Beijing's "Rat World" for Migrant Workers

I better not hear you complaining about your dorm room ever again.

Snark-worthy Headline of the Day

I leave it to you to make your own snarky responses to this headline about real estate values.

Quote of the Day: Stupidity and Bad Behavior

From movie critic and editorialist Kyle Smith:

Stupidity is not the same thing as irresponsibility.

We're getting plenty of both from all directions these days, though.  BONUS: Smith rips into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with this:

They used their implicit government backing to behave like spoiled rich kids who knew that if they ever got drunk and crashed the Porsche, their daddy would bail them out — then buy them a new car.

Oh, snap!

Bubblemania: Housing + Student Debt Converge

Surprise! The next generation of potential home buyers labors under massive student debt.

The cost of college has exploded over the last decade, outpacing even the housing bubble. The culprits are the same wolves, just dressed up a little differently: easy credit, greed, and lots of kool-aid to to around. The toxic combination of high student debt levels and a terrible job market is crippling the financial future of recent college grads. From a real estate perspective, this could impact the starter-home markets for the a decade or more as the next generation of first-time homebuyers is already burdened with too much debt.

Remember this too about college debt:

Even worse, government-backed student loan debt cannot be walked-away from or discharged in bankruptcy. Many will be saddled with their debts for decades to come.

HOW MANY TIMES do I have to bang on and on about how government meddling makes things worse in the education sector? Especially where money is involved? I mean, REALLY. Talk about creating a victim class!

And what about us young nerds? Basically, we're screwed, aren't we? I've railed against the housing bubble before, so I won't repeat myself. I've ranted, am ranting, and will keep on ranting about the higher ed bubble, so I'll let it go for now. Just read the whole linked article.

California Screamin': Is It the Next Greece?

I love California, and a lot of my friends and relatives live in the Golden State. Still, there is no denying that the place is a huge political and economic mess. It's Golden no more.

Nerd Analysis: Is Government-Subsidized Home Ownership Necessary to "Preserve Our National Identity"? Plus a Rant!

Say WHAT? Robert Shiller may be a Yale economist, but I think he's wrong about this whole home ownership and government subsidy business. Here's his New York Times op-ed, by the way, so you can read for yourself. Besides, government meddling helped create the housing bubble and resulting toxic mortgage mess.

Also, are we really saying that somehow home ownership is a prerequisite for a national identity/character? WHAT? What do you even mean by those words? Pffffft. I already figured out a while ago that in the government obsession with home ownership, even for people who shouldn't have gotten mortgages in the first place, the humble, taxpaying, fiscally responsible apartment renter (like yours truly and most of my hard-working friends) gets the shaft.

Shiller even concedes that government house-buying subsidies have very little economic justification (i.e., actual, practical, common-sense reasons for doing stuff), but he insists on the "social engineering" aspect. And so in the end he begins, most unfortunately, to sound like every other tiresome, ideologically-driven, pie-eyed dreamer with no grip on harsh pragmatic reality, justifying bad policy by claiming some kind of moral high ground and good intention. (Booooooo!)

You know, someday I'd like to buy a house (or a cute condo). But a house isn't the only kind of personal property that matters (and with the Kelo decision and eminent domain, you might still be out of luck with that -- oops, did I say that out loud? Ask some New Yorkers about their property rights). I think the entire idea that homeowning is somehow a requirement for good communities and individual liberties is flawed, and besides, it's reductionist and doesn't even try to account for the fact that people who don't own houses matter too (don't they?). I was in a towering rage about the mortgage mess, and I still am. Homeowning is not the end-all and be-all of life.

I find amusing also in the extreme Shiller's statement that renting puts us all under the "oppression of a landlord" and brings up nasty memories of tenements. REALLY? TENEMENTS? I'm looking around my apartment and out the window at the rest of the sunny complex right now. Hm, we haven't had a single cholera outbreak this month or last, actually. Not a single instance of typhoid or tuberculosis, no rats or vermin or filth or crime, no high-rise fires or leaky pipes, no instances of entire families crammed into a single room, no kids crying because they'd spent all day working in a mill for The Man!

