Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Investigation of the Municipal Bond Market

As if we have not seen enough corruption in the financial system, there is a new investigation going on into municipal bonds. Basically, municipalities (local governments) issue bonds that are bought by investors in order to pay now for certain programs (like building libraries). The bonds are then paid off overtime just like a mortgage would be. The problem seems to be that there is very little auditing done of what the Cities claim. The issue explodes when a city defaults on it's debt.

New York Times - S.E.C. Suggests Reforms Of Municipal Bond Market

The general scope is over 3.7 trillion dollars. Lots of private investors like to buy municipal bonds because they have traditionally been seen as safe; however, there is the very real likelihood that cities have not been totally honest about their fiscal security. I seem to recall that recently some city in California was called to task for not giving accurate information in regards to their bond issuance.

If it turns out that the municipal bond system is rigged, things are going to get very interesting and cities will be unable to take on large projects that require bonding. This financial stuff is supposed to be boring; but, it just keeps getting more interesting in a bad way.

Iris I didn't have to wait in line

A couple of articles on biometrics and you. The first article has to do with travel, if you provide your drivers license and your passport to the airport, they will scan your iris and provide you with a new form of "secure" ID. With this new ID you will now be allowed to go to the front of the security lines.

CBS - DFW - Local - Iris Scan = Shorter Wait In Airport Security Line

The next article is about how a team of researches has been able to trick the iris scanners.

MSN - Your iris may soon be the target of identity thieves

In Arizona, police are now using Iris Scans to retrieve a persons criminal record.

Tucson News Now - Pinal County deputies use smartphone for crime fighting

On a side note, Apple has just bought a company that specializes in fingerprint identification. My father wanted to do this 40 years ago, I think he was ahead of the curve.

PCWorld - What Apple's Acquisition of AuthenTec Means

I think we are starting to see a trend here and it is one that I have been writing about for years. In order to use your cell phone or the internet, you are going to eventually have to have your biometrics scanned and verified to be you and your phone is going to be how you pay for things, at least for awhile.

In the future you will not be able to travel without your identification being verified.

Khaleej Times - Two jailed for trying to cheat in iris scan

Monday, July 30, 2012

Electronic Payment in the News

Sorry for not having much to say recently. It has been a very strange and busy last few weeks. This too shall be a rather short post.

Bloomberg - AT&T-Verizon-T Mobile Sets $100 Million for Google Fight: Tech

Friday, July 27, 2012

A Rambling Day

It has been a very strange day or maybe it just started oddly and kept the feeling. When I got into the office this morning the first thing I was told was that a very lovely lady, whom I had just met had passed on. Last Sunday she came to our church to sing, she had not performed in public for awhile. She was fantastic and just as nice and charming as possible. She was going to come back and sing again and she passed away this morning in her sleep, from what I have been told.

The news just sort of left me dumb. I had only just met her, she seemed so cheerful and now she is gone. During the course of my day many people told me about her (she worked int he same building as me). It seems she made a lot of people's days better. I regret that I did not have the opportunity to know her better; but, I did get to see her last performance and that was an honor.

Work was the same old nonsense. I came home, read the news and watched the Olympic opening ceremonies. Not quite sure what to say about that. It seemed odd. They went over famous British writers of children's books. They left out Jane Austen and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. They didn't talk about Dickens or Shakespeare. Huh? They played tribute to a lot of musicians; but, left out ELO and Herman and the Hermits. They paid tribute to movies and left out "To Sir With Love" which I believe was filmed where the Olympics are being held, on the East End. When the British Olympians entered the arena the queen was caught picking her nails and not paying attention. You would think she would know better.

I found the imagery odd and confusing. I didn't think it gave me a feeling of England. I am sure that it was very impressive inside the stadium. It just didn't do much for me and I don't even watch television.

I am left to read, watch videos and ponder how I might like to spend tomorrow. Perhaps I will lounge around and watch the Olympics, I was a gymnast and always enjoy watching that. Of course, having been a gymnast, I consider that sport to be the most balanced and beneficial to the overall body. I don't believe there is any female figure as attractive as that of a gymnasts; but, then the love of my life was also a gymnast. Still, I think it.

Well, I have nothing really to say so I shall go back to watching videos and reading. I hope you have a nice weekend.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

What About Those One in a Million Events

The odds of things are fascinating. The odds of getting struck by lightening are like one in 250,000. The odds of getting hit twice, those get really weird and I know of one person who was struck four times. Those odds are so large that we cannot even begin to calculate them. Now, If you have one such occasion it still falls within the realm of possibility. It is possible to have one even that exceeds all probabilities, it is called an outlier. What happens when more and more outliers occur? That is when you have to question your basic assumptions. A nice article to read.

Yahoo News - The Lookout - Colorado shooting victim’s brain condition helped her survive, pastor says

Now here is the question. If I can show that there are more outliers than there should be using any calculation, would you consider that the outliers may actually require you to reconsider your basic beliefs and if so, by what criteria might you reconsider it.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Am I a Buddhist?

The answer is no; but, I seem to have achieved a very Zen state. Many Buddhists believe that the purpose of life is to purge want from your life. I have done that or at a minimum it has occurred in my life. It is boring to not have want. I think I disagree with the Buddhists, we all need something to want. By the way, I am not unhappy, just working on caring again.

Monday, July 23, 2012

My Issue With Clouds

We have all heard about "Cloud Computing" or "The Cloud". The cloud is nothing more than using another companies remote storage of your data. The logic is simple, your tablet does not need to store much in the way of hardware or software if it is nothing more than a fancy browser. The next step is to eliminate servers, the computers that let us network and this will be done through virtual networks.

In the end you will not need an IT staff or much else. It will all be managed for you in the cloud and life will be easier. There is only one problem, if you not allowed to use the internet, you will not be able to be heard at all. Paper and typewriters and desktops will all go bye bye. There are very few printing presses anymore and all the newspapers are going online.

