Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Obama > Clinton >>>>>>> McCain

First the easy one: McCain is either senile, lying, or clueless. I don't care which, there is no way I will vote for him. I used to respect him as a politician, and I still respect the service he has given this country, but I do not trust him with the presidency. Not even close.

So this means Obama, but someone else is still technically in that race...

I have no clue why Hillary is still running. Her campaign has been a disaster, starting off at incompetent, transitioning into GOP hate/fear mongering, and, just when it seemed as though it had found some high ground (after IN/NC), it did a quick side step into crazy. It really is incomprehensible. She is clever, capable, competent; she knows (yesterday's) politics, foreign and domestic affairs, her policies are nearly identical to Barack's, and people loved the Clinton presidency of the 90's. ...and she lost. I take back the disaster comment: this was a clusterf*** of a campaign that resulted from believing politics are the same today as they were 10 years ago, that loyalty should be valued even at the expense of competence, and that the political map and landscape is static.

I love Obama's message. I like his policies well enough (and substantially better than the republican candidate's). I also like that he has demonstrated an ability to compensate for his weaknesses by getting the right people into the right positions. He was not even on my radar a year ago, and I had no real preference between him and Hillary until around a month ago. I do not agree with everything he says, or every position he takes, but I do like the way he does politics.

This country will elect a woman some day. Just not this year, and probably not Hillary Clinton. Barack Obama inspires people. He represents change and true bipartisan appeal (non-wacko republicans do like the guy, or at least don't hate him). He will win in November and this nation will have the chance, for the first time in more than ten years, to set aside petty bickering politics and move forward.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

My housing crisis? I don't have one!!!

So others have written more and maybe better, but I just dug 2 cents out of my pocket so I thought I'd throw them in:

Houses are too expensive. Have been for several years now. Falling housing prices are GOOD for the country, not bad. Corrections to any over-inflated market are, in the long run, good. I feel a little bad for folks whose home prices have crashed by 20-50% (CA, FL, AZ) but those prices were fake, and the bleed over lead to overinflated home prices elsewhere.

Moreover there have been far more people who have suffered due to the housing bubble being inflated than there are people who are suffering due to its bursting. Regular, wage-earning and salaried people who have been left without any hope of getting a house any time soon. I am now gainfully employed and will have no problem getting a mortgage for up to $225k, but that doesn't get me much around here. A year ago I probably could have gotten a mortgage for nearly $500k (with my current finances), but I'd have had the sense not to do so. In fact, even with the relatively small post-doc salary I had in Chicago, I probably could have found someone to give me an idiotic mortgage.

I'm not quite so arrogant to believe that everyone who took out such mortgages is getting their comeuppance, because most people don't understand (or care) how the financial side of things works. They trust that those who do (or should) will make things right. And on the one hand, that trust, while misplaced, was not wrong. Lending institutions do what is in their own best interest (not their customers) but it is in their best interest to have their customers pay their mortgage/loan off, not to get in over their head.

The feedback loop killed them: poor lending practices fueled housing price increases which forced poor lending practices as required policy for many people to get houses, which was justified by the rapidly increasing cost of homes which had been fueled by easy credit to begin with...

All that said, I do not support any type of bailout. Borrowers who can afford payments should make them (exception coming). Those who can't pay or whose home values have fallen to less than 80% of the purchase price should walk. Foreclosure is not good, but it is not nearly as bad as bankruptcy, and the penalty is wiped after 3 years of good credit, so it's hardly permanent. Banks should be allowed to only go after those who can afford to pay, whose homes are worth more than 80% of the purchase price, and those who have more than one house and are not foreclosing on all of them.

It is selfish, but I want affordable housing because I won't spend $220k for a two bed one bath slab foundation condo. I simply will not.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Back...soon

First off, as it turns out, I had readers. Who knew?

Of course now that I've been absent a year, they are all gone I'm certain, but still. I've been in a bit of limbo for a year now, but am now living and working in Philadelphia (actually living in Doylestown and working in Warminster). Things are good and, remarkably, I am still right.

This post is just to get something up again. I have a world of things that I have written in the past year, but have just not gotten around to any kind of finalizing/posting. I may string up some hot topics responses (gas, dem primary, McCain not knowing forwards from backwards...aka losing his bearings, et cetera). If anyone who read this in the past happens by again, know that I am once more settled down and will be posting again soon.