The Fed's $600 Billion Statement, Translated Into Plain English : Planet Money : NPR
The Federal Reserve is about to create $600 billion out of thin air. It's a huge, experimental stimulus program that will affect stock markets and government policies around the world.
But the Fed announced its plan in a statement written largely in jargon and code. So here, from Planet Money and Slate, is today's statement, translated into plain English.
Terror At London Bridge - Hulu
Jack the Ripper is mystically resurrected in contemporary Arizona....
Arcata police log: October 30, 2010 | The Arcata Eye
2:44 p.m. A man at the front APD counter wasn’t having a wonderful digital life. In fact, he said,another man’s inappropriate primal urges were costing him big bucks. Someone, had charged his cell phone for $36 in erotic entertainment, and even though he closed the account, porn continued to stream into his phone. As if that wasn’t enough, he took a call from “an investigator” (presumably on the oversexed cell phone) who told him he would have to come up with “a large amount of cash” or he’d be arrested. Yes, there’s more. Someone stole this luckless wretch’s checking account number and raided that as well. Police visited the King of Pain and found things not quite as reported.
Noted on HuffPo the other day by Charlie from Wisconsin (alas, Wisconsin), et. al.:
From Huffington Post: 11-04-10
"Not sure if we still have to set clocks back Sunday since we already set country back Tuesday."
While Warning About Fat, U.S. Pushes Cheese Sales - NYTimes.com
But as healthy as this pizza has been for Domino’s, one slice contains as much as two-thirds of a day’s maximum recommended amount of saturated fat, which has been linked to heart disease and is high in calories.
And Dairy Management, which has made cheese its cause, is not a private business consultant. It is a marketing creation of the United States Department of Agriculture — the same agency at the center of a federal anti-obesity drive that discourages over-consumption of some of the very foods Dairy Management is vigorously promoting.
Anyway, yum.
And also keep the government out of my pizza, blah blah.
by Marian Wang ProPublica, Nov. 5, 2010, 12 p.m.
For years, banks and other companies handling foreclosures have turned to cheap labor to process the growing volume of foreclosures. At JPMorgan Chase, they were called "Burger King kids" - walk-in workers hired to handle foreclosure proceedings. Many barely knew what a mortgage was and had only high-school educations.
Prompted by a Financial Times article about banks hiring foreclosure experts, we went on a few job sites to browse the listings ourselves, just to see if the qualifications for new hires have changed since the foreclosure-document scandal first surfaced.
What we found is that it varies, depending on the company hiring. Requirements for many foreclosure jobs - often advertised by staffing or temp agencies - still offer low pay and require little education. Some of the brand-name banks include in their job listings language about "compliance with [proper] procedures" and regulations. Most didn't post pay.
One legal staffing agency advertised a number of foreclosure openings, including a "Supervisor of Foreclosure Department." The listed base pay? "$10.00-$12.00/Hour." High-school education required. When I called this agency, the Legal Group, I was told that the agency deals primarily with law firms or the legal departments of corporations.
"Our client information is confidential, so I cannot share the names of our clients with you," an agency representative explained. (Banks often outsource parts of the foreclosure process to foreclosure law firms, which take cases before courts in states where a court order is necessary to foreclose. Read our primer on the players in the foreclosure scandal.)
One law firm in Tampa is seeking an "Evening Foreclosure Supervisor." It promises $17 to $22 an hour for candidates with at least two years of supervisory or management experience and "knowledge of the entire foreclosure process." The firm appears to be working around the clock - the listing specifies that the evening shift runs from "1:30pm to 10pm."
Another staffing agency seeks college grads for "IMMEDIATE ENTRY LEVEL Foreclosure Processing opportunities with an outstanding company in the Baltimore region," promising $12 to $13 an hour. The position requires no experience, but:
Banks hoping to allay concerns about robo-signing and other foreclosure-processing errors are also hiring. Ally Financial, formerly known as GMAC, is hiring a "foreclosure specialist," a position that "requires a college degree and 3-4 years experience in Mortgage Banking."
