I don't know how to describe his humor. He was mostly clean, he wasn't exciting; but, could always be counted on to amuse. He liked to talk about stupid things we do and say. He told one joke about how people always say that they know that whatever they are looking for will be found in the last place they look. He asked, why wouldn't it be, why would you keep looking once you found it.
Here is what I do know about Mr. Brenner, he helped young comedians get noticed and with their work. Comedy is pretty cut-throat and a lot of comedians steal jokes from other comedians. I never heard of Mr. Brenner being accused of that. His official website posted that he had a sex related injury and was being cared for by his family and three undisclosed ladies. In fact, he died from cancer; but, joking till the end. I am posting a link to his last big televised concert.
Youtube - David Brenner: Back with a Vengeance!
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Veronica Mars and topical news
I took today off work. For the past few years taking a day off meant taking care of personal business or seeing the doctor. Nope, I just took the day off. I went out to the movies and saw "Veronica Mars" and then had dinner with friends. My dear friends don't get a lot of time out, they spend a lot of time taking care of others and while they have an interest in world affairs, they really don't have the time follow it the way I do.
A few people that know me in the real world have told me that I write just like I talk. I guess that could be good or bad. When we go out the subject matters usually have a little personal information (obviously I showed them pictures of my grandchild and talked about how she was doing) and news of the day. Because they don't have time to read the blog or much else, often I sort of go over things that I have recently written about. We talked about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the Malaysian flight that disappeared, I haven't written about that and may tonight, we shall see.
The great thing about having these conversations is that I get feedback and questioned. My friends are fairly traditional conservatives with spiritual beliefs and old school family type people. To those who don't personally know me I have to explain something, while my thinking may be different and my views all over the place, I live the most conservative and quiet lifestyle and attempt to avoid conflict in my personal life. The Pimpernel is quite boring and prefers to listen to music, read and write. I am also very tolerant about other people's lifestyles, my friends span the gammit. I am not very social, as a rule, and prefer to be around people I already know well. The people I work with and know through business often assume that I am very social, some have said they thought I was a ladies man of some sort and I don't even date. Only my closest friends know how personal I really am. Even on this blog you really only see a very small part of who I am because I rarely discuss how I feel and try to keep to issues that I am pondering. It is partly magic, the closer you look, the less you see and the best part of magic is not the trick; but, the show.
At dinner, my friends and I discussed what the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac thing was really about. I brought up the articles and issues in the same order that I recently wrote about them. As I dripped bits of information, one of my friends followed the line of thought I expected from someone with conservative views to the tee. Because of the progression of the articles being explained as we talked, the point could be made and the biases could be looked past. That is the key to how the media works, The first article is released and our response is judged, then the second balloon is floated and again our biases are monitored. By the time the story gets to it's next phase, you stop listening to the questions and only hear your biases.
Now, to Veronica Mars. My daughter was a fan of the show; but, as she just had the baby could not go to the opening today. I never watched the show until I read about the Kickstarter campaign. I decided that if over 91,000 people would donate $5.7 million to have a movie made, I should find out why. I watched the series on the computer and it was good enough. I thought the writing was snappy and the acting showed a true connection between the actors. I did not believe that you could make a movie with the production values needed for the amount of money being spent; but, it turned out the actors worked way below what they could have gotten.
I liked the movie. I thought they gave the audience their moneys worth. I will not give any specifics about the plot; but, it worked. I love film and would have enjoyed film making; but, I had a different career that I was committed to. I am always disappointed when someone takes over $100 million and makes a piece of garbage with no heart, I think about how much more they could have done with that money making a worthwhile film. This was a very worthwhile film. Now, to the news.
The Guardian - Feinstein accuses CIA of 'intimidating' Senate staff over torture report. The press has either been talking about how she shouldn't care because she thinks it is okay for everyone else to be monitored and others in the press are talking about how "Obama" is monitoring politicians to influence their decisions. Neither is the real point of the story. The fact of the matter is that all people that are given certain information are monitored, we monitor anyone with access to secrets and Fienstein knows that, she is faking outrage. The real thing to watch for is her solution to the "problem".
The Guardian - Dianne Feinstein statement on CIA torture report 'cover-up' – full text. Now, I want you to read the actual text of what she said and it shows some interesting things. Firstly, she is the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, do you really believe she didn't know that the congress was also monitored. EVERYONE with top secret clearance can be monitored at any time.
