Perma-Bears and Tea Baggers will hate this post

HousingPANIC was about the shit-storm to come. Before people knew. And then it came.

Soot & Ashes was the pivot, from crash to recovery. Before people knew. And then it came.

Even my March 2009 "green shoots" call was rejected by 94% of readers here, although it was the EXACT bottom, perhaps to the hour, but it doesn't matter, history proved me right yet again. Perma bulls get slaughtered. Perma bears get slaughtered. Smart and open-minded people who read Manias, Panics and Crashes do OK.

And now, a year later, it's nice to see The Economist on it yet again. Their "In Come the Waves" article was hands-down, without-question the single best piece of reporting during the Great Bubble. And this piece, "A Special Report on America's Economy", is one of the best pieces I've seen during the recovery.

So many of you are still (wrongly) perma-bears. Still sickeningly Glenn-Beck-Fox-News-Tea-Bagger negative. Still stuck in 2007, and 2008. And still see so much as what's going on as the future, when instead it's a trailing indicator. You have no hope, you think we'll never recover, you're angry, you want problems and not solutions, and, as always, you're wrong. Dead wrong.

The US is rising from this disaster, whether you want it to or not. We fired the corrupt GOP f*ckers who got us into this mess, and we're rooting out the corrupt f*ckers now on both sides of the aisle who want to keep us down.

We hired a great president, not just a good one, but a great, for-the-history-books one, even if he is to be hated or killed in his time.

We realized that the current path was unsustainable. We accounted for (most of) the bad debts. We took the 30% - 50% haircut on home prices. We stopped the stupid lending. And we got on a long, long path, that will eventually take us to solvency and fiscal and social responsibility. Eventually.

Now is the time for radical change, and radical change we shall have. Health care. Social Security. Medicaid. Medicare. Energy policy. Taxes. Trade. Education. Fiscal policy. Social policy. Infrastructure. The military. Transportation. Gays and civil rights. Commerce. Immigration. NCAA football playoffs. Internet devices. Pop culture. The American brand. Views on religion. Scientific knowledge. How we get our news.

You name it, everything will soon change. Dramatically. Like it or not, everything will soon change. There will be ups, and there will be sickening oh-dear-god downs, but everything, for the better, will now change.

So buckle up. Get out of the bunker. Bet on America. Bet on knowledge. Bet on change.

In the end, as always, you'll win.

Sarkozy to America: "Welcome to the club of states who don't turn their back on the sick and the poor"

"Welcome to the club of states who don't turn their back on the sick and the poor... The very fact that there should have been such a violent debate simply on the fact that the poorest of Americans should not be left out in the streets without a cent to look after them... is something astonishing to us."

-French President Nicolas Sarkozy, telling Americans who despise taxes, government services and poor people (of course, that is, funny enough, until they need, consume or qualify for government services, or become poor - then they love their government cheese) his views on America, March 2010

Welcome to the FoxNews.com Hot Sex Channel

I dropped by FoxNews.com, to check in on attractive missing blonde girls, porn stars, hot celebrities and sex tapes. And no, Fox News did not disappoint!

Oh, there was some stupid stuff about politics and ugly old men too. But I skipped right over that.

Gotta love Roger Ailes. Genius. Suck 'em in with hot babes, christian paranoia and some American flags, and then feed them your corporate-sponsored GOP political hypnosis.

Genius.

Straight from foxnews.com yesterday - you know, the right wing family values conservative christian network - here you go. You can't make this stuff up folks. Bill Loofah O'Reilly must be in heaven.

• 

  Mindy McCready Sex Tape

  EXCLUSIVE: Troubled country star in explicit sex tape, talks about alleged affair with Roger Clemens, others | NSFW: VIDEO COVER

• 

  'Hot Tub' Hot Stuff

  MAXIM MONDAY: Lyndsy Fonseca, John Cusack's girlfriend in 'Hot Tub Time Machine,' talks about her zebra-striped, spandex cat suit in the movie...

• 

  Bombshell Blindsided

  Jesse James' tattooed lover thought they were an item, until she watched the Oscars, dad says | DO YOU WISH YOU HAD JESSE'S GIRLS?

• 

  Eat Your Heart Out Reg!

  FOX411: Kim Kardashian looks to have bounced back nicely from last week's breakup with Reggie Bush | KIM'S TWIT PICS

• 

  More Stars Without Makeup

  BEFORE/AFTER: Brooke Mueller looks worse for wear from the drama surrounding her marriage. How do other stars fare without the warpaint?

