1

Sniff.

+1,000

Gotta admit that re-reading some of Tanta's posts made me realize how good a writer she was. She knew a lot about loans, and had political opinions, but above all she was a very talented writer.

Rob Dawg, I don't know why this is, but everytime I read what you write, the voice of Mr. Potato Head from Toy Story starts ringing in my ears.

Tanta was not only super smart, she was so funny you couldn't get thru a post without laughing out loud. It would have been fun to have heard her discussions face-to-face.

I post follow ups to pigged comment. There I said Honda is the new small provider.

using IE(I know, I know, parent's rig) 8.0.6001

Blackwaterwannabe (homepage, profile) wrote on Mon, 10/12/2009 - 11:55 pm

* reply
* Ignore user

my apologies for not reading the headlines. I litterally just logged on and saw the new post and ..
Tanta seemed like a pretty cool girl.

She might object to the term girl and maybe your accolade of pretty cool. She was a very astute and knowledgeable underwriter.

"the "Cheers" bar "

Ah, the Bull & Finch. The show ruined that place...

(

She might object to the term girl and maybe your accolade of pretty cool.

I said that in the highest respect one could make in not having the pleasure of meeting her.
Again, my apologies for your loss. Your absence from her might be shorter than you might think.
Aside from any religion per se- remember the 1st law of Thermodynamics.

Hmmm, making me want a glass of

I have never read anyone else with her abilty to flay open a subject and leave it lying on the ground like the naked essence of Voldemort.

Outsider wrote:

Don Rickles. Does that change anything?
FWIW, I've always heard your voice as a cross between Mr. Potato Head and Michael Savage.

Dammit. "Cliff" is Hammy.

That said, think of me as Michael Savage in Starship Troopers. Particularly his views on government.

'Economic Implications of the "Too Big To Fail" Policy'
FRASER - 'Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research'
FRASER » Publications » Economic Implications of the "Too Big To Fail" Policy
'This hearing, held before the Subcommittee on Economic Stabilization of the House of Representatives reviews the economic implications of a "too big to fail" policy in light of the bank failures that took place in the 1980's.'
Might be interesting...it's a large pdf 10.7M download...

Starship Troopers? You guys on here with your weird movies...

I have to say, on the recommendations posted on this blog, I checked Brazil out of the library, and I honestly could not see what all the hoopla was about. Must be a guy thing.

This will only be solved by cramdowns.

Either the bank gives the person in the house a cramdown
sufficent so the person is even with the debt, or eventually
the bank will take the property back, many will be wrecked
and the value will be crammed down even more in order
to sell it.

As per previous thread.

And I believe that Tanta said that the banks had lost their
minds,. and cram downs were appropriate.

It's too late for small to medium cramdowns. The window
has shut on that. And it appears to be becoming the style to walk--or
stop paying anyway.

Or Glory Road.

From Mish:
At the low end of the economic scale, only those with a job can benefit. Yet, even then the odds are most program participants would be better off walking away than becoming debt slaves to an overvalued residence. Some will eventually figure this out. Others will find that even a lower rate is not enough to keep them in their house. Still other will lose their job in the next 1-2 years and be forced out of their homes. Huge numbers of modifications are in the works. Just don't expect any miracles. None are coming.
Sorry if re-posted-

CalculatedRisk wrote:

and they always seemed to end too soon.

Much, much too soon.

C'mon lliz, there was plenty of his juvenile fiction that could "compete" with Starship Troopers...Glory Road might have more of a chance of actually getting made due to subject matter, but the Moon Is A Harsh Mistress would be difficult to treat well - though if done well would be a treasure...

Taco Viva!

Liz - I just have a fundamental problem letting the debtor keep assets vis-a-vis the secured creditor - the government violated the absolute priorty rule to the nth degree in the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies - the secured creditor shoud be able to decide if it wants the current debtor to stay in the house and pay the reduced debt, or it they want to forclose and sell. I foresee serious issues with this form of risk shifting.

"Were there large evil commie bugs to blast?"

In the book, they're Japanese. It's an allegory about WWII.

Also, the citizens aren't exactly capitalist--you have to serve (military or other risky service) to be a citizen and vote. It doesn't matter how rich you are.

Merchant,

Perhaps a buydown would be more appropriate. Buy MBS at a discount. Keep buying the whole loan MBS which are offered at the largest discounts.

merchants of fear wrote:

'This will only be solved by cramdowns.'
Yes...but the 'securitization' investors who bet(invested) on the mortgages?

Bankruptcy is the appropriate avenue. That was both the mortgagee and the mortgagor pay the price for the error of their ways. Any other approach results in greater costs in the future.

...whatever 'haircut' works...

first you might want to take care the fine nice folks that created it in the first place, otherwise another will just pop up again.

Got ammo?

Yeppers, It's over there on aisle 9 by the guns and the bibles.

I just saw a TV ad for a small, local bank - appeared pretty unprofessional and I can't remember the last commerical I saw for small local banks. Makes me worry about how they're being hurt by the big boys. And they're probably guiltless compared to the big boys.

Rob Dawg wrote:

I'd be happy if some bright boy (yes, it has to be a boy) would make a few dozen shorts from his teen novels.

