Patrick’s Rants

Exxon Mobil reports another record profit. CNN reports that it partly due to the high price of oil. It’s time to push the oil companies into heavy research mode. There are alternative methods of creating crude oil, but Exxon and its cohorts would rather sit on the profits. At a time when the stock market is melting down, people are worried about their jobs, spending less and housing is set to go into free-fall, big oil needs to be working on a way to keep our money here instead of sending it to the Middle East. This is the company that Jeff Flake wants to reduce corporate taxes for.

It’s your turn. Help people instead of companies

We need to temporarily lock the interest rates that homeowners are paying - no upward ARM adjustments for the the next five years or more.

Housing prices need to adjust with the market. Prices are over inflated and need to cool. Step in to help homeowners keep their homes as opposed to supporting the ability of companies to make bad decisions without recourse. Yes, individuals need to take responsibility for their actions. The process of buying a home and obtaining a mortgage can be an overwhelming process; the banks have the primary responsibility of ensuring that purchasers properly understand their loans. If the banks have failed in this regard then they must be held responsible. Easing a homeowner into a better loan if possible or selling the home if needed should be the primary focus of this legislation, not enforcing poor or even criminal business practices.

No one wins in an environment where foreclosed homes sit vacant to be stripped of wiring and copper pipe. Occupied homes help to keep the crime rate down and the tax base intact.

If you are going to spend my money - and let’s face it, it is my money along with every other taxpayer out there - spend it helping people.

President Ronald Reagan stepped through the tall French doors of the White House Oval Office into the bright sunlight of a lovely fall morning…

The president stood at ease for a moment and looked out over the assembled guests, beaming with pride and satisfaction. He had promised the American people that he would get government off their backs, that he would deregulate the private sector.

I predicted more problems almost a year ago.

Twenty years ago, Ronald Reagan signed legislation that led to the end of the Savings & Loan industry. His administration allowed the S&Ls to slide ever closer to oblivion, turning a blind eye to the disaster shaping up across the country. Lack of regulation allowed the S&Ls to be pillaged and burned while Reagan, like Nero, fiddled happily away. Bush Sr was elected to office and started the takeover of the failing institutions through the Resolution Trust Corporation. RTC moved too fast, just as Reagan moved too slow - or not at all.

This is what’s wrong with the idea that there’s too much regulation. A little bit of regulation can go a long way, too much and the market begins to sink into oblivion. Not enough and you have RTC, Enron and Arther Anderson. Leaving the S&L industry alone in the late 80s and we might not be where we are today with our current mortgage meltdown.

Leaving a tiny piece of regulation in place that kept CPA firms from offering “consulting services”, a euphemism for “what else can we ’sell’ to our clients?” might have saved Arther Anderson and even possibly prevented the implosion of Enron.

Leaving the regulation alone that controlled mortgages might have reduced or prevented the so-called housing bubble and the current pop that is beginning to affect banks worldwide. With his “what, me worry?” attitude Baby Bush encouraged companies to lend money to people who could neither afford their mortgage nor qualify if properly asked to.

Regulation attempts to reduce the greed factor; if it’s done properly. The whip-saw of Sarbanes-Oxely is a massively expensive choke hold on companies that will do little to prevent another Arther Anderson. A simple rule that prevented them from offering consulting services - in any way - to companies whose books they audit would have been sufficient.

We are seeing the extremist positions of Republicans over the last 35 years. Reagan stabbed the S&Ls in the back, Bush Sr grabbed the dagger and twisted. Dubya cut regulation on mortgages - arguably to allow those who are barely making their rent to own a home and it’s taking banks down around the world.

McCain has been along for this entire ride. We cannot afford to have his finger on the pulse of the country; the republican response to a slowing heart rate is to remove the oxygen mask and shut off the life support.

My wife and I recently talked to some people about our prospects for home ownership - it’s more of a pre-qualification type review. They look over our credit reports and get an idea of our debt to income and all that fun stuff. It turns out that the credit pull seems to have been more of a hard pull than a soft pull (we were told they did soft pulls, but I haven’t looked at a follow up report yet to see if it shows or not) and we got a phone call from “Home Loan Executives” who do something called “trigger leads”. I’m guessing the trigger lead is like pre-screened credit offers, but these guys are looking for people pulling credit reports for a home loan and then calling them about it… as this article says, creepy.

I use Firefox all the time these days as does somewhere around 20% of all internet users. I noticed that Bank of America decided to support my browser of choice: Bank of America Firefox support. Now, if they would only show your account balance on the payment page. There is just a selection for the minimum payment and a blank box for a different amount you have to remember your balance if you want to pay the whole thing unlike the other cards I have that show three choices: the minimum payment, the statement balance, and a blank box for other. So I either missed it on BofA or they choose not to show you your balance on the payment page which is a little weird. At least they officially support Firefox.