Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Stupid Meets Reality

High rise condos on a corner that has LOS "D" already? That's okay, the busy train tracks will drown out the traffic and nearby US-101 freeway.
The canceled project envisioned three towers of 19 to 37 stories. Nearby, the Oxnard Village (also known as Wagon Wheel) project that is now in the city's consideration pipeline envisions two high-rise condo towers as part of a project totaling as many as 1,500 housing units.
This on less than 9 acres. Parking for 3000 autos alone would occupy 4 acres in a structure 5 stories tall. What is wrong with these people? Oxnard has jumped the shark.

95 comments:

Tach said...

Yes, these people are crazy. Irrational exuberance?

But I have a question about the 'credit crunch'.

My understanding is that because the banks behaved like drunken sailors on shoreleave (and now have a couple of wonderful STDs), they don't have the money to lend out.

My question is, where do banks normally get the money they lend out from?

My impression was that they got it from their depositors? If that's the case, wouldn't it make sense for banks to raise the interest rates on their CDs/savings accounts to get people to put money in the bank?

w said...

@tach - it's cheaper to borrow from the Fed.

I am self employed trying to get a loan for a house and it does not look like it will happen. Even with 40-45% down. This F'ing financial system deserves what is coming.

@Rob - What does jumped the shark mean? I went through the Wagon Wheel mobile home park a few weeks ago. They should build two towers of "projects" if they really want to serve Oxnard.

Akubi said...

Hey Dawg,
How about a VPILF RNC drinking game? Palin's speech supposedly starts at 10PM EST.

Santa Flipper Clause said...

Ho Ho Ho - It's Santa Flipper Clause

My early Christmas present to the blog:

http://www.henrymakow.com/palin2.jpg

Santa F. Clause

Akubi said...

@Santa Flipper Clause,
Sweet find!

VPILF RNC drinking game ideas:
"Sexist" = 2 of Mrs. McCain's Vicodin mixed with a pint of tequila and an updo.

"Pregnant" = Amniocentesis with BS anyone?

Akubi said...

"Drill" = 3 Viagras in a double martini.

Akubi said...

"Special Needs" + "Families" = 10 shots of Jack Daniels mixed with Ritalin.

Santa Flipper Clause said...

Ho Ho Ho - It's Santa Flipper Clause

"Bill Clinton" - Suffering Bastard

"Pro Choice" - Test Tube Baby

"Democrat" - Alien Secretion

"Ted Kennedy" - Duck Fart

"Barney Frank" - Fairy From Hell

"McCain" - Vietnam Acid Flashback

"Obama" - Zombie

Santa F. Clause

Akubi said...

Oh no!
A strange alien creature is emerging from the back of VPILF's updo!

Rob Dawg said...

Simpson's Treehouse of Horror:
Kang for President

Favorite quote: "The Presidency is not supposed to be a journey of discovery."

Rob Dawg said...

Hey, was I the first person on the intertoobz to bring up the MILF factor?

Akubi said...

SFC,
"Ted Kennedy" - Duck Fart
F-ing hilarious.
Hey, was I the first person on the intertoobz to bring up the MILF factor?
Yeah, right.
The presidency is an opportunity to screw the country over one more time per the Repug asshats!

Bob said...

Don't worry, your Governor has got it under control. Arnold and legislature have the solution: increase congestion and housing costs. Raus!

Akubi said...

Arnold is a duck fart too!

Rob Dawg said...

Lex,
I have a Exopost™ waiting to go as soon as da governator signals his intentions on tis one.

Rob Dawg said...

Lex,
I have a Exopost™ waiting to go as soon as da governator signals his intentions on tis one.

Carissa Marquez said...

lol @ akubi's "alien from the back of Palin's head"

I took some notes for the group, just in case you couldn't see Palin's speech. You missed a lot of fluff.