Are you kidding? "All You Zombies" would be much more marketable (snicker,snicker,snicker)

"It means that these things all happen, in regular rhythm,
whether we like. it or not. It means that when skirts are due
to go up, all the stylists in Paris can't make 'em go down.
It means that when prices are going down, all the controls
and supports and government planning can't make 'em go
up." He pointed to a curve. "Take a look at the grocery ads.
Then turn to the financial page and read how the Big Brains
try to double-talk their way out of it. It means that when an
epidemic is due, it happens, despite all the public health
efforts. It means we're lemmings."
She pulled her lip. "I don't like it. I am the master of my
fate,' and so forth. I've got free will, Potty. I know I have
I can feel it."
"I imagine every little neutron in an atom bomb feels the
same way. He can go spung or he can sit still, just as he
pleases. But statistical mechanics work out anyhow. And
the bomb goes off which is what I'm leading up to. See
anything odd there, Meade?"
She studied the chart, trying not to let the curving lines
confuse her. "They sort of bunch up over at the right end."
"You're dem tootin' they do! See that dotted vertical line?
That's right now and things are bad enough. But take a
look at that solid vertical; that's about six months from now
and that's when we get it. Look at the cycles the long
ones, the short ones, all of them. Every single last one of
them reaches either a trough or a crest exactly on or almost
on that line."
"That's bad?"
"What do you think? Three of the big ones troughed in
1929 and the depression almost ruined us . . . even with
the big 54-year cycle supporting things. Now we've got the
big one troughing and the few crests are not things that
help. I mean to say, tent caterpillars and influenza don't do
us any good, Meade, if statistics mean anything, this tired
old planet hasn't seen a jackpot like this since Eve went into
the apple business. I'm scared."
She searched his face. "Potty you're not simply having
fun with me? You know I can't check up on you."
"I wish to heaven I were. No, Meade, I can't fool about
numbers; I wouldn't know how. This is it. The Year of the
Jackpot."

Watch those symptoms:

Atlanta health, diet and fitness news | ajc.com

750 employees x 250 working days per year = 19 x Z
Z ~= 9,868 government union workforce?

rich wrote:

Older people are more vulnerable to getting worn out during winter months and during darkness.

Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to FL we go.....

Liz, what about a slogan:

"Move to Florida and put off the inevitable."

"Tax Day Looms for Offshore Account Holders"

I love watching tax cheats squirm. Of course, their Congressional protectors will save a good number of them, but this looks like it will actually catch a few.

Tax Evaders Face Choice: Pay or Pray - NY Times

"This will only be solved by cramdowns."

Agreed. Banks will not (and cannot) reduce principal voluntarily.

Modifications without principal reductions will fail.

The government's approach is to try to reinflate the housing bubble. that approach will FAIL.

Then again, it depends on what you mean by "solved".

ghostfaceinvestah wrote:

"This will only be solved by cramdowns."

I realize the word cramdown has a long history.....

But what's in my mind is more like a cram up (the bankers' backside).

EvilHenryPaulson wrote:

forget vampire squid

I feel that the pictures of Geithner and Bernanke capture their personalities particularly well.

Since we're off in the weeds a bit, what does the commentariet think of this:
TaxProf Blog: Economists Warm to Financial Transactions Tax

Yes???

EDIT: Sorry, that was impolite of me. I apologize.

picosec wrote:

what does the commentariet think of this

generally a good idea, but like many good ideas, the Wall Streeters will get an exemption for high frequency trades and total $ volume of trades - so it just makes the bandits stronger.

CBRE: Retail Cap Rates Increase Sharply in Q3

Regulate the structure of the market, otherwise there will be innumerable loopholes to minimize the transaction tax.

I rambled about my favoured idea in August I believe. It's incredibly simple, lowers costs, improves liquidity, improves transparency and informational value. Too quickly describe it, a company's shares are given expiry dates when they must be put to auction, evenly divided amongst trading days. Yes I said auction, it is the best combination of value and efficiency.

You can only place bids to buy. As I said, a guaranteed number of shares must be put to auction each trading day. Sellers get the weighted average accepted bid price. Bidders pay whatever they bid if they are in the top X# of bids. There are more details such as how to sell shares that aren't scheduled to expire for some time. The market takes its cut as a bit from payments to sellers. The more often shares go to auction, the more you pay. Fee for service. No need to give volume discounts. Why not limit the auctions of shares to once per day per company. The end result is a lot less manipulation, a lot less waste, a lot less systemic risk/uncertainty. More investing, less trading.


It allows for better coupling of options or futures as well. Won't need to worry about naked shorts or short squeezes.

The most likely outcome of a Tobin tax is that retail investors will pay increased fees while the biggest players get volume discounts.

Okey dokey, Pavel.

Fill those con-damn-iniums.

Tanta was so intelligent and kind, maybe she was spared the consequences of what she was warning us about. As a cancer survivor myself, when she made jokes about chemo and what she was going through, her indominitable spirit really shown through. How she could continue to be so precise, funny, and informative till the last of her days will only be an inspiration to all us here. Sniff, sniff, for sure. Miss you, girl!

Judging by her adoring fans Barley, I don't think she got bumpkuss(?). How much more prized can you get than that?