Saturday Rock Blogging

Submitted by Tanta on Sat, 10/06/2007 - 10:05am (36 comments)
in
Kevin wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 10:21 am

"three hours later after you've finally restored your system and rebooted in normal mode and retrieved the fragments of your damaged spreadsheet, you will have forgotten what the hell you needed that data for."

Hate it when that happens.

michaelcampion wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 10:26 am

I think you need a Mac...
Smile

Sonny wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 10:35 am

This one is way better.

Fleet Bank and the Cher Drag Queen

YouTube
- Fleet Bank and the Drag Queen

Tanta wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 10:44 am

I think you need a Mac...

Actually, I'd be fine if I just made shit up. It's only when I try downloading data that I have problems.

Average Joe wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 10:45 am

The Market Ticker

This is a pretty good post. It's hard for me to disagree with any of it. He nails the housing problem in a nutshell.

Tanta wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 10:45 am

By the way, does anyone want to know what the national average conforming fixed interest rate was for calendar year 1998? I went to all this flaming trouble . . .

Ben wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 10:47 am

He's got money coming out of the Whazoo!

YouTube
- Super Bowl Ad (2000) E*Trade - "Out of the Whazoo!"

FFDIC wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 10:49 am

Tanta,
Flame away girlfriend!

FFDIC wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 11:06 am

This home in a Houston suburb was built as I entered high school for about $20-$25,000. It is now only $165,000 and has 3,614 sf on a 6,800 sf lot. There are many more housing bargains in Texas. Move!

- real estate - REALTOR.com®

Conspiracy wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 11:10 am

"they're" on to Tanta...
she seeks data,
'they' provide subterfuge

Robert Coté wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 11:11 am

Admit it, you slept in after a marathon session of Halo3. Anybody spending Saturday downloading datasets needs a hobby. Might I suggest "motorcycle gang?"

P.S. Macs be da bomb.

A guess wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 11:12 am

7.25%

Censured wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 11:14 am

conforming fixed interest rate

Harley wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 11:23 am

GIRLS OF BIKEWEEK

YouTube
- Broadcast Yourself.

Tanta wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 11:24 am

7.25%

6.94%. 55% of loan originations were refis that year.

Robert, reading your comments is my hobby. Seeking out strange new data is my mission.

Misean wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 11:31 am

Well that makes it difficult...cuz I don't know what the singer is saying...I guess I'm getting old here.

BTW I do IT for a living...

is this close?

YouTube -
Cheers,

Robert Coté wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 11:33 am

Robert, reading your comments is my hobby. Seeking out strange new data is my mission.

There's a difference?

RayOnTheFarm wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 11:52 am

I think you need a Mac...

Theres no such thing as having just one... Wink

mort_fin wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 12:17 pm

If you just want mortgage interest rate history, go to Freddie Mac's Homepage and download the primary mortgage market survey spreadsheets. If you want a lot of interest rates, google FRED St. Louis Fed and whatever comes up (except for the porn and mortgage refi sponsored links) should take you to downloadable data for all sorts of interest rate series. A lot better than trying to download loan level stuff and manipulate it yourself.

A guess wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 12:20 pm

1st instinct was 6 3/4 , new that was a little low...
chose the high end of my range...
should have split the differnce...
my skills are weakening

55% is kinda huge, no?

DepressionWatch wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 12:23 pm

In a presentation Oct. 4 at the McLeod Software Users Conference in Birmingham, Ala., American Trucking Associations Chief Economist Bob Costello was sober about the trucking industry’s near-term outlook.

“Unfortunately, I don’t have the best news for you today,” Costello began. In the spring, early summer and even mid-summer, “I was a little more optimistic than I am now,” he said.

Among the signs of continued weakness in freight demand, Costello said, are forecasts for a longer housing slump; a slight uptick in inventories relative to sales; and slower growth in manufacturing, especially when viewed by weight rather than value of goods.

