picking on our bones

Next Meal Ticket for Wall Street
Arcadio Esquivel

Not That Kind of Occupation - By Mike Luckovich

BETTING ON MISERY - Freddie Mac Bets Against American Homeowners

BETTING ON MISERY
Freddie Mac Bets Against American Homeowners

FREDDIE MAC IS BETTING AGAINST HOMEOWNERS GETTING OUT OF EXPENSIVE MORTGAGES | NPR and Propublica http://www.propublica.org/article/freddy-mac-mortgage-eisinger-arnold reported today that the government-backed mortgage giant Freddie Mac is making it harder for troubled homeowners to get out of high interest rate mortgages, while at the same time placing “multibillion-dollar bets that pay off if homeowners stay trapped in expensive mortgages.” “We were actually shocked they did this,” says Scott Simon, who works for the bond trading firm PIMCO. The trades “put them squarely against the homeowner,” Simon said. Freddie Mac claims its traders are walled off from the rest of the company so that no coordination could have taken place.

http://www.propublica.org/article/freddy-mac-mortgage-eisinger-arnold
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/01/30/414176/freddie-mac-betting-mortgages/

Schneiderman: Task Force Will Go After 'Stuff That Blew Up the Economy'

Schneiderman said the settlement won’t impede that effort at all, and that it will focus state and federal authorities in an unprecedented manner.

“The president has been absolutely clear: we’re going after the stuff that blew up the economy in our working group,” Schneiderman said. “We’re going after the possibilities of tax fraud, insurance fraud, securities fraud. We’re going to look at this stuff very closely. We have the jurisdiction, we have the resources, and we have the will.”

While there’s been no federal prosecutions of high-ranking Wall Street executives for their role in the financial crisis, Schneiderman said boldly that his group plans to end that. “The clarity the president provided this past week really was that we are going to step up on the principle of one set of rules for everyone, equal justice under the law,” Schneiderman said. “You can’t have some institutions that are protected by the law, not allowed to fail, and not held to account, and all the other companies in America are allowed to fail. You can’t have equal justice under law and too big to fail.”

Towards the end of the interview, he expects some serious movement and action within six to eight months—or else he’d be “very disappointed.”

http://www.thenation.com/blog/165940/schneiderman-task-force-will-go-after-stuff-blew-economy

Deported for a fucking Twitter joke?

Tourists deported from U.S. for Twitter jokes
By Rob Beschizza at 6:50 am Monday, Jan 30

Two U.K. tourists landing in L.A. were detained and deported because of tweets joking about "diggin' up" Marilyn Monroe and "destroying" America.

According to DHS paperwork, Leigh Van Bryan was matched to a "One Day Lookout" list, placed under oath, and ultimately denied entry and put on a plane back to Europe.

"He wrote on his tweeter website account that he was coming to the United States to dig up the grave of Marilyn Monroe," DHS officials wrote on his charge sheet. "Also on his tweeter account Mr. Bryan posted that he was coming to destroy America."


http://boingboing.net/2012/01/30/brits-deported-from-u-s-for-t.html

Teaparty: Lack Of Clout-Evident For Everyone To See

Now that Herman Cain and Sarah Palin are lining up behind Newt, the lack of clout of the tea party is evident for everyone to see. Their candidate is going to lose, and the candidate they most dislike is going to win. But open civil war is healthy for the country, even if it's bad for the Republicans. Sooner or later, they were going to have to deal with the "birther/Obama is illegitimate" nonsense in their party; it might as well be now.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/29/1059679/-Five-things-to-know-about-Florida-and-the-GOP-race?via=blog_1

NASA: 130 years of global warming in 30 seconds

The Austerity Debacle - By PAUL KRUGMAN

The Austerity Debacle
By PAUL KRUGMAN

Last week the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, a British think tank, released a startling chart comparing the current slump with past recessions and recoveries. It turns out that by one important measure — changes in real G.D.P. since the recession began — Britain is doing worse this time than it did during the Great Depression. Four years into the Depression, British G.D.P. had regained its previous peak; four years after the Great Recession began, Britain is nowhere close to regaining its lost ground.

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And it’s a failure, in particular, of the austerity doctrine that has dominated elite policy discussion both in Europe and, to a large extent, in the United States for the past two years.

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Strange to say, however, those warnings from economists proved all too accurate. And we’re quite fortunate that Mr. Obama did not, in fact, do a Cameron.

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The infuriating thing about this tragedy is that it was completely unnecessary. Half a century ago, any economist — or for that matter any undergraduate who had read Paul Samuelson’s textbook “Economics” — could have told you that austerity in the face of depression was a very bad idea. But policy makers, pundits and, I’m sorry to say, many economists decided, largely for political reasons, to forget what they used to know. And millions of workers are paying the price for their willful amnesia.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/30/opinion/krugman-the-austerity-debacle.html?_r=2&ref=opinion#

“Vote for Newt. Annoy a liberal," - Sarah Palin.

“Vote for Newt. Annoy a liberal," - Sarah Palin.

Annoy a liberal? I have a feeling most would be thrilled if Newt won tomorrow.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/289621/palin-vote-newt-annoy-liberal-katrina-trinko

Dole Was Right...