-Hockey moms make great world leaders
-As mayor of Wasilla she had RESPONSIBILITIES
-We should drill the f* out of Alaska
-War is awesome and we should not stop
-Your civil rights are a joke that will get a standing o from the audience
-John McCain is the greatest, lobbyists boots' shake when he see his goiter. He's a POW dammit! Let me tell you again, he's a f-ing POW! Did I mention, he was a POW. POW's are hot. Let me tell you about some more POW's. Being a POW would totally suck, if you're a POW you should be president some day.
-Barack Obama is an arrogant a-hole
-Harry Reid is a douchebag

So pretty much the plan is to drill Alaska, and ditch the constitution. After that I want you to enlist, and join the NRA. Got it folks? Let's move up there and save the world.

Hope this helps.

Rob Dawg said...

Where was the part about civil rights?

BTW she said far worse about Barack. She called him an arrogant liberal.

Sweet Cashback said...

Does anybody else feel uncomfortable looking at this picture on the front of CNN.com or is it just my German education that makes me feel like this ???

Heil RNC

Carissa Marquez said...

It was about 1/2-way into the speech, where she got the standing ovation for making fun of Barack Obama...I'm paraphrasing here but it was to the effect of "republicans want to put terrorists in guantanamo bay, and obama wants to read them their rights."

Yes, I always thought my constitutional rights were hillarious!

Peripheral Visionary said...

I would like to congratulate Akubi on her new blog; it's nice to see confirmation that all that anti-Hillary business was, in fact, good old-fashioned misogyny in action, and that it is on to the next woman who needs to be put in her place.

P.S. If "sexist" is tequila and vicodin, then I would stay away from mirrors or you're going to be out of liquor and painkillers in a hurry.

Peripheral Visionary said...

It should be noted that terrorists captured abroad do not have "Constitutional rights", as they are neither U.S. citizens nor on U.S. soil. They do have limited rights under the Geneva Convention, but do not qualify for full Prisoner of War status under the section defining legal combatants.

But then, the Geneva Convention was subsequently gutted when they ditched all the requirements for soldiers wearing uniforms and openly carrying arms, without ever pausing to ask why those requirements were put in in the first place. Hey, why were those requirements in there, anyway? Maybe the original drafters of the Convention just liked uniforms. That must be it!

Of course, the U.S., old fuddy-duddy spoilsport, didn't sign the modifications to the Geneva Convention, claiming that they would result in making it impossibly difficult to do battle with insurgents and terrorists. But then, fighting terrorism was never really that hard--you just give the terrorists what they want, just like Spain did, and then they leave you alone! Well, at least until they have more demands.

serinitis said...

Criminals caught in other countries (which are the terrorists that you are talking about) have rights under that countries laws.

As far as giving the terrorists what they want, that is a time honored tradition from before the Roman empire on through to General Petraus. We are winning the war in Iraq now because we abandoned the crap about our military establishing order and started not only talking to our enemies, but paying the terrorists not to shoot at us.

H Simpson said...

"The smart liberals are worried. The dumb ones think they've won."

Keep on talking....

H Simpson said...

Put down the drinks before viewing.
These guys are funny sobs

http://americandigest.org/mt-archives/news_to_me/number_1_sunday.php

Rob Dawg said...

Combatants caught fighting out of uniform are under the Geneva Convention supposed to be summarily executed in the field as a way to protect non-combatants. Gitmo is the US gone soft erring on the side of granting extra rights.

Lost Cause said...

RNC: Powerful rich white males versus everybody else. Nothing has changed that much.

Peripheral Visionary said...

Serinitis, you are correct in that they have rights under the laws of the country in question. The problem is when the country in question does not exist or has no effective laws. I disagree with Rob on summary execution, but to assert that they have the same rights as legal combatants completely undermines the concept of legal combatants, and to assert that they have the same rights as U.S. citizens (or resident aliens) completely undermines the concept of U.S. citizenship and sovereignty.

