Wednesday, November 26, 2008
News / Clout City No end in sight
Posted by Mick Dumke on 11.26.08 at 03:12 PM
Whatever your feelings—whatever your understanding—of the various government bailouts under way or on the table, it should be increasingly evident that that the country’s economic problems are multilayered (that is, complicated as shit); and that rescuing various Fortune 100 firms may accomplish a lot of things, but it simply won’t do enough to help the millions of people and thousands of neighborhoods already devastated by job losses and foreclosures.
New Yorker writer Peter J. Boyer’s revealing and heartbreaking “Eviction,” the story of 90-year-old Addie Polk’s mortgage troubles in Akron, Ohio, illustrates why and how this is true, and puts it in sobering context: “By the end of June, there were 2.4 million homes in foreclosure or prolonged delinquency, accounting for 4.5 per cent of all mortgages in the country—the highest level ever recorded.”
Closer to home, the Chicago Rehab Network’s latest analysis finds that this city alone experienced 12,861 foreclosures from January through September, leaving some blocks on the south and west sides pockmarked with boarded-up buildings—and thousands of families forced to find other places to live in an already tight rental market. If you click on any of the monthly reports, you’ll see that some of the lenders doing the most foreclosing are also the ones asking for the most help from the taxpayers.
Not coincidentally, Chicago has at least 13,000 more unemployed people than it did in January. And that doesn’t include the people who’ve stopped looking for work.
Economists stress that the bank and lending bailouts are necessary to keep the credit markets from closing up. Without money to borrow, businesses can’t make investments that result in hiring people.
Makes sense. But I’ll state the obvious and point out that people need to work now, not just in a few months or years when loans come through. President Bush’s last stimulus plan—sending out checks—didn’t do much to get the economy moving; Barack Obama’s, whatever it ends up being, may not be the answer either, but something else has to happen.
Comments (35)
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It's not that complicated. 1. Freeze, ie., stop, all foreclosures. Today. 2. Require all lenders to reassess the borrowers total financial condition, with the only option being that the borrower must cooperate fully in that assessment. 3. Renegotiate each 'bad loan' with the end goal being to not foreclose, regardless of the money lender's desire to maximize the return on said loan. If that means lowering the rate of interest, extending the term of the loan, establishing a period of time of 'interest only' and, thus, no reduction in principle during that period of time, whatever it takes to avoid foreclosure and insure the greatest probability that the loan's principle will, eventually, be repaid by the original borrower. 4. Reassess the purpose of home mortgage lending, as the making of quick and huge profits is not conducive to a stable housing market, a healthy economy and, thus, a civilized society. 5. Reassess the purpose of stock ownership, as the desire to make quick and huge profit is not conducive to a stable economy, the healthy operation of manufacturing and service industries, a reliably dependable economy and, thus, a civilized society. 5. Realize that the citizenry, as a whole, have permitted, enabled, participated and encouraged, through that participation, practically all the economic problems we, as a society, are now experiencing. Greed is never good for society, only temporarily beneficial to a very, very small fraction of same.
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Everyone thought they could live the "Good" life by taking loans. Many people owe more on their house than it is worth. Let them all end up living in the alley. Why should I pay for all the pigs with free link cards. I pay my bills in full, starve. Die, maybe your kids will learn a lesson.
Stop foreclosures ? That is bullshit. It is simple, you pay or you go. No one put a gun to anyone's head to sign off on a "bad" mortage. It was not bad when they took the "cash out" re-fi, and now they are stuck, upside down in their homes. If they did not have a lawyer at the closing, shame on them. These "heartbreaking" stories are such bullshit. Just because a bank "pre-approves" you for $200,000 does not mean to go into a $200K house. Leave yourself some wiggle room. Do not be a boiler repair or leaky roof away from foreclosure. Some people are not meant to own homes. This notion that somehow homeownership is a "right" is totally fucked. Banks felt coerced into making risky loans to people who ordinarily would not qualify for fear of Jesse Jackson marching on them. Now look at the mess the economy is in. Where is Jesse now ? Oh yeah, he is blaming the banks for having the "nerve" to demand that people pay back money that was borrowed from them. I say kick their asses out on the street. Every deadbeat that evades paying is costing the rest of us.
