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    bobschacht commented on the blog post Why the Administration Won’t Fire Ed DeMarco, Cont’d

    2012-08-06 11:35:02View | Delete

    Thanks for this, DD.

    The Moral Hazard argument is based on the fallacious assumption that the original principal was based on some sort of eternal truth, whereas in reality it was based on values artificially inflated by the housing bubble. Now that the bubble has burst, the Real Estate industry doesn’t want to accept any responsibility for the inflated values and wants 100% of responsibility to rest with the consumers who bought houses at these inflated values.

    I like the idea of “Mark to Market.” In fact, I’d like to see *all principals* tied to mark to market realities.

    Another part of the truth is that government policies, initiated by President Clinton in an effort to make it easier for Americans to buy homes, encouraged inflation of house valuation. So a true reckoning would place the moral hazard on the Real Estate market, and the Government, as much as Consumers, and the burden of easing this massive debt should be shared by all three. This would also help accelerate the economic recovery.

    Bob in AZ

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    bobschacht commented on the blog post My 15 Rounds With Eric Schneiderman’s Chief of Staff, Explained

    2012-06-11 07:05:25View | Delete

    I look forward to your reports on the substance of your panel.

    Bob in AZ

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    bobschacht commented on the blog post MERS Expert Chris Peterson Tapped for CFPB

    2012-05-10 08:29:22View | Delete

    Thanks, DD!
    It is always good to hear news that you consider good!

    Bob in AZ

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    bobschacht commented on the blog post Justice Department Responds on Securitization Fraud Task Force

    2012-04-13 07:53:42View | Delete

    Thanks for this, DD. I appreciate your continuing attention to these matters. When will the new task force actually do anything? Or is it likely that any real action will be deferred until after the November election?

    Thanks,
    Bob in AZ

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    bobschacht commented on the blog post Schneiderman Re-Intervenes in Bank of America MBS Settlement

    2012-04-11 07:35:38View | Delete

    Thanks, DD. Your continuing coverage of this ongoing spectacle is much appreciated. It is good to see Schneiderman actually doing something. But is his Federal task force doing anything?

    Bob in AZ

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    bobschacht commented on the blog post FDL Book Salon Welcomes James K. Galbraith, Inequality and Instability: A Study of the World Economy Just Before the Great Crisis

    2012-04-07 17:27:17View | Delete

    Of course we do. But how do we get it through Congress?

    IIRC, Obama is starting a kind of WPA for Veterans, which will be harder for Republicans to vote against.

    Bob in AZ

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    bobschacht commented on the blog post FDL Book Salon Welcomes James K. Galbraith, Inequality and Instability: A Study of the World Economy Just Before the Great Crisis

    2012-04-07 14:37:01View | Delete

    I enthusiastically agree with your three steps plan. How can we push, and who can we push, to support these steps?

    Bob in AZ

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    bobschacht commented on the blog post Republican Calvinball Comes to Michigan

    2012-04-06 13:24:31View | Delete

    What I don’t understand is why the “Local Government and School District Fiscal Accountability Act,” MCL §§ 141.1501 et seq., is not being challenged in court by the DOJ or any number of other affected parties. What they’re doing is about as unAmerican as you can get.

    Bob in AZ

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    bobschacht commented on the blog post Operational Problems Contribute to Bank Windfall on Second Lien Issue

    2012-04-03 12:17:53View | Delete

    Thanks, DD! Is this another funding problem? I.e., government is drowned in the bathtub by not providing the funding to do its job, making government not work, and people unhappy with government.

    BTW, why is the entire article in italics?

    Bob in AZ

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    bobschacht commented on the blog post DeMarco Confirms Second Lien Issue in Principal Reductions

    2012-03-26 08:31:18View | Delete

    Thanks for this, DD! This issue has not been getting the attention it deserves.

    Bob in AZ

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    bobschacht wrote a new diary post: Mitt Romney: the 1% Candidate

    2012-03-08 15:48:18View | Delete

    This post confirms what you already know: Mitt Romney is the 1% candidate. He talks and acts like a 1% guy, and has the resume of a 1%er. He’s got money– lots of it. His wife has 2 Cadillacs. You already knew all that. But wait! There’s more! The Rachel Maddow show recently spent a [...]

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    bobschacht commented on the diary post If you can believe Obama the war is over. by Bill Perdue.

    2011-10-22 14:22:06View | Delete

    But of course the war is NOT over: * Not until the Pentagon’s budget for Iraq is brought down to the level of an ordinary embassy. * Not until we stop paying for “contractors” to do the war-work for us * Not until the AUMF is repealed, or declared complete and is no longer operative [...]

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    bobschacht commented on the diary post Petition White House to hold Administration officials accountable for torture and other abuses by bobschacht.

    2011-09-24 18:27:48View | Delete

    What you’re forgetting is that the Obama administration has promised to answer every petition with more than 5,000 signatures. There are already more than 8 petitions that have passed this threshold!

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    bobschacht wrote a new diary post: Petition White House to hold Administration officials accountable for torture and other abuses

    2011-09-23 22:44:19View | Delete

    Back on January 9, 2009, Bob Fertik wrote,

    Throughout the 2008 campaign, candidate Barack Obama insisted he was running not to empower himself, but instead to empower ordinary citizens like you and me. Now he has to prove it. Twice now, President-elect Obama has asked ordinary citizens to vote on the questions they most wanted him [...]

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    bobschacht commented on the diary post 1937 by bobschacht.

    2011-08-04 13:19:54View | Delete

    Most of your rant is rubbish. Wikipedia cites its sources– in the short passage I quoted, there are 3 footnotes that are plainly indicated in the quoted text. Quarrel with those sources if you want to. You don’t seem to have much direct experience with the Wikipedia. There is a considerable vetting process that goes [...]

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    bobschacht commented on the diary post 1937 by bobschacht.

    2011-08-04 09:34:23View | Delete

    “Progressive might mean rejecting what we have, ignoring the two parties, resigning from them and going indie or other or undecided and NOT VOTING FOR THEM, none of hem.” Oh, sure. Then we get a Republican President, and a Republican Congress. Last time we did that, the result was the Great Recession. Are you just [...]

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    bobschacht commented on the diary post 1937 by bobschacht.

    2011-08-04 09:29:15View | Delete

    “Using something from Wikipedia as the cornerstone of your argument is to be avoided. College kids are forbidden it for a reason.” Do you have a better source, or are you just complaining? Do you deny that (a) there was a recession in 1937, or (b) the recession was caused by cutting the Federal budget [...]

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    bobschacht commented on the diary post 1937 by bobschacht.

    2011-08-04 09:18:16View | Delete

    Thank you for your informative comments. Of course, I hope you’re wrong. But you make a good case.

    Thanks,
    Bob in AZ

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    bobschacht commented on the diary post 1937 by bobschacht.

    2011-08-03 23:11:06View | Delete

    I’m not really a centrist, I’m a Progressive. We have to deal with art of the possible, however, and with Republicans in control of the House, a progressive solution was not possible. And a Green or Libertarian solution has no chance whatsoever. The Republicans are determined to drive the economy into the ditch again, so [...]

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    bobschacht wrote a new diary post: 1937

    2011-08-03 20:22:54View | Delete

    I have been pondering this post for several days and then tonight, Rachel Maddow had a segment on this subject (not yet online), so now’s the time or never. I’m thinking specifically about the recent debate about the debt ceiling, and the Republican’s explicit attempt to “fiscally handcuff” the Democrats (Boehner) and to take “hostages” [...]

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