The Bush administration badly mishandled the illegal combatants issue, but that doesn't change the fact that the terrorists didn't play by the rules, and that there should be consequences. But the anti-Bush crowd was in such a rush to attack the administration that they didn't pause to think of what the legal (not to mention security) consequences of throwing open the detention centers would be, and as a consequence have advocated an approach which undermines the Geneva Convention and national sovereignty, all to the benefit of terrorists and insurgents.

Rob Dawg said...

PV,
I acknowledge your position but I think I'm on pretty solid ground here. The Geneva Convention wasn't just about combatants but non-combatants in a balance. The reason you are supposed to shoot spies on the spot has nothing to do with the rights of the spy.

You are correct that once again the Bush administration managed to drop the brass ring. I wanted them to push the case that Gitmo was the humane alternative to summary execution asper the Geneva Convention. WW-I was the first time non-combatants were exposed to the horrors of combat. Thus the Geneva Accords.

Rob Dawg said...

lost cause said...
RNC: Powerful rich white males versus everybody else. Nothing has changed that much.


Condi and Sarah and Sandra Day O'Connor may have a different opinion.

serinitis said...

I agree ununiformed combatants do not have Geneva convention rights. (Nor do they have citizen rights). But torture? No where (outside of Republicanland) are Americans allowed to torture. There is also a weakness in current law in fighting irregular armies. For instance in Afghanistan, there was actually battle line and territory clearly held by one side or the other, but neither the warlords we were allied with nor the Taliban had uniforms.

Akubi said...

PV,
Thanks for the congrats, but I can’t take credit for VPILF. It is actually Sherman H. McCoy’s (The Money Shot Blog) new blog.

In other news, the outfit Cindy McCain wore Tuesday night cost about 300K.

Akubi said...

@Sweet Cashback,
Does anybody else feel uncomfortable looking at this picture on the front of CNN.com or is it just my German education that makes me feel like this ???

It appears you aren't the only one with that reaction: Heil Palin!

Peripheral Visionary said...

Serinitis: I am, of course, completely opposed to torture in any form, and "coercive interrogation techniques" definitely qualify, so you'll get no defense of Bush admin policies from me on that count.

You are correct in that the forces in Afghanistan did not wear uniforms per se, but they did have distinguishing clothes, most notably the Taliban's black turbans, and for the most part carried arms openly. And as such, Taliban captured in combat were treated as POWs, and non-Taliban Afghans captured were turned back over to the Afghans; which is all as it should be.

The sticky issue is the non-Afghans caught in Afghanistan after the collapse of the Taliban. In general, I am not opposed to a policy of repatriating terrorists to their home countries if it can be assured that they will be prosecuted. But then you are in another sticky issue of sending suspects to countries where they could be tortured or inhumanely executed; so what is the alternative? No easy answers, but throwing open the detention centers and letting everyone out because they weren't read their "rights" is certainly not it.

Rob Dawg said...

Three and a half points.

Torture is never justified. Never.

Torture does not yield valuable information.

Torture begets atrocity.

Half point; sleep deprivation is torture. I know I'm in a minority here but anything more than interrogation and incarceration is not okay with me.

We don't even need to mention waterboarding which is so obviously torture that I am disappointed at our military for not speaking out.

serinitis said...

I think we are pretty much in agreement here. I do not mind holding captures for a very long time. My only objection is to the torture.

Akubi said...

A $20,000,000 Tear-Down

Sweet Cashback said...

@Akubi

I think it was particularly the mix with the S in the back that reminded me of an SS propaganda meeting.

When I went back to the site minutes later it was gone. Somebody must have told him it was of bad taste....

Lost Cause said...

SS: RNC is playin' to the base. While some people are shocked to think that so much nazi thought pervades American culture, they are usually even more surprised when they find out that the nazis were great admirers of American thought -- inspired by American originals like Jim Crow laws and eugenics.

Lost Cause said...

Condi and Sarah and Sandra: tokens, each and all.

I am in total agreement with you on torture, Rob.

Lost Cause said...

