Joe Nocera’s column in the Times today described a really innovative idea for giving homeowners some relief from the credit collapse. In short, owners of homes that are worth less than the mortgage would give them back to the bank, but the bank would have to rent the home at market rates to the former owners for five years. At that point the former owners could repurchase the home at the value at that time. It costs the government nothing, people aren’t kicked out into the street, and both buyer and seller suffer a little, which is probably as it should be. Nocera’s explanation is more complete and compelling. Read it here.The most irritating and pathetic recent example of how celebrity trumps substance was Senator McCain’s embarrassing appearance on David Letterman to apologize for pulling out of a scheduled appearance a couple of weeks ago in order to go to Washington during the Congressional credit debates. Letterman has skewered McCain nightly since then, in the most unflattering terms possible, until McCain was forced into his mea culpa. So a self-important, goofball acting like a 3-year-old throwing a temper tantrum can force a major party Presidential candidate to drop everything to come on his juvenile show, where he then ambushes (and I think this is the appropriate term in the case) him with question about his relationship with G. Gordon Liddy. Candidates used to make pilgrimages to visit Harry Truman, Eleanor Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower. Now it’s Oprah, Ellen, Dave and Jay.
If you think the financial crisis is under control, read this recent Fortune article on the $55 Trillion (yes – with a T), totally unregulated market in credit default swaps. The casino-like nature and size of this “financial weapon of mass destruction,” as Warren Buffett calls all derivatives, makes the sub-prime mess look staid and petite.
I’m loving the new Lucinda Williams album, “Little Honey.” Don’t buy it unless you love great country/rock/blues, kick-ass guitar-playing and a voice like a angel from down below.
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