"Weapons of Mass Deception" are the lies about how the housing crisis is the fault the poor minorities who got loans they couldn't afford. But let's be real: the mortgage companies didn't want to give up their racist practices and are trying to punish the regulators with shifting the blame now, when the real blame lies with them.
I got my first mortgage through the ACORN program. I am white, educated, and got no family help for my first home purchase. The ACORN program helped me get that condo and I paid that mortgage in full when I sold it four years later. Let's not blame ACORN.
When I refinanced my house six years later, the interest-only loan was practically shoved down my throat. I still said 'No'. I'm not Econo-Girl for nothing. The mortgage broker assured me "they" won't let the interest rates get too high. In the end, I got a fixed rate thirty year mortgage. But if someone wasn't as informed as me, they would have taken it, thinking it was a no-brainer.
What the free-marketers, bankers, and mortgage lenders hate to admit: they live or die based on the will of the voters. So if we say so, that's it. Jump, boy, jump. Higher.
Showing posts with label morally retarded. Show all posts
Showing posts with label morally retarded. Show all posts
10.18.2008
5.06.2008
Mortgages, Defaults, Refinancing, Bankruptcy, Prison - Meltdown
Hell hath no fury like a politician looking for a scapegoat. Mortgage companies that lie, steal, and encourage others to do the same are just fine until their actions lead to economic instability. Then the FBI is sent after them.
Where was the special FBI task force when all of this lying was being done openly? Why was no one concerned then? This is not a case of sneaky documents being signed in the Cayman Islands. Mortgage companies competed for business by creating "liar loans" that required no income verification.
Now that there is political pressure from someone in Congress, the FBI springs into action. Where were they before? Why is it a crime worthy of their focus at this time, and not when the practice started to happen? And why does it take a crisis for anyone in Congress to decide there's a problem?
The financial interests of the mortgage companies put pressure on Congress such that they didn't want to see an obvious problem. Mortgage companies donate to political campaigns, after all. And they hire constituents who vote for politicians. So Congress was content to turn a blind eye towards a systemic problem.
But wait! The entire system is melting down! I might get thrown out of office! Let's get an investigation going so people associate me with vengeance instead of greed.
And that delivers us to where we are today: hunting down the mortgage lenders and giving the cowardly national leaders a pass.
Where was the special FBI task force when all of this lying was being done openly? Why was no one concerned then? This is not a case of sneaky documents being signed in the Cayman Islands. Mortgage companies competed for business by creating "liar loans" that required no income verification.
Now that there is political pressure from someone in Congress, the FBI springs into action. Where were they before? Why is it a crime worthy of their focus at this time, and not when the practice started to happen? And why does it take a crisis for anyone in Congress to decide there's a problem?
The financial interests of the mortgage companies put pressure on Congress such that they didn't want to see an obvious problem. Mortgage companies donate to political campaigns, after all. And they hire constituents who vote for politicians. So Congress was content to turn a blind eye towards a systemic problem.
But wait! The entire system is melting down! I might get thrown out of office! Let's get an investigation going so people associate me with vengeance instead of greed.
And that delivers us to where we are today: hunting down the mortgage lenders and giving the cowardly national leaders a pass.
12.09.2007
Lori Drew and the MySpace Suicide
So what kind of adult would OK the idea of creating a false identity and then plaguing her daughter's former friend with it? She claims that she told her daughter to "only say nice things." Are we supposed to believe that? That she told her daughter "OK, create a false identity and pretend to like your former friend, even though you don't anymore, but only say nice things." It's absurd.
It seems that the entire Drew family is being shunned by their neighbors. And that's the least of their problems. There are death threats and ominous cars driving by their house.
Good! There should be some kind of feedback mechanism to online behavior. You can't just do anything or say anything without facing the results. The problem is that in the United States, people often express themselves through violence. Letting them live in shame is worse than a hail of bullets.
It seems Lori Drew ran an advertising agency out of her home she has had to shut down. Hooray! I hope they lose everything. And if they do decide to move, it won't make a difference. What that family did, and what Lori Drew sanctioned will follow them everywhere.
It has taken a while for our sense of morality to extend to the effects of what we say online. But that's part of what I see going on here. It's an important shift.
It seems that the entire Drew family is being shunned by their neighbors. And that's the least of their problems. There are death threats and ominous cars driving by their house.
Good! There should be some kind of feedback mechanism to online behavior. You can't just do anything or say anything without facing the results. The problem is that in the United States, people often express themselves through violence. Letting them live in shame is worse than a hail of bullets.
It seems Lori Drew ran an advertising agency out of her home she has had to shut down. Hooray! I hope they lose everything. And if they do decide to move, it won't make a difference. What that family did, and what Lori Drew sanctioned will follow them everywhere.
It has taken a while for our sense of morality to extend to the effects of what we say online. But that's part of what I see going on here. It's an important shift.
4.18.2007
"Morally Retarded"
Let's begin the cultural shift with the introduction of a new phrase: morally retarded.
The phrase is an accurate description of those who go on these mass killing sprees. Too many messages in the popular culture associate a willingness to commit violence with a superiority of character, where the person is depicted as having transcended normal limits.
The opposite is true. People who can commit violence are morally retarded and need to be depicted that way. They've never developed limits because of their moral retardation. Their decision-making capacities are skewed. The result is violence our entire society has to suffer.
Let's change the conversation about violence.
The phrase is an accurate description of those who go on these mass killing sprees. Too many messages in the popular culture associate a willingness to commit violence with a superiority of character, where the person is depicted as having transcended normal limits.
The opposite is true. People who can commit violence are morally retarded and need to be depicted that way. They've never developed limits because of their moral retardation. Their decision-making capacities are skewed. The result is violence our entire society has to suffer.
Let's change the conversation about violence.
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