But Ally, the company whose GMAC Mortgage Unit played a part in setting off the scandal, seemed to have loftier requirements than others. Take this job listing from Chase posted two days ago seeking a "Quality Specialist" to review foreclosure documentation. The job description says the worker will be responsible for ensuring "compliance with affidavit certification and notification procedures." But under qualifications, two years of lending experience, some college experience, and prior experience in foreclosure processing are listed as "preferred" or "strongly desired." Only a high-school diploma is required.
Bank of America, the nation's largest servicer, appears to be hiring temporary foreclosure specialists through a staffing agency. Required skills include a high-school diploma and either some college experience or "two years of foreclosure or bankruptcy experience outside of Bank of America." Included in the job description: "Reconcile financial transactions to ensure maximum recovery for BAC [Bank of America Corporation]."
American Home Mortgage Servicing, too, requires only a high-school diploma or GED, with a year of experience in banking or mortgage servicing "preferred."
And Nationstar Mortgage - a big subprime lender that's servicing for Fannie Mae - is seeking foreclosure specialists with similar requirements - "college degree preferred," plus "1 year of experience in foreclosures." (Reuters reported last month that Fannie and Freddie, frustrated with mistakes by the banks, have reassigned some of their portfolios to specialist servicers like Nationstar.)
On Thursday, a Florida foreclosure mill announced it had laid off more than 500 workers - 70 percent of its staff - due to "recent turbulence in the mortgage industry." Employees at the Law Offices of David J. Stern - which is currently under investigation by the Florida attorney general for fraudulent foreclosure practices - may be out of work, but for those hundreds laid off, at least within the industry at large, there's no shortage of employers who are hiring.
I hate it.
I have this back bedroom I use as a storage room, sort of a combination attic and pantry, and so I found myself standing in this storage room wondering why I was standing in the storage room, was there some kind of reason or was it just chance, some kind of Brownian motion on a massive scale that brought me into the storage room, although I did manage to remember that the last room I was in before I was in the storage room was the kitchen. So I gave up and went back into the kitchen and hey, I saw right away I was out of paper towels.
The replacement paper towels are in the storage room.
(I am going to print this note and carry it with me into the back bedroom.)
50% of the New Congressmen Deny Climate Change | AlterNet
Yes, the folks over at Think Progress did some background research on the incoming Congressmen, and they reveal a disheartening stat: 50% of them outright deny that climate change is real.
(Emphasis mine.)
Sure, go ahead, call me a geezer, but every year about this time I miss the smell of smoke in the air. We used to rake all the fallen leaves into big piles and burn them. Most places, I guess that's illegal now. Or at least really, really, really frowned upon. I bet if we got ourselves a Tea president we'd be allowed to burn leaves again. The Teas seem to like smoke a lot.
Well, and mirrors.
The Grizzly Manifesto - NYTimes.com
This month, a new reality TV series, “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” premieres on TLC, starring Sarah and Todd and the kids. “I love watching these mama bears,” the former vice presidential nominee says in an early episode, as the family sits in a boat looking at a mother bear and cubs walking along the bank of the river. This particular mama looked really emaciated. She’s probably working double shifts trying to support her kids, with no help from anybody, and now there’s a TV crew and a bunch of Palins out there in the water, trying to make a profit off her family.
[The United States is] last in preventable death health care (the hated France is #1), our health care system is the most expensive in the world but dead last or next to last against other industrialized nations. Having slipped seven ranks in just three years, we are 49th in life expectancy at just over 78 years (the hated Socialist French are #12 with tiny Monaco topping the list, averaging almost 90 years.) When the WHO last did their national rankings of health care systems 10 years ago, once again France came in 1st out of 191 nations while we did a dismal 37th.
UNDERNEWS: THE REAL COST OF OBAMA’S INDIA TRIP
. . . The problem is that it is far from clear that landing big deals for U.S.-based corporations will result in many jobs for U.S. workers. The list of companies with executives going to India with President Obama (or that stand to benefit from the trip) include some of the most notorious practitioners of offshore outsourcing.
Obama flies to India, looking to boost US economy - Yahoo! News
MUMBAI, India – President Barack Obama hasn't been able to drive down unemployment in America, so he's coming to India in search of U.S. jobs.
