We all know that there have been foreclosures across the United States; but, millions are still living in homes which they have not paid a mortgage for in a couple of years. Why haven't the banks foreclosed? The answer is because they have been busy selling their mortgages to the government and the Federal Reserve. That is what Quantitative Easing 3 has been about.
The big banks began giving loans to anyone and everyone knowing that they could not pay going back to 2001 or so. In 2007 it became apparent that people could not pay back their loans and that housing prices were unsustainable. The result was housing prices depreciating as much as 50%. Banks that were holding those loans went bankrupt and the government ended up having to take tax payer funds to bail them out. That is the starting point.
In order to take these loans off of the balance sheets of the banks, the Federal Reserve began buying the mortgage back securities from the banks. Now that they have purchased most of the mortgages, there is no longer a need to keep the market value up of these houses. When the balance sheet of the Federal Reserve is adjusted down it will be taxes that pay them back.
In short, banks made bad loans, profited greatly from it and then sold those bad loans to the government and Federal Reserve. Once the Federal Reserve stops buying these mortgages it will be because all of this debt will now be on the government. At that point, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will accelerate foreclosures and allow the balance sheet be be marked to market, to actually reflect the odds of getting paid back and the difference will be made up in taxes.
So, what does this mean for the housing market? Well, it means that home values will plummet again. This was hedged somewhat by the fact that most housing purchases in the past couple of years were paid for in cash by foreigners and hedge funds. QE3 was designed specifically to remove overpriced housing mortgages from the banks and with that now complete the tapering has begun. Once the tapering is complete the foreclosures can be completed and the real estate market values will adjust based on those who purchase those homes.
Monday, February 17, 2014
One More Rant on American Anti-Americanism
Rasmussen Reports - Economic Fairness. They took a poll and concluded that 83% of us think it is important for everyone to have a chance to succeed. In a separate poll, the same site states, "53% Rate Economic Growth As More Important Than Economic Fairness". They did not ask about taking from the rich to give to the poor, you can read the poll, they asked how important economic fairness was compared to growth. Think about the word fairness, not gifts, not charity, fairness.
Yahoo - AP - After UAW defeat, can GOP fulfill promise of jobs?. So, there is a VW plant in Tennessee and it was going to vote on unionizing. Their senator said that if they voted against unionization they might not get more production and a second line of vehicles being made there. VW itself said that the vote would have no effect on their decision and in fact, it is the only VW plant that doesn't include formal employee representation in their own words.
VW didn't sell out American workers, our own representatives did and they did not do it to benefit VW. VW would have been satisfied to give American workers the same treatment it gives German workers. So who benefited? Not VW, not workers. Nope, the real intent was to prove to other companies that they could come to Tennessee and get to give American workers fewer benefits then they give to workers in their own countries. How is that pro-American? Their governor said that a pro-union vote would keep other companies from coming to their state.
American businesses and politicians are telling foreign countries that they will pimp out our citizens and offer even fewer benefits to Americans than foreign companies offer their own citizens and are willing to offer United States citizens.
True American liberals and conservatives believe we should do what is best for this country. They may differ on how and who should benefit and to what degree within this country; however, they believe we should do things that benefit this country. The wealthy and the politicians are growing against that philosophy. They are promoting benefiting a few in this country and don't worry about how it effects the country as a whole. Until we understand that, we will continue to fall into sides and work against our own best interests.
Let me give you a couple of links to show you how little our politicians think of our American way of life.
Huffington Post - Romney Seeks an America More Like China.
Yahoo - Daily Caller - Bachmann says US should be more like China.
Examiner.com - Elizabeth Warren: U.S. should be more like Communist China.
See the pattern yet? I didn't think Romney, Bachmann and Warren agreed on anything; but, apparently they all agree that America should be more like communist China. Left, right and middle they are all pitching the same garbage, that America should stop being as it is and emulate a totalitarian government that doesn't care about it's own people. My father was in the Korean war, his outfit was overrun by the Chinese who rushed their people at machine guns because they had more people than bullets.
In China if a politician were to sell industrial secrets to the United States, he would be killed. In the United States if one of our companies sells it's trade secrets and patents to China, it gets a tax deduction. Let me simplify, the people who have control over this nation believe we should be more like Communist China and less like "Socialist" Europe. Given the choice, I would prefer to see the country become more like Europe than China.