Yahoo - How the jobless deal could cut your pension. Everything that this writer says is garbage and I will pick some of them. Firstly, he talks about how congress is going to restore benefits for people who were long term unemployed. Further down the article he states that this will give people about $300 a month. LOL. Welfare pays more and general relief pays about the exact same amount. The difference between putting people on general relief (what long term unemployed and people who never worked) get is the same cost; but, by showing them as unemployed, it changes the employment numbers.
What is really disturbing is that congress is using this promise of paying "unemployment benefits" to justify allowing companies to not fund their pensions. There is no connection between private pensions and unemployment benefits at all. This is about stealing from any retirement that they can. They have been working on this for years and will continue down this path.
Huffington Post - Reuters - FDIC Sues 16 Big Banks For Rigging LIBOR Rates. Taxpayers, pensioners, governments and just about everyone else has lost more because the big banks conspired to fix markets than they pay for benefits for citizens. Think about that.
Yahoo - Investors Business Daily - Fannie Mae Foreclosure Perks Go To Residents, Not Investors. Another article with a writer completely ignorant of what is going on or a complete shill. Lets start with this little bit, it talks about "owner occupants" and "residents", what do you think that means? I can assure you that there are very few renters in foreclosed upon properties, these are the people who used to own the homes and got foreclosed upon but still live in them and that is why they were not called renters in the article.
The "investors" that are being taken advantage of, they are not investors in Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, they are potential buyers of the properties, speculators. The same people who helped create the housing bubble. The real issue is that once this program is in place, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will see a windfall in profits for the taxpayer and the banks don't want to see that, they want to buy up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from the government at a low price before they become really profitable.
Bloomberg - Fannie Mae Liquidation Seen Sparing Preferred Holders. I like the lies in this article because just about nobody is going to get it. Lets start with this, the article says, common share values (the shares the government holds; but, it doesn't tell you that) dropped in value when it came out that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would turn a profit for taxpayers and Preferred Stock has had a five fold increase in value even though their payouts should not increase more than the payouts for common shares (please read the previous few posts if you don't understand this - common shares get the increased profits and preferred shares get what they were promised).
Basically, members of congress want to sell Fannie and Freddie Mac to the large banks, the same ones that have rigged all the markets. If you continue down the article it becomes very clear that the plan, now that these two companies are making big profits, is to sell them off cheap and the supposed benefit is that taxpayers will be responsible for any losses these companies have that are greater than 10%. If the government sells the stock to private investors, why should we keep the liabilities?
Here is a quote from the article, "Any wind down of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would have to address whether the companies’ values -- from the loans and bonds on their balance sheets to income from their existing guarantees on about $4 trillion of securities -- is split up among several stakeholders or left for taxpayers." I don't know who wrote the article; but, they should know that it is not okay to have one sentence paragraphs. The lie within their statement is that there is a question over how the profits of the sale are to be split, there is no question, all profits in the sale of common stock goes to the Federal government, to taxpayers as it should.
The article also makes this statement, "The Corker-Warner bill called for the proceeds from unwinding of the companies’ estates once their replacement was established to be first used to pay down the government’s investment and then their preferred shares. Anything left would go to holders of their common stock." So, this bill, intended legislation, requires that the government be paid back it's "investment" and then pay the preferred shares giving the profit to the common shares. Huh? But the government is holding the common shares, so how does this plan change anything? Oh, it is the purchasers of the common shares that get all the profit, the people who buy the shares from the government. That is some tricky propaganda their kids.
A few people that know me in the real world have told me that I write just like I talk. I guess that could be good or bad. When we go out the subject matters usually have a little personal information (obviously I showed them pictures of my grandchild and talked about how she was doing) and news of the day. Because they don't have time to read the blog or much else, often I sort of go over things that I have recently written about. We talked about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the Malaysian flight that disappeared, I haven't written about that and may tonight, we shall see.
The great thing about having these conversations is that I get feedback and questioned. My friends are fairly traditional conservatives with spiritual beliefs and old school family type people. To those who don't personally know me I have to explain something, while my thinking may be different and my views all over the place, I live the most conservative and quiet lifestyle and attempt to avoid conflict in my personal life. The Pimpernel is quite boring and prefers to listen to music, read and write. I am also very tolerant about other people's lifestyles, my friends span the gammit. I am not very social, as a rule, and prefer to be around people I already know well. The people I work with and know through business often assume that I am very social, some have said they thought I was a ladies man of some sort and I don't even date. Only my closest friends know how personal I really am. Even on this blog you really only see a very small part of who I am because I rarely discuss how I feel and try to keep to issues that I am pondering. It is partly magic, the closer you look, the less you see and the best part of magic is not the trick; but, the show.
