the Congressional Budget Office calculated that during that year the deficit has reached nearly $1.3 trillion. The 2010 deficit is the second-highest shortfall — 2009 is the highest — since 1945, as a percentage of the economy...

...This is stunning: This table, which was put together by the Wall Street Journal, shows that overall, the government has grown by 21.4 percent in two years. We have a spending problem, not a revenue problem...

This has consequences.

Our debt is huge, it will get worse, and the interest we could end up paying on that debt might end up eating up all of our wealth if lawmakers don’t change their ways.

Now, here's the really shocking part: that massive spending increase excludes:

• TARP (the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the result of years of failed Democrat housing policies)
• Fannie Mae (aka 'The Job Shop for Connected Democrats')
• Freddie Mac (aka 'The Other Job Shop For Connected Democrats')
• The FDIC (aka 'Johnny-on-the-Spots')

Oh, and one additional factoid. Federal budgets come out of the House of Representatives. These disgusting spending sprees have been spearheaded and approved by the brilliant Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democrat ruling class for the last four years.

President George W. Bush made plenty of unsupportable domestic policy decisions -- but he didn't set out to bankrupt the country.


Hat tip: Mark Levin.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Join Me On The Impeach & Convict Tour 2011

I posted the following article on March 22, 2010, the evening after the Democrats jammed their enormous socialized health care law down the American people's throats without even taking the time to read the bill.

I want you to remember how angry you were then.

I want you to recall your frustration, your powerlessness.

Because November is coming.

Dear Democrats,

I don't think you have any idea how angry we are.

So you would institute an authoritarian bureaucracy like the one our founders despised and revolted against? You would completely disregard public opinion? You would bribe, threaten, reward and punish legislators -- with our money! -- to jam through an unprecedented agenda completely antithetical to our founding? You would saddle generations yet unborn with trillions in debt when your unfunded entitlements are already crushing us? You would redistribute trillions of American wealth in futile central planning schemes that can't work and have never worked in the entire history of the world? So you would destroy the greatest health care system in the world?

And, to top it all off, you would blatantly violate your oath to uphold the Constitution?

November will come. And paybacks are hell.

And we promise to pursue you and your ilk to the ends of the Earth. To unearth your crimes. To impeach those in power and to prosecute the rest. To unwind your Marxist schemes. To politically crush the Democrat Party and leave it as much of a force as are the Whigs.

What you are doing is nothing less than child abuse. Punishing the next generation and generations yet unborn. Which seems to be the only skill the Democrat Party possesses.

So enjoy these next few months. Anticipating that ambassadorship to Aruba. Or that cushy job on K street. Or some high-paying job as a bureaucrat in Fannie Mae.

Be warned. We will pursue you. And we will punish you. Guaran-damn-teed. It's not a threat. It's not a promise. It's an oath.


Wednesday, October 13, 2010

You Won't Believe What They're Up To Now

Regular readers -- all seven of them -- know that I am not a conspiracy theorist. But I can put two and two together. Earlier this evening Papa B pointed me to an oozing secretion from the Puffington Roast, which markets the idea that 401(k) retirement savings accounts are evil and should be abolished.

Here's a novel idea. Instead of worrying that Social Security will go bust in 30 years (it won't) and considering absurd and unnecessary cuts in benefits for millions of Americans, why not expand this, the most popular social insurance program in the country, to provide for a universal defined benefit pension for every worker and his/her family? [Ed: Eh, because it's a giant Ponzi scheme? And the government stole all the money from the 'Trust Fund'?]

It's really not such a novel idea; most modern and civilized industrial nations have in place such pension systems... [Ed: Oh. Like Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Ireland? How's that working out?]

...A favorite of mine, economist Teresa Ghilarducci, of the New School for Social Research, was the first to call the 401(k) a failure for retirees and she shocked lawmakers when she suggested they be ended in favor of what she calls a Guaranteed Retirement Account that would be as safe and secure as defined benefit pension plans... [Ed: More on Teresa below.]

...Now, according to Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, "only 13 percent of workers say they are very confident about having enough money for a comfortable retirement-that's the lowest level in 16 years...With the enactment of Social Security and the growth of union-negotiated pensions, elderly Americans became [and are still] the least impoverished age group." [Ed: Because who knows better about wasting money than Trumka?]