• 

  VS Model Dreams of Curves

  POP TARTS EXCLUSIVE: Alessandra Ambrosio may seem perfect to us but she wishes she could beef up one body part ... | VICTORIA'S SECRET ALL STARS

• 

  Uchitel Longs for Privacy ...

  Yet, she still showed up at gossip blogger Perez Hilton's birthday bash, where she bragged that anybody would want to be her friend | RACHEL HOT SHOTS

• 

  Kate's 'DWTS' Disaster

  More trouble for Gosselin on 'Dancing With the Stars' as her partner threatens to quit during rehearsals and judge slams her performance as a 'nightmare'

• 

  'I Won't Be Edited'

  FOX411: Heidi Montag, famous for editing her own body with multiple procedures, looks forward to life after 'Hills' | HEIDI'S

I think this is a joke. An SNL sketch. A gag. But like a lot of things on Fox News, I'm not quite sure.

I guess nobody else in America was available to have on Fox News?

Wow.

At one point, you'd figure the Fox News news actors would be like "OK, this is a gag, right?" and cut it off. And you'd figure they wouldn't make the mistake of having crazy lady keep coming back to reinforce their tea party narrative.

I love Fox News. Best entertainment channel on the TV, bar none.

Tea Baggers are gettin' angry. They're "on their last piece of chewing gum" if you know what I mean.

Man, I hope the FBI and Secret Service are staffing up.

Hate and rage sure goes good with some country music, don't it?

And why are they so angry at the government? Shouldn't they start with the realtors? Or maybe the people no longer in government who got us into this mess?

We wondered where the rage was, when the crooks were getting away with the loot. Well, the rage finally came, albeit too late. And stay tuned. Some kooks are going to go over the edge soon enough.

How'd that buying cheap crap from China at Walmart work out for you Americans?

You did it to yourselves. You offshored your jobs. You sold you soul. You gutted your downtowns. You destroyed your small businesses. You permanently altered your way of life.

All because of you love cheap crap from China, more than your fellow (now jobless) man.

Such a shame. It didn't have to be this way.

Enjoy your trip today to Walmart.

Try not to notice the blight on your way there.

US Unemployment Rate

Goodbye US manufacturing jobs.

Americans used to make things. And then they purchased things that other Americans made.

And then came Walmart, corrupt and incompetent unions, bad management at GM, lots of robots, idiots in DC, and, of course, communist China.

Well, I guess everyone can work at Walmart. Or maybe they can build robots and have their robot go to work for them?

BTW, are charts supposed to do that?

Jon Stewart destroys Glenn Beck

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Conservative Libertarian
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform

Epic.


(FYI traveling, back Sunday)

Hate. Rage. Danger. Ignorance. Disinformation. Self Enrichment.

History will be brutal.

We've seen as*holes like these guys before.

Don't worry. Eventually the people wise up, and they go away.

"We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat." - Bush speechwriter David Frum

There are some adults left in the Republican Party.

Not many.

Some.

And the adults know the truth. That their party has been hijacked by whackos, liars, discredited hacks, con artists, ignoramuses, lobbyists, the military industrial complex and corporations. And that even though the American population's memory is short, and they may soon escape the blame for the economic catastrophe they caused our land, and they may soon escape blame for leading us into an idiotic and unjustifiable war, they won't be able to escape trying to score political points while attempting to sabotage the Obama presidency. They won't be able to escape not working in good faith toward good policy, and good government.

Because, yet again, they failed. Epic fail. Yet again.

They failed their party. They failed their nation. They failed.

And America is better off for it.

I know I've seen these angry ignorant racist white teabagger mobs before...

I saw them here...




I saw them here...




I saw them here...


I saw them here...



And, of course, I see them here...

If you're a "Tea Party" member, you're associating yourself with right wing racist ignorant intolerant thugs, sponsored by Fox News, the GOP and FreedomWorks.

The "Tea Party" is now a Republican/Fox News/FreedomWorks/Corporate-Sponsored movement of paranoids, racists, ignoramuses, fringe right wingers and thugs.

You know, just like the ones we've seen time after time, bringing shame to America.

History, again, will not be kind.

Finally

Good.

Evil.

What side are you on?

Without comment.

Been there. Done that. From 1989: "Is Government Dead?"

Twenty years have gone by, and still no solution for America's biggest problems - Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, health insurance, financial regulation, manufacturing, energy reinvention, and of course, the deficit.

Twenty years.

But soon you'll be able to take health insurance off that list. Next must come entitlements. You think Congress and Obama are unpopular today? Wait until they (rightly) try to touch the social security retirement age. Or try to defuse the medicaid/medicare $61 trillion timebomb.