Since it's not rocket science, it's also no surprise that orion fails to comprehend anything about it. 1. It's not in the interest of those holding mortgage debt to foreclose, as, the huge numbers of foreclosures is the cause of the reduced value of housing, via the glutting of the housing market with these foreclosed properties. (a loud Duh! directed at old reliable orion) 2. Reassessing the about to be foreclosed on borrowers' financials, and renegotiating their current loans benefits both the borrowers and the lenders, albeit not in as immediately profitable a manner as the lender would like. And, since the real estate market is no longer profitable, having been glutted, and, thus, diminished, by said foreclosures, the lenders have, effectively, fucked themselves over, by their very premature attempts to recoup their projected losses on their, temporarily, 'non-performing' loans. 3. orion's asinine attempt to frame this issue as solely the problem of those who have the misfortune to own homes encumbered by debt greater than the current value of their collateral, and currently finding it difficult to impossible to pay their monthly mortgage nut and still feed their families, is another excellent example of the lack of intelligence that orion has routinely displayed in most all of his posted comment to date. 4. Only those individuals who think as the Mr. Potter, of 'It's A Wonderful Life' fame, thinks oppose the restructuring of 'non-performing' mortgage debt, as these deceptive fucks know that the only opportunity they have, of getting valuable property for pennies on the dollar, is if they can succeed in preventing said restructuring. 5. The basic question is: Whose economic blood will be shed? Will it be the blood of the working citizens? Will it be the blood of those invested in these 'non-performing' mortgages? Or will it be the blood of those vultures who are always searching for ways to acquire valuable properties for pennies on the dollar? Anyone want to hazard a guess as to which group orion belongs to?
Rocket, you can count 1-5. Too bad the broke ass dead beats want handouts. They got the big trips to Vegas while I sat at home and saved. Now you want me to pay for your house? Go F#$@ yourself. You bought more than one house so you can flip it. Chicago is the new Detroit, do not blame Daley, he was smart enough to get his cut and save some!
The only thing deep about your thoughts is how deeply they are buried up daley's ass. 1. Restructured loans in default must be limited to single property homeowners. These are the real properties going into default and foreclosure at the highest rates and the ones that are depressing the housing, home building markets. One restructured loan per customer. 2. If anyone has been taking trips to Vegas, it's been the speculators and vultures who make their fortunes on buying up foreclosed properties, and tax delinquent properties, for pennies on the dollar. Are you one of them? 3. To restructure a loan in default, by lowering the per annum interest rate, locking in the loan for an extended period of time and making the front end an interest only payment, with no immediate reduction in the principle, is the best way to reverse the decline in the value of real property and ensure the highest probability of the eventual repayment of the entire principle of the original loan amount. A recovered real estate market will, in time, allow those with restructured loans to choose to either continue paying on those loans or to sell their now sufficiently valuable property and pay off their loans with no principle loss to the lender. 4. Unless you are one of those vultures, looking to buy real property dirt cheap, you have no rational basis for objecting to the above strategies proposed. Of course, you may choose to embrace the irrational basis of your choice. 5. As for "..do not blame Daley, he was smart enough to get his cut and save some!", well, his cut wasn't his to get, or to 'save'. Your thinking that says all I need to know anout your rationality, ie., non-existent. I'd invite you to go fuck yourself, but you've already been doing that for some time.
Rocket Science ? More like "Weird Science". Counting to five must be your limit. Bailing out the top dogs with the 70 Billion, as well as bailing out the deadbeats who think they should stay in "their" homes without paying (BTW, it is not YOUR home till you burn the mortgage). And yes, as opposed to Socialism, I prefer to let the market dictate what happens. Yes, there will be collateral damage along the way, but that is the price we pay in a free society, the opportunity to succeed and to fail. Shanequa working at Wal Mart or Joe The Plumber scraping by should have worked harder in school and not put themselves in a position to get left behind the economic gravy train that is provided to everyone in the great land of opportunity. Hell, even the mixed breed bastard child of an African king, through hard work and determinaton can get an Ivy League and become President of the United States of America. Barack Obama has taken away all of the "woe is me" excuses from the poverty pimp-victim class mindset of people. A guy that just a couple of years ago had his credit card declined and was struggling to pay off student loans is now poised to be the most powerful man on the planet. And you are seeking sympathy for some deadbeats ? Go fuck YOURself.
Jesus H. Is Dumke about the best political writer in the city or what? Dude's got it. Lamb.
You gotta be shittin' me, right ? If Lil Mick was all that, he would not be regulated to having to hang around the baseboards of the City Council chambers, grubbing for Fran Spielman's story crumbs or having to schlep around teaching night school to half sleep whack jobs.
