Evening Edition is an Open Thread

1 A million protest pensions plan as fuel shortages bite

by Charles Onians, AFP

1 hr 7 mins ago

(h/t Joe Sudbay @ Americablog)

Obama’s surrender on outside spending

By: Ben Smith, Politico

October 19, 2010 04:47 AM EDT

Democrats enter the homestretch of the 2010 elections complaining vocally about the flood of Republican money, much of it anonymous, pounding their candidates.

But as the White House points the finger at outside Republican groups, many Democrats point the finger back at the White House, which dismantled the Democratic Party’s own outside infrastructure in 2008 and never tried to rebuild it.

…

(T)o some of its more practical-minded allies, the White House is protecting the brand at a very real cost to the party.

“The leadership of the Obama campaign warned their donors against giving to outside groups, including many of the key issue groups that motivate progressives. The leadership in the White House has done the same thing,” said Erica Payne, one of the founders of the Democracy Alliance, a group of the largest liberal donors, who now heads the Agenda Project. “As a result, the administration often looks like Will Ferrell in the movie ‘Old School’ – running through the street naked, shouting, ‘Come on, everybody’s streaking,’ when in reality they are all by themselves.”

…

That active discouragement began in earnest in May 2008 as Democratic fundraisers began joining hands to try to take back the White House. A first effort, a 527 called the Fund for America, had boasted in March that it would spend $150 million. As it fizzled, a new nonprofit group called Progressive Media USA announced in April that it would raise and spend $40 million from anonymous donors to attack John McCain.

Then, in early May, in a conference call and at a meeting of Obama’s national finance team, Finance Chairwoman Penny Pritzker told donors and fundraisers that Obama didn’t want them helping outside groups. The money stopped so abruptly that Progressive Media was left unable to spend enough on nonpolitical causes to preserve its tax status and was folded into the Center for American Progress.

You piss on your friends and suck up to your enemies, you get what you deserve.

I understand a Senior League team was victorious in a sporting competition.  Hopefully the listings give you some idea where to switch so yu don’t have to listen to God Bless America all the time.  I’m not yet despairing of my brackets,  The Phillies showed almost Yankee like offensive powers last night.  This Series is pitching matched up, so you get the best pitcher against the best and so on.  Tuesday will be the third game in the series and it will be interesting to see how each offense performs against the ‘not so good’ pitcher.

Of course it’s the third game in the Junior League tonight and as you’ll recall the Yankees started their Ace first game, but the Rangers had to wait until tonight for theirs which means he’ll probably only pitch the once.  Once being of course in the first game in Yankee Stadium.  Lee has impressive statistics.  Opposed by Pettite who really is only the third best.  Again I think it comes down to offense in which I think the Rangers are less good.  If they can solve Pettite and put it away they’re likely to win.  If it’s close- everyone on the Yankees can hit.

But while it would ruin my 5 game prediction it doesn’t alter my opinion of the ultimate outcome.  Means the Yankees need to win on the road again and they’ve already shown they can do it.

Postseason ace vs. October pro in Game 3 of ALCS

By MIKE FITZPATRICK, AP Sports Writer

50 mins ago

NEW YORK – Cliff Lee’s left arm has been the most dominant force in baseball during the past two postseasons. Now, all that October success has earned him another matchup with the New York Yankees.

“They’re basically an All-Star team. From top to bottom, they have threats everywhere,” Lee said. “I’m not going to get intimidated.”

With the best-of-seven AL championship series tied at one apiece, the scene shifts to Yankee Stadium for Game 3 on Monday night, when a pair of pressure-proven pitchers will be back in the spotlight.

Broadcast premiers.  

• ABC Family– Mean Girls, Good Burger
• AMC– Friday the 13th & 2 x 2
• Bravo– New Real Housewives
• Discovery– Sr. v Jr. repeats (this year’s)
• ESPN– Throwball, Titans at Jaguars
• ESPN2– World Series of Poker (this week’s)
• Food– Unwrapped, Best Thing I Ever Ate (premiers)
• FX– Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
• History– Pawn Stars (2 premiers)
• Lifetime– The Two Mr. Kissels x 2
• Oxygen– Definitely, Maybe x 2
• Spike– Blade: Trinity x 2
• Turner Classic– Oliver!
• TLC– New Cake Boss
• Toon– Regular Show, MAD, Total Drama World Tour (premiers)
• Vs.– Avalanche @ Rangers (the hockey kind)

Later-

• FX– 30 Days of Night
• Sci Fi– Friday the 13th: The Series
• Turner Classic– The Black Stallion, Almost Famous
• USA– The Bourne Ultimatum x 2

No Dave.  No Jon or Stephen.  Or rather repeats from 9/21, 10/12, and 10/12.  Fortunately there is double Alton, Oats 2 and 1.

Boondocks– Series Premier A Huey Freeman Christmas.

Zap2it TV Listings, Yahoo TV Listings

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

1 Cars burned, fuel short in France pensions protest

by Roland Lloyd Parry, AFP

50 mins ago

The Huffington Post Investigation Fund (dot org) is reporting that major Wall Street Banksters and Hedge Funds are getting into the kind of get rich quick real estate scams you normally find in a late night infomercial.