Isn't the whole thing about "reading them their rights" more about Hollywood facilitated brainwashing propaganda, than actual police conduct? What I mean is that the main effect of the Miranda case was to modify scripts, thereby informing the public, and solidifying cases for the government by ruining this technicality? (Can you imagine what American entertainment must look like to a foreigner?)

If we ever look back, to find just where the post-modern world had it's detrimental metaphysical crisis, we may point to that line in her speech.

Lost Cause said...

Fianlly, Rob, you should mention that almost all of the killed Iraqis do not wear a uniform, and most are unarmed.

You must understand that this war is a criminal enterprise, conducted by a gang of thugs. It is not the mere technicality of the law that they object to, but to any moral anchoring whatsoever. In order for justice to prevail, so that it may once again protect us all, they absolutely must be brought to justice.

Santa Flipper Clause said...

Ho Ho Ho - It's Santa Flipper Clause

@Akubi - glad you enjoyed it.

fyi

Duck Fart

3/4 ounce Coffee Liqueur
3/4 ounce Irish Cream
3/4 ounce Whiskey
Layer in a shot glass. From Bottom to top: Coffee Liqueur, Irish Cream, Whisky.

Santa F. Clause

Akubi said...

@Santa F. Clause,
I didn't realize it was a real drink, but it sounds awful.

@Sweet Cashback,
Yeah, it was such a bizarre shot one would assume it was Photoshopped.

As far as the RNC, does anyone know what time McCain is supposed to speak? I couldn't take any more of it so I switched to the Nightly Business Report.

Santa Flipper Clause said...

Ho Ho Ho - It's Santa Flipper Clause

@Akubi

I bet Ted Kennedy would drink it.

Santa F. Clause

Lost Cause said...

I watched McCain up until he said "Let's drill for oil offshore." I mean, really, what is the point after that? Did I miss anything important? FourMoreYears! FourMoreYears! FourMoreYears!

Akubi said...

@Santa Flippy,
Yeah, Ted would probably drink anything.
I wonder if the lime green Jello background in the beginning of McCain's speech was planned or not...
I suspect it wasn’t and may have been the work of someone along the lines of the Heil Palin! guy/girl/whatever that Sweet Cashback brought to our attention.

Lost Cause said...

10,587.59 -- The DOW close the day before Bush took office. I am taking bets that this mark will be broken before he leaves office.

Four more years? Everyone else will be broke too.

Akubi said...

@LostCause,
I guess every card-carrying, Fox-watching Repug likes to fancy themselves to be making well over 250K a year (funny that people in red states make a hell of a lot less than the blue states); either that or they are f-ing idiots like Casey Serin if they think McCain’s tax/economic policy is better than Obama’s. This country is so f-ing screwed we need a grounded, intelligent leader who doesn’t stuff walnuts in his cheeks.

Lost Cause said...

Well, I have to hand to to McCain. I have gotten off the couch, and I am energized like I have never been in my life. I am going to do whatever I can to make sure that man is not elected. No drilling off of our coast!

Lou Minatti said...

"No drilling off of our coast!"

The Saudi oilgarchs thank you for your support.

Rob Dawg said...

We already have lots of drilling, still it would be silly not to have more so we can sell at high prices to China in a few years.

Peripheral Visionary said...

You can make the argument that Palin is a "token" appointment (just as that argument was made about Ferraro . . . ), but Rice most certainly is not; she is one of the most educated and intelligent appointments in recent years, even by Cabinet standards. You may disagree with her views, but that would only underscore the point that intelligence and education isn't everything.

And it is not "funny" or strange that the Republicans have more support from lower-income states than Democrats; it's an indication of a deeper demographic and cultural trend, one which Democrats clearly don't understand. Say, I wonder if lower-income people voting for Republicans could have something to do with the fact that a significant number of Democrats consider them to be "f-ing idiots" . . .