Usury is the problem. Usury is banned in the Old Testament, a sin confessed at Yom Kippur, a sin in Islam, a sin banned still in the Catholic Church. Usury caused this crisis.
Supidity caused this "crisis". Banks are in business to make money. They make money by loaning it to people who are creditworthy and are willing and able to pay more back than they borrowed. What was not intended was for the banks to be forced by the Jesse Jackson's of the world to lend to people who are one paycheck away from bankruptcy, yet the pressure of being called a racist was too great and banks had to extend loans or risk being in violation of the CRA. And here we are......
It's slice and dice time again. Let's see how many fallacies we can find in orion's latest 3 strikes: "Bailing out the top dogs with the 70 Billion, as well as bailing out the deadbeats who think they should stay in "their" homes without paying (BTW, it is not YOUR home till you burn the mortgage)." 1. It's not the 'top dogs' who are, or should be, being 'bailed out', (nice reference to being bailed out of jail. has orion had personal experience in this area?), nor is it a case of 'deadbeats' wanting to remain in their home for free, nor is it true that, just because a real property is encumbered by a mortgage, (debt), that that real property is not owned by the person or persons named on the deed to said property. If oreo's statement, "(BTW, it is not YOUR home till you burn the mortgage)", were true, which it is not, then the owner of said property would not have the authority to sell said property, the owner of said property would not be named on the deed and the owner of said property would not have the authority to possess said property. A real property encumbered by debt is just that, encumbered by debt, said debt being a restriction on said real property, not a condition of ownership by the debt holder. orion may be ignorant of the above or orion may be well aware of the ignorance he is promoting. In either case, ignorance is orion's predominant trait. "And yes, as opposed to Socialism, I prefer to let the market dictate what happens. Yes, there will be collateral damage along the way, but that is the price we pay in a free society, the opportunity to succeed and to fail. Shanequa working at Wal Mart or Joe The Plumber scraping by should have worked harder in school and not put themselves in a position to get left behind the economic gravy train that is provided to everyone in the great land of opportunity. Hell, even the mixed breed bastard child of an African king, through hard work and determinaton can get an Ivy League and become President of the United States of America. Barack Obama has taken away all of the "woe is me" excuses from the poverty pimp-victim class mindset of people. A guy that just a couple of years ago had his credit card declined and was struggling to pay off student loans is now poised to be the most powerful man on the planet. And you are seeking sympathy for some deadbeats ? Go fuck YOURself." 2. So much colorful language, wasted on making the attempt to conceal the truth. In fact, orion sounds like a little parrot, mimicking the so-called 'conservative' perspective, which, by the way, is everything but conservative, as in conserving. But, then, orion has always been a parrot, always been a mimicker of the thoughts, attitudes and perspectives of the specific others that he serves, as in being a servant of those specific others. He knows who his masters are, just like every slave minded lackey does. He knows his place in his conception of the world and seems to have thoroughly embraced his slave status, even exhibiting signs that he relishes that status. Do the orion's of this world really think that they're the top dogs of their slave world? And is that the highest goal that they see as being the purpose of their existence? Apparently so. I'd suggest that orion re-read my comments, but it would be to no avail, since orion only sees what he knows his masters want him to see, only understands what he knows his masters want him to understand and only believes what he knows his masters want him to believe. Just like the good slave he has chosen to be. Such is orion's life. "You gotta be shittin' me, right ? If Lil Mick was all that, he would not be regulated to having to hang around the baseboards of the City Council chambers, grubbing for Fran Spielman's story crumbs or having to schlep around teaching night school to half sleep whack jobs." 3. When orion criticizes something, or someone, you can know, for a fact, that that something, or someone, is affecting orion's masters in a way that orion's masters don't like. Keep up the good work, Mick. "Supidity caused this "crisis". Banks are in business to make money. They make money by loaning it to people who are creditworthy and are willing and able to pay more back than they borrowed." 