I got a bum middle finger on my left hand doing some house repair. We opened up the window seat this weekend, and I poked the tip of my finger pretty bad.

I want to write about the senate elections in Minnesota and Georgia, cause I think it proves my point about Instant Runoff Voting. it'll take a lot of words though, so I'll have to wait.

Happy shoveling everyone.

In relation to my last post: "Bailout ignores homeowners"

Home Foreclosures have officially been suspended through the holidays.


Merry Christmas everybody. Fannie and Freddie don't want to ruin the Christmas Shopping Spirit by throwing you out on your ass.

I'm a little cynical here, because this type of action was not hard. The government Owns Fannie and Freddie now, and it costs zero dollars to issue a moratorium on foreclosures. The only excuse for waiting a month is confusion, incompetence and ignorance to the problems average people face.

I know not everybody can afford their mortgages, I'm sure some did get in over their head. But 279,561 people lost their homes this past month, that's 25% higher than last October, that's an increase of 70,000 people, I'll bet some were victims of adjustable rates, predatory schemes, crappy real estate markets, etc.

I guess I'm glad they're doing something.

Bailout ignores homeowners.

Remember when we passed the bailout everyone thought it was a good idea to keep people in their homes. Banks made bad loans to people who couldn't pay them back, but we could renegotiate those loans into something people can afford. If people can pay something toward their mortgage the loans are not as worthless or "toxic" as they called them in the news. It's a bottom up approach, don't just buy garbage loans from the banks, make it so borrowers can pay the banks back and keep those mortgages from defaulting.

Well, that didn't happen and in October 279,561 people lost their homes. That is a failure of government. We never set up a system to deal with foreclosures. It's not like this was sudden, it takes a few months to kick somebody out of their home. I'm sure many many of those people were trying to play by the rules, and could have renegotiated their loans and paid them off. That's a 5% increase from the previous month and a 25% increase from October 2007. Every month that we let 'loans' become 'bad debt' we are just draining money out of the economy and creating more uncertainty.

Party First or Country First
The Bush years were ruled by party politics. After Every crisis, the first question they asked was "How can we use this to make the Republicans look good and the Democrats look bad". And there was a dogmatic reliance on conservative ideals (like private mercenaries in Iraq who get paid more than our military)

I hope moving forward we can build consensus instead of battling over turf wars. Because that's why people disapprove of congress more than bush, because there's always some ideological stalemate, and some party line rivalry. And nothing got done. We need solutions, this is not a game. Let's agree where we can.

The Economy Grows Like Crazy Amid High Taxes

Not that taxes should be raised in an economic depression, but the idea that lower taxes makes the economy better is false.

"High taxes create an incentive to reinvest profits into the business for long-term growth. With high taxes, the only way to retain the bulk of the wealth created by a business is by reinvesting it in the business -- in plants, equipment, staff, research and development, new products and all the rest."


It's a simple argument, based on historical trends in the US. It makes perfect logical sense. The 'trickle-down' idea of cutting taxes and giving benefits to the rich just encourages saving and stockpiling cash, while higher tax rates encourages reinvestment in the business and writing it off on your taxes.

Drew said something along these lines in a previous post, and I see the same situation since I'm self-employed.

I just don't think taxes as the root of all evil, especially when healthcare is a bigger problem and expense for me and my business. And I do think it's patriotic to pitch in and help the country as a whole.

Just a thought.

Obama and his team have used the Internet very well to engage supporters in the campaign, will that idea carry through to the presidency? Will the new administration use the web to engage citizens, help us be more aware, and more active in the government? Obama has consistently called on us to be active. He says that change will happen only if we work together. It's not about what Obama can accomplish, it's what WE can accomplish as a nation. Inclusiveness is a common theme for Obama, and it looks like he's going to stick to that as president.

I think using the internet to keep people engaged and informed about their government is an excellent idea. And it reminds me of FDR's fireside chats on the radio during the depression.

There have been a few articles on this topic, here's a recent update, the campaign announces they will do a weekly youtube update.

I hope this should go way beyond youtube, but this is a good sign.