syntax

hail to the sheep

i usually am amused by the antics of jon stewart and stephen colbert, but today for the first time, i found myself utterly infuriated at their moronic attitudes. listening to them mock the downfall of the bailout plan, i wanted to hurl my tv out the window.

now i had written a rant against idiots and the smug morons who deem themselves intellectuals, and a complaint about the endless blabber i've been hearing from fools who know nothing about the markets pretending that they do, but i'd rather not have such a rancorous piece on my blog. i'll just leave you with this - i want nothing but the best for this country and this is an example of who we have running the show:

“This is a huge cow patty with a piece of marshmallow stuck in the middle of it and I am not going to eat that cow patty,” said Representative Paul Broun, Republican of Georgia [about the bailout plan].

WTF?!

funkyzeit mit L

interesting article: ask the obituary writer for the NYTimes.

i've been listening to this album a lot lately: above & beyond - anjunabeats 100. it's a great trancy comp. my favorite so far is track 1: "black is the colour (coco & green mix)" by cara dillon vs. 2devine. has a fun, playful bassline. also good is "volume one (anjuna deep mix)".

another song i've been enjoying is "choke" by hybrid. it was the song in "the spirit" trailer. sounds industrial though the group specializes in progressive breakbeat. some of their more popular stuff sounds like a mix of orchestra with synths + drum machine. honestly i find it cheesy but everyone else seems to like it. "choke" is pretty good though.

i've also been reading up on bobobo-bo bo-bobo. kind people in taiwan have been adding new scanlations recently.

my friend the witchdoctor

OMG congress needs to approve this bailout plan NOW. i swear that if this deal doesn't go through, the US is screwed. it'll be over. i am not entirely exaggerating when i say that streets will be slick with blood, babies will be devoured, and i will be forced to sleep with a machete under my pillow.

this isn't something that should be delayed. i know people are pissed at wall st. (and at all the regulators b/c it's fair to blame the police for the actions of the criminals, right? note that the regulators didn't cook up this fannie mae debacle), but we're beyond the point of no return. there's nothing good in store for us, but we can limit the damage by acting quickly. the markets overreact and lunge irrationally even based on minor news. with the dire fate of the US looming over us, delay = drop in confidence. we can't afford to let the markets plummet more than before. our economy will tank so no one will lend to us since we can't pay them back, all the liquidity that is the lifeblood of our banks will dry up, interest rates will go through the roof, the value of the dollar will be utterly destroyed, and we're going to have to take a long hard look at our lifestyles and do some reevaluating of our finances. it's not just people on wall st. who will be affected. any american who has to work to get by will suffer.

no more filibustering blabber. congress can bitch about this some other time. right now this has to go through. and right now i need to hide out on a deserted island with a cooler of beer and a PS3 and pretend none of this ever happened.

i leave you with an interesting article from NYT, 1999:

September 30, 1999

Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending
By STEVEN A. HOLMES

In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.

The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.

In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates -- anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans.

''Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990's by reducing down payment requirements,'' said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer. ''Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market." ...

In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's.

''From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,'' said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ''If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.''

Under Fannie Mae's pilot program, consumers who qualify can secure a mortgage with an interest rate one percentage point above that of a conventional, 30-year fixed rate mortgage of less than $240,000 -- a rate that currently averages about 7.76 per cent. If the borrower makes his or her monthly payments on time for two years, the one percentage point premium is dropped.

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, does not lend money directly to consumers. Instead, it purchases loans that banks make on what is called the secondary market. By expanding the type of loans that it will buy, Fannie Mae is hoping to spur banks to make more loans to people with less-than-stellar credit ratings.

--

ok instead i will leave you with lighter news: http://dlisted.com/node/28465.

OH YEAH

in other news, johnny depp is playing the mad hatter in tim burton's version of alice in wonderland. one of my favorite actors playing my favorite character in one of my most favorite books... there is some good in this world somewhere.

NOOOOOOOOOO

american psycho: the musical.

lo and behold!

wow i am glad i no longer work on wall st. altho the markets look better today than at the start of the week, by this past friday, several of my friends are out of work or discovered that they will be by the end of the year. the real tragedy is that a few people engaged in these transactions but they brought down everyone else at these firms, everyone with clean hands. and when the employment market is flooded by people with the same experience, looking for the same jobs, and no one's hiring, well that's just the worst situation i can imagine for someone in my shoes. and these aren't idiots that are looking for work - these are the best and brightest, as prestigious firms don't just hire anyone. and when the smartest people are out of jobs, it's not a good sign.

i remember back in college, majoring in finance, everyone was assured that if you get a job at an IB, you'll work hard but you'll be set for life. now these bankers are clearing out their desks. well i hope this is merely just a really horrid turn in this recession and that the markets will set themselves straight again soon - everyone's wish, though shamelessly naive - we definitely haven't seen the last of it. the damage is too severe and i'm afraid repercussions on consumers will deepen and continue. someone on the metro yesterday morning said that he was "waiting for the mass suicides." it's like it's 1929. and i'm wary that this might not be the right time for a change in the administration.

anyway, i'm sure everyone is sick of hearing about this. so in other news, my cable has been down (i'm in philly now for sis' bday) and hopefully comcast will make an appearance this monday to fix everything. so no internet or tv for me. i've been enjoying dragonquest 8 in the meantime. and life out here isn't bad. i like where i am and the new job is going well so far.

home is where i want to be, but i guess i'm already there

it's an interesting time to be in washington. and a change in administration more directly affects me now for other reasons than before, which has not a small amount of influence on how i'll vote this year.

i tend to struggle with the choice of candidates every election year. this is due in part to the fact that there are usually more issues on which i disagree with both parties than find myself in agreement, and b/c my own views are still in flux. i like to start with a clean slate every four years, and so i evaluate each candidate from scratch, not caring a whit about their party allegiances. times change as do circumstances, so some views i deem are better for certain situations. i think we have a better choice of candidates than in recent elections but there are a few opinions i have on issues that are extremely important to this country, and unfortunately my views are not shared by either, so again with the endless compromise. encore!

in other news, jesper had to be "expressed" by the vet today. here's a mouthwatering short video of the procedure courtesy of howcast. i suggest that you eat something while watching it.

ok i kid. don't watch the above unless you have a pet with a disgusting problem or you're in an odd mood. instead, this video - viewer submissions for the "make mccain exciting challenge" from the colbert report - is worth a watch. the best stuff is in the last minute.