My political philosophy is pretty simple, lets work together and take care of America. How about, "America First"? What if our central mission as a nation was to make America strong, not individuals or other nations; but, working together to do what is best for this country. I come from a military family and I don't know one of them that risked their lives so that we could be more like communist China or the old Soviet Union.
What is the essence of communist China, again, not complicated. They believe in unregulated industry and a regulated population. Look around you, the individual is being more and more regulated and the industries have all become unregulated which has led to economic catastrophes and a loss of jobs. You don't have to be a genius to see this. It is the intentional destruction of America and our way of life for the benefit of a few who don't even care about this society as a whole.
America is not failing because of welfare, gay marriage, drug use, online gambling, single mothers, or all the other garbage that you are being told. It is failing because we are being sold out by those who have benefited the most from our nation. It is being sold out and it doesn't need to be. We gave away our industrial base, we could still produce steel and washing machines if we wanted to. Our workers are more than capable of turning screws and owning homes.
Half of the graduate college students in America are foreigners. I want you to think about that. Maybe it explains why our own companies want to change immigration laws to allow them to hire any foreigner they want who is educated. In the past, we created and supported colleges because we thought they would educate Americans.
Lets be real Americans. If you college is increasing the number of foreign students that it allows in, stop supporting them, stop sending them money and push for your state to stop supporting them with your tax dollars to educate foreign students. I am not against foreigners, far from it and am quite satisfied with allowing Mexicans who have been here for decades to become citizens. I am against subsidizing foreign nationals who do not intend to become Americans in their education in America.
Why is this not discussed more in the mainstream media. The answer is simple, they are controlled by those who don't give a rats rearend about this nation and a political class that feels the exact same way. Our failure that allows them to appeal to our emotional responses is what they rely on to push our hot buttons and misdirect the real discussion of what is best for this nation.
Yahoo - AP - After UAW defeat, can GOP fulfill promise of jobs?. So, there is a VW plant in Tennessee and it was going to vote on unionizing. Their senator said that if they voted against unionization they might not get more production and a second line of vehicles being made there. VW itself said that the vote would have no effect on their decision and in fact, it is the only VW plant that doesn't include formal employee representation in their own words.
VW didn't sell out American workers, our own representatives did and they did not do it to benefit VW. VW would have been satisfied to give American workers the same treatment it gives German workers. So who benefited? Not VW, not workers. Nope, the real intent was to prove to other companies that they could come to Tennessee and get to give American workers fewer benefits then they give to workers in their own countries. How is that pro-American? Their governor said that a pro-union vote would keep other companies from coming to their state.
American businesses and politicians are telling foreign countries that they will pimp out our citizens and offer even fewer benefits to Americans than foreign companies offer their own citizens and are willing to offer United States citizens.
True American liberals and conservatives believe we should do what is best for this country. They may differ on how and who should benefit and to what degree within this country; however, they believe we should do things that benefit this country. The wealthy and the politicians are growing against that philosophy. They are promoting benefiting a few in this country and don't worry about how it effects the country as a whole. Until we understand that, we will continue to fall into sides and work against our own best interests.
Let me give you a couple of links to show you how little our politicians think of our American way of life.
Huffington Post - Romney Seeks an America More Like China.
Yahoo - Daily Caller - Bachmann says US should be more like China.
Examiner.com - Elizabeth Warren: U.S. should be more like Communist China.
See the pattern yet? I didn't think Romney, Bachmann and Warren agreed on anything; but, apparently they all agree that America should be more like communist China. Left, right and middle they are all pitching the same garbage, that America should stop being as it is and emulate a totalitarian government that doesn't care about it's own people. My father was in the Korean war, his outfit was overrun by the Chinese who rushed their people at machine guns because they had more people than bullets.
In China if a politician were to sell industrial secrets to the United States, he would be killed. In the United States if one of our companies sells it's trade secrets and patents to China, it gets a tax deduction. Let me simplify, the people who have control over this nation believe we should be more like Communist China and less like "Socialist" Europe. Given the choice, I would prefer to see the country become more like Europe than China.