People (especially selfish baby boomers) want the streets paved with gold. They want to be treated as children. They want services, but they don't want to pay for them - they want to leave that up to their kids. And they elect leaders who promise them everything will be fine, no need for change, until the day when the whole ponzi scheme unravels (and that day is getting close).

The incumbents are going to lose their jobs anyway. Maybe they'll do the right thing for the nation on the way out the door.

Fix this mess now. Or else history will not be kind.

Hint - I think history will not be kind.

Health Insurance Overhaul Open Thread

Have at it.

Think it's gonna pass?

Five years from now, will this help the Dems or the Reps more?

And as part of your comments, share your health insurance status.

Flash: Realtors Care!!! They're Superheroes!!! Here's proof: "Realtors Care Nevada Foreclosure Councelling"

Realtors care?

Uh, then can we have all those commissions back?

And what's their angle? They want the foreclosure listing no doubt. And they want people who got foreclosed to be able to buy houses again ASAP. Gotta make that commission!

Bloodsuckers. Leeches. Cockroaches. Realtors. Made money lying to people on the way up, made money screwing people on the way down, making money hand-over-fist off the very people they screwed on the way back up. Giving that "comprehensive and unbiased advice" you know.

Every day is a good day to make a commission!

A message to the corrupt and paranoid communist leaders of China: Go f*ck yourselves.

Hey, everyone get down to Walmart today?

I wonder if S&A is censored in China. I'm doing all I can.

OVERTHROW YOUR LEADERS, BRAVE PEOPLE OF CHINA!

Man, it must be hard to mind-control 1.3 billion people. This can't last much longer, can it?

Oh, for a good and swift revolution.

Meet GOP hack and uber-corporate-lobbyist Dick Armey, the scum who brilliantly hijacked the 'tea party' movement

Don't forget, HP'ers were really amongst the first 'tea partiers'. Amongst the first to promote, and then endorse, Ron Paul. Amongst the first to support his 'money bombs', which became 'tea party money bombs', which then became essentially a Ron Paul tea party movement.

And then, seemingly overnight, probably because of a meeting over brandy and canapes with Rove, Armey, Gray, Ailes and Murdoch, it became the GOP Fox News Dick Armey Corporate Lobbyist Angry Renter Astroturf Fake Blog Hijacked Fool the Idiots Into Voting For the People Who Caused the Mess Tea Party Movement.

Brilliant. Seriously, brilliant. Watching Fox News, the GOP, Karl Rove and Dick Armey hijacking the tea party movement is only equaled to watching the GOP hijacking christians after Watergate. As if jesus would be a supporter of the rich and the corporations over the poor and the people. As if people angry at the corruption and incompetence of government leading America to financial ruin would support the corrupt fools who were in charge for eight years.

Brilliant. Flipping brilliant.

So, here he is, again, Dick Armey. Founder of fake astroturf quasi-housing-panic blog "angry renter". Founder of Freedom Works, and bankroller of the now-fake "tea party" debacle.

I detest Dick Armey, and everything he's about. One of the most destructive men of the past twenty years. This man is a scoundrel, pure and simple, absolute disgusting scum. But damn, he's good. Brilliant at what he does. And confirms that people really are that stupid.

Dick Armey's 'tea party' history is a strange brew

Dick Armey is intellectually versatile: The former leader of House Republicans went from being a rainmaker for a Washington lobbying firm to being the unofficial leader of the anti-Washington "tea party" movement.

Worth watching again - Mike the Discredited Hack Norman, Tom the Discredited Hack Adkins and Peter Schiff, 2006

It's tough to do a victory dance when the entire world economy has collapsed, but I guess you all can take some solace in the fact that you were right. Dead-on, historically right. And hacks like Norman and Adkins will live in shame forever. Thank you youtube. Thank you internets.

"What artificial lending standard are you talking about" - Mike Norman, clueless idiot full of bravado but little knowledge, December 2006

"You're gonna see prices go up" - Tom Adkins, spinner of misinformation so as to earn a commission, December 2006

(btw, did you know that Tom Adkins, the Fox News caveman hair realtor, was doing the Fox Business News anchor Brenda Buttner at that point? True story. Even though Fox didn't disclose it. Makes you wonder who Mike Norman was doing.)

Jesus is Here. (so, are you gonna buy an iPad?)

Lots of Americans think America sucks now. That it's doomed. That this recession will never end. That there's no future. That America is falling behind. That we don't make things anymore (correct - we don't make them, but we design them). That we're raising a generation of lazy idiots. That we've lost our edge. That we don't lead anymore. That we're doomed.