And I never understood the opposition to offshore drilling. What, exactly, is the risk to the environment from a rig floating in the ocean? That there would be an oil spill? News flash: oil comes from overseas and needs to be transported across water in any case.

w said...

Let's just have a carbon free world and explain to the 5 Billion people who are beyond the Earth's carrying capacity that it is better for everyone that way.

serinitis said...

While I make no defense for the wisdom of the Democrats. The National Republicans are "f-ing idiots". And I truly mean it.

Homeland security has wasted more life standing in line at airports than there was life lost on 9/11. If life begins at conception, then an abortion is first degree murder and the women should be executed. Capital gains should be indexed to inflation, but other than that it should not be a better tax rate than for labor. Tax and spend is better than borrow and spend. Neither one is good, but tax and spend forces you to deal with the costs.

serinitis said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
serinitis said...

The California Republicans actually proposed an intelligent budget.

Rob Dawg said...

Too much borrowing, not enough cutting and way too optimistic future revenue projections.

serinitis said...

Its far from perfect, but compared to any of the other alternatives, its pretty good

Peripheral Visionary said...

If they're still borrowing it's a broken budget. Borrowing assumes that the economy will get better in future years. News flash: the California economy is not going to get better for a long, long time. Easy prediction: the budget crisis comes back next year, only lenders will be even more reluctant to extend CA's line of credit.

Rob Dawg said...

Peripheral Visionary said...
If they're still borrowing it's a broken budget.

Strictly speaking it has been more than a generation since your criteria were met. Generally speaking at least a decade.

People don't understand. There is not enough money pay for these budgets. Really, not enough via any mechanism. None. The only way to balance the budget is with spending cuts. Understand carefully. No spending cuts equals no balanced budget. No amount of new revenues or borrowing without spending cuts means no balanced budget. There is one and only one common thread. California has to cut spending.

Funny Circus Bears said...

If you think this is contained to the US - think again.

Here is the best rant I've yet seen and it's based in the UK:

http://www.bastardoldholborn.blogspot.com/

Bob said...

There is not enough money pay for these budgets. Really, not enough via any mechanism.

Actually, the State could learn a lesson from underwater homeowners who are selling their Sportsters, jet skis, etc. to pay the bills--sell off your underperforming asets. Daley got $1.83 billion for the the 8-mile long Chicago Skyway. Could you imagine what SR 241 would bring at auction? I think the "King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud highway" has a nice ring to it.

Akubi said...

@FCB,
I enjoyed this line in the rant:
You are going to lose your houses, cars, plasmas, koi carp and Nikes.

Jean ValJean said...

:sigh:

Tardboy is going to make another "Sweet media" appearance.
We would love to interview you about your experiences and career on our more popular weekend edition, Weekend Sunrise, this Sunday 31st August (Saturday 30th August in the US). The interview would be a LIVE cross to one of our affiliate studios in the US (we can book one in Sacramento, Calif. which is where I believe you are?) and take place at approximately 4pm (your time).

Let's let the idiots know they're dealing with a criminal:
sunrisestory@seven.com.au

Funny Circus Bears said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Funny Circus Bears said...

@Akubi,
knew there would be something there to your liking. He is a very sick man who has all of the vices I admire and none of the virtues I detest.

Bill in NC said...

Just hum a few bars under your breath

"Die Fahne hoch...Die Reihen fest geschlossen..."

It's a catchy tune, really!

Akubi said...

While I was too busy tracking down the Lime Green Screen of Walter Reed Middle School absurdity to read the whole comment thread earlier, I shall provide you some shining examples of Republicans being "f-ing idiots":

Exhibit A: America laughed again last night as a terrible “green screen” once again appeared behind John McCain, during his big speech at the RNC. Well, the “green” was actually the lawn of a school in North Hollywood, California. And the school is called “Walter Reed Middle School.” And the random idiot assigned the task of picking John McCain’s video background during the biggest speech of his career was apparently told to put a picture of Walter Reed Army Medical Center on the screen, and ineptly googled this utterly random California school picture, instead. And nobody knows what Walter Reed Hospital looks like, anyways, so everybody just assumed it was another one of his mansions. The school is about to release “a statement” damning McCain for inappropriately using the picture of this innocent school. All of this, as Josh Marshall notes, is exactly what happened in the movie Spinal Tap.

