A Welcoming Community
Why not replace opium farming with marijuana farming, supplying legitimate medical marijuana needs and legal markets in US and Europe with fair prices? The CIA could still do their drug running, but with less inhumane effects on the local/world populace.
http://afghanistan.blogs.cnn.com/2010/01/12/marijuana-replacing-poppy/
Hey New Jersey!
When do you think that GOP Chris Christie will start to exhibit basic impulse control? Upon election? Really? Does the office itself correct for obvious, life-long impulse control problems?
Perhaps calling him fat is crossing the line, but he made himself that way on the government dole. 
Will he somehow show impulse control and fulfill his promises to cut this or that spending? I think not. Will he somehow reduce his own appetites and suddenly become impervious to special interests? A man’s hungers are his weakness.
Someone who habitually and cavalierly discards ethics and public monies for personal comfort has disqualified himself from government in this environment of public debt, joblessness and required constraint.
We need policy for the people, not for the GOP feed trough.
I’m all about Obama’s budget moves, but pretty soon folks will start to ask about the budgetary assumptions based on an emissions Cap and Trade Market that doesn’t really exist yet.
I like that it’s in there, but when you trumpet numbers based on god knows what model of something that doesn’t exist, what are you doing?
This market-spawning policy is pretty tough to make happen without rewarding polluters and therefore could easily be supplanted by another system in the mean time or soon after launch. What happens to the budget then?
If the Cap and Trade market collapses, the whole thing would just amount to pay offs to polluters. That’s pretty risky. There should be a more reliable policy that could ensure progress on pollution regardless of the result of the cap and trade experiment.
Cap and Trade plus/vs. Cap and Share
An un-implemented, yet impending Cap and Trade Policy in large part constitutes a subsidy for polluters – the worse you can get right now, the more you’ll get paid once the cap is on.
The very idea that such a system is on the way has really provided incentive to blindly increase pollution for several years now. Lord knows what the market’s response has actually been, but incentives tend to work.
If Cap and Trade is really to be the policy eventually, one can understand why we export ecological fear while increasing domestic pollution with impunity NOW: it positions us to take most advantage of the cap. So if it is coming, start now, please! Before things get even dirtier.
Cap and Share seems like a great way to get powerful results but with less important side-effects as far as I can see it. The idea is essentially a revenue share program that collects based on a pollution ‘grade’, waits a year, then redistributes to contributors based on a new grade, creating an incentive reduce pollution year-to-year without taxes or a fake market. He’s a hypothetical example of such a system:
Compel polluters or other sorts of environmental ‘degraders-by-design’ (like with like as pools) to pay (let’s say) 1% of revenue into a fund annually that invests the money until the following year in the safest possible place that yields interest, with the requirement of redistributing it the following year, plus what interest is not spent on managing the fund (wait for the twist). This secures the money, so leveraging it could still be an option to contributors.
Contributions are to be made by a standard formula by pool, something based on units pollution balanced by benefit (revenue dollars perhaps). By standardizing the formula and pooling industries and pollutants, the government would not be in the business of picking winners and losers. The polluters would be determining their own fates:
Distributions would be along the same formula as the Contributions, but with the following years’ measurements so polluters are provided with incentive to reduce emissions and to do so in competition with their own industry rivals:
In the materials game especially, a 0.5% advantage over competitors could mean everything.
While the government might choose to assist with the initial payments to help things along, they should see no further costs as administration of the fund should be required to live within the interest on the fund for the year.
Oh, and if you cheat, you are publicly flogged, nationalized, shuttered or something else effectively draconian.
I’m kinda in love with this one, and it has the benefit of being pretty politically palatable and could supply a more reliable incentive to reduce pollution than a Milo Minderbinder Market experiment that I hope works desperately (and comes ASAP), despite my doubts and reservations.
What do y’all think?
My state, New Jersey is on the verge of enacting a Medical Marijuana Law!
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newjersey/ny-bc-nj–medicalmarijuana0225feb25,0,4357703.story
As a Lupus sufferer I am glad I will be able to legally and openly discuss and consume my primary medication, and hopefully get it for a lot less money and when I need it versus when it happens to be available.
For years, I took medications and applied ointments and this and that and I could barely control symptoms if at all. I couldn’t really go outside during the day, since the sun triggered all sorts of problems. A bad day at work would mean weeks of symptoms from horrible sores to tremendous joint pain and other fun stuff. Life was getting a bit lame to say the least. I wasn’t DOING, I was COPING.
Then I began reading a blog by an Atlanta 19 year old woman who was giving daily witness to her experience with medicinal marijuana really helping her Lupus. hundreds of people began commenting about their own positive experiences. I was convinced and have been illegally self-medicating ever since(YES, Boo, I know this explains A LOT – nyuck-nyuck).