My readers know that I read a lot of informational sites in preparing this blog. If I was knocked off the net, I wouldn't be able to read one tenth of what I do now. Deaf, dumb and blind in a world where everyone else has access to all the information in the world.

And It Continues - Making Jellyfish From Rat Cells

A group of scientists have created an artificial jellyfish from hearts cells from rats and silica. They are so very happy with themselves. While it does not appear that the thing itself is what we would consider alive, it is where this is heading that should be of concern.

Nature - Artificial jellyfish built from rat cells

The intent, as stated by one of the people involved, is to create a chimera, a hybrid animal that does not exist in nature. No doubt, the scientists would be the most happy if they could create consciousness in these new things; but, where would this consciousness come from. We have a hard time even defining consciousness using scientific terms.

For those of us who believe in God, he is the one who gives sentience to living beings. For science it is looked at as an inconvenient aspect of reality, it means free will rather than simple action reaction mechanics. Frankenstein is what they seek to create. A living, breathing being with no soul.

Sunday Evening and a Little Peace

I have had a pretty good day. The Pastor gave a good sermon, amusing and useful. I had a nice dinner and have tomorrow off. Oh and a young friend of mine called me up to let me know he and his were doing well. I haven't seen him in a while and wanted to know. I had a nice conversation with a relative; but, I think he thought I was going to give him a different answer.

There isn't really any news, everything is about the Colorado shootings. That in and of itself is a good reason to pay attention to the news. One news item that I cannot find is on Elliot Broidy, he went in for sentencing on Friday; but, no sentence has been announced. The article that said he was going in for sentencing did say that they thought he might get off really lightly as he has been helping the prosecutors for over two years. He must have had a lot to say, glad it wasn't about me. Wouldn't it be interesting if they gave him a suspended sentence so long as he continued to help with prosecuting people in other places?

I cannot imagine any scenario that doesn't have Mr. Broidy being asked about Mr. Villalobos (the one that Jerry Brown sued). If you don't remember who he is, click the pension fraud tab and read the prior articles.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Colorado Shootings and Jumping to Conclusions

A horrible thing happened in Colorado at the screening of the new Batman movie. There is all sorts of speculation on why and the truth is, this is not a time for speculation. This is a time when we should show sympathy and wait for more information. This is not a time to use our bigotry to blame this event on anything or any group, it is not the time for pushing our personal agendas.

When I was young my mother pointed something out to me. She showed me that when something horrible happens and many die, the news usually overestimates the number of deaths in the first days. That happened in this case already. Original reports were in the 70s and in the end it is about 50 people who were shot. Same thing happened during 9-11. When something big happens we are so overwhelmed by the event that people have a tendency to misunderstand information and the information is cloudy at best because of the rust to report and understand.

I have read reports where they have blamed it on a lack of spirituality, on Christianity, on gun availability and all sorts of other things written by people attempting to use this event to push their personal beliefs. In the end this was the action of one individual who had his own reasons.

While I was at work on Friday, some of my employees brought a personnel problem to my attention. Lots of people were interviewed and everybody had their own take on what occurred. I was asked if I wanted to read the statements and declined to for the moment. As the reviewer I wanted to wait until all the information had been collected. I told my people to collect the rest of the information and not make any preliminary assumptions, just collect the information objectively and that we would review and attempt to make sense of it at a later time. I think the same applies here.

My prayers and thoughts go out to the family and friends of all involved, even the shooter. There are no winners when things like this happen. It is very likely that the shooter lost his mind, that is usually the case when people kill lots of people that they do not know without anything to gain from it. His actions will impact his family who had nothing to do with it and all the people who knew him. The people who knew him will agonize for years asking themselves if they should have known when they could not unless he had told them.

Friday, July 20, 2012

Elliot Broidy

Well, well, well. Mr. Elliot Broidy is back in the news along with another witness, David Loglisci are about to be sentenced for their roles in the pay to play scandal that involved the New York state Controller. The article said that they were expected to get light sentences. It has been years since Mr. Broidy pled guilty and he is only coming to sentencing now. Want to know why? Because he was working with the prosecutors. My guess is that he has been in the witness protection program while this has all been going down.

Now that those cases are over, perhaps Mr. Broidy has also discussed what he knows about what happened with CalPers and Lacers. With the New York stuff done, perhaps now they will turn their attention to California and Los Angeles. Funny how there has been no articles on Mr. Broidy since he pled guilty.

New York Daily News - Two Hevesi cooperators could get off easy

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

More on Public Pensions

I read this article from a blogger and thought it would be useful to people who are interested in public pensions. He looks at certain aspects of how the public pensions are used to fund companies that the politicians want rather than worrying about the best interests of the tax payer or the pensioners.

Reality Blog - CAFR SCHOOL: How Corporations Are Funded By Taxpayers

I like the effort that the writer put into his piece and he raises some interesting thoughts about how politicians might use killing public pensions in order to enrich certain private companies and individuals.

Monday, July 16, 2012

No Physical Cash for Canada

The Royal Canadian Mint of Canada has a new initiative, to get rid of all cash for transactions under $30. They have created a chip for use with cell phones that will allow for phone to whatever transactions. They have even begun a contest to see who can create the best application to work with their new chip. You can go to their website to see it, I am not going to bother linking to it, I read it earlier today; but, here is a nice article on it.

Tom's Guide - Canada Launches MintChip, a Project to Digitize Currency

When I say that in the future their will not be any physical cash, I am talking about in the very near future, years. Under $30 cash will be electronic and anonymous, under a couple of thousand dollars it will electronic; but, not anonymous. Larger amounts will be online transfers and completely traceable. We want to protect your identity from identity thieves; but, we want you to have convenience too.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Spoke at Church Today

It was my turn up at the bat and I gave a sermon on technology and where it is at today. It seemed to go over well, I talked about the things that my readers have read in the past. My intention is to do a series on things going on in the world and may test some of it here.