Sure. We still have realtors lurking amongst us. Nobody big got arrested for the housing bubble scam. Our politicians are incompetent and corrupt. And Sarah Palin is seen as a 'political leader'.

But I submit Apple. And the iPad.

And for good measure, I submit Google, Amazon, FedEx, Facebook and In-and-Out Burger. For starters. Great innovative American companies, great products, great services, brilliant people, and if we're gonna get out of this mess, our saviours.

(and I can't wait to get my hands on one of the little iPad buggers. And yes, of course, I still own AAPL).

Runaway Toyota Hoax realtor "I think about 95 per cent of the realtors filed bankruptcy". Yup. And now I bet they'll all get Toyotas.

1) get real estate license

2) gamble in real estate

3) fail

4) foreclose home, steal appliances on way out, do some insurance fraud, declare bankruptcy

5) come up with a new con

6) watch incompetent mainstream media buy it hook line and sinker (again)

7) get exposed by blogs

8) fail again


I wonder what other con game realtors will get into next. More insurance fraud? Maybe survival seed farms for tea partiers? Start a hedge fund? Run for Congress? Oh, no, wait, I know, that can still be realtors! Because people are too clueless to realize they're the conmen who got us into this mess in the first place, and love giving them their hard-earned money!

Harry Reid (finally) shows some spine, basically tells Mitch McConnell and his insurance-company-funded henchmen to go F themselves

Maybe next he'll demand that the GOP actually fillibuster next time. You know, bring out the cots and see how long these coddled old white men can go. See if they can keep it up for a week or a month or a year.

Now THAT would be worth seeing.

Here's Droopy Dog Harry, giving corrupt piece of sh*t Mitch McConnell the bizness. And yes, even though I favor Reid on this one, I can't stand the both of 'em.

"Given this history, one might conclude that Republicans believe a majority vote is sufficient to increase the deficit and benefit the super-rich, but not to reduce the deficit and benefit the middle class. Alternatively, perhaps Republicans believe a majority vote is appropriate only when Republicans are in the majority. Either way, we disagree.”

-Harry Reid, growing a pair, March 11, 2010

You may not know it yet, but there's a good chance you've been hypnotized.

It's all just one big formula.

But you knew that. Right?

(Oh, and if you're a Fox News viewer, add in the "you're under attack" narrative - you know, christians, whites, straights, republicans, kkk members, militia members, gun owners, businessmen, the rich, young blonde girls. whatever. just fill in the blank.)

2006, just as housing started an epic and historic collapse. Suzanne from Century 21: "This listing is special John. You guys can do this!"

Now fast-forward to today's conversation:

Husband: "Our home dropped 50%, we're $300,000 below water, you've lost your job at the bank, we've blown through our savings, and we can't even short sale this debt trap!"

Wife: "I TOLD YOU I DIDN'T WANT TO BUY THIS HOUSE YOU FAT IDIOT! WHY DID I EVER LET YOU TALK ME INTO IT! I HATE YOU! AND I'M SLEEPING WITH YOUR BROTHER!"

Ring, ring, ring, ring

On speakerphone, it's Suzanne

Suzanne: "Hi guys, it's Suzanne!!! How is my favorite couple doing? Ready to trade up to a nicer home?"

(sound of gunfire erupts)




(hint - realtors aren't superheroes. never forget.)

URGENT FRAUD ALERT - TREASURY DEPT CONSIDERS HAVING REALTORS ON COMMISSION SET 'FAIR PRICE' FOR SHORT SALES, FEDS TO BRIBE FAILED HOUSING GAMBLERS

Oh. Dear. God.

Either they're corrupt, or they're idiots. One or the other.

If this news is to be believed, the Treasury Department is going to try to stimulate short sales, and as part of the process they're going to have lenders enlist REALTORS ON COMMISSION to tell them what a fair price should be for a short sale property.

Not appraisers (who are corrupt anyway and got us into this mess). Not government-hired investigators. Not CPA's.

No, they're going to ask REALTORS ON F*CKING COMMISSION. You know, the ones who will MAKE A F*CKING COMMISSION when the short sale goes through, they're going to ask what the fair price of a home is.

ARE YOU F*CKING KIDDING ME?

SERIOUSLY, ARE YOU F*CKING KIDDING ME?

HEY GOVERNMENT - EVER HEAR OF A THING CALLED ZILLOW.COM? EVER HEAR OF AN HONEST REALTOR? AND PLEASE, JUST GET THE F*CK OUT OF THE HOUSING MARKET. YOU'RE ONLY MAKING IT WORSE.