This particular confidence game is to purchase the right to collect back taxes, fees, and liens from cash strapped local governments at discounts on the dollar and then sick their high retainer, temporarily idle, forclosure departments on the homeowners to run up fees, fines, and forclosures.

I’ll quote it as I would any article of similar length, they allow crossposting but the embed code violates too many rules.

The New Tax Man: Big Banks And Hedge Funds

By Fred Schulte and Ben Protess, Huffington Post Investigative Fund

First Posted: 10-18-10 08:28 AM Updated: 10-18-10 09:40 AM

Nearly a dozen major banks and hedge funds, anticipating quick profits from homeowners who fall behind on property taxes, are quietly plowing hundreds of millions of dollars into businesses that collect the debts, tack on escalating fees and threaten to foreclose on the homes of those who fail to pay.

…

In exchange for paying overdue real estate taxes, the investors gain legal powers from local governments to collect the debt and levy fees. At first, property owners may owe little more than a few hundred dollars, only to find their bills soaring into the thousands. In some jurisdictions, the new Wall Street tax collectors also chase debtors over other small bills, such as for water, sewer and sidewalk repair.

…

Years ago, the big banks left the buying of tax liens largely to local real estate specialists and small-time investors. These days, banks and hedge funds, stung by the failure of many speculative investments, see tax liens as a relatively safe option that can yield returns of around 7 percent.

Some banks also are packaging tax liens as securities – in a similar way to how unpaid home loans are securitized – and selling them to investors.

If mortgage holders fail to pay overdue taxes, an investor could waltz off with a home worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for the price of paying the owner’s tax bill. Most homeowners eventually pay their debt.

…

Some two dozen states and the District of Columbia allow tax sales, which spare the governments from added expenses of hiring their own debt collector, or foreclosing and becoming a landlord. Local governments generally require minimal identification – for instance, a Social Security number. They allow bidders to choose whatever names they wish, and don’t check to see if bidders are using multiple identities.

In the Middle Ages this was called Tax Farming.

Monday Business Edition

This is the future Paul Krugman keeps warning us about.

Japan Goes From Dynamic to Disheartened

The Great Deflation

By MARTIN FACKLER, The New York Times

Published: October 16, 2010

For nearly a generation now, the nation has been trapped in low growth and a corrosive downward spiral of prices, known as deflation, in the process shriveling from an economic Godzilla to little more than an afterthought in the global economy.

…

The classic explanation of the evils of deflation is that it makes individuals and businesses less willing to use money, because the rational way to act when prices are falling is to hold onto cash, which gains in value. But in Japan, nearly a generation of deflation has had a much deeper effect, subconsciously coloring how the Japanese view the world. It has bred a deep pessimism about the future and a fear of taking risks that make people instinctively reluctant to spend or invest, driving down demand – and prices – even further.

…

After years of complacency, Japan appears to be waking up to its problems, as seen last year when disgruntled voters ended the virtual postwar monopoly on power of the Liberal Democratic Party. However, for many Japanese, it may be too late. Japan has already created an entire generation of young people who say they have given up on believing that they can ever enjoy the job stability or rising living standards that were once considered a birthright here.

…

Economists said one reason deflation became self-perpetuating was that it pushed companies and people like Masato to survive by cutting costs and selling what they already owned, instead of buying new goods or investing.

“Deflation destroys the risk-taking that capitalist economies need in order to grow,” said Shumpei Takemori, an economist at Keio University in Tokyo. “Creative destruction is replaced with what is just destructive destruction.”

Business News below.

Now with 48 Story goodness.

316 Stories served.  45 per day.

This is actually the hardest diary to execute, and yet perhaps the most valuable because it lets you track story trends over time.  It should be a Sunday morning feature.

• Sunday 10/10
• Monday 10/11
• Tuesday 10/12
• Wednesday 10/13
• Thursday 10/14
• Friday 10/15
• Saturday 10/16

So today Rangers fans and Yankee haters are getting their revenge (though 5 runs is not enough) but the point is that you only have to split away and that’s already done.  Tonight on Faux we have a pitchers’ duel which means a boring game barring a breakdown.  I’ve already picked the Phillies, I say they do it in 6.  Does this hurt the eventual Yankees matchup?  Did you see CC last night?  Vincible.

There is also Turn Left Racing.