I think the issues that I most want to address are:

1. Genetic research and modification.
2. Electronic cash and a cashless, pegged economy.
3. Nanotechnology and technologically modified people.
4. Technologies elimination of privacy and government overbearence.
5. How these things were predicted.

I may or may not discuss how our institutions have been corrupted; but, I want to discuss it here for a moment. A documentary was made about a child sex ring that was managed by a black Republican leader in Omaha. The documentary was to air on a television channel and was even listed in the TV Guide. Just before it was to air, all copies were ordered destroyed, one copy survived and I want to give you a link to a video of it on YouTube. It is not broadcast quality and looks like an editing copy (numbers at the bottom of the picture). The video is disturbing and has some cussing.

Conspiracy Of Silence - Franklin Cover Up

Why do I bring this up? I bring it up because I just heard an interview with Mr. DeCamp in which he stated that he is about to be involved in a legal action representing the head of Boys Town which is going to rock this place and bring allegations and proof of something very amazing that will change this place.

For those of you who have been here the longest and remember the first two versions of this blog, I believe I had posted a link prior. I think it bears watching again in light of the Sandusky proceedings. You have to ask yourself why Penn State did not do anything to protect the children and kept rewarding Mr. Sandusky. The reason is simple, he made them money and the kids did not.

I care about my readers and I want to provide you information that you may have missed, I wish to be a blessing to you in this manner. When I was at church today, I talked about things that I usually reserve for this blog. I was able because of our audio visual person to show some things, I am definitely going to do that again. I didn't know I could show things from the internet while speaking.

My public speaking is like my writing, messy, slovenly, fast, erratic and to the point. I am like Roy Jones Jr., I know all the rules and I break them all. I don't care about the rules other than God's rules and focus on one thing, giving my message. I was going to use a verse in my talk today and while I was speaking I decided to use a different one. I have done that the last two times. I will change what I am saying in the middle of a presentation if I decide my audience would be better served. When I talk and when I write, I am telling you where my thoughts are at that moment, the subject matter is what was chosen in advance, never the presentation. Have a great week.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

The Tower of Babel and Today

According to the bible, in man's beginning we all spoke the same language. Because we could communicate so well, one man was able to manipulate the rest of humanity to build a tower to heaven, the tower of Babel. After the tower was built, God then destroyed the tower and confused the languages so that people spoke many languages and there was tension among them so they separated. That is the story of the Tower of Babel in a nutshell.

There is a new application for your smartphone. It can read any language and translate it for you to read on your phone instantly. It is only a matter of time before it can do it by sound. One of my favorite writers was Douglas Adams, he wrote "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy". In the book there is a fish called the Babelfish and if you put it in your ear, it would translate any language. We are getting close to that, too bad Mr. Adams is not here to see it.

So, here we are where we will be able to understand anyone. I should point out that missionaries have been translating the bible into languages which had not had a written language for years and years. I met a missionary who spent 30 or 40 years in the remotest part of Papua New Guinea with a tribe that had never seen a white person and had no written language.

Now, imagine if they used this technology so that you could read hieroglyphics or ancient Greek or Latin? That would certainly make trips to Egypt or the Vatican much more interesting. Translating is both a science and an art. When I teach from the bible, I really don't worry about which translation I use. There are some I prefer more; but, the truth is the King James was not written for people in America today anymore than we should use a Spanish bible if we do not speak the language. Translations evolve as a societies use of words evolve. The real issue is whether or not the translation you use is accurate to how the words are used today.

I am running two thoughts at once and will let them now diverge. If we rely on cameras to do our translating we should be concerned about their accuracy. We will be able to understand the generality of what we are being told; but, even if we all speak the same language there is still a lot of problems with understanding exactly what someone else means. These applications can allow us simple interaction with others who speak a different language; but, it will be limited and the generalities could be intentionally programmed into the application to avoid people getting into conflict.

Now, let us consider a hypothetical. The bible talks about what we did when we all had one language, what would we be capable of doing today if we could understand what every other culture was trying to tell us, if everyone could understand every language? Imagine being able to put on your brand new google glasses, read all foreign signs and hear everything said to you in your own language, including slang? This technology will evolve, they always do. The visual translation application will absolutely be available for your google glasses, it is just another smartphone.

Hey, as a safety precaution maybe you could restrict what it translated for you children, maybe it could mistranslate cuss words. If you were traveling with your kids, would you have it skip certain words? What if it replaced the word God for higher power?

Let me get back to my point. So, what would the world look like and what would we be able to accomplish if we eliminated the language barrier? Imagine being able to understand what the people we are killing in other countries would sound like if you could understand them when there were speaking for themselves on the internet, radio or television?

To my dear readers, I really do try to give you something to think about each time I write; but, it is hard to find stuff like this on a daily basis. I should also point out that I am just about to post my 1,000th post on this version of the blog. I have written more than that; but, I deleted the drafts. I do hope that I bring things to you that you maybe didn't know and rather than reacting to it, demonstrate how we can understand it a little deeper and see what it's consequences could be. Analysis is not reaction, it is pausing and considering all the possible consequences and assuming a natural progression of things.

Once this technology is in place and people no longer have to learn the language of the country they are in, you will have to get the glasses and application so that your child can understand the other children in their class. Here is the article.

MailOnline - Need an interpreter? Android and iPhone app instantly translates Spanish, Italian and French to English using your camera

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Crazy Stuff on the Internet

Dearest readers, there are things going on in the world that are real and not all of them are good. We are playing with our genetic code, in California we voted for stem cell research and it passed. It is not make believe. You are being monitored, filmed and tracked, any fool with a cell phone should know that. Lots of strange things are being done and we are not being fully informed about the purpose; but, not everything that we fear is happening and you cannot accept everything you see or read on the internet. That is why I provide links.