My political philosophy is pretty simple, lets work together and take care of America. How about, "America First"? What if our central mission as a nation was to make America strong, not individuals or other nations; but, working together to do what is best for this country. I come from a military family and I don't know one of them that risked their lives so that we could be more like communist China or the old Soviet Union.
What is the essence of communist China, again, not complicated. They believe in unregulated industry and a regulated population. Look around you, the individual is being more and more regulated and the industries have all become unregulated which has led to economic catastrophes and a loss of jobs. You don't have to be a genius to see this. It is the intentional destruction of America and our way of life for the benefit of a few who don't even care about this society as a whole.
America is not failing because of welfare, gay marriage, drug use, online gambling, single mothers, or all the other garbage that you are being told. It is failing because we are being sold out by those who have benefited the most from our nation. It is being sold out and it doesn't need to be. We gave away our industrial base, we could still produce steel and washing machines if we wanted to. Our workers are more than capable of turning screws and owning homes.
Half of the graduate college students in America are foreigners. I want you to think about that. Maybe it explains why our own companies want to change immigration laws to allow them to hire any foreigner they want who is educated. In the past, we created and supported colleges because we thought they would educate Americans.
Lets be real Americans. If you college is increasing the number of foreign students that it allows in, stop supporting them, stop sending them money and push for your state to stop supporting them with your tax dollars to educate foreign students. I am not against foreigners, far from it and am quite satisfied with allowing Mexicans who have been here for decades to become citizens. I am against subsidizing foreign nationals who do not intend to become Americans in their education in America.
Why is this not discussed more in the mainstream media. The answer is simple, they are controlled by those who don't give a rats rearend about this nation and a political class that feels the exact same way. Our failure that allows them to appeal to our emotional responses is what they rely on to push our hot buttons and misdirect the real discussion of what is best for this nation.
A Growing Trend in Anti-Americanism Amongst Wealthy Americans
The attack in America is not on the 1%, it is on the rest of us and it is cynical and unrelenting. In it's most foul form, it seeks to pit Americans against one another while exporting the wealth of this nation to others. Lincoln famously said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." A nation is a community of people working together for the best of themselves and the community as a whole.
Over the past couple of years, since the economic crash, there has been a steady stream of wealthy people saying really undemocratic and anti-American things. In part, this thinking is what caused the crash. The economic crash was caused by people who saw an opportunity to make billions of dollars at the expense of the nation and the vast majority of us. When J.P. Morgan and others began selling mortgage backed derivatives that they knew had no intrinsic value and then betting on them to fail, we are seeing the real depth of the perversity of some.
Lets review some recent articles and see if we can find any trends.
The Weekly Standard - Chamber CEO: U.S. Needs More Low-Skill Immigration Since Americans Are Not 'Qualified" or 'Willing' to Do Such Work.
The Fresno Bee - A steady flow of talented, industrious immigrants can fuel a booming economy
. His real intent can be found in his words, "Many studies have concluded that the greatest percentage of job growth in the United States through 2020 is expected in low- and moderate-skilled jobs that cannot be automated or outsourced." What is funny is that this is coming from the CEO of the "United States Chamber of Commerce" and he makes it clear that he is not interested in creating jobs for Americans.
Business Insider - Millionaire VC: Rich People Like Me Should Get More Votes. The person who made this claim is retired venture capitalist Tom Perkins. Following his philosophy, women who worked at home would have been denied the vote in the 1950s. While his statement is simply ignorant, there is something much deeper going on that he is expressing. It is not just a disdain for those who are not wealthy, it is a disdain for the concept of an American society.
Reuters - Rich shouldn’t have to pay taxes, Santorum backer says.
Politico - Why the rich are freaking out. One of the best lines from the article is this, "“Life is hard enough, and I think this constant lecturing on ethics and on integrity by many stakeholders is probably the most frustrating part of the equation. Because I don’t think there are many people who are perfect,” Sergio Ermotti, chief executive of UBS AG, told The Wall Street Journal. “We are far from being perfect … but it’s not going to be very helpful to be constantly bashing banks.” Here is a bank executive complaining that they are being asked to be ethical and have integrity, think about that for a moment.
