How did Mitt Romney make his money, and where did he put it? Answer those questions, and tell me he’s still the right guy to set economic policy.
For a more detailed discussion of what’s wrong with the Wall Street mentality, and its influence on Washington, watch this.
Yesterday’s Boston Globe had this article about mortgage lenders that are giving homeowners of underwater properties a break, thanks to pressure from the federal government’s Make Home Affordable program. Not every bureaucrat is on board with the idea. Edward DeMarco, a government official who is temporarily overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, warned Congress of the moral hazard of forgiving mortgage debt, as if that would give homeowners an incentive go into default. This is ironic, to say the least, because the Wall Street geniuses that transformed mortgages from a safe commercial banking practice into a risky investment opportunity are guilty of moral hazard on a grand scale. The essence of this is the “Too Big to Fail” doctrine. Wall Street wins, Main Street loses. The Globe article says that tens of thousands of underwater homeowners could receive a reduction in the principal balance. That’s a token gesture at best, but it’s better than nothing.
In contrast to that article, yesterday’s paper had this ad for a property in Massachusetts that’s going up for auction. “Previously marketed at $12,500,000. NAME YOUR PRICE.” If you try to download the brochure you’ll be prompted to register, but a direct link to the PDF is here. I’d love to know what the story is behind this property. I assume that a fantastically rich person had a phenomenal fall.
All of the troubles that continue to plague the mortgage market are now academic to me. My mortgage was at a local savings bank, and that’s where it stayed until last week, when I made the final payment. Do I resent those who are getting a loan reduction? Nope. No more than I think gay couples getting married in Massachusetts are a threat to my marriage.
I’m watching the first Presidential Debate, and Mitt Romney is infuriating. When he was governor here in Massachusetts, he did at least this much:
Of course Romney had to compromise as governor of Massachusetts! He was a Republican governor in a Democratic state. As President he wouldn’t have to compromise so much. The one, and only, hopeful outcome of a Mitt Romney Presidency is that he would be, as he was here in Massachusetts, willing to do the right thing, rather than adhere to party ideology. But I don’t trust him to do that again. He just said moments ago, “Massachusetts schools are #1 in the nation.” Why is that? It’s because we aren’t just Democrats, but realists. Romney’s problem is that at the national level he’s stuck with the platform of the Republican National Committee, which is determined to take us backwards in every way.
Tonight’s Marketplace radio show had this segment about the economic and political importance of having a Middle Class.
[audio:http://download.publicradio.org/podcast/marketplace/segments/2012/09/21/marketplace_segment27_20120921_64.mp3|titles=Marketplace: 21Sept12]I received a statement from Blue Cross/Blue Shield, saying my wife wasn’t covered for a hospital visit she had back in June, and I would be responsible for the $2000 in charges. She did indeed have an appointment there in June, but not on that day. The form said she didn’t have insurance on the day services were provided, which of course she would have, if she had been at the hospital that particular day.
So what was the problem? The hospital had sent BC/BS a bill for charges belonging to another woman who happens to have my wife’s name. BC/BS claimed innocence, that it was the hospital’s mistake, but they also screwed up. The statement had the wrong middle initial for my name, which was what made me suspicious in the first place.
It was possible, if unlikely, that the woman with my wife’s name is married to a man with my name, but I was told by BC/BS that their computer system had replaced my middle initial with my wife’s. Having spent more than 30 years in the healthcare computing business I felt confident in saying to the representative, “unless somebody entered that by mistake manually, that’s a bug in your software, and you need to kick this upstairs.”
Speaking of healthcare, this is worth watching…
Watch Making Sen$e: Competing Claims About Healthcare Reform on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.
Way back in April, 2007 I used this picture in a post I called “Legal Loan Sharking.”
After the credit crisis hit in September, 2008, I hoped these sleazy mortgage ads would disappear from the Internet but, no, they’re still there. Yahoo is a big offender. Here’s a current example.
“The President Waives Refi Requirement??” Hey, if you believe that, I can sell you a pair of X-Ray specs that will let you see through a girl’s clothes. What sort of slimy boiler room operations are behind these online ads, anyway? Here’s another one.
What does the Better Business Bureau say about Power4Home? Nothing good. Whenever anybody tells you they know some mysterious secret or trick that will make your car get better mileage, or a diet that will melt pounds off like magic, or whatever, it’s a come-on, if not an outright scam. Period. As Captain Braddock used to say at the end of each episode of Racket Squad, “Remember, there are people who can slap you on the back with one hand, and pick your pocket with the other… and it could happen to you!”
http://youtu.be/zEvtOo_O_Cw
