Health Reform Smoke and Mirrors

FYI... per HR3962, the directive of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force on breast cancer screaning, mammographies would have been graded as level "C", and would be the guiding regulation, PERIOD... thus mammographies would NOT covered under proposed house cutting plan... wonder if that would include the Federal Employee Health Benefit Plan too... me thinks not... I ask again, why can't "we the people" have the exact same health plan that "we the people" provide for our employees, aka congress and millions of our other employees... Will the FEHBP be considered a "Cadillac Plan" and taxed too... me thinks not again...

What's the bet that the insurance carriers will come out with a "Gap Policy" in the same manner as is offered to Medicare recipients... hase congress just paid off the insurance lobby yet again...

We need health care reform... but neither the house or senate bills are the answer... instead of reading the sports and comics this week, thy reading thse two horror books... merely 4,000 pages between them of legale/political smoke and mirrors... both written like a labrynth...

GM invests $293 Million in China!

From Reuters: "...General Motors said on Sunday it has agreed to set up a light commercial vehicle production venture with major Chinese automaker FAW Group, with total investment of 2 billion yuan ($293 million)...." (http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE57T0IV20090830)

Now, I'm not the brightest candle in in the candelabra... but didn't I read recently, that GM had filed for bankruptcy... that in order to survive it required 10's of billions of cash from "we the people"... that this cash infusion was intended to keep it alive... keep thousands of Americans employed... save the industry and revitalize our economy. Make no mistake about it, these comments are not intended as being anti-Chinese... it is a country of very intelligent hard working people. One that over the millennia has contributed much to the knowledge of mankind... it is not us against them... this is a statement of what "we the people" were told... this lead coffin of a debt was required to save OUR economy... it has become more than slightly obvious that we were, yet again, mislead (lied to?) by our elected representatives...

This agreement is yet more evidence that the Chinese are far better traders and bargainers than we… make no mistake about it, these international “deals” are reviewed by or involve numerous government agencies, not the least of which is The State Department…

I have no qualms with the concept of this joint venture... HOWEVER, it takes time and money to build plants; and time and money to hire and train new autoworkers... So please, would someone explain to me why this "joint venture"... is not using the several existing modern, shuttered, assembly plants ... hiring EXPERIENCED auto workers here in the US or even Canada... shipping American made light trucks and vehicles to China... Was not OUR money intended to employ OUR citizens... to buoy up OUR economy... or did I misinterpret the words of Speaker Pelosi... Senator Reid and Mr. Obama... I never did, nor do I believe anything that comes from the mouths of Chairman Bernanke or Secretary Geithner... the heroes and champions of Wall Street...

Hold it.. hold it… the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the cost of Mr., Obama’s nightmare health reform will cost “we the people” a mere$1.3 Trillion over 10 years… Would not this $293,000,000 be better spent providing health care for “we the people"

And so my fellow Americans... I believe that I will sit back, put my feet up, sip on a marvelous Napa Valley wine, and wait for one of you fans of Nancy, Harry and "B G & O" to provide any really good explanation this latest... sorry folks... fucking over of "We the people"...

For those of us who have any clue, and really care... the next national election is Tuesday, November 2, 2010... And none to soon... Throw The Bastards Out... ALL OF THEM...

Health Care "reform"

In his ongoing effort to "sell" his government take over of health care... calling it reform ... and attempting assuage the middle to right wing segment, the President commented that his plan does not include providing health care for illegal... undocumented... unauthorized... or in legal terms, trespassers... He also states that there the opponents of his reform plan are spreading untruths about the plan...

Mr. President, the simple fact is, the category of "you are here but we don't have any record of your being here" is already receiving the finest health care in the world... in our emergency rooms... through ever increasing over billing and rising premiums, the cost of which is being spread across those members of our society who are here because we belong here and have health care insurance...

I would suggest that there can be no health care reform, without first reforming ICE and providing a temporary entry/work visa's, thereby enabling these hard working people some semblance of legal status... allowing them to stop hiding in the shadows, work in the open, pay taxes into the system that already affords them a far better life. In this manner these fine people would then be able obtain health care coverage, drive legally, carry proper auto insurance and make our roads safer too.

Mr. President, no one wishes to deny health care for those in need... but please, when you promised us "change that we can all believe in", stop playing politics as usual... for that is no change at all...

