A sensible answer to a senseless question: Congressman Barney Frank, from the Fourth Congressional District of Massachusetts.
Posts Tagged ‘politics’
Arguing with a Dining Room Table
Posted by gerirgaudi on September 15, 2009
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Seven Bedrooms
Posted by gerirgaudi on July 21, 2009
I few days ago I ran across one of the many stories related to home buyers crushed by the weight of their mortgage loans:
After discussing their financials with a mortgage broker, the family was presented with a deal and payments they could afford (italics mine). The interest-only, adjustable rate loan sounded good at the time. And since they were not first-time homebuyers, they thought they knew what they were getting into. [They] figured they could always refinance before the interest rates were adjusted.
Soon, the family settled in their seven-bedroom, five-bathroom plantation-style home with a pool (bold mine).
They were also paying mortgages on vacant rental properties when they couldn’t find tenants because of the housing crisis.
The story did not provide details on dates but vaguely implied the purchase took place perhaps four years ago or so. The story did say that this is a family of four (two adults and two kids). I suppose the story was intended to draw some form of empathy, but I had to stop and wonder: four people in a seven-bedroom house, with five bathrooms? Four, seven, five? Seriously? Vacant rental properties? Interest-only payments? Empathy?
We didn’t expect it to implode was the thinking. But, realistically speaking, this situation is what is generally referred to as living well beyond your means. Whether shady characters in financial institutions were crafting even shadier products to pile up so-called toxic assets and pass them along while making a bundle is not the point. The point is, simply, seven bedrooms when they can’t realistically be afforded and were probably not necessary to begin with, pushing the limits of financial reality and sanity over the edge. Any disturbance in the force (and they sadly experienced a few, including, unfortunately, health issues) is very likely to blow the scheme to smithereens. The story has a happy ending or sorts: the rescue plan, after some maneuvering, seems to have helped this family’s situation, which is good (there is little point in having people end up roofless), yet there is a sense of responsibility that seems to have been lost to boundless meness and unrealistic entitlement, which handily obliterates any sense of empathy whatsoever when there are so many other families that lived closer to their means and still got caught in the storm or others that chose to (or were forced to) pass on owning because they made the sensible decision that they could not afford a place.
Posted in editorial | Tagged: crisis, en, politics | Leave a Comment »
Dear Leta
Posted by gerirgaudi on November 6, 2008
Well worth the read, Month Fifty-seven, a precious gift from Heather B. Armstrong:
And yet, while this election is a firm rejection of that kind of thinking, it’s also about how this man brought so many people together and inspired us by his example to focus not on bickering or hurt feelings or the vast divide of our differences, but on rolling up our sleeves and looking for a way to bridge that chasm.
[...]
I know I am not alone when I say that my vote in this election was as much for his vision as it was for you and your future.
One fine example of something that makes this election different: hope portrayed not as some rhetorical romantic concept but as a powerful motivator and driver, at a very personal level, of the work ahead.
Posted in miniblog | Tagged: change, en, hope, obama, politics | Leave a Comment »
Obama: Yes, We Can. We Have. We Will.
Posted by gerirgaudi on November 5, 2008
I woke up this morning and did something I rarely, if ever, do: I turned on the TV. It’s rare for me to turn on the TV, much less at 6:45a in the morning, but it had to be done. I flipped the channels until I found one with election coverage (no cable/satellite, so I only have a handful of local options available), and knew immediately the outcome even before the commentator said a word, given the cheering crowds and the very positive feeling that came through the glass.
So the past and the present goals have been accomplished (obliterated one might say, given the landslide victory), and now comes the hardest part of it all: the future. But it is at least one driven by hope and a belief that change is as feasible as it is necessary. Yes, we can. We Have. We Will.
I found Mr McCain’s concession speech gracious and elegant, even as his supporters booed each and every mention of Mr Obama’s name (ironically, the same was not true on the other camp: Mr Obama’s mentions of Mr McCain and Mrs Palin’s names drew cheers and applause). Mr Obama’s speech was direct and gracious as well, fit of the leader that he is.
It’s only begun. Rock on.
Posted in media | Tagged: change, en, obama, politics | Leave a Comment »
Welcome to Super Tuesday: Welcome to Change
Posted by gerirgaudi on November 4, 2008
It’s finally here: Election Day 2008. Here’s to hope and change.
Posted in miniblog | Tagged: en, politics | Leave a Comment »
The Economist Endorses Barak Obama
Posted by gerirgaudi on October 31, 2008
The Economist is endorsing Mr. Obama.
Amusing quotes:
Somehow Ronald Reagan’s party of western individualism and limited government has ended up not just increasing the size of the state but turning it into a tool of southern-fried moralism.