Exhibit B: Though multiple news organizations are asking for clarification, the McCain campaign is still refusing to comment on questions about whether it had hoped to use the medical center as a backdrop and accidentally used the school instead. Hard to blame them...

@FCB,
He's an entertaining sick guy with koi and stuff.

Bilgeman said...

Akubi:

If this is true, it is triply idiotic.

McCain, as a Naval Officer, would have received treatment at Bethesda Naval Medical Center,(which has a rather iconic building), NOT Walter Reed...that's Army Country.

Furthermore, Walter Reed Middle School should then "damn" the boob who programmed the Powerpoint slideshow...not McCain.

Or do y'all think he blows up his own campaign baloons?
(He has undocumented illegal worker aliens for THAT...it's their "Path to a Green Card")

Rob Dawg said...

I can guarantee that at the first debate McImmigrant will shake hands with Obamigration as they agree no matter what it is the right thing to provide all our hard working residents a path to citizenship.

Lost Cause said...

as they agree no matter what

Ain't that the bitch of every election. They hardly ever vary that much, by the time it gets close to election day.

Akubi said...

@bilgeman,
Furthermore, Walter Reed Middle School should then "damn" the boob who programmed the Powerpoint slideshow...not McCain.

Since the middle school appeared in the opening scene of McCain’s major RNC speech being watched by millions, one would expect better oversight from – if not McCain – than his campaign manager or another member senior management.


@Dawg,
I would like to commend you on your ability to host a non-moderated blog visited by commenters of quite diverse opinions. For some reason, Casey cannot seem to do that for even a week.

Carissa Marquez said...

Rob -
I agree with Akubi, and have to say that you definitely have it together, running an unmoderated blog and all.

Anyhow, since this is probably one of the few forums that I can say this (and people will understand) I have to get this off my chest.

Regarding 7foreclosuremistakes.com: eww, puke, vomit and heave. It looks like one of those cheesy ads in the back of the National Enquirer for some free booklet, which will subsequently be followed by invitations to join amway. "Deadly" has an asterisk by it. But the asterisk is not explaned anywhere? WTF does that mean? That it's not really deadly? Or that it's only deadly in certain states? What????
Ugh, then there's the photo of snowflake. It looks like I'm taking foreclosure advice from Clay Aiken. Can we lend a little bit of legitimacy to the book? ugh

That is all, the hateraide helped my nausea. Thank you for listening.

Akubi said...

@"Carissa Marquez",
Your new blog is quite funny. Care to share another nom de plume we might recognize?

Ogg the Caveman said...

What's with all this talk of residential development? Commercial real estate is the new sweet deal, even if you have no money and no expertise. The full-page ad in the Chronicle the other day said so.

Lost Cause said...

The Socialists are here.

Akubi said...

@lost cause,
Yes, I hope the electorate realizes how fiscally screwed we are and that we cannot afford to continue to spend more money on pointless wars (i.e., Iran in addition to the Iraq debacle), but hey I’m an arugula eating elitist so what do I know.
For some reason I imagine Dick Cheney furtively hiding a well-worn copy of The Enema Game under the mattress so as to avoid Mrs. Cheney's suspicions.

Jean ValJean said...

confirmed by a member of congress:

A top House Democrat confirmed Saturday that the government is planning to intervene to stabilize troubled mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said in a statement that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson "intends to use the powers that Congress provided it" in a law passed in July to enable Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to keep functioning.

But Frank, who spoke with Paulson late Friday, said he did not "know the details of the proposed interventions," and a Treasury spokeswoman declined to comment.