Jobs Data Underscores the Challenges Facing Washington - NYTimes.com
On Friday [Obama] tried to highlight the bright spots in the jobs report, calling it “encouraging.” Still he acknowledged, “The fact is, an encouraging jobs report doesn’t make a difference if you’re still one of the millions of people who are looking for work.”
(And especially if your unemployment benefits have run out.)
With the $13-plus trillion we are estimated to ultimately spend on the bailouts, We could not only have bought and paid off every single subprime mortgage in the country (that would only have cost $1.4 trillion), we could have paid off every remaining mortgage of any kind in this country-and still have had enough money left over to buy a new house for every American who does not already have one.
The 100 Best Signs At The Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear - Featured on BuzzFeed
(Noted by our Midwest bureau.)
Total [campaign] expenditures? Whitman spent six times as much, or $160 million -- $141 million of it her own -- to Brown's $24.8 million.
You'd think the former EBay exec would know a good deal when she sees one, but she ended up paying roughly $50 for each of her 3 million-plus votes, and got trounced....
Meanwhile, the Times points out, "trying to cast herself as a cost-cutter and Brown as a big spender."
FOX News Debuts 12 in '12 Series; Romney Declines Interview - Real Clear Politics – TIME.com
The GOP presidential primary battle to determine who will take on President Obama in 2012 begins in earnest this week now that the midterms are over, and FOX News is jumping in.
Kasich says no passenger rail for Ohio
"That train is dead. I said it during the campaign. It is dead. Passenger rail is not in Ohio's future."
McDonald’s furious after San Francisco bans Happy Meals | Raw Story
LOS ANGELES — Fast food giant McDonald's said Wednesday it was "extremely disappointed" at a ruling by San Francisco authorities banning high-calorie Happy Meals, which entice children to eat with free toys.
If you needed to pick out a town to represent the "typical" Boston suburb, Wakefield might be it. Still has an old-fashioned New England town center, a lake, and some serious commercial areas along Route 128. But now terrible evil has come to visit sweet Wakefield. The high school's track and field team, Wakefield Track & Field, has put their initials on the back of their sweatshirts. OMG!
Dude. Video (from Faux News - consider yourself warned) at the link.
(Noted by our Seattle Bureau)
Whatever It Is, I’m Against It: Obama press conference: Taking a shellacking
WHAT HE DOESN’T THINK ANYBODY DENIES: “So I don’t think anybody denies they think we’re in a ditch. I just don’t think they feel like we’ve gotten all the way out of the ditch yet. And to move the analogy forward that I used in the campaign, I think what they want right now is the Democrats and the Republicans both pushing some more to get the car on level ground. And we haven’t done that.” In this analogy is the Auto Club China?
The Day After the Day After - NYTimes.com
People, what would we do without earmarks? How would elected officials respond when asked for concrete plans to cut the budget/cooperate with the opposition if earmark-squashing wasn’t an option? These little devils are harder to get rid of than the Taliban.
See me, Obi-Wan Kenobi: Scientists seek 3-D video - Yahoo! News
NEW YORK – Scientists say they have taken a big step toward displaying live video in three dimensions — a technology far beyond 3-D movies and more like the "Star Wars" scene where a ghostly Princess Leia image pleads, "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi."
Federal Reserve Rains Money On Corporate America -- But Main Street Left High And Dry
Asked Thursday how he did "so well in the past 18 months," Gross, who runs PIMCO's $252.2 billion Total Return Fund, told Bloomberg Television that in addition to a variety of other investments he's made money "from mortgages, yes, in terms of buying them in front of the Fed and selling them to the Fed over the six- to 12-month period of time." Translation: the man who runs the world's biggest bond fund is profiting from buying securities he knows the Fed will eventually want, and then selling them to the Fed at a premium.
Meanwhile, families are being devastated by historic unemployment and record home foreclosure rates. Households and small businesses can't get credit. A quarter of homeowners with a mortgage owe more on that debt than the home is worth. Borrowers are declaring bankruptcy in near-record numbers.