Funny, I don't feel oppressed that I pay rent to someone. I don't feel like some kind of serf or peasant or whatever. In fact, I actually (gasp!) LIKE the fact that I pay my own rent with my own money for my own place to live that I chose. Funny, when I went apartment-hunting, the sheer awful, blood-sucking, soul-killing oppression of it all -- landlords and rent and tenements, oh my! -- never entered my head. I was more thinking, closet space and kitchen appliances and nice sunlight exposure so I can have a place to live and work hard and make my way in the world without depending on anyone other than myself, so I can keep chasing my American Dream. Well, I guess this just doesn't make me part of the community or national identity of people who care about individual liberties and property rights! After all, I'm just a poor sad tenement dweller crushed under the heel of some ruthless landlord. Or something. PFFFFFFT.

Life Imitates "Lord of the Rings": the Hobbit Hole House in Switzerland

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit."

Via Neatorama comes this odd little story about a Swiss attempt at "green living." Check out the image gallery at the link; the Swiss hobbit hole looks rather ... comfy. Well, all hobbit holes are supposed to be! Personally, I think the whole project's a great attempt to make a Middle Earth fanboy obsession look like respectable tree-hugging enviro-trendiness.

Household Income and Expenditures: Where Does the Money Go?

Some friends and I were having this discussion recently. We're all budgeting and counting pennies, and despite everything, we're always a little flummoxed: WHERE DOES ALL THE MONEY GO?

(Still, some things are just pricelessly precious.)

Anyway, here is an interesting link (filched from Neatorama) about how the average American family spends its income, according to a new survey by the US Department of Labor. Of course, when it comes to the actual percentages, YMMV. Check out the intriguing graphic (click to enlarge).

Going to the poorhouse? I'll meet you there!

Downsizing Detroit and Bulldozing Baltimore

Oh, my.

Commentary: Obsessive Housing Disorder

Here's an interesting commentary on the current housing mess -- in light of previous housing messes.

Blurb:

...our collective amnesia about Washington’s repeated attempts to expand homeownership and the disasters they’ve caused. The ideal of homeownership has become so sacrosanct, it seems, that we never learn from these disasters. Instead, we clean them up and then—as if under some strange compulsion—set in motion the mechanisms of the next housing catastrophe.

How many times do I have to scream about knowing history?

Also, MM Heresy of the Day: For the record, I don't care if I never actually own a house.  Maybe I'll change my mind when I get married and have babies, but for the foreseeable future, I see no reason why I should even think about home ownership.

A Modest Proposal for Fixing the Economy

This is pretty good -- and very funny:

Dear Mr. President:

Please find below my suggestion for fixing America's economy.

Instead of giving billions of dollars to companies that will squander the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan.

You can call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan:

There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force.

Pay them $1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the following stipulations:


1) They have to retire.

--> Forty million job openings.

--> Unemployment fixed.


2) They have to buy a new American CAR.

--> Forty million cars ordered.

--> Auto Industry fixed.


3) They have to either buy a house or pay off their mortgage.

--> Housing Crisis fixed.

It can't get any easier than that!

14 Modern Cassandras Criticize Government Economic Policy

OK, some of these 14 Cassandras have more dignitas and credibility than others. Still, it's an interesting collection of critics from both left and right. One common theme -- apparently nobody likes Tim Geithner or his "plan."

I can't resist including a quote from one of the critics:

"Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's latest bank bailout plan is another Rube Goldberg contraption intended to funnel taxpayer dollars to bankrupt banks, without being overly visible about the process."

A RUBE GOLDBERG DEVICE! Such geek-speak does make me smile.

Satire Alert and Your Political/Economic Humor of the Day: "South Park" 1, US Treasury Leaders 0

The "South Park" episode "Margaritaville" is absolutely jam-packed with satirical potshots at all sorts of targets, but I have to say, their dig at the US Treasury department's policies (and decision-making process) is simply and brilliantly hysterical.

See too the shot at having our debt be paid by our children.

Really, are Matt and Trey doing the country's best satire?

Don't take my word for it; go watch the episode for yourself. (Language warning.)