4. I presume that, in orion's frantic excitement to spew more venom, directed at the previous poster's reference to usury being the cause of many socio-economic problems, and, perhaps, his references to the various religious principles condemning usury, that orion meant to type 'stupidity', and not "Supidity". Let's be generous and call it a typo. Now, what does the phrase "Banks are in business to make money." really mean? Banks, ie., lending institutions, have money to lend. Q: Where does this money come from? A: Primarily from deposits made by those who have money and want to increase what money they have by charging a fee, ie., interest, ie., usury, to those who choose to borrow said money, from those who have accumulated (saved) it, deposited it and are willing to risk losing it by borrowing (loaning) it to those who wish to use it, but have not been able to accumulate (save) it. In return for the use of said saved money, the borrower agrees to return (repay) said money, over an agreed upon period of time, and, additionally, pay an agreed upon fee (interest), for the service of having it borrowed (loaned) to them. As in any other contracted agreement, both parties have, theoretically, discussed the terms each is agreeing to, understand those terms and commit to abiding by said terms. When either party to a contracted agreement find that they cannot abide by those terms, what then occurs is called a breach of whatever, specific term or terms have not been complied with. It is then the option of the parties to determine what is to be done concerning said breach, with the breaching party typically being held accountable for either rectifying said breach, by restoring their abiding to the agreed upon terms and/or providing convincing evidence that they will continue to abide by said terms, or, pursuant to the specifics of those terms, be declared to be in an unredeemable condition of default of the contracted agreement. The party who has not breached the contracted agreement then has the option to enforce the terms of the agreement relevant to a breaching of the agreement, in these cases, foreclosure, OR to renegotiate said agreement, to avoid having to take foreclusure action. As previously stated, and ignored by orion, it is not in the interest of the banks, (ie. the depositors), holding these breached mortgage agreements to foreclose, for the reasons previously stated, and ignored by orion. It IS in the interests of these banks, (ie. depositors) to renegotiate and avoid foreclosure. It is also, by the way, in the interests of the aforementioned vultures, for these banks to, stupidly, foreclose on these breached mortgage agreements, sell said foreclosed real properties, at a loss, (to the depositors) to the very vultures circling hungrily over the prospect of acquiring valuable real properties for pennies on the dollar. Thus, we see exactly where orion is coming from. "What was not intended was for the banks to be forced by the Jesse Jackson's of the world to lend to people who are one paycheck away from bankruptcy, yet the pressure of being called a racist was too great and banks had to extend loans or risk being in violation of the CRA." 5. Now, at first glance, this would seem to be a case of the pot calling the kettle black. However, since orion is a loyal slave, doing the bidding of his masters, black or white has nothing to do with the issue at hand. Green, being the color of our money, is the only color at play here. Lots and lots of GREEN, and I don't mean the color of grass. In fact, one might consider the possibility that this entire situation has been designed to produce the economic situation we now face, ie., the manipulation of the real estate market, akin to the ongoing manipulation of the stock market. Why, you may wonder, would anyone want to depress the real estate and stock markets? Gee, think about that for more than a new york minute. Think about the corollary to "What goes up, must come down". Might that corollary be "What goes down, must come up"? And what has the principle motivation for investing in stock ownership been promoted, to the general public, as? Does "Buy low, sell high" sound familiar? And how can one "buy low" when the market value of stock, or real property, is high? Yes, my friends, it truly is not rocket science. And here we are......
Part of the blame for the foreclosure crisis in Chicago and the high levels of evictions here is given directly to Mayor Richard M Daley. 1. Bill Daley was with Fannie Mae 2. Bill Daley put now alderman Danny Solis on Fannie Mae 3. Bill Daley lobbyied for Fannie Mae 4. Bill Daley was with and had offers with the banks and investment banks that have caused some of this problem like Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, Fannie Mae, JP Morgan, Amalgamated Bank and with utilities that have raised our rates making it more difficult to pay mortgages. 5. Bill Daleys son has been at the same investment banks that are now getting bailed out with the mortgage bailouts or the AIG bailout (where Goldman Sachs had a 20 billion dollar stake) 6. Patrick Daley worked at Bear Stearns 7. Part of the reason for the mortgage problem is higher property taxes 8. Higher cost of living which is incredible in Chicago causes inability to pay mortgages 9. the artificial real estate boom in Chicago with in the 2nd ward alone 10,000 evictions, 10,000 vacant new buildings in the downtown/Gold Coast residential vacancy is at 20% before the turn down in the economy and the real estate market--much of the real estate value increases were do to speculation and flipping 10. Daley pushed construction of new high end residential housing without a corresponding demand, Daley thought that if you built that they (rich white people) would come but this was not the field of dreams but the field of substandard construction by greedy politically connected developers and bankrupt LLCs with building inspectors backed off and lies to buyers who now are paying for problems through repairs or higher assessments depending if home, town home or condo. THere are so many vacant town homes that look beautiful from the outside with big price tags, and evictions and foreclosures