Monday, February 6, 2012

Barker's Newsbites: Monday, February 6, 2012


Patriots...

(*GUFFAW*)
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3 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57371781/home-buyers-left-holding-bag-for-payroll-tax-cut/

Just before Christmas, American workers got a rare "gift" from Washington politicians - the current payroll tax cut would be extended for two more months.

At the time, both President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner lauded the move to avoid a "tax increase" for millions of working Americans.

But there's something the politicians weren't bragging about: the fact that they're paying for the two-month tax cut with what has turned into a brand new fee on home buyers.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

* FOLKS... FINE... LET CBS "OUT" THE ADMINISTRATION (AND CONGRESSIONAL RINOs) FOR THIS BAIT AND SWITCH, BUT LET'S NOT LOSE SIGHT OF THE OVERRIDING POINT: THERE ARE NO "SAVINGS," NO "PAYING FOR," AS LONG AS THE U.S. GOVERNMENT CONTINUES TO BORROW 43-CENTS OUT OF EVERY DOLLAR IT SPENDS! PLACING THE DEBT ON OUR SHOULDERS! PLACING THE DEBT - AND INTEREST PAYMENTS - ON OUR CHILDRENS' AND GRANDCHILDRENS' SHOULDERS!

The new fee is a minimum of one-tenth of 1 percent on Fannie Mae- and Freddie Mac-backed loans, and is likely to go much higher.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

It will be imposed for the next 10 years on most mortgages and refinancings and it lasts for the life of the loan.

WTF DO HOME LOANS HAVE TO DO WITH SOCIAL SECURITY...?!?! NOTHING! BUT, HEY... ANY PORT IN A STORM, RIGHT? OUR POLITICAL "LEADERS" ARE SCUM, PEOPLE. UNDERSTAND THAT.

It's bad news for Patty Anderson, who's buying a home in Virginia. Anderson will save a couple hundred dollars from having her payroll tax cut extended but her mortgage broker told her the new fee would cost her almost $9,500.

(*SMIRK*)

* BUT, HEY... FOLKS... REMEMBER WHEN THIS WAS IN THE NEWS AND THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA WAS TELLING US HOW "WONDERFUL" THIS SCAM... er... PLAN WAS?

(*SNICKER*)

* OH... AND THEN THERE'S THIS:

The $35.7 billion collected in fees won't go into the Social Security fund to replace the lost payroll tax. It goes to the general treasury where Congress can spend it however they please.

Bill Burnett, Anderson's broker and president of the Virginia Association of Mortgage Brokers, said you won't see Congress' new charge in the paperwork, but it's there. "It's actually built into this [interest] rate. You would never see the fee as a cost to you," he said.

* BIPARTISANSHIP AT ITS SLEAZINESS, FOLKS. OR... PUT ANOTHER WAY... WASHINGTON POLITICS AS USUAL.

"Your pocketbook is being raided in order to pay for a tax policy issue decided at the last minute by probably people who didn't understand fully what they were legislating on," [noted Burnett].

CBS News went to Capitol Hill ask what Congress was thinking when they passed the mortgage fee hike. Boehner pointed the finger at the Senate.

"As you're well aware, this bill came over from the Senate. I don't know how they justified it. We would rather have offset that two-month extension with reductions in spending," he said.

But the Senate blamed the House. And Democrats and Republicans blamed each other.

* TELL ME AGAIN HOW VIOLENCE ISN'T THE ANSWER...

(*SHRUG*)

One congressman, Florida Republican Allen West, said he tried to blow the whistle on the whole thing before Christmas. "I read the legislation and raised the flag. Unfortunately nobody paid attention to what I was saying at the time," he said, calling the fee a backdoor tax increase on the middle class.

* FUNNY... I DON'T RECALL THIS. OBVIOUSLY YOU DIDN'T TRY ALL THAT HARD, CONGRESSMAN WEST.

February 6, 2012 at 11:29 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://brucekrasting.blogspot.com/2012/02/larry-summers-blows-it-on-tv.html

The Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) is a key economic statistic...

Changes in the LFPR are shaping the direction of the capital markets, federal economic policy, monetary policy and, most importantly, politics.

The LFPR hit a new record low on Friday. The key question that must be answered is: Is the current LFPR a temporary phenomenon, or is this the “New Normal?”

If the current LFPR is, in fact, the new normal (and I think it is), it has profound implications on the macro economic outlook for the USA.

* BTW, THE AUTHOR OF THIS PIECE IS BRUCE KRASTING.

Virtually all of the economic models used by CBO, OMB, SSA and private economists are assuming that the long-term LFPR will be in the mid-to upper 60s.

* AND YET... (*SIGH*)

The consensus is 2-3% higher than where it is today.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

If you plug in a rate of 63% versus 67% over the next ten-years, it makes a huge difference on the size of the deficit and the public debt.

It would cause the deficits at Social Security and Medicare to explode.

The percentage of GDP attributable to the government would inevitably rise.

The economy, and society in general, would be socialized.

I don’t think there is a macro economist or economic policy deep-thinker out there that does not recognize the significance of the LFPR, or that it’s hitting new lows.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

February 6, 2012 at 12:11 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/289948/acorn-its-old-tricks-charles-c-w-cooke

Since it was ignominiously stripped of all federal funding in 2009, ACORN has steadily maintained its extensive network of “affiliates” — more specifically, tax-exempt progressive 501(c)3 and 501(c)4 organizations, most of which have been renamed since the scandal hit.

For 40 years, it appears, ACORN employed many of these groups to funnel millions of federal dollars its way — and it continues to do so today.

* THANK YOU NAN HAYWORTH, JOHN BOEHNER, AND MITCH MCCONNELL!

(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*

It appears to be getting away with it.

When somebody buys a gun for a convicted felon, it is called a “straw purchase,” and it is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. When ACORN takes money prohibited to it by employing others as collection agents, it is called “accounting.” This is the financial equivalent of being dishonorably discharged, but continuing to serve, and anyone who respects congressional authority should be outraged.

* THIS IS A THREE-PAGE EXPOSE, FOLKS; IF YOU'RE INTERESTED... FOLLOW THE LINK PROVIDED AND READ THE DETAILS FOR YOURSELVES.

(*SIGH*)

February 6, 2012 at 6:24 PM

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