America needed some good news. So we got up at 3 am and watched the British royal wedding. But despite Westminster Abbey’s palatial elegance and all the pomp and circumstance, it wasn’t good news-y enough. Like the latest Indiana Jones, where you get your hopes up and then just realize Harrison Ford is old and shouldn’t be doing stunts.
And then BOOM, our special forces bust into a compound in Pakistan, get into a fire fight, kill Osama Bin Laden and nab his body (hopefully to attach some strings to his limbs and make a marionette-style video to send back to the terrorists). THAT is some serious American good news. Screw that guy and his dialysis machine.
It’s like when your grandparents wrapped up a book for Christmas and got you all disappointed before giving you that bike they’d been hiding. Dick move, maw-maw and pop-pop. But thanks for the bike.
According to the Mortgage Monitor, mortgage delinquencies have dropped to their lowest level since 2008. So, not trying to say that it’s a huge deal, but it is a leading indicator of our communal financial stabilization. And late last month New Home Sales came in at a 11.1% month-over-month gain. AND a weak dollar is spurring a spike in foreign real estate investment in the US.
Goodness, I need to sit down. I had almost forgotten what it was like to report three pieces of good news back to back. Invigorating.
The national debt limit ceiling is still a hotly contested topic up on Capitol Hill. Should gridlock prevail and the limit not be moved from 14.3 trillion, once we meet it (which would be pretty soon) the ensuing scene would be akin to a bullet train going from full throttle to instant stop. Physics would indicate that the result wouldn’t be thrillingly enjoyable. Momentum and all of that.
The House Financial Services Subcommittee (sounds more important than they actually are) put forth a bill to establish a market for covered bonds in an effort to ween the mortgage market off of the governmentally-sponsored entities (Fannie and Freddie). So, bonds would be issued against the underlying pool of loans. Nothing new there. However the banks would be required to hold the assets on the balance sheets instead of unload them onto the GSEs. The banks (in theory) would have to be more responsible in the paper they write because if it’s crap, they gotta keep it.
Kick some responsibility their way, right? Wrong. You see, they would still be able to borrow against the value of the loans in their portfolio, allowing them to leverage up the place a la Lehman Brothers. And if the whole house of cards fell through, who’s ass is ultimately on the line? Why, none other than our very own FDIC backed by (drumroll please) the TAXPAYERS!!!!!
Dude, they are getting more and more circuitous in their approach to taking our cash. I distinctly preferred the gun-against-my-forehead-give-me-your-wallet method. At least it was honest and clear.
The funny thing about it is the bill’s proponents use the battle cry “It’s worked in Europe!” Yeah. Because Europe is doing super duper right now. Cough cough Spain/Portugal bailout cough lurking insolvency contagion cough cough.
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