"We were in such a hurry to get things done that we didn't change how it got done,'' [Obama] said...
Major Technical Difficulties - NYTimes.com
Behind closed doors in Washington, American officials are shaping an overhaul of the 1994 federal statute that requires phone and broadband carriers to ensure their networks can be wiretapped.
Based on a chilling recent precedent, the risk is substantial that this so-called technical updating will spread far beyond what’s said to be contemplated — and greatly expand the already expansive power of the government to spy on Americans.
Economics and Politics - Paul Krugman Blog - NYTimes.com
What actually happened, of course, was that Obama failed to do enough to boost the economy, plus totally failing to tap into populist outrage at Wall Street.
Angle in Nevada, that ditz in Delaware, whatzisname in Alaska, the wrestling lady in Connecticut, whoever, a bunch of wackos lost and the Dems stay in control of the Senate by one vote, not that it will do them much good (although a bunch of the Democrats who lost yesterday were Blue Dogs from very conservative districts and it's probably a good thing for the D's, overall, to get rid of them).
Meanwhile, from AFP:
Pelosi, 70, won the distinction of being the highest woman ever elected to office in the United States.
It must have been a really long night.
Michele Bachmann Making Play For GOP Leadership Post
On Tuesday, Rep. Michele Bachmann, one of the more eccentric members of the Republican Party, put out feelers that she would like to assume the leadership role likely to be vacated by Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.)
Head-Stompers, Wrench-Swingers, Egg-Tossers and Wide Awakes - NYTimes.com
Young Republicans with axes! New York firemen run amok!
Welcome to election week, 1860.
On Election Day, Democratic control is on the line - Yahoo! News
WASHINGTON – The Democratic Congress that enacted President Barack Obama's far-reaching health care law and plowed staggering sums into economic relief is at risk Tuesday in an election that promises to shake up the political order across the nation.
I'll go to the polls today and vote for Democrats but listen up, D's: Don't let this go to your heads. I'm only voting for you because the alternatives are so grim. If I had a decent choice I'd be long gone.
You blew it. Around the country, voters are fearful and angry, you bet. The political juice from all that fear and anger is going to this so called Tea party when it should be going to Democrats. Two years ago Democrats were elected to majorities in both houses of Congress and to the White House by an impressive margin to stand up to the guys who caused this mess and they spent the whole two years backing down. And now, if the pundits are right (I'm not sure they are, BTW) they're about to be spanked and when it's over we will all be worse off, even the people who vote to get the government out of their Medicare, people who got played for suckers by the wackos and the clowns.
Nobody wins today, folks, but a lot of people might lose. I hope one of them is not you.
Mugged by the Debt Moralizers - NYTimes.com
More and more voters, both here and in Europe, are convinced that what we need is not more stimulus but more punishment. Governments must tighten their belts; debtors must pay what they owe.
The irony is that in their determination to punish the undeserving, voters are punishing themselves: by rejecting fiscal stimulus and debt relief, they’re perpetuating high unemployment. They are, in effect, cutting off their own jobs to spite their neighbors.
Wyoming Rep. Lummis: Estate tax rise has some planning death
CHEYENNE -- U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis says some of her Wyoming
constituents are so worried about the reinstatement of federal
estate taxes that they plan to discontinue dialysis and other
life-extending medical treatments so they can die before Dec.
31.
Wait. What?
(The emphasis is mine.)
With strong Republican support in Congress for challenging Iran's ambition to become a nuclear power, [Obama] can spend much of 2011 and 2012 orchestrating a showdown with the mullahs. This will help him politically because the opposition party will be urging him on. And as tensions rise and we accelerate preparations for war, the economy will improve.
Army Studies Thrill-Seeking Behavior - NYTimes.com
The United States military, alarmed by a rising suicide rate and the record number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who die in highway accidents back home, is asking a provocative new question: Nearly a decade into two bloody wars, are the armed forces attracting recruits drawn to high-risk behavior?
(Emphasis mine)
Alzheimer’s Warning Sign - Money Problems - Vanishing Mind - NYTimes.com
New research shows that one of the first signs of impending dementia is an inability to understand money...
(And have been since I was about six.)