The best bits, if you are in a hurry, are collected here.

Housing Mess: Mortgages, Homeowners, and Renters -- Plus a Rant and Financial Apocalypse Soundtrack!

There's a great little bit in the hilarious 2005 movie "Thank You For Smoking" where the Aaron Eckhart and Katie Holmes characters talk about how people do all kinds of stupid, possibly evil things "for the mortgage" -- as in, to pay it. A third character then jokes that the world might be a better place if more people rented. It's a fun bit from a fun movie, but these days the whole idea cuts a whole lot more deeply. I'm a renter, see!

We've all been talking a lot about the mortgage mess. Plenty of people are unhappy about it. Responsible homeowners -- who comprise the vast majority of mortgage holders -- are perfectly justifiable in being angry at the entire government plan to help out the delinquent ones. The Santelli rant and its sequel did touch a raw nerve. Moral hazard is everywhere. A few nights ago, comedian Jay Leno had a great bit in his monologue in which he talked about a friend of his who lived within his means and bought a house he could afford . . . "What an IDIOT!" Leno said, to great applause and laughter. Oh, it was funny, but it was the kind of funny that covers up the wince of truth.

Here's a bit more acerbic humor, courtesy of the Tennessee GOP, which has just made this bumper sticker:

Maybe they should also print a version that says "Honk if I'm paying your mortgage." (Great use of the Obama "O" too.) Anyway, the basic sentiment is the same: some people are ending up paying other people's mortgages.

OK, so responsible homeowners are irate, as they should be. 92% of homeowners are paying mortgages on time, versus 8% that are the rotten apple in the barrel. But hey! Not everybody in this country has a mortgage. LOTS of people -- myself included, with most of my friends -- are renters. What about these people? As taxpaying renters, we're going to be paying for delinquent homeowners' mortgages too. HONESTLY, THAT JUST TICKS ME OFF.

There's all this pious-sounding drivel coming from the government about "keeping people in their homes." Oh, yeah, you mean the homes they shouldn't have gotten in the first place? The homes they couldn't afford or the homes they foolishly bought on a financial gamble? (Is it time to flip off all the house-flippers?) Now some people can't pay their obligations, but we've all got to do something to keep them in those now-toxic houses? You can call me cold and cruel and heartless and mean and everything else, but I'm ranting. And I don't think this is a partisan political rant, either.

Here's a slice of reality from my universe. I rent an apartment. If I fall behind in my payments, guess what? I GET EVICTED FROM MY APARTMENT. Pure and simple, short and sweet, no whining, no arguing, no crying to the government, no sob stories about whatever -- I GET KICKED OUT OF MY PLACE IF I DON'T PAY THE RENT. End of story. Dude, who's going to help me pay my rent if I'm supposed to help people pay their stinky mortgages? (And don't tell me that the coming $13-a-week "tax cut" is going to do diddly squat for renting on the East Coast. It's a drop in the bucket.) So for all the wailing from those who have been reckless and now want rescue: CRY ME A RIVER. And cry another for all the other renters who are losing jobs, having their hours cut at work, seeing the price of everything (including rents) skyrocket, and fighting the good fight on their own.

And do you think there's no pain for people renting? no pain for people paying their mortgages on time? We're ALL economically pressed. Everybody I know is feeling the pinch. Nobody's helping us -- I pay my rent on my miserable nerd-income, and I do it all by myself every month with no assistance from anybody (the American Dream! and I actually wasn't being sarcastic). All my buddies and I are counting pennies and severely cutting back on expenses. But we're making our payments on time (and also paying our bills and maybe even managing to stash away a penny here and there). I feel as though all this doesn't even MATTER. It's that moral hazard again. Besides, now things are so bad everywhere that I might never have the chance to buy a house even if I wanted one later on (which I kind of don't) because houses will be artificially overpriced. Hello?

Don't even get me started on the loopy idea that everybody should own a house. This is a patently ludicrous idea, and for a really long time it was bolstered by the equally ludicrous idea that house values would always increase because they'd been increasing for a long time. NO, not everybody should own a house, and that's that.

