Fast Forward

Alright, after receiving the 10 millionth forward I have to ask "What the heck is the deal with forwarding?"  Do these people think we really want to see all of this junk.  Is it a mindless ritual?  Their hand just hits the forward button.  " I must forward.  I must forward."  I actually took the time to read one today that had the subject The Bail Out.  It was talking about the $85 billion that was used to bail out AIG. They stated that if we assume that there are 200 million adults in the US, and that we take the $85 billion and divided it up among the adults that we would each get $425,000.  Oh how that would be a much better solution to the financial crisis.  What would people do with that money?  Pay off their mortgage.  Pay off their cars and student loans, saving the economy.  Why not do that instead of giving it to the fat cat big business men?  

Think about it a minute.  Yes, it didn't seem right to me either.  If we gave every adult a buck we are at 200 million.  Ten bucks we are at 2 billion.  You see where we are going.  It ends up being $425 and not $425,000.  This guy went on and on about the genius of his plan.  Even after taxes we would have a ton left.  Hasn't this guy heard of google.  Just type  85 billion divided by 200 million and you get 

85 billion divided by 200 million = four hundred twenty-five

I am not in favor of the "bail out".  I think it stinks.  The market is smarter than a room full of economists.  The market has a way of punishing bad behavior and rewarding good behavior.  And I am sick of hearing that there is a possibility that we (the people/government) can make money on this deal.  If it walks like crappy loans and smells like crappy loans chances are that they will be crappy in a few years.  Why are these defaulters all of a sudden going to start paying their mortgage bills?  If it is such a good deal why aren't the rich Saudi kings (or whatever they are called) or Chinese buying up these great deals.  There is money out there.  

No one will make home loans.  Oh really.  There is a bank in the small town in which I live.  I can think of several others.  They are always able to make loans.  Not the zero down, 5.0 interest, no employment or income verification loans, but loans that are based on sound lending practices.  I would bet that there are thousands of these across the country.  When we got the mortgage for our new house we didn't use them.  They couldn't compete with these brokers.  The reason.  They weren't willing to compromise their principles.  Now these big guys are going down and my local bank is still rock solid.  

El Toro Negro