Which feels like an understatement, but I digress. My two favorite quotes, however, are:
He seems a quick learner and has built up an impressive team of advisers, drawing in seasoned hands like Paul Volcker, Robert Rubin and Larry Summers. Of course, Mr Obama will make mistakes; but this is a man who listens, learns and manages well.
and
He has campaigned with more style, intelligence and discipline than his opponent. Whether he can fulfil his immense potential remains to be seen. But Mr Obama deserves the presidency.
And the presidency deserves Mr. Obama.
Posted in media | Tagged: en, obama, politics | Leave a Comment »
The Informercial
Posted by gerirgaudi on October 30, 2008
I watched the famed Obama Informercial this morning before work (I luv the net; time zone differences would have meant I needed to be up at some ungodly hour to see it “live”, and I’m grateful the big Intertron was at the ready position to deliver it when it was more convenient for me to watch it, although I was dissapointed I could not find it on Mr. Obama’s official site). It is a fine piece of work on many levels, and I did watch it from beginning to end (minus the “live from Florida” bit at the end). Clearly, it was engineered (yes, designed) to deliver a strong punch days before the election, with enough time to spread and give people time to think about it and digest it.
There are no earth shattering revelations in the video, but there are quite a few worthy elements to it, starting with Mr. Obama’s role as the chronicler (noted far more eloquently by Eve Fairbanks at The New Republic; James Fallows at The Atlantic also wrote a brief piece), which was the very first thing that caught my attention. Mr. Obama’s oratorial skills are well documented, but this role gave him the added benefit of reporting in the first person: he went, he saw, he’s reporting, he will act. If anything, Mr. Obama looks both approachable and, more importantly, engaged based on the input he has collected. There may or may not be a lot of approaching when he becomes president (he will have his hands full), but as long as he remains genuinely engaged, it is welcomed engaging change.
Posted in media | Tagged: en, politics | Leave a Comment »
Whassuup?! Change.
Posted by gerirgaudi on October 27, 2008
Priceless:
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Colin Power Endorses Barak Obama
Posted by gerirgaudi on October 19, 2008
It’s a slow Sunday after a night out celebrating a friend’s birthday, and I just wanted to give the news a cursory look, more out of habit than anything else. It turned out anything but cursory as news outlets report on Mr. Powell’s endorsement of Mr. Obama. He was already an outcast in Republican circles, and the usual outlets will go onto the offensive and set the spin wheels in motion: from race to redemption, vengeance and bitterness, in whatever array of colors, shapes and sizes anyone cares to add. I have always respected Mr. Powell, and I am glad to see that there is a shred of decency in him that seems to have survived his tenure in the first Bush term. I believe he hit rock-bottom as he stood in front of members of the United Nations on February 5, 2003 to defend the indefensible, and his replacement has essentially been a lame duck all throughout the second term (and I don’t particularly mind that state of affairs).
Is his endorsement redemption? Perhaps. Is there an agenda behind it? Maybe. Might he get to be, serving under President Obama, the Secretary of State he could never be under President Bush? Not unthinkable, and not necessarily undesirable. Regardless, it is undeniable that he has stepped up to the plate, and I’d like to believe he has done so in following a core set of beliefs that are able to distinguish right from wrong.
Posted in miniblog | Tagged: obama, politics | Leave a Comment »
Management 101 in the U.S. Election
Posted by gerirgaudi on October 14, 2008
I wrote the first two paragraphs of this post in early September:
A friend asked me last week if I was following the circus of the election in the States (paraphrasing). Having formulated that question right after a week of vacation, blissfully disconnected from anything not related to the task at hand, i.e., enjoy sun and roller-coasters with my better half, the only event of significance I could come up with was about Mr. McCain’s choice of Mrs. Palin as a running mate, and mostly because it was all over the news: impossible to ignore.
Ever since Loudcloud days, I’ve been interested in the science (and art) of management. Without going into the details of Mrs. Palin’s background, I found one rather interesting point of comparison between the choices of candidates for VP. One of the more resonant criticisms of Mr. Obama has been his so-called lack of experience, and, in particular, his lack of exposure to foreign relations. This stroke me as odd given his background, but let’s for a minute say he is unable to drive decent foreign policy (decent as in effective and human). He demonstrated that he can build (and quite possibly manage) team of people that can run stuff. If he was lacking foreign politics exposure, he went and found himself a running mate with said experience (as Mr. Biden’s tenure in the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations would attest). Thus, Mr. Obama seems to have approached his choice of VP as a management choice of creating a team to run the country than for political motivations.
It’s mid October, and I am yet to figure out what Mr. McCain’s choice in Mrs. Palin brings to the table in terms of building a team.
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