At dinner, my friends and I discussed what the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac thing was really about. I brought up the articles and issues in the same order that I recently wrote about them. As I dripped bits of information, one of my friends followed the line of thought I expected from someone with conservative views to the tee. Because of the progression of the articles being explained as we talked, the point could be made and the biases could be looked past. That is the key to how the media works, The first article is released and our response is judged, then the second balloon is floated and again our biases are monitored. By the time the story gets to it's next phase, you stop listening to the questions and only hear your biases.
Now, to Veronica Mars. My daughter was a fan of the show; but, as she just had the baby could not go to the opening today. I never watched the show until I read about the Kickstarter campaign. I decided that if over 91,000 people would donate $5.7 million to have a movie made, I should find out why. I watched the series on the computer and it was good enough. I thought the writing was snappy and the acting showed a true connection between the actors. I did not believe that you could make a movie with the production values needed for the amount of money being spent; but, it turned out the actors worked way below what they could have gotten.
I liked the movie. I thought they gave the audience their moneys worth. I will not give any specifics about the plot; but, it worked. I love film and would have enjoyed film making; but, I had a different career that I was committed to. I am always disappointed when someone takes over $100 million and makes a piece of garbage with no heart, I think about how much more they could have done with that money making a worthwhile film. This was a very worthwhile film. Now, to the news.
The Guardian - Feinstein accuses CIA of 'intimidating' Senate staff over torture report. The press has either been talking about how she shouldn't care because she thinks it is okay for everyone else to be monitored and others in the press are talking about how "Obama" is monitoring politicians to influence their decisions. Neither is the real point of the story. The fact of the matter is that all people that are given certain information are monitored, we monitor anyone with access to secrets and Fienstein knows that, she is faking outrage. The real thing to watch for is her solution to the "problem".
The Guardian - Dianne Feinstein statement on CIA torture report 'cover-up' – full text. Now, I want you to read the actual text of what she said and it shows some interesting things. Firstly, she is the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, do you really believe she didn't know that the congress was also monitored. EVERYONE with top secret clearance can be monitored at any time.
Yahoo - How the jobless deal could cut your pension. Everything that this writer says is garbage and I will pick some of them. Firstly, he talks about how congress is going to restore benefits for people who were long term unemployed. Further down the article he states that this will give people about $300 a month. LOL. Welfare pays more and general relief pays about the exact same amount. The difference between putting people on general relief (what long term unemployed and people who never worked) get is the same cost; but, by showing them as unemployed, it changes the employment numbers.
What is really disturbing is that congress is using this promise of paying "unemployment benefits" to justify allowing companies to not fund their pensions. There is no connection between private pensions and unemployment benefits at all. This is about stealing from any retirement that they can. They have been working on this for years and will continue down this path.
Huffington Post - Reuters - FDIC Sues 16 Big Banks For Rigging LIBOR Rates. Taxpayers, pensioners, governments and just about everyone else has lost more because the big banks conspired to fix markets than they pay for benefits for citizens. Think about that.
Yahoo - Investors Business Daily - Fannie Mae Foreclosure Perks Go To Residents, Not Investors. Another article with a writer completely ignorant of what is going on or a complete shill. Lets start with this little bit, it talks about "owner occupants" and "residents", what do you think that means? I can assure you that there are very few renters in foreclosed upon properties, these are the people who used to own the homes and got foreclosed upon but still live in them and that is why they were not called renters in the article.
The "investors" that are being taken advantage of, they are not investors in Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, they are potential buyers of the properties, speculators. The same people who helped create the housing bubble. The real issue is that once this program is in place, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will see a windfall in profits for the taxpayer and the banks don't want to see that, they want to buy up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from the government at a low price before they become really profitable.
Bloomberg - Fannie Mae Liquidation Seen Sparing Preferred Holders. I like the lies in this article because just about nobody is going to get it. Lets start with this, the article says, common share values (the shares the government holds; but, it doesn't tell you that) dropped in value when it came out that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would turn a profit for taxpayers and Preferred Stock has had a five fold increase in value even though their payouts should not increase more than the payouts for common shares (please read the previous few posts if you don't understand this - common shares get the increased profits and preferred shares get what they were promised).
Basically, members of congress want to sell Fannie and Freddie Mac to the large banks, the same ones that have rigged all the markets. If you continue down the article it becomes very clear that the plan, now that these two companies are making big profits, is to sell them off cheap and the supposed benefit is that taxpayers will be responsible for any losses these companies have that are greater than 10%. If the government sells the stock to private investors, why should we keep the liabilities?