...Ghilarducci makes the same point, that 401(k)s and IRAs, in which taxes on earnings are deferred, reduce tax receipts by $193 billion a year. But, she says, 80 percent of these tax breaks go to the top 20 percent of taxpayers. Her solution: "Guaranteed Retirement Accounts", to which employers and employees would each be required to contribute 2.5 percent of salaries, with a $600 refundable tax credit for the employee's contribution... [Ed: Net-net, confiscate the 401(k) monies, increase taxes, and create brand new revenue streams that can be stolen to bankrupt future generations even more.]

The walking bedsore known as Saul Friedman is a Communist. Yes, I said it. Oh, Doug -- that's so harsh. No it's not. Friedman advocates that the government -- legally -- confiscate Americans' hard-earned money and redistribute it to their union allies who intentionally underfunded their pensions.

That's what this is really about. Connie Hair at Human Events describes the real intent of Friedman's covering fire.

Democrats in the Senate on Thursday held a recess hearing covering a taxpayer bailout of union pensions and a plan to seize private 401(k) plans to more "fairly" distribute taxpayer-funded pensions to everyone.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee heard from hand-picked witnesses advocating the infamous "Guaranteed Retirement Account" (GRA) authored by Theresa Guilarducci... (listen to the outstanding 2007 interview with Guilarducci by Mark Levin)

...the pressing issue for the lame duck [session] is the union pension bailout with new Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) rules currently set to take effect December 15. These new rules would force companies to account for the cost of penalties to extract themselves from these union pension plans against their bottom line...

...In a nutshell, under the GRA system government would seize private 401(k) accounts, setting up an additional 5% mandatory payroll tax to dole out a "fair" pension to everyone using that confiscated money coupled with the mandated contributions. This would, of course, be a sister government ponzi scheme working in tandem with Social Security, the primary purpose being to give big government politicians additional taxpayer funds to raid to pay for their out-of-control spending.

Guilarducci and the Democrats are advocating legalized theft of the juicy trillions of dollars Americans have saved in their retirement plans. Nationalizing those accounts would support massive new spending programs plus payoff the unions and crony capitalists looking for more bailouts at the "workers'" expense.

As Hair concludes, "The lame duck session would offer the last chance for unions and companies to be able to place liability for their underwater pensions on the taxpayers' backs before the new FASB rule goes into effect."

In short, while I'm not a conspiracy theorist, when Harry Reid promises plenty of legislation during a lame-duck session... when the Stuffington Toast prints agit-prop... and a Marxist-led recess session considers an outrageous new way to steal your money... well, I get chills down my spine.

These Democrats need to be kicked to the curb next month -- politically. And in every election from this point forward, if we are to save this Republic.


Hat tip: RL

Saturday, October 09, 2010

The Many Moods of Patty Murray (D-WA)

In 2009, Patty Murray was voted the most liberal Senator in the country. Let's capture her many moods as she destroys the greatest health care system in the world, bankrupts your grandchildren, and destroys the U.S. energy sector.

Jubilant.

Bored.

Joyous.

Pensive.

Perturbed.

Delighted.

Confused.

Reflective.

Steaming mad, but hiding it.

Worried.

Harry Reid's puppet.

Stop Marxism in its tracks. Defeat the failed agenda of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Patty Murray.

Support Dino Rossi for U.S. Senate.


My New Harry Reid Campaign Commercial

When asked why he hasn't been campaigning recently, Harry Reid responded, "I've been running the country."

He certainly has. For four long years, Reid and Nancy Pelosi have ruled Congress with iron fists.

You like 14% unemployment? Then vote for Harry Reid.

You like the worst housing market in the country? Then vote for Harry Reid.

You like paying more and more for electricity? Then vote for Harry Reid.

You like worrying every day about your job and your pension? Then vote for Harry Reid.

You like food stamps and endless unemployment? Then vote for Harry Reid.

You like having your kids and grandkids born into massive debt? Then vote for Harry Reid.

Do you hate your state, your country and your kids? Then vote for Harry Reid.

But otherwise, vote Sharron Angle. Vote to nuke Harry Reid from office. It's the only way to be sure.


Inspired by: Mark Levin.