June 2009

Renter are happier, weigh less

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Maybe the so-called American Dream isn't all that its cracked up to be.

“Homeowners are no happier than renters by any of the following definitions: life satisfaction, overall mood, overall feeling, general moment-to-moment emotions (i.e. affect) and affect at home but instead derive more pain from their house and home,” the paper says.

The paper also concludes that there’s little evidence that homeowners are better citizens. Also, homeowners that live in neighborhoods with higher rates of homeownership only report more positive attitudes if their fellow owners have similar socio-economic standing, “lending some support to the idea of beneficial social interaction among owners.”
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Credit card defaults, bankruptcy reform and backlash

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The default rate for credit cards is getting out of hand, and the reform bill should cause it to go even higher.

(Reuters) - U.S. credit card defaults rose to record highs in May, with a steep deterioration of Bank of America Corp's (BAC - News) lending portfolio, in another sign that consumers remain under severe stress.
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Bank of America Corp -- the largest U.S. bank -- said its default rate, those loans the company does not expect to be paid back, soared to 12.50 percent in May from 10.47 percent in April.

The bank is paying the price of expanding rapidly in recent years and of holding one of the highest concentrations of subprime borrowers among the top card issuers, analysts said.

The Catch-22 of Food Stamps

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AP just caught how low the income levels are to received any government help by noting a $25 Stimulus check may cost you food stamps.

When President Barack Obama increased unemployment benefits as part of his economic stimulus, he also made some Americans ineligible for hundreds of dollars a month in food stamps. Under the economic recovery plan, laid-off workers have seen a $25 weekly bump in their unemployment checks as part of a broad expansion of benefits for the poor. But the law did not raise the income cap for food stamp eligibility, so the extra money has pushed some people over the limit.

The article comments this is what happens when bills are ramrodded through Congress and not even read, never mind analyzed.   No kidding.    It's ridiculous.   

The Battle of the Regulators

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Regulators are in a power struggle as new policy proposals as well as Congress mull regulation reform of the financial system.

John C. Dugan, the comptroller of the currency, blasted a proposal to impose stiff new insurance fees on banks as unfair to the largest banks, which he regulates. The financial crisis stemmed in part from problems at small banks, he insisted.

Sheila C. Bair, chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the regulator for many smaller, community banks, could barely hide her contempt. The large banks, she said, had wreaked havoc on the system, only to be bailed out by “hundreds of billions, if not trillions, in government assistance.” She added, “Fairness is always an issue.”

Site change, Blog posts must now be promoted to front page by users

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The site structure has changed. Now all blog posts go into the blog queue and do not start out on the front page.

All posts must now be promoted, or voted up to the front page. See the up/down arrow at the bottom left of each post.

This change is to reduce clutter on the front page as well as for quality control.

It requires everyone to read the new blogs section, now at the top of the site as well as vote on posts to promote them to the front page.

Read the about section for more posting details.

Any issues, problems, complaints, leave them in the comments.

This is a temporary solution until the site upgrade is complete.

All RSS feeds right now remain a queue, based on posting time, with no waiting, as well as the real blog page.

The layout and the theme was also changed. This is also temporary until the upgrade is complete.

Also the Forum categories were reorganized to help with better categorization and navigation.

Here Come the Lobbyists on Health Care Reform

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Lobbyists are pouring money into D.C. on health care reform.

The fact is these massive funds flooding D.C. to buy our Government are ill gotten profits from sick people. It's all a huge effort to maintain the status quo, keep their for profit industry intact and to block any assemblance to single payer universal health care reform.

Below is a table of the funds dumped on D.C. in Q1, 2009. If you have more numbers, please consider leaving them in a comment with a reference and it will be added to the tally.

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