Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
by John Cole| 90 Comments
This post is in: Humorous
I was reading about the former Republican congressman Tim linked to yesterday, and checking out Debbie Schlussel struggling to figure out what went wrong (and giggling while doing so) with her former boss, when something stood out on the picture of the ID she posted.
Check underneath the signature.
This post is in: Domestic Politics
Merrill Lynch on Thursday reported a $9.8 billion loss for the fourth quarter, the largest quarterly loss in its 93-year-history, as troubles in the subprime mortgage market took another big bite out of its balance sheet.
Merrill, one of the Wall Street firms that has been hardest hit by the subprime hurricane, said Thursday that it recorded more than $14 billion in write-downs and “credit valuation adjustments” in the fourth quarter related to subprime mortgages and collateralized debt obligations, which are complex debt securities often linked to subprime mortgages. That is on top of $7.9 billion in write-downs at Merrill in the third quarter.
The rise in defaults and delinquencies among United States homeowners has sharply reduced the value of subprime-related securities, many of which are held by Merrill and other financial firms. The latest write-downs pushed Merrill to its second consecutive quarterly loss as well as a $7.8 billion loss for the entire year. Merrill hasn’t lost money for a full year since 1989, Bloomberg News reported.
Just out of curiosity, does anyone remember when the subprime mess first started to be talked about? I remember Kevin Drum talking about the housing market bubble as early as 2003-2004, but where was the first mention of possible problems with subprimes? When?
*** Update ***
More news:
The prolonged slump in housing pushed construction of new homes in 2007 down by the largest amount in 27 years with the expectation that the downturn has further to go.
The Commerce Department reported Thursday that construction was started on 1.353 million new homes and apartments last year, down 24.8 percent from 2006. It was the second biggest annual decline on record, exceeded only by a 26 percent plunge in 1980, a period when the Federal Reserve was pushing interest rates to post-World War II records in an effort to combat an entrenched inflation problem.
Many economists believe that the current slump in housing will rival the dive in the late 1970s and early 1980s when housing construction fell for four straight years before beginning to recover after the severe 1981-82 recession. For December, construction fell by a bigger-than-expected 14.2 percent.
by John Cole| 31 Comments
This post is in: Republican Crime Syndicate - aka the Bush Admin.
Were you all unaware that origin of the phrase “the fall guy” is unknown? Wikipedia:
The origin of fall guy is currently unknown. Many sources (see below) place the origin at the early 20th century, and some claim it is of even earlier origin. As such the origins of the term is in a state of open contention.
I had always assumed that it took its origin from hangings, when “taking the fall” really meant something. I got curious and decided to look it up after having read this:
The former Central Intelligence Agency official who authorized the destruction in 2005 of videotapes documenting harsh interrogation of detainees from Al Qaeda gave the order despite apparently being directed to preserve the tapes, the senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee said Wednesday.
Representative Peter Hoekstra, Republican of Michigan, said Jose A. Rodriguez Jr., head of the C.I.A.’s clandestine service at the time, had not “gotten authority from anyone” to destroy the tapes.
“Matter of fact, it appears that he got direction to make sure the tapes were not destroyed,” he said.
Mr. Hoekstra spoke after hearing testimony from John A. Rizzo, the C.I.A.’s top lawyer, who addressed the committee on Wednesday during a closed session lasting nearly four hours.
There will be a concerted and coordinated effort to compartmentalize this over the next few months, to keep this away from the administration, and they will try to pin this all on Rodriguez. Administration sycophants like Peter Hoekstra will lead the way, and has clearly already shown his willingness to do so. It is up to us to not let them get away with it. I honestly think that the health of the Republic requires accountability for the recklessness and willful disregard of the law that we have witnessed the past few years.
This post is in: Previous Site Maintenance
This post is in: Politics
It’s snowing in Atlanta. Well, it was. Now it’s just sleet. My dog has never seen it before and is beside herself. Drivers here really suck. I have my own breadmaker (pre-emptive Psycheout – LOL), a lot of Egg Beaters, and I don’t drink milk, so I am prepared. I don’t envy those of you in the Northeast, but at least you all know how to drive in snow, unlike the wimps in the South.
On another note, there obviously been a shitstorm over Hillary’s comments on MLK and the Civil Rights Act. Personally, I don’t think she had a malevolent intent whatsoever. I think Clinton, and probably all the Democratic candidates support civil rights fully. Having said that, I think the controversy has erupted mostly because black Americans are realizing that the Democrats have taken them for granted. And they have. It’s wonderful to have Obama in the race. I have to admit, if I was an African American, I would probably vote for him because he was black. That’s not to say there aren’t millions of black people who would vote for Obama on policy issues. I’m not saying that at all. I’m saying that many black people now probably feel that they have a real chance of getting a black person into office. They don’t need to settle for just any old Democratic candidate. They have a dog in the hunt now – not a dog like Sharpton or Jackson – someone serious who is not making race an issue.
African Americans are not going to put up with race issues – real or perceived. I think in this case it was perceived. But isn’t it nice to have a real chance at an African American president – one who doesn’t pander to race issues?
I look forward to the day when people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are obsolete. It will take awhile, because these men have livlihoods that depend on racial tensions. I like Obama. I think, even if he doesn’t win, that the success of his candidacy is going to make the Jacksons and Sharptons less relevant than they are today.
Of course, I don’t get to decide, but if I had my way, I would want people like Obama to represent African Americans – because I think he represents us all. The closer we get to a point where a candidate represents everyone, the better off we’ll all be (which is obvious, I know.) I think Obama fits that bill better than anyone, in either party, this go round – even if it’s completely symbolic which, unlike John, I don’t believe it is.
by Tim F| 35 Comments
This post is in: Republican Crime Syndicate - aka the Bush Admin.
Attn Dems – don’t bother supboenaing any emails about to the Plame outing, 2001 terrorist warnings or Ahmad Chalabi mash notes during the runup to Iraq. The White House erased its emails from before October 2003, written over the disks and lost the backups. Convenient!
It will shock the hell out of me if junior doesn’t pull a Fletcher and pardon everyone on his way out the door.
by John Cole| 98 Comments
This post is in: Previous Site Maintenance
I was too lazy to cook, but Kashi frozen dinners are pretty damned good. Expensive as hell (for a frozen dinner), but damned good.
I dunno who I am fooling, though. I just eat dinner as an excuse to get to my Hola Fruta dessert. I love that stuff.