Anyway, check out Megan McArdle's recent piece on the homeowner/renter divide.

Also, there's a new website called AngryRenter.Com -- no bonus points for guessing its nature and purpose. Here's their video:




End of rant. If you're in a peppery mood, you can check out Atlanta Tax Protest's own rant: "I got your mortgage support right here!"

I'm going to go listen to Quiet Riot's "Bang Your Head" now as the new and 22nd track to the ongoing Financial Apocalypse Soundtrack. Better than actually banging my head against the wall! "I'm not a loser and I ain't no weeper"! Just an angry, self-reliant taxpaying renter.

Credit Crisis -- Visually Explained

Santelli, the Scrappy Sequel: It's a Smackdown

First there was the original Santelli rant.  Then there was the response by White House press secretary Gibbs, a response I thought was sneering, condescending, and altogether unworthy.  Was it because Santelli had the nerve to talk back?  Maybe the White House had gotten so used to universal media adulation that any discordant peep is most unwelcome.

Of course, if Gibbs or anybody else expected a pugnacious fellow like Santelli to let Gibbs get away with it, they were sadly mistaken. 

Rick "Chicago Tea Party" Santelli's lost none of his verve, and indeed he seems more peppery than ever.  His response is too good and amusing to pass up:

OK, after the fireworks and theatrics are over, everybody calm down and try to work the problem.  

Demotivator Commentary: Bailouts -- Hell on Wheels!

I'm sorry.  I just can't resist.  The increasing groundswell of frustration over government bailouts of all types (such as bad mortgages, as per the now-famous Santelli rant)  has inspired my wicked sense of humor.

Also, did you need a refresher on what "moral hazard" is?  See here, but basically it means "encouraging bad behavior in the future." 

This demotivator commentary is dedicated to everybody in DC from Obama on down who has a hand in Bailout-a-palooza.  And to my Sibling, who loves him some cheesy 1980s TV series about cars.  And more cars.

Just them good ol' boys . . . Wouldn't change if they could.

(Ain't THAT just the truth?)

CNBC's Rick Santelli and Taxpayer Rage: "...see if we really want to subsidize the losers' mortgages"

Check out CNBC's Rick Santelli's passionately indignant rant from the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade.  Watch the whole thing; it has a real sting at the end.  Here is the link to the video.

A couple quotations:

"The government is promoting bad behavior!"

"How about we ALL stop paying our mortgages?"

It's outrage over the idea of having to pay your neighbor's mortgage, especially if the neighbor's been a fool to get that mortgage in the first place.  (Among other things.)  Preach it, Rick.

I ought to thank Santelli for ranting so I don't have to.

UPDATE 1:  Check out this angry piece in the Denver Post too (via Dr. Helen):  

"So why are we rewarding failure and abolishing consequences? . . . The more irresponsibly you behave, the more the government works for you."  

Plus this:

Obama has told us the American dream must be saved. So far, his remedy entails government rewarding bad behavior, encouraging dependency, subsidizing failure and penalizing success and prosperity.

Bingo.

UPDATE 2: Santelli interviewed about his outburst.  Blurb: 

And I’m not saying we should forget people who need help. But at the end of the day, Americans are strong and they’re charitable. I think what they have a problem with is that it’s force-fed via the government.

Yes.

UPDATE 3:  More here.  Check out the reader email quoted in the middle of the story.   Santelli, I dare say, did not so much create a raw nerve as much as he touched one that was already festering.

UPDATE 4:  How do we know that Santelli's hit a sensitive target?  The (increasingly catty and thin-skinned) White House spokesman attacked him by name.  Note to press secretary Gibbs and his puppeteers: What are you people smoking (besides a trillion dollars worth of worthless American greenbacks)?  PLENTY of people have been criticizing the Spend-a-palooza Government Orgy Bill, but you single Santelli out?  You're making him a martyr and a populist hero -- plus by default legitimizing him.  Besides, it's completely stupid for the White House to attack journalists and public people by name.  First it was Rush Limbaugh and now Rick Santelli?  You're making your own side look like a prickly elitist bunch of free-speech hypocrites.  HOPECHANGE!