Yahoo - Reuters - Foreign banks bracing for tough U.S. Fed capital rules. Basically the article complains, ever so slightly, that the Federal Reserve is making foreign banks inside the United States follow the same rules for capitalization as American banks. My answer is much simpler, don't allow foreign banks in the United States as they have little to no stake in the outcome here.
Americans used to invest in America and we used to think that was a good thing. Our industrial base was very patriotic and our banks were American local banks that invested in their community with our money and they saw it as the communities money because it relied on small depositors to put money into the banks that was then loaned to local businesses and residents. During the financial crisis the Federal Reserve gave hundreds of billions of dollars in loans to foreign nations and foreign banks which was all backed up by our taxes.
I particularly enjoy reading extremists revisionist history. Lets start with a couple of minor facts. Firstly, this nation was not created as capitalistic. In fact, it was a fricking colony of England and they received much of our wealth through taxes and fees. We did all the hard work and shipped the profits off to Britain. Secondly, this nation was heavily invested in slavery. That is a great one, so democratic. Actually, something that was really cynical in the original Constitution was that southern states were given representation in congress based on the number of slaves they had (although I think each slave was counted as 3/4ths of a human or so) even though those slaves could not vote. I should also point out that the original Articles of Confederation allowed states to place tariffs on goods from other states, they didn't even have free trade.
One of the articles above has an idiot claim that people like Steve Jobs did so much for America. Wait, not one Apple product is manufactured in America, he outsourced about a million jobs. "Steve" jobs are primarily Chinese communist jobs. Do you remember when conservatives used to fight communism? Now they fund it by outsourcing our jobs there. Will we be outsourcing our jobs to North Korea next? Why not outsource our jobs to the Taliban? I find it amazingly hypocritical of some on the right claiming that President Obama is a communist and how bad socialism is while sending our jobs over to communist China.
Over the past couple of decades American companies have outsourced 27 million jobs to communist China. This is ironic in that it just about matches the number of unemployed in America. Our representatives in congress that should be the most supportive of America voted in the laws that promoted sending jobs to communist China and allowing these companies to not pay taxes here. Real patriots.
There is a lot of talk right now about immigration "reform" (probably the most abused word in English anymore). The "right" is saying it is about illegal Mexican aliens; but, the real game is to bring in Chinese immigrants. If you go back to the article I linked to above, you see that the person is arguing that we need to bring in more educated people and reform immigration rules to allow that. Many in the tech industry are calling for this because they can get highly educated people on the cheap by trading them immigration status. Why aren't the "conservatives" discussing this?
Both the left and right and mainstream media are selling you a divide and conquer and slogan filled line of propaganda as they work together to strip this nation of the fruits of our parents labor. The real issue is not income inequality in the United States, it is about selling out the American citizen. A traitor is someone who works against the interests of their own nation, their own community, that is what the word means.
When an American company sends jobs to communist China, how would you describe them? I am disgusted by those who claim to be patriotic and conservative that also support sending 27 million American manufacturing jobs to communist China. I don't care about gay marriage, legalizing marijuana or online poker half as much as I care about the true destruction of America and see those other issues as distractions. Your life has been ruined and the lives of your children by the destruction of our industrial base by "conservatives". They are not conservative, they are business people who only care about a profit and not about this nation. Don't get me wrong, the true entrepreneurs still exist, they are small businessman.
The best part of the Republican party at present is the Tea Party and even though I tend towards the Occupy philosophy, I agree with the Tea party sentiment more than the Mitt Romney anything for a buck philosophy. Real conservatives believe in this nation. Now, here is what the 1% are really afraid of, once the Tea Party figures out that they are being manipulated by the Republicans and that the Occupy movement and them have agreement on nationalism as opposed to globalism, they will work together and change the rules to favor this nation. That is the real fear and explains why they are for bringing in immigrants from China and the outsourcing of jobs.
Here is a great little excerpt from a movie called Network, it was made in 1976 and is truer more today then it even was then. YouTube - "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore". What some people are worried about is that we will say, "I'm a human being... My life has value".