Another factor is that the fall freight season no longer reflects the huge spike in holiday demand that it once did, Costello told conference attendees. The rise in popularity of gift cards has pushed more purchasing into January and February at the expense of November and December, Costello said.

bacon dreamz wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 12:31 pm

RE: Project Warm-and-Fuzz-ify
To: Public Relations (All)
CC: D. Sambol
From: A. Mozilo

See below for my edits to the drafted press release. Good work, everyone, I think it "humanizes me". Don't forget about the christening party for my new yacht on Sunday, we're calling it "The Bailout"! -AM

6 Fun Facts You Didn't Know About Angelo Mozilo:

  1. Builds forts in his office out of stacks of loan files
  2. Enjoys leaving work early to go roller-skating when it’s sunny out
  3. Favorite food is fudgsicle
  4. Can do 11 push-ups [edit: Let’s change that to at least 30. Shut up, Sambol, I can too, my wrist was hurt last time! – AM]
  5. Invites newly right-sized employees who can't afford payment resets on their loans to sleep on cots in the backup pool house at his vacation home; playfully demands "some light work about the grounds" in exchange for access to the bathroom key [edit: Has Legal cleared us calling that leaky tarp I strung up a “backup pool house”? – AM]
Jim Et Al wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 12:33 pm

By the way, does anyone want to know what the national average conforming fixed interest rate was for calendar year 1998? I went to all this flaming trouble . . .

No...Can't say that I do, but then again the hard sands of current reality have been textured largely by crashing waves of expectations past. So you never know...

Confused? This might help...

YouTube - Gnarls Barkley - Crazy 

ciao

bacon dreamz wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 12:34 pm

apparently i forgot number 6, but i was distracted by trying to time my pushing of the "Shift" key at just the right moment as i typed...plus i'm lazy and that wasn't turning out as funny as i thought it would.

Robert Coté wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 12:39 pm

Oh hoo! Look who found the shift key! A'fores ya knows it languige and spelin an diction and polite company talk will be required. Before yas knows it clothes an stuff won't even be optional.

[funny stuff bd.]

sdtfs wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 12:52 pm

Seeking out strange new data is my mission.,...to boldly go where no man has gone before!

I can hardly wait for the Next Generation, or should that be, the Next Iteration?

bacon dreamz wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 12:54 pm

Rerbot Ctoe, do you konw taht the hmuan biarn can dtigniusih waht a word is no mtater how the mdidle ltretes are arnaegrd?

Tanta wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 12:59 pm

mort_fin, I love FRED. It's a great website and I recommend it to everyone.

That said, anyone who is afraid of MIRS is a wuss.

I've been trying to bring a couple old spreadsheets of mine up-to-date on originations and outstandings since the late 80s. I noticed there were some revisions to recent quarters of FOF L.218 that I missed, so I just went through and updated all kinds of stuff, including ARM mix which I get from MIRS (along with contract rate). I am prepared for most quiz questions regarding the mortgage market 1988-2006.

I recently got some data on subprime and Alt-A outstandings (which is hard to get; most data is originations) since 2000. I can't find anything older than that. I thought people might possibly be interested in a post on how much of the more toxic stuff is still on the books.

Tanta wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 1:00 pm

I refuse to believe that Mozilo builds forts with loan files.

bacon dreamz wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 1:05 pm

I refuse to believe that Mozilo builds forts with loan files.

Shh...you're ruining the PR spin. He also doesn't actually ever give them the bathroom key.

FFDIC wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 1:13 pm

Mozilo Monster taste like chicken.

YouTube - Mozilo Monster

Journeyman wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 1:44 pm

No bunch of anti-corporate anarchists has ever produced better music.

MaxedOutMama wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 2:09 pm

Tanta, I'd be interested! I can't think of a better way to spend Saturday than downloading MIRS data, or Sunday than reading a Tanta post about it.

quartz wrote on Sat, 10/6/2007 - 6:19 pm

The WaPo had an article today on F18, with another brilliant suggestionf for fixing the mortgage/foreclosure mess. Our proposer--a real estate professor at a California university. The proposal: mortgage payments should rise and fall with house values. There were so many holes in his argument, it is hard to say where to begin, but especially sputter-worthy was his math in the example given. Say you bought the average price house for $700k. Say your payment is $2000 a month. (I say that's either a big down payment or a low interest rate.) Say the average house value drops to 500k, then your payment drops to $1900. (I see my house drops 28% plus in value and I get a five percent break on the payment a bit more than one sixth the size of the drop.) Say later the house rises to $1 million, then your payment goes up 15%. (vs. 42%ish HPA -- more than a third of the magnitude of the rise in value.)

It made my head hurt.

michaelcampion wrote on Sun, 10/7/2007 - 8:49 am

"Actually, I'd be fine if I just made shit up. It's only when I try downloading data that I have problems."

It works for everyone else right? Smile

Gaffa wrote on Sun, 10/7/2007 - 7:47 pm

Commenting on the song, a friend of mine is a regular in the pub that Chumbawamba calls their home. His comment when they got an international hit with this? Home town pride, and the comment "I was surprised they could stay sober long enough to record an album."

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