I was just watching videos today and came across this one YouTube - Picture 1077. Someone was looking at Google Earth and is freaked out by round green patches in Oregon. The man sounds Canadian. The round green things are farms. A number of years ago to conserve water and other things, we increased farming in the round. Basically your watering devices are centered in the middle of a long field and sit on big wheels, the pipe that distributes the water goes round and round rather than you having to pipe the whole area. We use this technology in the desert and I have seen it hundreds and hundreds of times in action.

Here is my point, you have to try and make sense of things and research them more. I hope my readers know that I don't worry about a zombie apocalypse because I don't. I worry about real things like biometrics and the move towards transhumanism because these are real things and you can read what these people have to say in their own words if you follow my links.

There are people who are very worried about FEMA camps and everyone being rounded up and put to death as occurred in Nazi Germany. That is not possible in the United States at present and won't be unless extremists are popular. POPULAR. There is no way that Obama could tell the military to round up all dissidents and kill them, that is just stupid. Neither the military nor the intelligence people would allow it. Now, I do not agree with all of the Executive Orders or the NDAA, I find them offensive to the Constitution; but, a true dictator could not be successful in the United States at this time.

I don't think Obama is any better than Bush and I left the party system long, long ago. He is as big a pawn as the others. We are not becoming communist Russia, that is fear mongering. We are losing our place as the worlds biggest power and we have sold ourselves out; but, that is because we stopped caring about one another.

No nation ever had a totalitarian takeover that did not announce itself and it's intentions. Hitler wrote Mein Kampf, it was no secret what he was trying to do. Stalin was up front about what he wanted and made it clear he read Marx. Mao wrote his little red book and Che Guerva openly wrote about what he believed. The real threat that we are facing at the moment is right wing fascism.

There are ultra conservatives calling for creating militias to stop a communist takeover. It is not sane and actually contributes to polarization. We are moving to a global government; but, not by force. The Law of the Sea Treaty is international law regulating everyone, the new Small Arms Treaty is an attempt international law and oversight and the U.N. is proposing international taxes; but, none of that makes sense if the "Powers that be" really wanted to kill everyone. Let me be clear, there are many who wish to see the population decreased; but, I not through killing people (yes, there are crazed people that would; but, they don't have the support).

Some of the things I discuss are scary because they are real, not because they are possibilities. I discuss real technology that is being used today, not some possible thing that might happen. I mean, I discuss how the technology can be used and my fears of people using it wrongly; but, if I say it is being used wrong today, it is because it is. It is legal for the government to monitor the internet, the courts decided that a long time ago. Nothing that goes over the public airways is private and the internet is a public airway. Having said that, nobody cares what 99% of you think, they just don't care because you are not a threat.

Think about this, lets say that everyone who used heroin put it on their Facebook. I don't know how many people use heroin but it is in the millions. Do you honestly think that the government would use Facebook to track down everyone of them and arrest them? They could not if they had to and nothing you could post would provide anything other than probable cause, not proof.

FEMA has built camps, that is their job. The camps could be used in the event of a national emergency such as the power grid going down because of solar flairs; but, the fear mongering puts us at risk. What if a solar flair took down the grid, are there people out there who would not believe it was the reason and think we were attacking ourselves and refuse to be protected? Yes and they could get dangerous.

Germany became authoritarian because they wanted a strong leader to protect them from the communists. Russia and China became communistic because their existing leaders were ineffective in protecting them from their government. China and Russia were not industrialized until after they replaced their old governments. Germany was an industrial power already. A country will accept harsh collectivism when the majority believe that only a few benefit from the system and the rest are left to squalor. Fascism reigns when people who are industrialized and have know better want to go backwards in time. The vast majority of Americans want to go back to what we had and that means they will seek a fascist leader.

In my humble opinion, we should reflect upon our reality. We are not producing anything to sell to the rest of the world other than weapons and are unwilling to live on less to truly compete. The Chinese and Indians and others are willing to work for less. Sometimes you have to take a step back to take a step forward and we are unwilling to do that.

I think I may have gotten off track. When you see something on the internet or the regular news, think about what you are being told rather than react with "how you feel", your feelings are meaningless if they are not based on good facts, figure out the facts first and don't presume your biases are in effect, look for logical reasons.

I was talking to someone today and what my father did came up. Because of what my father did, my family was monitored (he was a good guy). I understand government surveillance; but, understand how it works even in the new technology. Right now the government uses computers to look for keywords in e-mails and cell phone calls. They are looking for words like "bomb" and "militia" and whatever. They are not looking for "marijuana" or "adultery" or even "hate".

I will tell a true story. When I was in college I had a friend who knew that our phone was tapped. He was a jerk and called me up and acted as if he was selling me drugs when he was not. I told him on the phone to stop being a douche, I may have said he knew the situation of the phone, I don't remember or care and neither did the people listening in, they had a specific thing they were allowed to act on and that is how it works. The government may listen to everything; but, they really only care about certain things. That does not mean that I agree with the use of the technology, I am not; but, I understand how it is used.

I think this is one of my more rambling posts and I like it. If you read or see something and have an automatic reaction then you stopped analyzing it. Take a moment and start asking yourself questions about your reaction and why you are having it, don't assume your first reaction is valid.

When I found out that the government still had an interest in me, I decided to play a game and this blog is part of it. I told you when I asked my FBI file and it was denied because I am on a watch list. I have probably been on that list since the early 70s, it means nothing to me. If I made such lists, I would put me on it because of what my father did. That does not mean I like it, it is what it is. My father's decisions paid for my college and I accepted them at the time, that does not mean that is no playfulness in the Pimpernel.

If your parent had a top secret clearance then you were investigated and watched, not often, just enough. 99% of you never knew anything of any value and if you did you probably didn't understand it or how it could be used. I do not believe that any of my readers think I am stupid, I may be autistic; but, high functioning.