In the linked article above from Politico there is a wonderful sentence. "Ken Langone, a wealthy investor and co-founder of Home Depot, recently told CNBC that the Catholic Church in New York might see a decline in donations if Pope Francis did not tone down his comments about the dangers of economic inequality." Wow. I have a lot of disagreements with the Catholic church; but, they believe themselves to represent God's beliefs and I support their attempt. By the way, Mr. Langone claims to be a Catholic, yet, he seems to believe that the church should base it's policy on what is economically popular. I grew up Catholic and am pretty sure that they are supposed to follow the words of the Pope and not chastise him.
People should be able to see the obvious. Imagine that during the cold war an American company decided to build a automotive manufacturing company in the Soviet Union and gave Russia their patents? Think about how crazy that sounds. Liberals and conservatives would have flipped out and certainly not give tax benefits to them for doing so. Yet, that is what we have done in China and nobody seems to get it or complain.
Here is the key. The United States could become some sort of European socialist country or go into some sort of neo-capitalist utopia and it won't make much of a difference if we send all of our jobs overseas. A dead capitalist and a dead socialist look the same. We need to fix this country and make our laws work for this country, if we do that we can argue later over how to distribute wealth.
Over the past couple of years, since the economic crash, there has been a steady stream of wealthy people saying really undemocratic and anti-American things. In part, this thinking is what caused the crash. The economic crash was caused by people who saw an opportunity to make billions of dollars at the expense of the nation and the vast majority of us. When J.P. Morgan and others began selling mortgage backed derivatives that they knew had no intrinsic value and then betting on them to fail, we are seeing the real depth of the perversity of some.
Lets review some recent articles and see if we can find any trends.
The Weekly Standard - Chamber CEO: U.S. Needs More Low-Skill Immigration Since Americans Are Not 'Qualified" or 'Willing' to Do Such Work.
The Fresno Bee - A steady flow of talented, industrious immigrants can fuel a booming economy
. His real intent can be found in his words, "Many studies have concluded that the greatest percentage of job growth in the United States through 2020 is expected in low- and moderate-skilled jobs that cannot be automated or outsourced." What is funny is that this is coming from the CEO of the "United States Chamber of Commerce" and he makes it clear that he is not interested in creating jobs for Americans.
Business Insider - Millionaire VC: Rich People Like Me Should Get More Votes. The person who made this claim is retired venture capitalist Tom Perkins. Following his philosophy, women who worked at home would have been denied the vote in the 1950s. While his statement is simply ignorant, there is something much deeper going on that he is expressing. It is not just a disdain for those who are not wealthy, it is a disdain for the concept of an American society.
Reuters - Rich shouldn’t have to pay taxes, Santorum backer says.
Politico - Why the rich are freaking out. One of the best lines from the article is this, "“Life is hard enough, and I think this constant lecturing on ethics and on integrity by many stakeholders is probably the most frustrating part of the equation. Because I don’t think there are many people who are perfect,” Sergio Ermotti, chief executive of UBS AG, told The Wall Street Journal. “We are far from being perfect … but it’s not going to be very helpful to be constantly bashing banks.” Here is a bank executive complaining that they are being asked to be ethical and have integrity, think about that for a moment.
Yahoo - Reuters - Foreign banks bracing for tough U.S. Fed capital rules. Basically the article complains, ever so slightly, that the Federal Reserve is making foreign banks inside the United States follow the same rules for capitalization as American banks. My answer is much simpler, don't allow foreign banks in the United States as they have little to no stake in the outcome here.
Americans used to invest in America and we used to think that was a good thing. Our industrial base was very patriotic and our banks were American local banks that invested in their community with our money and they saw it as the communities money because it relied on small depositors to put money into the banks that was then loaned to local businesses and residents. During the financial crisis the Federal Reserve gave hundreds of billions of dollars in loans to foreign nations and foreign banks which was all backed up by our taxes.
I particularly enjoy reading extremists revisionist history. Lets start with a couple of minor facts. Firstly, this nation was not created as capitalistic. In fact, it was a fricking colony of England and they received much of our wealth through taxes and fees. We did all the hard work and shipped the profits off to Britain. Secondly, this nation was heavily invested in slavery. That is a great one, so democratic. Actually, something that was really cynical in the original Constitution was that southern states were given representation in congress based on the number of slaves they had (although I think each slave was counted as 3/4ths of a human or so) even though those slaves could not vote. I should also point out that the original Articles of Confederation allowed states to place tariffs on goods from other states, they didn't even have free trade.