A person briefed on the matter Friday said the government was planning to take over both companies, which together hold or back half of the nation's mortgage debt.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,418081,00.html

Akubi said...

Jean ValJean AKA JimBobJoeBobJim, I am tempted think you are in fact "Carissa Marquez"...

Jean ValJean said...

=)

Akubi, I must say I feel utterly flattered you would confuse me with those individuals. Alas, I am only my little self. I could never take credit for JimBobJoeBobJim's "snowflake" classic, though I quote it as often as I can. And this Carissa Marquez is as new to me as he/she is to you.

So, to not beat around the bush like THE Snowflake, no, I'm neither of those two individuals. I'm just JVJ. (aka 24601).

Carissa Marquez said...

@akubi. Well thank you...I'm flattered myself to be confused with interesting regulars/posters. I've been a long time reader interested in the whole Casey scandal (probably since 2006 and his economist article)...but I've been mostly silent. My previous job involved risk analysis of subprime loans (post-securitization) and didn't want to risk a conflict of interest.

No other nom de plumes that you would probably recognize. You probably wouldn't even recognize my real name. :)

Jean ValJean said...

Takeover is happening now. Nice timing, Sunday morning, 11 AM ET.

Carissa Marquez said...

Herb Allison (new head of Fannie Mae) has the biggest forehead I've ever seen.

w said...

So, the government's plan has to be engineering lower mortgage rates to support housing. Right?

Rob Dawg said...

W,
I assume you know the answer; higher mortgage rates to recapitalize their banker buddies.

Akira said...

Let's get reasonable and back to key issues like toilets.

w said...

But higher rates will mean bigger losses to the portfolios? I would expect them to push rates lower to preserve absurd home prices. And 20 years of stagnation.

Jean ValJean said...

More Financial News:

WaMu CEO forced out.
The board recently got new blood in key posts and concluded WaMu needed an outsider to signal a fresh start, according to people familiar with the matter. Board leaders conducted a discreet search for Mr. Killinger's replacement and told the CEO Thursday that they wanted him to retire, these people said.

Succeeding Mr. Killinger will be Alan Fishman, currently chairman of New York commercial mortgage broker Meridian Capital Group. Before joining Meridian in 2007, Mr. Fishman was president and chief operating officer of Philadelphia-based Sovereign Bank, the nation's second-largest thrift.
WSJ Article

Pleather Murse said...

Yow. What a couple of days. Though considering Friday and this morning together the market is basically flat.

Lost Cause said...

Yeah, the last eight years have been basically flat when you think about it, except the dollar has fallen 40% and inflation has been bad.

Pleather Murse said...

As exciting as nationally important as this Oxnard news is, I'm really hankering for a new post to explain this recent nationalization scheme re Fanny and Freddie. Quick tell me what to think ...! (lol)

Pleather Murse said...

Correction...Thurs was the day it was down 300, Friday was the head-fake. I grabbed some cheap SSO on Thurs (57.30) but that little bump on Fri got me out of it, counting my blessings with a minor profit.

I didn't have the guts to hold through the weekend (rarely do) so naturally Paulsen had to make his big announcement after the close Friday. Had I held till Monday morning I could've gotten out at around 60. But it's one of those things you can't predict.

Now we're back in the muddle and I won't touch this market till another really bloody day like Thurs comes back around (which it will.)

Jean ValJean said...

The Escape of the Enablers:

Shareholders in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac saw the value of their stock nearly disappear Monday after the mortgage giants had been taken over by the federal government, but the companies' chief executives will leave after banking millions and taking millions more on the way out the door.
...
By conservative estimates, Mudd, 49, and Syron, 64, will leave with an additional $7.3 million and $6.3 million, respectively, as part of a severance package, according to an analysis by Paul Hodgson at the Corporate Library.
LA Times Story

Lost Cause said...

Everything is fine now! The Fed and the Treasury Dept. are miracle workers. Nothing to worry about anymore.

Lehman Brothers drops 45%