We need to watch the infrastructure we build because it could be used against us. We need to monitor the technology we create because it can cause harm. I love the Constitution; but, I love the bible more. The bible is as perfect as it should be, the Constitution is imperfect and the single greatest rule that man has ever created. The Constitution gives the rules by which it can be changed, by which we can rightfully and fairly modify the rules. The bible is about God and perfection, the Constitution is about man and our need to grow, it allows for us to learn. It suffers change; but, it does not suffer fools. If we allow for bigotry to rule us, bias, hate, emotion, then we pervert the Constitution, not just for protecting us, for it's totality.

What is more important, to be right or to be moral. If you choose to be right then understand eventually you will be wrong or you are perfect and God. If you choose to be moral then you must allow others to grow rather than just be right. The answer determines how much free will you will allow others. If you believe in God then you will allow as much free will in others as possible and trust that he has the answer. You must have faith. Tough answers for good people. As humans we can only vote for better, only God can be right. Peace.

My Lost Home and Silliness

So, I had a house. Then, my wife decided to divorce me and then the house no longer had equity. After that, my ex decided she didn't want the house and the court gave it to me while taking away much of my income. This is not a complaint, please read the whole thing. By the time I lost the house, it had lost 20% of it's value, not bad considering the rest of the market in the area lost close to 60%, I didn't buy at the top of the market and had a good conventional loan.

Because I couldn't afford the payment and alimony, I attempted to get and did get a Deed in Lieu. They took my house back at the full value of the loan, it only took two years during which time I paid nothing because I couldn't. Every month I would call the mortgage company and push to give them the house back, I did that for two years. Everytime I called they would ask me if lowering the interest rate was something I wanted to do. I had a 4%, 30 year fixed, they would have to lower it to a negative rate for me to have made the payment and that was not offered, 2% was and I had no way to pay that amount.

Follow me on this and you will understand, this is about real estate and not me and not the ex. After taking the house back, the loan processor (the loan was Fannie Mae), painted, carpeted and fixed whatever little things it needed to. Then they sold it for 40% less than my old mortgage and 20% less than the appraised value. They sold it for about $55 a square foot.

Now here is the thing. They never offered to lower my principal to the amount they sold the house for and went two years without getting any payments while they also made no effort to foreclose. All the effort to return the house was mine and I made the effort when the house was not upside down. I continued to make the payments until the court made me pay alimony and I made the payments while my ex and I were separated. I believe in paying my debts if at all possible and I don't believe divorce should be an excuse for getting out of community debts.

This is now where things get stupid. I know what the house sold for and I could afford the payments now. They are less than I pay for my one bedroom apartment and I get a good rate. When I bought my house, I paid 10% down and had a fully documented conventional loan. I had triple A credit and made more than enough to pay the bills and support a family of 5. I was such a good credit risk that my loan was sold three or four times in the first year. When someone like me provides proper documentation, like the court order, and proves they cannot pay, shouldn't they have just wanted to take the house back as quickly as possible and sell it?

Lets consider this. Once they decided to take the house back and what amount they were willing to sell it for, shouldn't they have asked me if I could afford the new sales price? If they had, they would not have had to fix anything or lose even more money with property managers and realtors and the hassle.

The problem is that people in the real estate business have found a way to make money from the Federal government (which owns 70% of all mortgages through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) by not foreclosing for three years. They get paid monthly just for managing the loan. The realtors have found a way to make a profit from selling the houses below market and to their friends.

There was a loan called the HOPE Loan and it was supposed to allow people to refinance their loan at the current market rate minus a percentage. Very few people got that loan because it wasn't offered often and even if you asked for it, many banks would not process the request (and they were required to by the FDIC).

I am happy to be free of home ownership. But, if I had been offered the opportunity to pay them what they are getting paid now, I would have done it just to make sure I paid as much as I could. I lived in that house for almost ten years. The total of my down and my monthly payments that I made was almost the total amount of the loan if you ignored interest.

If we are ever going to get back on track, we need to correct some things, like the real estate market. If we continue to reward people for taking advantage of the system, rewarding failure then we will ensure failure. Right now there is a spike in foreclosures, what if we offered to refinance at the appraisal rate minus 5%, how much money could be saved from the cost of repairing these properties and having to find new buyers?

Not all homeowners could make the new payments; but, many could and most of those mortgages are being paid for by your tax dollars and mine too in the meantime. Sometimes you have to write off losses; but, if you can get most of it back you are better off. If you can find loans that were held by people who died and it still took two or three years to foreclose then you will understand that we are living in a rigged economy.

Good business decisions should benefit everyone. Our business decisions seem to benefit a few at the expense of everyone. Let me make it simple. WE own 70% of all mortgages, the vast majority are upside down and the people cannot pay them. If we could drop the principal to what WE will get if we foreclose and resell the houses, shouldn't we do it? It would be cheaper and a good business decision. Does nobody believe in good capitalistic decisions anymore because you cannot get blood from a stone.

For people who believe they are conservative Christians, I post the following. I ask them to read Acts. It says that after Jesus died, the believers brought all they had to the apostles and that all was shared. How can a Christian complain about sharing all they have? The rich man was told to give up all he had and follow Jesus. He couldn't do it. If you are a Christian, you are expected to give all you can from your little and not from the great that you could attain, that is his decision. Gods.

Don't I ask such silly questions. You can address them personally or ignore them; but, they exist and they are good questions. I own very little and am happy doing so; but, it is a decision. What decisions have you made about your life?

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Your Eyes Give You Away

There is a town in Mexico called "Leon". This town is special, its over one million citizens are all going to have their eyes scanned and their individual biometrics will be added to a database to allow them to go into their offices, to take the bus and all kinds of other things. Positive ID friends. The manufacturer claims it will be required of everyone in the future; but, it will not.

I have know a couple of people with glass eyes and their are others with none. Your fingerprint cannot be a universal requirement either, that are quadriplegics. While no two ears are alike, not everyone has those either. The only thing we all have is a hear, I have not met a living person yet that does not have one.