Here is a quote from the article, "Any wind down of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would have to address whether the companies’ values -- from the loans and bonds on their balance sheets to income from their existing guarantees on about $4 trillion of securities -- is split up among several stakeholders or left for taxpayers." I don't know who wrote the article; but, they should know that it is not okay to have one sentence paragraphs. The lie within their statement is that there is a question over how the profits of the sale are to be split, there is no question, all profits in the sale of common stock goes to the Federal government, to taxpayers as it should.
The article also makes this statement, "The Corker-Warner bill called for the proceeds from unwinding of the companies’ estates once their replacement was established to be first used to pay down the government’s investment and then their preferred shares. Anything left would go to holders of their common stock." So, this bill, intended legislation, requires that the government be paid back it's "investment" and then pay the preferred shares giving the profit to the common shares. Huh? But the government is holding the common shares, so how does this plan change anything? Oh, it is the purchasers of the common shares that get all the profit, the people who buy the shares from the government. That is some tricky propaganda their kids.
Friday, March 14, 2014
Stealing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac From Taxpayers
Yesterday I wrote about corned beef and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, if you didn't read the post, I recommend that you go back and do so before reading this post. The bottom line is simple, taxpayers "bailed out" Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after they had purchased bad mortgages from banks and after being bailed out, Fannie and Freddie along with the Federal Reserve bought up just about all the remaining mortgages. Funny thing is, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have paid the taxpayers back and with interest. They now stand to profit about $18 billion a year for ten years. That is more than enough to fund the postal pensions and those of most others in the Federal government from the profits alone and the government would still own Trillions in assets (mortgages).
There is no way that your congressman are going to allow the government to be profitable, there is too much to be made in selling off our governmental assets at a discount to their friends. Taxpayers were given all the risk and bad debt and will not be allowed to reap the rewards.
Yahoo - CNBC - Corker: Deal to end Fannie, Freddie is just right. I want my readers to pay attention to what this article says. Firstly, it doesn't mention at all that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have paid the government back all the money plus interest and completely avoids discussing how much more the taxpayers will get if we hold onto Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The slimebag that wrote this article is the worst kind of panderer.
I find this line from his article truly dishonest, "Lawmakers from both parties want to revamp the $10 trillion mortgage market to make it less likely taxpayers will ever be put on the hook again." It is the exact opposite of the truth and is proven if anyone reads the rest of the article. Their solution is to sell off Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at a discount and keep taxpayers on the hook if they fail beyond the first ten percent and any larger loss would fall on the taxpayers still.
UNRELATED PERSONAL STUFF:
I was listening to music while writing this and my mind wandered. I started thinking about wanting to thank my doctor. A number of years back I stopped seeing my doctors, they seemed to enjoy putting me in the hospital a bit much. I did not like it. Sometime in around 2008 I suffered my first heart attack and still did not go back to see a doctor and had stopped taking my blood pressure and other pills. I may not have my years right; but, basically that was it.
Last year I went back to my medical plan and saw a doctor again. I went in for a simple hemorrhoid problem and didn't want to hear about my blood pressure or have it taken because it was always life threatening. The readings said that I should be in cardiac arrest or passed out. The nurse was horrified. The doctor saw me and my numbers and quickly began considering how to get me into the hospital where I made it clear I did not wish to go. If he would have put me in, I would have avoided him and ignored him like the ones in the past; but, he worked with me. That first day was tough, I had to go through lots of testing to make sure I wasn't having a heart attack. I took it all quite cavalierly. I wasn't that concerned about dying, I just didn't want to be annoyed along the way. I ended up seeing the doctor weekly for a few months and playing pill roulette as we sought to see what combo of medications would bring down my blood pressure at least close to acceptable limits.
We eventually found the right pill mix and my numbers are almost all acceptable and the ones that are not are pretty close, a few weeks back I reported what my doctor said to me. He said when I left his office that first time he almost cried because he didn't think I would live the year. I never thought about it from his perspective. He is around 30 and really involved in the health of his patients, this guy really cares and he got stuck with me. Here I am a guy that didn't seek help after having a heart attack, I had been off pills for years and joked about death. I understand why he felt like crying and didn't think I would live a year. When he got back my EKG and told me I had a heart attack, I laughed and told him I remembered having it and that it had hurt. I even told him where I was when I had it, lovely Baker, California. LOL.
I remember the first time I met my doctor, he said I should be dead and had dodged a bullet. He couldn't believe I was alive. I must have been a odd job to be given to him. I told him he only needed to get me to retirement, he said he wanted to get me better so that I could enjoy my retirement. He did and soon I will retire; but, I had the added blessing of holding my first grandchild, he doesn't know that and when I see him I will tell him about it. I will show him a picture of my granddaughter and thank him for getting me here.