Now my life is almost back to normal, albeit a bit stonier: I can allow the sun on my skin, I can drink coffee, have a bad day at the office – you know the little things you only miss when you’re denied them.
I can’t say I enjoy it as much as you might think. Being stoned a lot has frankly become boring and procedural, but that’s a small price for health.
A huge upside of Medical Marijuana distribution is that there are usually edible forms available, sparing the lungs.
Anyone want to open up a medical marijuana primary care giving center with me?
Looks like things are actually turning around:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28691801/
IMHO, if we get the Paper Markets to remain at least this liquid and then spend as much of the remaining TARP on foreclosure mitigation, we’re golden.
Again, the ‘plan’ I think will work better than waiting on corporate kindness or bankruptcy court reductions to kick in:
1. Only consider primary home loans
2. Pool loans regionally
3. Regions are assigned a reasonable devaluation rate based on recent local market home sales.
4. All Primary Residence mortgages are reduced at that rate by direct payments on their mortgage principle.
5. Lenders won’t get as much interst over the life of the loan, but will get loads of CASH NOW.
6. With such considerable reductions in monthly payments and a realignment between home values and mortgage sizes, we can all get back to buying and selling and loaning based on real market values.
7. The reduction on mortgage holders’ interest write offs will help mitigate the cost of the plan over time.
If lenders or mortgage holders can’t survive past something like that, they didn’t handle their business right and should feel the pain.
Now that we’ve done our best to confuse the markets into compliance, we have a moment or two to completely overhaul the way mortgages are handled in the US. Below is a column by George Soros which hits the nail on the head. While the Gov’t is pouring money into credit markets to keep businesses open tomorrow, we’ve got to get to and fix what really caused this problem TODAY: structural deficiencies that rewarded unsustainable behavior and punished sensible market participation.
Blame who you want, but market rules (see ‘asymmetry’ below) provided one seriously large rug to sweep bad mortgage securities under. Fix those and we’re halfway there. Implement a sounder model and it’s just about waiting for markets to notice and hope there is capital left to reinvest in them.
Denmark Offers a Model Mortgage Market
There is a safe way to securitize home loans.By George Soros
The American system of mortgage financing is broken and needs a total overhaul. Until there is a realistic prospect of stabilizing housing prices, the value of mortgage-related securities will erode and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s efforts will come to naught.
There are four fundamental problems with our current system of mortgage financing.
First, the business model of Government Sponsored Entities (GSEs) in which profits accrue to the private sector but risks are underwritten by the public has proven unworkable. It would be a grave mistake to preserve the GSEs in anything resembling their current form.
Second, the American style of mortgage securitization is rife with conflicts where entities that originate, securitize and service mortgages are generally not the same as those that invest in mortgage securities. As a result, the incentives to originate sound mortgages and to service them well are inadequate. No wonder that the quality of mortgages degenerated so rapidly.
Third, mortgage-backed securitizations, which were meant to reduce risk by creating geographically diversified pools of mortgages, actually increased risk by creating complex capital structures that impede the modification of mortgages in the case of default.
Finally, and most fundamentally, the American mortgages market is asymmetric. When interest rates fall and house prices rise, mortgages can be refinanced at par value, generating the mortgage equity withdrawals that fueled the housing bubble. However, when interest rates rise and house prices fall, mortgages can only be refinanced at par value even though the market price of the securitized mortgage has fallen.
To reconstruct our mortgage system on a sounder basis, we ought to look to the Danish model, which has withstood many tests since it was brought into existence after the great fire of Copenhagen in 1795. It remains the best performing in Europe during the current crisis. First, it is an open system in which all mortgage originators can participate on equal terms as long as they meet the rigorous regulatory requirements. There are no GSEs enjoying a quasimonopolistic position.
Second, mortgage originators are required to retain credit risk and to perform the servicing functions, thereby properly aligning the incentives. Third, the mortgage is funded by the issuance of standardized bonds, creating a large and liquid market. Indeed, the spread on Danish mortgage bonds is similar to the option-adjusted spread on bonds issued by the GSEs, although they carry no implicit government guarantees.
Finally, the asymmetric nature of American mortgages is replaced by what the Danes call the Principle of Balance. Every mortgage is instantly converted into a security of the same amount and the two remain interchangeable at all times. Homeowners can retire mortgages not only by paying them off, but also by buying an equivalent face amount of bonds at market price. Because the value of homes and the associated mortgage bonds tend to move in the same direction, homeowners should not end up with negative equity in their homes. To state it more clearly, as home prices decline, the amount that a homeowner must spend to retire his mortgage decreases because he can buy the bonds at lower prices.
The U.S. can emulate the Danish system with surprisingly few modifications from our current practices. What is required is transparent, standardized securities which create large and fungible pools. Today in the U.S., over half of all mortgages are securitized by Ginnie Mae, which issues standardized securities. All that is missing is allowing the borrowers to redeem their mortgages at the lower of par or market.