I think the only reliable biometric identification that everyone could have would be a mark on your head. In the meantime, the eyes seem to have it. Just imagine this technology in use, the drug cartels won't be able to get people into Leon without them being identified, peace will return and everything will be wonderful.

Remember that new phone that I talked about, the one that watches your eyes to see what you are thinking and identify you and your friends. I don't know if some of my readers think I discuss these things too much; but, these are not illusions or things that will come some day, they are here now and in use. I think we need to know what it is coming and whatever will be is being tested now so if we see what is being done in other places we may be able to figure out what will eventually be universal. Biometric ID requirements only work if they are universal or globalism does not work. I have to be able to go to other countries and eat if we are going to have international business.

Now, just for fun, lets consider something. What if we used DNA scanners to verify ID, could it be cheated? Now, lets consider the fact that we can create DNA in the laboratory. If we knew a persons DNA, it is possible to create the same DNA by using the DNA from various people. I should also point out that it is possible to change someone's DNA (it is believed) through the use of programmed gene modifying viruses. We have entered a strange new world and many things are possible.

Singularity Hub - Iris Scanning Set To Secure City in Mexico, Then the World


Monday, July 9, 2012

Negative Interest Bonds

Lets see if I have this right. France is selling bonds and promises to pay less than the bonds cost. This is like me asking to borrow $1,000 and saying I will only pay back $900. Why would anyone buy those bonds?

The only reason an investor would buy those bonds is if they believed we were going to see deflation. The United States on the other hand is holding interest rates at about zero. These low rates mean that there is little reason for saving money. But, wait, there is more going on.

Let us assume for the moment that we are going to see deflation or at a minimum a continuation of zero interest. Where should you put your money. While, I am broke, it is still a valid question. My answer will surprise you, put your money in the stock market and keep it there, don't day trade. Buy a stock and hold it.

People look at the stock market and want to get out; but, I advise against it. Here is my logic. If we have deflation the value of your cash may become meaningless. If we have hyperinflation, the same result. Land and stock will adjust against the economy so you will still have an asset that you can sell.

Wild swings in the stock market are often intentional. The purpose is to scare people into selling when the market is fluctuating wildly. Buy stock in things that people will need no matter what the economy. I do not recommend buying gold or silver for a simple reason. The government can confiscate gold and silver at a rate that they set as was done during the depression. A bill passed in the last few years requires all sales of gold over $500 (I believe that was the amount, I wrote a post about it at the time) to be recorded and reported.

I do remember in 2007 when the housing market was beginning to crash and our economic gurus such as Bernanke, Greenspan and Paulson all said that the market would have a soft landing and that the sub-prime mess would not rollover to the rest of the housing market or the stock market. They were not wrong, they lied. They knew what was coming and so did the people in congress otherwise congress would have called for their being replaced. After all, it is either the biggest economic mistake in history or they lied.

We are seeing economic manipulation on a grand scale. The Libor scandal is just one aspect, the whole of the markets have been manipulated. Insider trading, interest rate manipulation, bank bailouts which turn into bonuses for doing a bad job. Complete and utter fraud in the real estate market and every other market.

How does this effect the average person, lets consider. Your taxes support the Federal Reserve which loans money to banks at near zero interest. The banks then lend it to you at up to 30% interest (credit card debt) while giving home loans at 4%. They are betting you will pay on secured debt or lose your home and they will have an asset. As the economy deflates and you make less, that 30% interest rate becomes impossible to meet.

There has been a lot of talk about student loan debts. The interest rate on them was set to go up; but, the lower rate has been extended for a time. In simplest terms we are seeing the economic pie shrink. There will be winners and losers as always when these things occur, the question is how are we going to deal with the tens of millions of people who are willing to work when there is no work, do we just let them starve in the streets, is that who we have become?

There is currently talk about reducing food stamps. We are told how some people misuse them and don't buy healthy and these extreme examples are used to justify not helping the people who survive on them and use them properly. It is odd that the same people who fear we are becoming a third world nation recommend that we have the same social policy as Mexico, ignore the poor.

Many people have just shut down and given up. They go through life day to day just waiting for the next shoe to drop and it will. When an economy contracts like this, the corruption in the system gets exposed. At least the corruption that they want exposed does.

Warren Buffet said it best, this is class warfare and the rich are winning. They win because they set the rules of the game. We do not live in a capitalist society and it is not because of social programs. It is because the economy is not a free market. The rules are written by industry and sold to us by the politicians and the media.

Poached Eggs

I ate poached eggs for dinner. You get no decent post.

Friday, July 6, 2012

Libor and Lies

There is a thing called Libor in the news, I don't have a lot of time to discuss this tonight but I want to make sure I have made you aware of it. Libor is the interest rate that banks in London lend to each other. It is an average of the rate charged by 16 banks, the big ones. Now, why is this important. Well, that rate is often used to determine what you will pay in interest when you get a loan.

There is a problem, the rate was rigged by the banks. The banks lied about what the rate was that they were lending to each other at. How is this important? Well, if you are playing blackjack in Vegas, the house advantage is 51% to your 49%. If you card count, you can put the advantage to you. If you do the same thing with trillions of dollars, you can effect every financial transaction and they did.

One of the banks investigated what had occurred and has just removed it's head; but, for this to have worked, all the banks (or at least many) had to participate. The financial industry in the City of London is one of England's biggest industries. If people stop trusting it, England will be severely damaged.

The western worlds financial system is corrupt, pretty simple. Wall Street was corrupt, our banking system is corrupt and Europe's is. Heck, even the Vatican bank has been found to be corrupt. The west controls the financial world because of dollars, the reserve currency of the world; but, China, Russia and others are looking to go off of the dollar standard. If they do, why should they let us control the financial system too?