There is no way that your congressman are going to allow the government to be profitable, there is too much to be made in selling off our governmental assets at a discount to their friends. Taxpayers were given all the risk and bad debt and will not be allowed to reap the rewards.
Yahoo - CNBC - Corker: Deal to end Fannie, Freddie is just right. I want my readers to pay attention to what this article says. Firstly, it doesn't mention at all that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have paid the government back all the money plus interest and completely avoids discussing how much more the taxpayers will get if we hold onto Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The slimebag that wrote this article is the worst kind of panderer.
I find this line from his article truly dishonest, "Lawmakers from both parties want to revamp the $10 trillion mortgage market to make it less likely taxpayers will ever be put on the hook again." It is the exact opposite of the truth and is proven if anyone reads the rest of the article. Their solution is to sell off Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at a discount and keep taxpayers on the hook if they fail beyond the first ten percent and any larger loss would fall on the taxpayers still.
UNRELATED PERSONAL STUFF:
I was listening to music while writing this and my mind wandered. I started thinking about wanting to thank my doctor. A number of years back I stopped seeing my doctors, they seemed to enjoy putting me in the hospital a bit much. I did not like it. Sometime in around 2008 I suffered my first heart attack and still did not go back to see a doctor and had stopped taking my blood pressure and other pills. I may not have my years right; but, basically that was it.
Last year I went back to my medical plan and saw a doctor again. I went in for a simple hemorrhoid problem and didn't want to hear about my blood pressure or have it taken because it was always life threatening. The readings said that I should be in cardiac arrest or passed out. The nurse was horrified. The doctor saw me and my numbers and quickly began considering how to get me into the hospital where I made it clear I did not wish to go. If he would have put me in, I would have avoided him and ignored him like the ones in the past; but, he worked with me. That first day was tough, I had to go through lots of testing to make sure I wasn't having a heart attack. I took it all quite cavalierly. I wasn't that concerned about dying, I just didn't want to be annoyed along the way. I ended up seeing the doctor weekly for a few months and playing pill roulette as we sought to see what combo of medications would bring down my blood pressure at least close to acceptable limits.
We eventually found the right pill mix and my numbers are almost all acceptable and the ones that are not are pretty close, a few weeks back I reported what my doctor said to me. He said when I left his office that first time he almost cried because he didn't think I would live the year. I never thought about it from his perspective. He is around 30 and really involved in the health of his patients, this guy really cares and he got stuck with me. Here I am a guy that didn't seek help after having a heart attack, I had been off pills for years and joked about death. I understand why he felt like crying and didn't think I would live a year. When he got back my EKG and told me I had a heart attack, I laughed and told him I remembered having it and that it had hurt. I even told him where I was when I had it, lovely Baker, California. LOL.
I remember the first time I met my doctor, he said I should be dead and had dodged a bullet. He couldn't believe I was alive. I must have been a odd job to be given to him. I told him he only needed to get me to retirement, he said he wanted to get me better so that I could enjoy my retirement. He did and soon I will retire; but, I had the added blessing of holding my first grandchild, he doesn't know that and when I see him I will tell him about it. I will show him a picture of my granddaughter and thank him for getting me here.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Corned Beef and Todays News
As my readers may or may not know, I am of Irish decent. There is a little English in me; but, we don't talk about that much. LOL. In fact my ex was Finnish, French, English, American Indian and a whole bunch of other things. I used to joke that she had destroyed the purity of my bloodline when we had kids. In reality I consider myself American and I consider my ex and my children to be American. Having said that I will on occassion celebrate my Irish heritage in odd ways. I do not drink beer and no longer drink scotch so I am left with food.
Unfortunately, food was often scarce in Ireland and potatoes kept the country alive for a long time. Ireland has a long history of using fish; but, it never traveled well within the country. After the English took over Ireland, they also took all the beef. What was left was root vegetables and the worst of all beef cuts, which was used for corned beef. They were cooked by being boiled as it used less wood for the fire and a meal could be made in one pot. When the world gives you lemons, you learn to make lemonade and the Irish found spices and boiling made the food edible and okay.
Anyways, I have been feeling better and getting back into cooking from scratch. I decided that with Saint Patricks day coming up I would go old school and boil myself a corned beef. I went to the store and found some a 2 1/2 pound piece of corned beef for $4 and took it home to prepare. I didn't expect much; but, I had picked the best cut I could find and dutifully boiled it for about 3 hours. I intended to cut it extra thin and pair it with pastrami for sandwiches. That is not going to happen, it came out perfectly tender and delicious. I hate to say it; but, it is the best corned beef I have ever cooked. If I could have cut it thinner it would have been even better in a sandwich.
