OCTOBER 10, 2010
The date is 10-10-10. What do you have planned for today. This will happen for the next two years and then not for 88 years. I doubt if I will be around on 01-01-01.
DAMN Yankees. The rich just keep getting richer.
CONGRATULATIONS! to two college football teams I follow. That was an impressive win for Northern Illinois University over Temple. University of Illinois also was impressive in beating Penn State in Happy Valley.
“Meet the Press” has a debate featured today on the program. Mark Kirk v. Alexi Giannoulias is scheduled to air. If you miss the morning airing, CNBC reruns “Meet the Press” in the afternoon. David Gregory is no Tim Russert, but then who is? He does a decent job as the host.
The NFL has another slate of games today. The Bears play Carolina on the road. Carolina has not won this year. I wonder if we will be able to say that at 4:30 this afternoon?
The foreclosure mess just keeps growing. Nearly every major lender has now stopped foreclosures as they sort out how to fix the mess they made for themselves. The banking industry has over ten federal agencies regulating their operations; every State has at least one agency regulating the banking industry. What were these watch dog agencies doing while this mess developed and grew for decades?
Why do we need these agencies when they do not know their role, don’t know how to do their job or just take industry vacations and hand-outs while doing nothing. This is not a Democratic problem or a Republican problem. This is a problem with how we govern. I would bet right now several governmental studies, expensive governmental studies, will not blame anyone especially Congress. If this is the fault of the industry, why regulate it. Let it fail on its own.
Several years ago, Congress and the Courts forced lenders to make loans in low income areas. The term was red-lining. The lenders knew these loans would not get repaid but regulators forced them to make the loans. It was justified with a discrimination argument. Looks like the lenders were correct all along. Now, we are all paying for it and will be for years.
With the enormous number of bad loans made without the proper paperwork or with forged paperwork or with original documents lost over the years while these loans were sold and resold to investment bankers, hedge funds and pension plans, it seems obvious Congress is going to quietly pass a law making all the suspect loans valid. The “too big to fail” argument again. All this mortgage paperwork now causing a problem only exists because the government or some regulator made it mandatory in the first place.
Our government at work once again. The politicians break something and then tell the voter the other guy did it and only they can fix it.
BRUCE A. BRENNAN
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