• AMC– Predator & 2 (if you like that sort of thing, were it not a double feature I wouldn’t bother listing it)
• Animal Planet– Pit Boss (premier)
• Bravo– House marathon
• Comedy– Wedding Crashers
• Disney– A relatively large amount of Phineas and Ferb
• E!– Bounce
• ESPN– College Throwball, Ohio State @ Wisconsin and Oregon State @ Washington
• ESPN2– College Throwball, South Carolina @ Kentucky and Mississippi @ Alabama
• Food– A new Throwdown (ugh, the most unjustifiably arrogant chef on Food TV)
• FX– Baby Mama (again?), Two and a Half Men marathon
• History– The Universe marathon
• Lifetime– The Pregnancy Pact, Reviving Ophelia
• Nick– New True Jackson
• Oxygen– Juno, Legally Blonde
• Sci Fi– The Final, Kill Theory
• TBS– The Longest Yard x 2 (not the good one)
• Turner Classic– A Foreign Affair, Knight Without Armour
• TNT– Fool’s Gold, Failure to Launch
• Toon– Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster (World Premier), Tower Prep (Series Premier)
• TV Guide– Useless.  Home Fries x 2 (again and again and again)
• USA– NCIS marathon
• Vs.– College Throwball, Arizona @ Washington State

Later-

• ABC Family– Stepmom
• Comedy– Waiting…
• Sci Fi– The Graves (again), House of the Dead 2
• TBS– Terminator 2 (No Fate.  Best of the series.)
• Turner Classic– Morocco (a very young Gary Cooper and Marlene Dietrich)
• TNT– Spanglish
• USA– Burn Notice
• Vs.– Wildcats (again)
• VH1– 8 Mile (again)

SNL Repeat from 9/25.  GitS: SAC Re-View, Eraser (episodes 20 and 21).

Zap2it TV Listings, Yahoo TV Listings

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

1 Rescuers work to reach four trapped in Ecuador mine

AFP

1 hr 52 mins ago

What You Don’t Know about "Mortgagegate" Could Crush the U.S. Banking System

By Shah Gilani, Contributing Editor, Money Morning

October 15, 2010

(T)he odds that a financial tsunami will result from Mortgagegate are building each day. If this storm strikes with its full fury , it could be the kind of credit-crisis aftershock that undermines the tentative handhold that the U.S. recovery is so desperately clinging to.

…

Here’s the problem. In creating MERS, these institutions actually changed the land-title system that this country – for much of its history – has relied upon to determine legal ownership status of land titleholders.

…

MERS is facing class-action lawsuits and civil racketeering suits around the country and their members are being individually named in all these suits. One suit alleges that MERS owes California a potential $60 billion to $120 billion in unpaid land-recording fees.

How Wall Street Hid Its Mortgage Mess

By WILLIAM D. COHAN, The New York Times

October 14, 2010, 7:30 pm

This is where things got interesting. Clayton provided the inquiry commission with documents that summarized its findings for the six quarters between January 2006 and June 2007, when mortgage-underwriting standards were arguably at their worst and the housing bubble was inflating rapidly. Of the 911,039 mortgages Clayton examined for its Wall Street clients – a sample of about 10 percent of the total mortgages that the banks intended to package into securities – only 54 percent were found to meet the underwriting guidelines. Standards deteriorated over time, with only 47 percent of the mortgages Clayton examined meeting the guidelines by the second quarter of 2007.

So, did Wall Street throw all those mortgages back into the pond as being too risky for securities they were going to sell to clients? Of course not – many were packaged right into their product. There were degrees of nefariousness: Some Wall Street firms were better about including higher-quality mortgages in their mortgage-backed securities than others. For instance, at Goldman Sachs, 77 percent of the nearly 112,000 mortgages reviewed met the guidelines, while at Citigroup only 58 percent did. At Lehman Brothers, which later filed for bankruptcy, 74 percent of the mortgages sampled and then packaged up as securities met underwriting guidelines.

In fact, the banks probably weren’t disappointed at all by the shaky status of many of these loans: in part because they could use the information that some of the mortgages were rotten to get a discount from the mortgage originators on the price paid for the entire portfolio. The people who should have been concerned were the investors who bought the securities from the Wall Street firms. But the amazing revelation of the Sacramento hearing was that the investment banks did not pass this very valuable information on to their customers.

The Mortgage Morass

By PAUL KRUGMAN, The New York Times

Published: October 14, 2010

Now an awful truth is becoming apparent: In many cases, the documentation doesn’t exist. In the frenzy of the bubble, much home lending was undertaken by fly-by-night companies trying to generate as much volume as possible. These loans were sold off to mortgage “trusts,” which, in turn, sliced and diced them into mortgage-backed securities. The trusts were legally required to obtain and hold the mortgage notes that specified the borrowers’ obligations. But it’s now apparent that such niceties were frequently neglected. And this means that many of the foreclosures now taking place are, in fact, illegal.

This is very, very bad. For one thing, it’s a near certainty that significant numbers of borrowers are being defrauded – charged fees they don’t actually owe, declared in default when, by the terms of their loan agreements, they aren’t.

Beyond that, if trusts can’t produce proof that they actually own the mortgages against which they have been selling claims, the sponsors of these trusts will face lawsuits from investors who bought these claims – claims that are now, in many cases, worth only a small fraction of their face value.

And who are these sponsors? Major financial institutions – the same institutions supposedly rescued by government programs last year. So the mortgage mess threatens to produce another financial crisis.

But always remember that as large as the problem is for the banksters your proximate problem is that you may not have clear title to your property if it’s registered with MERS and not the town, city, county, or state.