Our elders knew lots of ways to use the worst and cheapest things and still make good meals. Heck, ribs used to be budget food. As we enter tougher economic times we should try and remember how our parents and grandparents made due with what they had. Oh I boiled it with a red potato, a white potato and a carrot. Those will taste fantastic tomorrow.
CNN - Assange to SXSW: We're all being watched. The title speaks for itself.
CBS - DC - Massive Police Hunt For Bank Robbers Shuts Down I-270. You cease having a right to privacy the moment you travel. Whatever happened to probable cause?
Now the fun stuff; but, to understand what is happening you have to read them in order.
Yahoo - Reuters - Fannie, Freddie could send $179.2 billion to taxpayers: White House. It turns out that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the holders of over 60% of all mortgages and they themselves are owned by the Federal government, are not only returning all their bailout money ahead of schedule; but are also on track to make the government a tidy little income stream profit. The bailout cost taxpayers about $187 billion and they are about to repay approximately $202 billion. In addition to paying us back, over the next ten years they should pay the government back about $179 billion in profit. Just imagine, with that return we could fully fund Social Security for a very long time.
Bloomberg - Westhus Reaping Fannie Windfall to Rival Big Short: Mortgages. Okay so when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac looked like they would go bankrupt, a few knowledgeable investors bought up their preferred stock (which do not have voting rights, they are more like company debt than ownership). So the people that bought the preferred stock now know that there is a big payday coming to the Treasury and they want the money themselves. The Treasury has common stock and that allows it to vote on how and who gets paid when profits are made. It should be noted that Preferred stock does not usually share in the profits as much as the common stock which is now owned by the Treasury.
Finance & Commerce.com - Bill would eliminate Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac. The first two stories show that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are about to make $179 billion for someone and it should go to the taxpayer; but, private money wants it first. That is a lot of money on the table which might explain this move. Some congressman are now looking to fast track the idea of selling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac while still keeping the government on the hook if the mortgages fail. Selling off all the value and keeping all the risk. These people are criminals. What is particularly interesting to me is how quickly the idea of selling off the stock came up after it was determined that the stock had value and our representatives willingness to guarantee our taxes to pay off any losses even once the stock is sold.
I believe the creation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was a mistake. I believe it allowed the cost of housing go up more than it otherwise would have and I do not believe the government should be backing up any loans. I also don't believe in corporate subsidies or tax deductions. I believe everyone should pay the same percentage of their income regardless of how it was earned in the year it was paid to them. Now that we are past all of that, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do exist and were going to go bankrupt and the taxpayers bailed them out.
Isn't it funny how right after it was announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would pay a return to the Treasury (the taxpayers who bailed them out), the fight became over who in private finance would steal the profit from the taxpayers and keep it for themselves and neither of the last two articles really showed any concern over the value of this asset to taxpayers.
Don't trust the mainstream media, they are nothing other than a puppet for the wealthy. And don't trust the alternative media as they tend to be busy trying to sell you stuff like gold that has no real value. We are flooded with garbage, lies and deception so that the wolves can take advantage of the sheep and we are told we deserve to be taken of advantage of because people are sheep, it is all a lie to fulfill greed and selfishness with a justification our abusers like.
Unfortunately, food was often scarce in Ireland and potatoes kept the country alive for a long time. Ireland has a long history of using fish; but, it never traveled well within the country. After the English took over Ireland, they also took all the beef. What was left was root vegetables and the worst of all beef cuts, which was used for corned beef. They were cooked by being boiled as it used less wood for the fire and a meal could be made in one pot. When the world gives you lemons, you learn to make lemonade and the Irish found spices and boiling made the food edible and okay.
Anyways, I have been feeling better and getting back into cooking from scratch. I decided that with Saint Patricks day coming up I would go old school and boil myself a corned beef. I went to the store and found some a 2 1/2 pound piece of corned beef for $4 and took it home to prepare. I didn't expect much; but, I had picked the best cut I could find and dutifully boiled it for about 3 hours. I intended to cut it extra thin and pair it with pastrami for sandwiches. That is not going to happen, it came out perfectly tender and delicious. I hate to say it; but, it is the best corned beef I have ever cooked. If I could have cut it thinner it would have been even better in a sandwich.
