As for the marriage, well, Kris Humphries is younger than Kim, and he came across as very immature to me; it could be the editing, but I just never got a good vibe from him.  And, her family is very protective, very close and it can't be easy to fit in.  The closer they got to the wedding, the more I started to feel she was trying to convince herself that it was working, that he was "the one," and having lots of doubts.  Again, maybe that was editing - I mean, who knows how much "reality" there is in reality TV, right?

And I guess the downside of living your life in front of the camera is that when you fail at something, you have a huge audience there to witness it.

Whether it failed because they rushed into it, or there was more to the story than the TV audience was privy to, it's still hard to fail, and so I have a certain amount of sympathy for them - for Kim.

Never mind the poor don't have anything and the rich have everything, even with all that money, power, and influence they are always victims to those stealthy poor folds with nothing.

Not the entire cause but, it was the root cause.  Derivatives were not a problem in themselves, the derivatives of high risk mortgages were a huge follow on problem to the underlying problem of risky mortgages.

 Until government regulatory policy changed, banks and mortgage brokers routinely required 20% down, proof of employment, and a credit history.

Those bankers were no more and no less honest or greedy when the Fannie and Freddie required those attributes on the mortgages they bought.  When Fannie and Freddie followed government policy and opened the flood gates to buy more highly risky mortgages, the banks and mortgage brokers did their part and delivered the product (risky mortgages) that their customers (Fan and Fred)demanded.

As Maxine Waters lauded back in the day it is clear as a bell that the GSE's had "innovated" into buying high risk mortgages.

Under the outstanding leadership of Mr. Frank Raines, everything in the 1992 Act, has worked just fine.  In fact, the GSE's have exceeded their housing goals.  What we need to do today is to focus on the regulator.  And this must be done in a the manner so as not to impede the affordable housing mission.  A mission that has seen innovation flourish, from desktop underwriting to 100 per cent loans.

When a government sponsored enterprise wants to buy high risk mortgages, it is not a moral failing to provide what the customer demands.

Btw, is that a different smoking gun than the FBI report in 2004, that sighted an "epidemic of white collar crime" in the home mortgage field?

No, the government didn't cause ALL of the problem. But it was the Daddy Rabbit.

Without Carter's attack on the banks over supposed "red lining" then the banks would not have been so anxious to make marginal loans. If Clinton hadn't pushed Fannie and Freddie, as my link shows, then the industry as a whole wouldn't have thought the door was open and even then, if Barney Frank and company had not opposed Bush in 1993, the results would have been different.

9/11/2003The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.

Under the plan, disclosed at a Congressional hearing today, a new agency would be created within the Treasury Department to assume supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that are the two largest players in the mortgage lending industry.

snip

Significant details must still be worked out before Congress can approve a bill. Among the groups denouncing the proposal today were the National Association of Home Builders and Congressional Democrats who fear that tighter regulation of the companies could sharply reduce their commitment to financing low-income and affordable housing.

''These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis,'' said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ''The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.''

Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed.

''I don't see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing,'' Mr. Watt said.

NY Times Link

And, to be fair, Bush, and later McCain in 2005, should have used more political capital to get the job done. Kinda like a parent is supposed to make sure Junior brushes his teeth.

And what does this mean?

Why the need to push so many otherwise qualified borrowers into ARMS?

If they were otherwise qualified, an ARM should have been no problem unless they were not smart enough to not use the money left over for new cars, etc. Is there a defense against stupid?

And, as the bubble started to expand even more rapidly, the "industry" did some outrageous and in my opinion illegal things. I've written this before. Read "The Big Short," by Michael Lewis if your blood pressure is under control.

But the root cause of the failure was the lowering of mortgage underwriting standards as innovated by Fannie and Freddie.

If they had stuck to the traditional requirements of 20% down, proof of employment, and credit history then none of the follow on consequences would have occurred.  

Don't they know that that's not their place?  That those sorts of decisions are best left to a handful of people who probably won't feel the negative effects of those decisions?

The financial community appears to be furious that what they viewed as done deal is now back on the table.  I think the easier thing to do was let the deal move forward.  It is unlikely to be ratified by a popular vote.  Frankly, I think the people should be invested in it if the deal doesn't go through.  They're more likely to work together after the fallout.

Basically, he didn't have a good choice.  But if he was going to go populist, it was smart to do before any of the complaining parties got wind of it.

By the way, this?

He doesn't want to be responsible (which is the same problem Greek pols have had for decades)

He doesn't want to be responsible (which is the same problem ALL pols have had for decades)

So I stand by my original assessment.  His political career is likely over.  He will have no financial support from the moneyed class and while he may be removed from office immediately, it is almost certain that if it doesn't happen now, it will happen at the next election.

Our retirement funds are ephemeral no matter which way Greece goes.  The peoples of Greece are just as much of a victim as we are.

I have had a somewhat up-and-down history with the folks in the Obama administration. I was proud to be their liaison to the progressive community during the Obama-Biden Presidential transition, and have labored mightily to help them at several key junctures during this first term. I have been quite critical of them at times on political strategy and specific policies, but have always supported them overall because I know Barack Obama is a far superior president to any of the extremist lunatics in the Republican Party: I definitely prefer a sane, intelligent president to one of those turkeys. I have been especially appreciative of their outreach to me and other progressives since Rahm Emanuel left for Chicago, and have been thrilled with Obama's newfound messaging toughness on jobs and taxing millionaires over the last couple of months.

[snip]

It's not that I am taking any of the above back: I still very much want Obama to win re-election in 2012 against Mr. 1%, Mitt Romney, or any of the other Republicans who might get the nomination. But I fear that without a major change of course, the administration is choosing a path which will be devastating both economically and for them politically in 2012. I figure my friends at the White House getting mad at me is well worth it if I can contribute to saving them from themselves.

[snip]

I have banged away on this topic with my old friends in the administration for a while, which is why I feel like I have no other choice to go public with this.