Bloggers write a lot. That is what I have determined after my exhaustive study and analysis, which has mostly consisted of me opening my rss reader every day and seeing far too many unread posts. The odd part is so many of the bloggers I used to read when I started blogging a few years ago, no longer seem to be in the game anymore. Yet, I still have all these unread posts, which means I am either reading more bloggers now or the remaining people really need another hobby.
Life for me has been busy and stressful the last few weeks. I think it should settle down soon, but until it does, I exist in varying stages of stress. The odd part is that most of the things I am stressed about are actually good things - opportunities and such, but how do I know if they are good opportunities or the right choice. It is questions like this that make me sleepless at night and no one seems to have any answers. They may start out thinking that they do but after talking to me for a few minutes they shake their heads, toss up their hands and say, "Good luck with that." I cannot say that I blame them. I would do the same thing, except I happen to be in the unfortunate position of having to make the ultimate decision. Somehow, I think people feel I should be happier about my current position.
Work has been good. Two of our paralegals, though, have cancer. It is a scary thing. I watched my mother go through it and the treatments years ago and now I get to watch some of the staff experience it. It seems like so many people get it. I feel like all of us will end up with it within another forty years, which really sort of sucks, when you think about it.
I have given up on the election for the next few months. My girlfriend is still passionate about it but I have sort of resigned myself to the fact the next president will just be stuck with a huge mess on his/her hands and they probably are not going to be able to fix it. Sure, the Federal Reserve can act in the wink of an eye - overnight even - and rescue a failing bank, but any relief for failing homeowners has to go through Congress and committee and be discussed, ad nauseum . I keep hearing about how these people knew what they were doing and that they were reckless and that they should not be rewarded for it - they should have to face the consequences. Meanwhile, we funnel billions of taxpayer dollars to the banks that all helped cause it.
I do not know how reckless these people were. I attended a lot of real estate closings with a lot of buyers, back when the market was booming. You always knew when you were with someone that really could not afford the loan they were about to get, but the broker had talked them into it. We would talk to the borrower about negative amortization and the loan interest reset date and the borrower would sometimes briefly have a slightly worried expression but the broker or someone else in the room would reassure them that they would just refinance before then - after all with all that built-up equity, the banks would be lining up to hand them money. We knew the crash was coming. We all watched the banks writing absolutely ridiculous loans, with the lenders and mortgage brokers making insane fees, and then the bottom fell out and everyone was surprised. I was in a meeting one day and got to watch an attorney blame a local paper for the collapse of the real estate market because it was just alarmist and did not understand the market.
Much of our society does not make sense to me when it comes to the financial markets. For example, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has generated a new report based upon information from the IRS. It says a few interesting things: 1) 2006 was the fourth straight year of significant income gains at the very top and very small gains everywhere else: from 2002-2006, the top 1% had average incomes rise by 44% or $335,0000. The bottom 90% had incomes rise by 3%, or $1000; 2) The share of the nation's income going to the top 1% hasn't been that high since just before the Great Depression; and, 3) Those in the very top income distribution--the top one-tenth of 1 percent--had enormous income gains rising 60%, or $1.9 million per household, since 2002. See also this blog.
Life for me has been busy and stressful the last few weeks. I think it should settle down soon, but until it does, I exist in varying stages of stress. The odd part is that most of the things I am stressed about are actually good things - opportunities and such, but how do I know if they are good opportunities or the right choice. It is questions like this that make me sleepless at night and no one seems to have any answers. They may start out thinking that they do but after talking to me for a few minutes they shake their heads, toss up their hands and say, "Good luck with that." I cannot say that I blame them. I would do the same thing, except I happen to be in the unfortunate position of having to make the ultimate decision. Somehow, I think people feel I should be happier about my current position.
Work has been good. Two of our paralegals, though, have cancer. It is a scary thing. I watched my mother go through it and the treatments years ago and now I get to watch some of the staff experience it. It seems like so many people get it. I feel like all of us will end up with it within another forty years, which really sort of sucks, when you think about it.
I have given up on the election for the next few months. My girlfriend is still passionate about it but I have sort of resigned myself to the fact the next president will just be stuck with a huge mess on his/her hands and they probably are not going to be able to fix it. Sure, the Federal Reserve can act in the wink of an eye - overnight even - and rescue a failing bank, but any relief for failing homeowners has to go through Congress and committee and be discussed, ad nauseum . I keep hearing about how these people knew what they were doing and that they were reckless and that they should not be rewarded for it - they should have to face the consequences. Meanwhile, we funnel billions of taxpayer dollars to the banks that all helped cause it.
I do not know how reckless these people were. I attended a lot of real estate closings with a lot of buyers, back when the market was booming. You always knew when you were with someone that really could not afford the loan they were about to get, but the broker had talked them into it. We would talk to the borrower about negative amortization and the loan interest reset date and the borrower would sometimes briefly have a slightly worried expression but the broker or someone else in the room would reassure them that they would just refinance before then - after all with all that built-up equity, the banks would be lining up to hand them money. We knew the crash was coming. We all watched the banks writing absolutely ridiculous loans, with the lenders and mortgage brokers making insane fees, and then the bottom fell out and everyone was surprised. I was in a meeting one day and got to watch an attorney blame a local paper for the collapse of the real estate market because it was just alarmist and did not understand the market.
Much of our society does not make sense to me when it comes to the financial markets. For example, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has generated a new report based upon information from the IRS. It says a few interesting things: 1) 2006 was the fourth straight year of significant income gains at the very top and very small gains everywhere else: from 2002-2006, the top 1% had average incomes rise by 44% or $335,0000. The bottom 90% had incomes rise by 3%, or $1000; 2) The share of the nation's income going to the top 1% hasn't been that high since just before the Great Depression; and, 3) Those in the very top income distribution--the top one-tenth of 1 percent--had enormous income gains rising 60%, or $1.9 million per household, since 2002. See also this blog.