One of the articles above has an idiot claim that people like Steve Jobs did so much for America. Wait, not one Apple product is manufactured in America, he outsourced about a million jobs. "Steve" jobs are primarily Chinese communist jobs. Do you remember when conservatives used to fight communism? Now they fund it by outsourcing our jobs there. Will we be outsourcing our jobs to North Korea next? Why not outsource our jobs to the Taliban? I find it amazingly hypocritical of some on the right claiming that President Obama is a communist and how bad socialism is while sending our jobs over to communist China.
Over the past couple of decades American companies have outsourced 27 million jobs to communist China. This is ironic in that it just about matches the number of unemployed in America. Our representatives in congress that should be the most supportive of America voted in the laws that promoted sending jobs to communist China and allowing these companies to not pay taxes here. Real patriots.
There is a lot of talk right now about immigration "reform" (probably the most abused word in English anymore). The "right" is saying it is about illegal Mexican aliens; but, the real game is to bring in Chinese immigrants. If you go back to the article I linked to above, you see that the person is arguing that we need to bring in more educated people and reform immigration rules to allow that. Many in the tech industry are calling for this because they can get highly educated people on the cheap by trading them immigration status. Why aren't the "conservatives" discussing this?
Both the left and right and mainstream media are selling you a divide and conquer and slogan filled line of propaganda as they work together to strip this nation of the fruits of our parents labor. The real issue is not income inequality in the United States, it is about selling out the American citizen. A traitor is someone who works against the interests of their own nation, their own community, that is what the word means.
When an American company sends jobs to communist China, how would you describe them? I am disgusted by those who claim to be patriotic and conservative that also support sending 27 million American manufacturing jobs to communist China. I don't care about gay marriage, legalizing marijuana or online poker half as much as I care about the true destruction of America and see those other issues as distractions. Your life has been ruined and the lives of your children by the destruction of our industrial base by "conservatives". They are not conservative, they are business people who only care about a profit and not about this nation. Don't get me wrong, the true entrepreneurs still exist, they are small businessman.
The best part of the Republican party at present is the Tea Party and even though I tend towards the Occupy philosophy, I agree with the Tea party sentiment more than the Mitt Romney anything for a buck philosophy. Real conservatives believe in this nation. Now, here is what the 1% are really afraid of, once the Tea Party figures out that they are being manipulated by the Republicans and that the Occupy movement and them have agreement on nationalism as opposed to globalism, they will work together and change the rules to favor this nation. That is the real fear and explains why they are for bringing in immigrants from China and the outsourcing of jobs.
Here is a great little excerpt from a movie called Network, it was made in 1976 and is truer more today then it even was then. YouTube - "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore". What some people are worried about is that we will say, "I'm a human being... My life has value".
In the linked article above from Politico there is a wonderful sentence. "Ken Langone, a wealthy investor and co-founder of Home Depot, recently told CNBC that the Catholic Church in New York might see a decline in donations if Pope Francis did not tone down his comments about the dangers of economic inequality." Wow. I have a lot of disagreements with the Catholic church; but, they believe themselves to represent God's beliefs and I support their attempt. By the way, Mr. Langone claims to be a Catholic, yet, he seems to believe that the church should base it's policy on what is economically popular. I grew up Catholic and am pretty sure that they are supposed to follow the words of the Pope and not chastise him.
People should be able to see the obvious. Imagine that during the cold war an American company decided to build a automotive manufacturing company in the Soviet Union and gave Russia their patents? Think about how crazy that sounds. Liberals and conservatives would have flipped out and certainly not give tax benefits to them for doing so. Yet, that is what we have done in China and nobody seems to get it or complain.
Here is the key. The United States could become some sort of European socialist country or go into some sort of neo-capitalist utopia and it won't make much of a difference if we send all of our jobs overseas. A dead capitalist and a dead socialist look the same. We need to fix this country and make our laws work for this country, if we do that we can argue later over how to distribute wealth.
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