I can see a time when the world creates a new financial system and a new financial capital. I like Dubai for the role; but, Singapore, Hong Kong and many others would do. China is the dominant economy in the world right now and they will have a say in it. Dubai works for me as it is home to so many companies worldwide including Halliburton.

I have said before that I see the elimination or greatly minimized use of paper currency. I think China, Germany, Japan and others are going to insist upon an electronic currency that is backed by actual commodities and other things. When the great transition occurs, I believe a lot of debt is going to be excused and there will be a reboot. That won't make things better for long for the west.

You might wonder why I don't see it as a good thing. The problem is simple, we don't produce anything to sell. Eliminate all the debt and we have no way to make money. The cost for Chinese goods is only going to go up and they produce everything. The west will simply transition into a second world country.

Both George W. Bush and President Obama have used Warren Buffet as a financial adviser and your can't get any better than him. If you read his stuff, you can know what he told them both, it is what he has written about for years. Our businesses are mismanaged, short term thinking and reward bad business practices. He will also say that we have destroyed our manufacturing base and will be in a long slow decline if we are lucky. He would have told them that this was all exposed after 911 when we had to beg people to go to restaurants for the sake of the economy.

I am firmly convinced that the housing bubble was intentional because it was. It also took place in other western countries at the same time, something that has never happened in history. The government allowed and encouraged loans with no income verification, when has that happened before, not in my lifetime. The bubble was the only way we could pump start our economy, employ people and build housing that we would need later because we cannot afford to build it again. Let me explain, it is cheaper to buy a new house then build one and a lot cheaper. We built these houses and sold the bad loans to the Chinese and Japanese. We are scoundrels.

As we continue our decline, we will lose our influence on other countries. Our military cannot help us, we cannot just steal what we need. The question is who we are and what we will become and it is our choice. We can cut our salaries and work together while not taking what we don't deserve or cheating on our taxes. We could be competitive again; but, the truth is, I do not see that happening. In the book "Gone With the Wind" somebody says that there are two times when you can make lots of money, when a society dies and when a new one is created. You can make a lot more while a society is dying, desperation pays more.

What we are witnessing is people who know that the game is rigged and the game is up. We are seeing people gamble with our future because they feel they have nothing to lose. The question that we really should be addressing is what next? We could repent that we have lost our morality and only care about ourselves; but, I don't think we will see that.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Genetically Modifying Living Things is Fun

I read this article from Wired Online and am just not surprised anymore. There is now an online game where you can virtually change the genetic makeup of a thing. If you win, then scientists in a lab will actually create what you were trying to do.

Wired - New Videogame Lets Amateur Researchers Mess With RNA

I don't know what to say about it that I have not said in the past. Not only will people happily genetically modify themselves; but, they have turned it into a game.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

An Old Show

There was a television show on long ago called "One Step Beyond". The show was sort of like "Unsolved Mysteries", it was about things that were documentable; but, made no sense. I offer you one of the shows. It begins at 1:17:00 or show on the linked video. It takes about 25 minutes to watch.

World War I was a horrifying war and this video is about a strange event that occurred during the war. It is not the only one, another occurred at Christmas when the war was stopped in a place for a time with no authority.

I have sympathy for anyone who has ever killed for whatever reason. It is a burden that has a price tag within eternity. The hardest thing in this world is to forgive ourselves. Forgiving others is easier than forgiving ourselves. To forgive others is to the see that everyone is imperfect. To forgive ourselves requires that we see that what we did was evil, that we knowingly did wrong. To forgive ourselves when there is no room for justification, when we know the truth is painful.

There is something worse than anger, there is apathy. There is something worse than revenge, there is righteousness. I do not mean worse in wrong, I mean worse in painful, just and effective. Heartless; but, full of justification. The point in time when morality is a rule to be used for revenge rather than morality being the shape of our heart which takes into consideration our human frailty. I was a very bad man. When I was young, I was apathetic and self-righteous. If people think I am scary now, they have no idea what I was capable of. Heck, people cannot understand me now.

People look at me one way when I paying to feed the poor. People look at me one way when I am preaching. People look at me one way when I am doing my job and one way when I resting and reading and writing for my lovely readers. I am who I am and I am not who I was and God blessed me by keeping hands free of blood.

I grew up at a time when cowards avoided military service and my intent was to join. I was ROTC while the Vietnam war was still going on, it ended before I graduated. I was never involved in the draft, my intent was to join. I wanted to be a pilot, I wanted to kill other pilots. I wasn't interested in dropping bombs. I was interested in air to air combat. The military wished to put me in intelligence or law. I would have ended up in intelligence, they had sought me for a decade the little ....... Most analysts read a lot, they have a subject or country or whatever and are supposed to know everything about it and write papers about it, it is all very boring.

There is a different type of analyst, he reads all the other summaries. That is the one to watch for, he is the planner. Do not trust a planner especially not a contingency planner. They are heartless, they are apathetic and amoral, just like I was.

I will tell the truth (I have nothing else to offer), I changed because I felt tenderness. I did not know that one could be tender. I thought the world had to learn "no". People I know read this; but, I shall tell the truth. I had five gang members confront me when I was younger and still of a mindset. I determined the best way to deal with the situation was to rip the eyes out of the one closest to me. I had hopes for dealing with the rest; but, it is irrelevant to the issue. The issue is not that I would have defended myself in a harsh way, the issue is that I would not have cared at all what happened to them.

To tell the truth, the day I stood 5 men down was something that only made me see what I was capable of. Today I look at such thoughts with shame. I am not ashamed that I would have protected others or my country, I am ashamed that the damage I caused would have meant nothing to me because I would have justified it and felt nothing, not remorse, nothing. I allowed righteousness (even though an agnostic) to outweigh my love. Love may have to harm (slapping a babies hand for going near fire); but, it should always care. I felt that from one.