Please, MSM and bloggers, pay attention to this issue. This is, I believe, the single worst idea and single worse government meddling scheme I've seen during this whole housing fiasco, and it must be stopped.

From the report:

Under the new federal program, a lender will use real estate agents to determine the value of a home and thus the minimum to accept. This figure will not be shared with the owner, but if an offer comes in that is equal to or higher than this amount, the lender must take it.

And wait, it gets worse. The govenment is going to PAY HOUSING GAMBLERS WHO GAMBLED AND LOST to short sale their homes. Seriously. THEY'RE GOING TO PAY FAILED GAMBLERS $1,500 IN COLD HARD TAXPAYER CASH:

To bring the various parties to the table — the homeowner, the lender that services the loan, the investor that owns the loan, the bank that owns the second mortgage on the property — the government intends to spread its cash around.

Under the new program, the servicing bank, as with all modifications, will get $1,000. Another $1,000 can go toward a second loan, if there is one. And for the first time the government would give money to the distressed homeowners themselves. They will get $1,500 in “relocation assistance.”

When I see John Boehner, I see used cars.

Well, when this whole politician thing doesn't work out, maybe he can be a realtor.

No, check that. Even John Boehner probably wouldn't sink that low.

(p.s. - is he trying to be black?)

(p.s.s. - follow the money)

The top donor to Boehner's leadership PAC in 2003-2004 was SLM Corp., the Reston, Virginia-based student-loan company better known as Sallie Mae. SLM contributed $65,170 to Boehner's Freedom Project, more than twice as much as the second-biggest donor, New York-based Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The money came as the House Education and Workforce Committee, which Boehner chairs, prepared to write new legislation governing student loans.

In 1995, Boehner handed out campaign checks from the tobacco industry to members on the House floor at a time when lawmakers were considering eliminating a tobacco subsidy.

Americans 1980 - 2010: "A criminal generation that had selfishly and blithely ignored clear warnings"

For those of you selfishly and ignorantly on the wrong side of history, all I can say is history will not be kind. Your kids will come to hate you.

And their kids. And their kids. And their kids. And their kids. And their kids. And their kids. And their kids. And their kids. And their kids.

For those of you thankfully on the right side of history, that's all and good. But what are you personally doing about it?


We Can’t Wish Away Climate Change
By AL GORE

It would be an enormous relief if the recent attacks on the science of global warming actually indicated that we do not face an unimaginable calamity requiring large-scale, preventive measures to protect human civilization as we know it.

Of course, we would still need to deal with the national security risks of our growing dependence on a global oil market dominated by dwindling reserves in the most unstable region of the world, and the economic risks of sending hundreds of billions of dollars a year overseas in return for that oil. And we would still trail China in the race to develop smart grids, fast trains, solar power, wind, geothermal and other renewable sources of energy — the most important sources of new jobs in the 21st century.

But what a burden would be lifted! We would no longer have to worry that our grandchildren would one day look back on us as a criminal generation that had selfishly and blithely ignored clear warnings that their fate was in our hands. We could instead celebrate the naysayers who had doggedly persisted in proving that every major National Academy of Sciences report on climate change had simply made a huge mistake.

I, for one, genuinely wish that the climate crisis were an illusion. But unfortunately, the reality of the danger we are courting has not been changed by the discovery of at least two mistakes in the thousands of pages of careful scientific work over the last 22 years by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In fact, the crisis is still growing because we are continuing to dump 90 million tons of global-warming pollution every 24 hours into the atmosphere — as if it were an open sewer.

Everyone's all freaked out about Greece's debt, draconian cutbacks, and possible default. Here's an easy solution. Just mortgage the Greek Islands.

Seems like a no-brainer. Greece needs about $20 billion from France and Germany, and they need some cash for a few years until they can get their sh*t in order.

Fine.

Instead of just loaning them the cash, and having the German taxpayers guarantee the loans against default (stupid, stupid, stupid), go ahead and loan them the cash, just like any company in receivership, but have 'em put up the Greek Islands as collateral. Default on the loans, lose the islands. Or enough of 'em to back up the loans. Might just take a few.

Same goes with Spain, Portugal, Iceland, etc. Want loans? No problem. Put up assets, just like everybody else. The EU as one big pawn shop.

And next time, don't listen to realtors on commission and bankers on bonus. They'll screw you every time. It's not like the Euro was real anyhow.

A special note to all current and former Hummer owners. Go f*ck yourselves.

History will not be kind.

Funny in a sick way how many realtors and mortgage brokers bought Hummers, eh?

Please join me in spitting on any of 'em that you see.