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I know I’ve been on a HAMP vamp, everyone, so please bear with me while I relate some other stories outside that sphere:
• The poll numbers for Democrats look a lot like 1994.
• Just a brilliant story from Jane Mayer on the Koch brothers, the bankrollers of the Tea Party movement. More ink than they’ve gotten in decades.
• Alan Grayson’s foundational statement really is fantastic, and by offering a new model of how to defeat tea party Republicans, by rallying the base, sometimes through outright provocation, Grayson is ushering in a new model for progressive leadership. And by the way, he’s in a swing district, not some Democratic stronghold.
• While housing prices may recover at some point in the future, it never was such a great investment, nor will it be in the future. It’s a nice tax dodge thanks to the mortgage interest deduction, but as an investment? Not really. Government should do more on the side of affordable rental units rather than encouraging a risky financial obligation that doesn’t pay off in the long run.
• Marc Lynch explains exactly why a military strike on Iran would be such a disaster for the world. Right in the middle of Jeffrey Goldberg’s Atlantic, to boot.
• It would be better if the Democrats didn’t kick off small business week so soon after the Treasury Department told the bank funding dozens of inner-city small businesses in Chicago to go hang.
• Looks like the Fed will have to disclose information about bailout funding and the big banks, after losing another appeal.
• Private prisons don’t save taxpayers money, much like most other privatization schemes don’t create efficiencies and actually lead to wasteful payouts to sub-contractors.
• I get capitalizing on Fox’ parent company donation to the Republican Governor’s Association by calling on them to have their White House correspondent’s seat revoked, but this ad cooked up by Media Matters doesn’t actually look like anything Fox News’ target audience would find objectionable.
• Forgot to mention this troglodyte who will never get close to becoming Governor of New York, and his plan to create work camp prisons for welfare recipients.
• Republican bloggers are getting paid off to promote Republican candidates, and then they don’t disclose the payments.
• A righteous rant from Berkeley professor Michael O’Hare on the plight of California and the political crisis here.
• Dick Durbin weighs in smartly on the Park51 controversy. GoOPer Ron Johnson does not.
• The Obama Administration is on the defensive about its initially rosy assessment of the state of the oil remaining in the Gulf.
• This story from the BBC shows just how precarious the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are. They can be upended by a policy pronouncement at virtually any moment.
• Obligatory Tiger Woods is divorced link.
• A day in the life of a blogger. Very close to the truth.
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Grayson – I can’t believe the DCCC has given him no money, despite being a freshman in an R+2 district. I’d like to see Chris Van Hollen explain that one.
Housing was never such a great investment? – That’s not entirely true. It was a great investment for our parents and grandparents. California home prices are 10x what they were in the 70s. But this is not likely to continue.
Treasury to Shorebank: Go Hang – As I said yesterday, the bank could not have legally qualified for TARP. However it’s still getting hundreds of millions of dollars from the FDIC, and an unprecedented group of angel investors will work with existing management to keep its doors open. A lot of people on the left and right have their conspiracy theories, but in truth this is a well-meaning inner city bank that got more help from the government than any other community bank.
Dick Durbin on Park51 – Why didn’t he just say, “I have nothing to add.” The rule should be you only get to speak if you have something to add. What I have to add is there are three Buddhist temples on the shores of Pearl Harbor and no one cares.
Israeli-Palestinian talks – I’ve read that there’s an understanding that the settlement freeze will be extended six months once the talks begin. The real problem is that Abbas is not the duly elected leader of the West Bank, since his term expired in January 2009 — so whether he’ll be able to speak for the majority of Palestinians who oppose him is much in doubt.
“Happy little penguin”? Being sung to? It must be the angst you’re referring to re ‘close to the truth’.”
“While housing prices may recover at some point in the future, it never was such a great investment, nor will it be in the future. It’s a nice tax dodge thanks to the mortgage interest deduction, but as an investment? Not really. Government should do more on the side of affordable rental units rather than encouraging a risky financial obligation that doesn’t pay off in the long run.”;
ah, but what happens to the underpinning of property ownership and the associated privilege that supports so much law in this country and elsewhere? There was a time when you could deduct all interest payments and any medical expenses above a pretty low amount; what they’ve done is remove those types of deductions and increased the ‘standard deduction’ and personal exemption(s) as a ‘balancing act’ but ,just like the minimum wage, such efforts lag behind realities.
Federal minimum wage is $7.25 and a full work year is 2080 hours which works out to $15,080. BUT, such is not considered being in poverty, which is defined as $10,830.
The Standard deduction and personal exemption amounts to $9,350. So if one is in ‘poverty’, the gummint still wants you to pay taxes.
If the government ever had a poverty baseline that reflected reality, then the myth of us being the ‘richest country’ could be dispelled.
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Thousands of dead fish reported at the mouth of the Mississippi.
LINK.