Because of the current havoc in the mortgage market, there is no confidence in the origination and securitization process. As a result, a government guarantee is indispensable at this time, and may be needed for the next few years. As the private sector regains its strength, the government guarantees could, and should, be gradually phased out.
How to get there from here? It will involve modifying the existing stock of mortgages, so that the principal does not exceed the current market value of the houses, and refinancing them with Danish-style loans. The modification will have to be done by servicing companies that need to be properly incentivized. Modifying mortgages that have been sliced and diced into securitizations may require legislative authorization. The virtual monopoly of the GSEs would be terminated and they would be liquidated over time.
A plan to reorganize the mortgage industry along these lines would inspire the confidence that would allow a successful recapitalization of the banking system with the help of the $700 billion package approved last week.
Mr. Soros is chairman of Soros Fund Management and the author of “The New Paradigm for Financial Markets” (Public Affairs, 2008).
Hopefully we can tuck most of that $700 Billion blank check back into Paulson’s pocket until it is actually needed..
For those who wondered what my Commercial Paper Market obsession was about:
The Fed’s drastic move had a nearly immediate impact: Yields on top-rated overnight U.S. commercial paper dropped 0.74 percentage points, to 2.94%, according to Bloomberg Financial Markets. And rates on three-month Treasury bills–the ultimate safe asset to which big investors, like money-market funds, have been flocking–rose above 1.0% on Tuesday for the first time in weeks. Rising yields suggest demand for government debt is easing. Just Monday, yields were 0.43%.
The $700 billion and the rest of it are worthless if this doesn’t work.
As I’ve ranted about before, the first act of the govt/fed should have been to immediately and directly participate in the Commercial Paper market. They are now doing it and it’s working at first glance, but only after a ton of unnecessary damage was done.
Through delaying this action because of the debate on all the other bailout points, we’ve lost trillions of dollars of market value. I hope this isn’t too little too late now that we have been allowed to enter panic and free-fall. My fear is that the market conditions will exist for recovery and that will be roundly ignored because of paranoia.
What everyone should be reminded of is that in this market, bravery and timing will be greatly rewarded: the earlier you get back in, the better you will do. Just not too early ( the dilemma ) – and everyone is waiting at the pools edge, using others’ actions to guide them instead of testing the waters themselves.
My schattenfreud has worn off entirely now that my IRA is worth 50% of what it was 3 weeks ago. Good luck to us all.
Instead of doing normal things like direct investment, we’ve decided to buy a stack of crap. Crap so worthless that no one will buy it. And we are going to be able to sell it for a profit or make the BANKS PAY THE DIFFERENCE. When? What date will it become OK to CHOOSE to make banks insolvent in the future? There is too much magic involved to make this bet.
Where is the leadership? I was glad to hear George Soros come out for direct investment in banks (Swedish-style) and participation in the paper credit market (confidence building and job preserving, and therefore securities market preserving). Maybe sensibility can reign once this initial dog-and-pony show is concluded. I just fear that we’ll have bought at least $350 billion in crap by then..
“Faced by failure of credit they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence. They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish…
…there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing. Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, on unselfish performance; without them it cannot live.”
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Inaugural Address, March 4, 1933
Sorry, McSame, but it’s time to both talk the talk AND walk the walk. Your service has been appreciated, but you are not the man for the times.
Tinfoil hats on, please.
I just read a review of a bit of journalism on Armand Hammer. The reviewed book is “DOSSIER: THE SECRET HISTORY OF ARMAND HAMMER” by Edward Jay Epstein
What I didn’t expect to see where connections between him, the Ruskies, Hoover and Occidental Petroleum. Turns out Al Gore Senior was, at first the political face for Armand Hammer’s empire: one built on secret multi-generational family relationships with the Communists (WHHHhhhaaaa?). Apparently Hammer was a secret Commie and son of a not so secret commie. He made his fortune, according to the reviewed book, through backroom dealings with the Communists, essentially helping to secretly set up their access to the capitalist marketplace, especially acting as launderer for Communist funds inside the US.
The under-funded Gore the Senior’s career was started with Hammer’s money – and therefore tainted by Communist influence on some level. Hoover opened a file on the organization, scrawling ‘a rotten bunch’ across the top way back in 1919. When Senator Gore retired, he went to work for Hammer’s Occidental Petroleum. Before retiring, Gore served (no irony here!!) as chairman of the ‘Special Committee on Attempts to Influence Senators’ during the 84th Congress (chuckle).
Soo.. The Bush’s were created by dirty dealings with the fascists, the Gores with the Commies..
Kinda makes Joe Kennedy’s rum-running look all the more mainstream American by comparison!
Which mass murdering autocrats did YOUR grandfather make shady deals with to attain the pinnacle of power? None? Too bad. Probably explains a lot.