Home Builder Numbers or More Smoke and Mirrors

Toll Brothers reported increased sales, and a lower number of cancellations. Wall Street then proceeded to wet its panties... Now why not do what Wall Street seems incapable of doing... look beyond those statements... I know of one builder with 13 new homes listed in the MLS... all 3,200 to 3,800 sq. ft. in size, 3 to 5 bedrooms... these are homes that would previous have been in the high "7's and "8's"... now being offer at $100-110 per foot!! Great the builder loses $250,000 per home... but not to worry, it makes it up in volume!!! Then we have the cancellation numbers... how many homes in contract were renegotiated in price to keep the sale together?? Could it be that Toll Brothers has a construction loan that required a payment??? Could it be that through tax breaks and accounting smoke and mirrors "we" are able to put a positive spin on things...Gotta be sure that the big boys of Wall Street can turn a fast buck... legalized gambling against a stacked deck...

What don't I understand... Hillary Clinton immediately blamed mortgage brokers for the economic free fall... Those sub-prime loans the mortgage brokers created were responsible for the crash... they stole the equity from poor innocent unsuspecting buyers and homeowners... Little or no down payment, interest only loans, less than perfect credit... They made loans to people who should not have been buying homes... Right... So, please explain the following:

• Low down payment and flexible mortgage terms (fixed-rate, adjustable-rate, or interest-only)
• You may qualify even if your credit is less than perfect
• Available to both owner occupiers and investors
• Down payment (at least 3 percent) can be funded by your own savings; a gift; a grant; or a loan from a nonprofit organization, state or local government, or employer
• No mortgage insurance*
• No appraisal fees
• Also eligible for HomePath Renovation Mortgage
  
• HomePath Mortgage financing is available.

"....In addition, first-time home buyers can now use the $8,000 federal tax credit to help cover a down payment and other upfront costs if they are taking out a loan backed by the Federal Housing Administration...." The above is from Fannie Mae HomePath in selling off the REO properties that it owns... Do I smell a rat or what... are these guidelines even more onerous that the sub-prime loans... What don't I understand....

Let the bloodbath begin!

The vast majority of Toxic Assets, aka Legacy Assets, aka Non-performing Assets, are in fact loans on 1-4 unit residential real estate currently in one stage or another of default and foreclosure.

Read the Housing and Economic Reform (oxymoron) Act and you will find that it authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to a) acquire these assets and b) dispose of them as he sees fit... As it did when it enabled this crisis years ago, congress has written a law with zero provision for CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT.

Further, without exception, every housing loan modification program in place today is doomed to fail. The very conditions attached to all of them guaranty this fact. i.e. it is now virtually impossible for the tens of millions of self-employed Americans to qualify for ANY real estate loan modification or new purchase loan.

Should these assets be PROPERLY modified... ofttimes the current formula's in place are prescriptions for a second default... they will become performing assets, with no further losses for the lending institutions.

HOWEVER, should they be bundled (as did the RTC) and sold to these private investors at pennies on the dollar, there most like will be a "bloodbath" of new foreclosures. These are delinquent loans, the investor becomes the new note holder, bank if you will, free to accelerate the foreclosure process, and acquire what could amount to over a trillion dollars in residential real estate "on the cheap."

Congress can, and must immediately amend the HERA to prevent this potential debacle.

Residential real estate "lead the way" into this depression (and it is)... it must lead the way back out... I ask you the question, will you set foot in an auto showroom when you don't know if you will own a garage to park it in next week? Ours is a consumer based economy... only a fool would believe that "we the people" will consider spending on anything that isn't a requirement for survival again until the housing crisis has been addressed.

Without loan modification to stem it, we are about to enter another phase of defaults and foreclosures that will last no less than another 18 months to complete... and then an additional 1-2 years, if only that, to clear the inventory... all the while decimating the lives of Americans...

When consumers don't consume store close... the last time that I checked, a vacant retail space pays no rent... enough empty stores in a shopping center and... well why not check in with the bankruptcy courts to see what happens!

As Polonius said to Laertes when he was preparing to leave on a journey, "...to thine own self be true..." Well this is one hell of a journey that congress and Wall Street have taken us on...

it's the foreclosures stupid... it's the foreclosures...

Go figure!!!

Explain this to me please.... congress and the media blamed the mortgage industry for writing what was called sub-prime financing... to people with feces for credit and little or no cash in the transaction... and then blame mortgage brokers for the entire melt down... and soooooo here we go to the Fannie Mae HomePath web site... seems that they have those REO's to sell off...
http://www.fanniemae.com/homepath/financing/index.jhtml

• Low down payment and flexible mortgage terms (fixed-rate, adjustable-rate, or interest-only)
• You may qualify even if your credit is less than perfect
• Available to both owner occupiers and investors
• Down payment (at least 3 percent) can be funded by your own savings; a gift; a grant; or a loan from a nonprofit organization, state or local government, or employer
• No mortgage insurance*
• No appraisal fees
• Also eligible for HomePath Renovation Mortgage
  
• HomePath Mortgage financing is available from a variety of lenders...

Guess when the government does it all is good... do as I say not as I do...

What am I missing?