In everyone's life there is someone who cares. I was able to be that for a psychic vampire, nobody else cared; but, he knows I do. One person cared for me and it changed my world, I had to think about people. The Lord God was kind enough to give me a chance to never explore that part of me, he always gave me a second chance and I always chose to to try and be better. God does not direct us, he restrains us so that we can grow and learn and love.

What I have discussed is what the video is about. Click the link and move the cursor forward to 1:17:00 into the video and watch it for 25 minutes or so. During World War I, over a thousand soldiers throughout Europe saw a vision and for one moment they just refused to kill each other.

Today is the 4th of July. It is Independence day. It is a day when we celebrate killing lots of Englishmen so that we didn't have to pay a tax on tea. We have such fine justifications for killing people; but, would we say taxing us one cent for tea was worthy of killing others for? If I don't piss off someone with this post then I suck as a writer.

We started a war over a tax on tea and we all drink is coffee now. Don't you find that funny? I don't know how man people died in the Revolutionary war over a tax on tea, it was too many, I can tell you that and I hate kings and queens. Canada paid the same tax and they didn't have to kill lots of people to be a pretty good country. I cannot tell a Canadian from an American. So who benefited, are you better off than the average Canadian? I cannot celebrate killing anyone for any reason anymore. Peace and here is the link.

YouTube - The Best of One Step Beyond Over 4 Hours of PD TV (NOT owned by APM Music and AdRev) Again, move the little slide bar to 1:17:00 and then wait for 25 minutes, it is an amazing story that you might not know; but, it is true.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Rest in Peace Andy Griffith

Most people know Andy Griffith from his television shows. While those were all memorable, what many may not know is that he was also a standup comedian. His first comedy album created a character that was later in the movies. I thought you might enjoy hearing his best bit from his album.

YouTube - Andy Griffith - "What It Was, Was Football"

Monday, July 2, 2012

An Interesting Spiritual Video

I know that there are members of my audience that are Christians. I don't often post directly to them; but, on occassion I see something or read something that I think they will find interesting. Such is the video link that I will provide today. I don't have much to say about it as I have been preoccupied with other things; however, I found it interesting. Just as an update, I have managed to eat bland foods and drink more water. I also will never eat a chili pepper again or anything made with it if I can help it.

YouTube - The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment

In short, the video is about 9-11, a bible verse and how it was used to outline what the U.S. would do after 9-11. Personally, as I have said before, I believe the western world has seen it's best days. I did not come to that conclusion based on the bible, just based on our approach and refusal to set things truly right. We are still trying to play by the same rules that caused our bubbles and collapses, short term and selfish thinking. Still, the video raised some interesting questions.

Pimpernel is Better

Well after going sleepless all night and not being able to keep anything down, Pimpernel is better. Truth is, I don't eat spicy food for a reason. I have an allergic reaction to curry and a sensitive stomach. In the past two years I heard about the "ghost chili", I have watched videos of people eating them (they are the hottest chili in the world) and I cannot imagine why they would want to.

Anyways, today I have a work project that requires my time. I will drink water and work on my project and wish you all the best.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Tough Times for Pimpernel

The Pimpernel ate some Mexican food and didn't know it had chili peppers in it. I don't eat chili peppers. I didn't start feeling the heat until after I ate them and then it got bad. I have been unable to keep down water and have been throwing up. Somehow it is even hotter the second time around. That is my way of saying that you might get a mediocre post at best.

I haven't really written about the Affordable Care Act(often called Obamacare) because there is more than enough written about it by others. The conversations that I have read are all biased. Yet, they seem to miss the real issues. Do we wish to live in a country where healthcare is only available to some? It is a valid question, this may not be the best way in which to achieve it; but, I haven't heard an alternative put forth that would ensure medical care to all.

I actually read an article where someone was saying that by giving more people access to healthcare, it would cause waiting times to increase. The person was complaining that they would have to wait longer because more people would have access to healthcare. Do we not care about one another?

I have read how people thought the Supreme Court should have overturned the law that congress passed, not Obama. These same people complain when the Supreme Court overturns other laws.

The Affordable Care Act was not a new concept and it didn't come from Obama. The Clinton's tried to get basically the same thing passed when Bill became president. What is not being discussed is why this bill was necessary now and the reason is because we have an aging population. Over the next 20 to 30 years we are going to see millions of baby boomers getting old and taxing the medical system. There is simply not enough to go around and costs are skyrocketing. These are facts.

Now, in case you think I am a supporter, I am not. Just because I don't support this bill does not mean I am against the idea of universal health coverage. While this bill does not eliminate private coverage, it will result in the destruction of it for just about everyone. Once it is in place, tax payers will insist that all civil servants be on it and be taken off of private policies. Guess what, government employees are one of the biggest groups on private insurance and when they go off of those plans it will destroy private medical insurance. Citizens will insist that government workers go on this plan and local governments will be thrilled to reduce their medical expenses.

The big companies that still offer health insurance will switch over for the same reasons, to save costs. One concern I have is that people are going to resent the elderly, smokers and obese people even more than they do now. They will blame them for using more medical services.

I think my biggest concern is over how the federal government is taking over everything. The Federal government now controls all water, food, the internet and is currently seeking to regulate all local public easements (the streets). Our business and political leaders have lost all sense of morality and have become the epitome of selfishness and corruption. Even the police have become evil. Our government gave guns to Mexican criminals, that is why congress is talking about holding our Attorney General in contempt.

Our nation actively and openly supports torture and the majority of Americans agree with that. Guess what, you get the type of government you deserve. An open and free nation does not support torture, only an authoritarian government does. This country has been sold out by our politicians and big business.

We the people are responsible for much of this. When we were in the housing bubble, people only cared about personal gain. The children all became spoiled and disrespectful of their elders. We have seen these things before in history and they always go badly.

2 Timothy 3:1 to 3:5 says, "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God--having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them."

I have very little hope for our country and none for Europe. The western world is in decline, we have been sold out. But then, did we really deserve to have as much as we did? We priced ourselves out of producing anything real. Have a great week.