Our elders knew lots of ways to use the worst and cheapest things and still make good meals. Heck, ribs used to be budget food. As we enter tougher economic times we should try and remember how our parents and grandparents made due with what they had. Oh I boiled it with a red potato, a white potato and a carrot. Those will taste fantastic tomorrow.
CNN - Assange to SXSW: We're all being watched. The title speaks for itself.
CBS - DC - Massive Police Hunt For Bank Robbers Shuts Down I-270. You cease having a right to privacy the moment you travel. Whatever happened to probable cause?
Now the fun stuff; but, to understand what is happening you have to read them in order.
Yahoo - Reuters - Fannie, Freddie could send $179.2 billion to taxpayers: White House. It turns out that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the holders of over 60% of all mortgages and they themselves are owned by the Federal government, are not only returning all their bailout money ahead of schedule; but are also on track to make the government a tidy little income stream profit. The bailout cost taxpayers about $187 billion and they are about to repay approximately $202 billion. In addition to paying us back, over the next ten years they should pay the government back about $179 billion in profit. Just imagine, with that return we could fully fund Social Security for a very long time.
Bloomberg - Westhus Reaping Fannie Windfall to Rival Big Short: Mortgages. Okay so when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac looked like they would go bankrupt, a few knowledgeable investors bought up their preferred stock (which do not have voting rights, they are more like company debt than ownership). So the people that bought the preferred stock now know that there is a big payday coming to the Treasury and they want the money themselves. The Treasury has common stock and that allows it to vote on how and who gets paid when profits are made. It should be noted that Preferred stock does not usually share in the profits as much as the common stock which is now owned by the Treasury.
Finance & Commerce.com - Bill would eliminate Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac. The first two stories show that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are about to make $179 billion for someone and it should go to the taxpayer; but, private money wants it first. That is a lot of money on the table which might explain this move. Some congressman are now looking to fast track the idea of selling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac while still keeping the government on the hook if the mortgages fail. Selling off all the value and keeping all the risk. These people are criminals. What is particularly interesting to me is how quickly the idea of selling off the stock came up after it was determined that the stock had value and our representatives willingness to guarantee our taxes to pay off any losses even once the stock is sold.
I believe the creation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was a mistake. I believe it allowed the cost of housing go up more than it otherwise would have and I do not believe the government should be backing up any loans. I also don't believe in corporate subsidies or tax deductions. I believe everyone should pay the same percentage of their income regardless of how it was earned in the year it was paid to them. Now that we are past all of that, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do exist and were going to go bankrupt and the taxpayers bailed them out.
Isn't it funny how right after it was announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would pay a return to the Treasury (the taxpayers who bailed them out), the fight became over who in private finance would steal the profit from the taxpayers and keep it for themselves and neither of the last two articles really showed any concern over the value of this asset to taxpayers.
Don't trust the mainstream media, they are nothing other than a puppet for the wealthy. And don't trust the alternative media as they tend to be busy trying to sell you stuff like gold that has no real value. We are flooded with garbage, lies and deception so that the wolves can take advantage of the sheep and we are told we deserve to be taken of advantage of because people are sheep, it is all a lie to fulfill greed and selfishness with a justification our abusers like.
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Being Home and News
I have been away from home for the past few days to see my new grandchild. I could have driven home each night; but, decided to rent a hotel near the hospital. I stayed at a nice hotel, had some lovely meals and took care of a lot of business (including getting my cars maintenance done), best of all, I got to hold my grandchild and she is lovely. Having said all that, it sure is great to be home. I came back exhausted, I just don't travel as well as I did when I was younger. While I was gone I saved some links to news stories I thought might be of interest.
Yahoo - The Exchange - Wealth rebounds — but mostly for the wealthy. The bottom line is that the total wealth of the nation has increased since the financial crisis; but, all the increases only went to the wealthy and the rest of us lost out, there has been no trickle down and no job creation. There has only been a transfer of wealth to those who caused the financial meltdown.
NBC Bay Area - NASA Admits to Selling Discount Fuel to Google Execs. Bottom line, Nasa was selling jet fuel to Google at half price. The question is not why Google would buy the fuel; but, why NASA would sell it to them at half price. To really understand that we would have to know what Google was doing for the United States.
Yahoo - Business Insider - Scientists Scanned A Woman's Brain During An Out-Of-Body Experience — And What They Found Was Amazing. Another case of garbage science trying to prove a point. A woman who claims to be able to cause herself to have out of body experiences has a brain scan while going through an episode and some "scientists" extrapolate that her brain activity is therefore the same as people who have a near death experience. One glaring problem, aside from the fact she was not dying, is that if the two things were the same then we would see the same parts of the brain activated during a near death experience; but, we do not because the near death experience has been recorded in people with NO BRAIN ACTIVITY.
Reuters - Man called Bitcoin's father denies ties, leads LA car chase. I love this story, someone managed to find the guy behind Bitcoin; but, he says he cannot talk about it. In addition, the people who actually worked with the person who created Bitcoin say they never met him and all communications were electronic. Doesn't it make you wonder why, if it is true. My answer is simple, this guy was merely feeding information to some programmers so that they would create Bitcoin and then use it to test out how people would use an electronic currency.
Mail Online - It's very hard to know why people go to food banks, claims Tory welfare minister Lord Freud
. A great example of how dissociated the wealthy are from the rest of us. One of the people responsible for taking care of the poor in England cannot figure out why people might go to food banks.
Bloomberg News - Global Debt Exceeds $100 Trillion as Governments Binge, BIS Says. I find it interesting that global debt is up 40% since the crash and yet the debt is claimed to be government debt at a time when governments are providing less and less services to it's citizens. Where did the money go.
Bloomberg News - Carney Faces Leadership Test as Currency Scandal Snares BOE. The central Bank of England (similar to the Federal Reserve) has been caught fixing financial markets again.
Well, I am exhausted and going to bed. Have a great week.
Yahoo - The Exchange - Wealth rebounds — but mostly for the wealthy. The bottom line is that the total wealth of the nation has increased since the financial crisis; but, all the increases only went to the wealthy and the rest of us lost out, there has been no trickle down and no job creation. There has only been a transfer of wealth to those who caused the financial meltdown.
NBC Bay Area - NASA Admits to Selling Discount Fuel to Google Execs. Bottom line, Nasa was selling jet fuel to Google at half price. The question is not why Google would buy the fuel; but, why NASA would sell it to them at half price. To really understand that we would have to know what Google was doing for the United States.
Yahoo - Business Insider - Scientists Scanned A Woman's Brain During An Out-Of-Body Experience — And What They Found Was Amazing. Another case of garbage science trying to prove a point. A woman who claims to be able to cause herself to have out of body experiences has a brain scan while going through an episode and some "scientists" extrapolate that her brain activity is therefore the same as people who have a near death experience. One glaring problem, aside from the fact she was not dying, is that if the two things were the same then we would see the same parts of the brain activated during a near death experience; but, we do not because the near death experience has been recorded in people with NO BRAIN ACTIVITY.
Reuters - Man called Bitcoin's father denies ties, leads LA car chase. I love this story, someone managed to find the guy behind Bitcoin; but, he says he cannot talk about it. In addition, the people who actually worked with the person who created Bitcoin say they never met him and all communications were electronic. Doesn't it make you wonder why, if it is true. My answer is simple, this guy was merely feeding information to some programmers so that they would create Bitcoin and then use it to test out how people would use an electronic currency.
Mail Online - It's very hard to know why people go to food banks, claims Tory welfare minister Lord Freud
. A great example of how dissociated the wealthy are from the rest of us. One of the people responsible for taking care of the poor in England cannot figure out why people might go to food banks.
Bloomberg News - Global Debt Exceeds $100 Trillion as Governments Binge, BIS Says. I find it interesting that global debt is up 40% since the crash and yet the debt is claimed to be government debt at a time when governments are providing less and less services to it's citizens. Where did the money go.
Bloomberg News - Carney Faces Leadership Test as Currency Scandal Snares BOE. The central Bank of England (similar to the Federal Reserve) has been caught fixing financial markets again.
Well, I am exhausted and going to bed. Have a great week.
Saturday, March 8, 2014
I am a grandfather
I have no intention of posting anything useful tonight; but, I have saved some links and will discuss them at a later time. I am a grandfather now, the Pimpernel is pleased to announce the birth of his first grandchild.
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Short news post including genetic modification.
New York Times - Study Gives Hope of Altering Genes to Repel H.I.V.. That sounds pretty good doesn't it? A real cure to aids and a technology that can cure other diseases on a genetic level. This same technology could be used to make us susceptible to certain diseases. Earlier today I watched an interview with a Chinese scientist talking about how they were almost ready to find the "genius" gene and that they would be able to let parents select to have smarter children by choosing which of their eggs they chose to allow to fertilize. A brave new world indeed.
FoxNews - Calif. man denies he's Bitcoin founder after Newsweek report. Interesting that the principal behind creating Bitcoin worked for a defense contractor.
FoxNews - Calif. man denies he's Bitcoin founder after Newsweek report. Interesting that the principal behind creating Bitcoin worked for a defense contractor.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)