even in expensive homes and zip codes of lawyers, dot com computer people, accountants, real estate brokers, mortgage brokers and a slew of other people who lost their job or saw their income decrease or could not afford the repairs, legal fees and/or condo assessment special assessments to fix the political connected developers mess up that they cannot sue now because it is a bankrupt LLC. The core around the Loop of the 2nd, 3rd, 25th, 24th, even 12th, 27th, and other wards have lots of vacant new constructions, lots of vacant new townhomes, lots of substandard construction and lots of evictions and foreclosures. Everyone above the poverty line was happy when Daley priced out poor people who were dysfunctional and moved out people in Federal housing projects--but now Daley has priced out blue collar, working class and even middle class people. Property taxes are too high. Sales taxes are the highest in the nation. You get parking tickets and not enough parking. Speeding tickets with revenue cameras (but not a corresponding drop in crime) Building inspectors. Fees to have garage sales. A Kangaroo court on superior street. This is a city that is very expensive to live in, to own property in, to do business in, to shop in. This is a city that has many wonderful thing but still has abject poverty in some parts and the highest murder rate in the western industrial world. The high cost of living and bad economy and higher than average unemployment rate (which spikes in Chicago makes the mortgage foreclosure and housing eviction crisis even worse here and is a partial cause. Daley has to take some of the blame for this. The push to increase high end residential housing must stop. The corruption of politically connected developers and the symbiotic relationship with the corrupt building department must stop. The high taxes and high cost of living must be decreased so people can breathe.
The two posts above bring a James Brown hit to mind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zm0enKitJ3w
I chose not to attempt to name names, as I don't have the bandwidth to do the task justice, but daley's name would be right at the top of the list. And I think you're giving daley too much credit, when you say that his primary purpose was to attract those with wealth to this city. It seems more likely that what he, and his ilk, had primarily in mond was to manipulate the real estate market in this area, and that they succeeded far beyond what they'd planned. It's a very risky business, manipulating markets, doing things that artificially inflate markets, for the sole purpose of: 1. increasing the apparent value of what assets they already had possession of 2. 'flipping' those assets until they had flipped all that they had to flip, and all that they could still acquire at pennies on the dollar 3. sit back and watch as those artificially inflated markets deflate, waiting for the opportunities to develop to acquire and accumulate more properties for pennies on the dollar 4. acquire and accumulate as many formerly inflated properties, regardless of the human suffering those acquisitions impose, upon those manipulated into borrowing to purchase the previously inflated properties 5. wait for the now incredibly deflated markets to 'recover' sufficiently for these vultures to then begin the process once again The rub here is that some of these vultures may not live long enough to cash in this time. But that possibility doesn't enter their minds, as their thoughts are only focused on getting, not on utilizing what they have. Greed, gluttony, avarice, whatever name to call it, it's the disease of the human personality, the ban of mankind. And they've got it bad, and that ain't good. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, and some never learn the futility of thinking that what is temporary is more valuable than what is eternal. So, in the end, while they've thought themselves quite clever, intelligent and skillful, they truly are idiots, in the most basic sense of the word. And speaking of idiots, good morning, orion, did you sleep well?
Orion, respond by discussin the specific points and issues and pointing out incorrect facts or logical fallacies. When you post a James Brown song to respond to a well written and thought provoking post you lose credit. I think there was manipulation of real estate markets. I think that Chicago is an expensive city to live in. I do not believe that all foreclosures are due to stupidity of the borrowers or were forced by the Community Reinvestment Act or because people should have read contacts better--that is some of it no doubt--but also the economic downturn that saw a decrease in income in certain sectos (like real estate agents and brokers) and the loss of jobs by many--so it was not just irresponsibility (although may have been in certain cases) but also responsible people who lost income and jobs and could no longer afford their homes. Also, some of the loans are clearly usurius and predatory. Oral representations were made that were not in the contract. Closings were rushed with lawyers making unreasonably high fees that the buyer nor seller realized at the time. Most lawyers did not do anything for their closing fee and did not explain the contract. Many mortgage brokers lied to get the sale and than put in fine print all the details. Banks and mortgage brokers got greedy and did not have to lend either (the CRA and other home ownership programs did not force these mortgage companies to lend just as the individuals were not forced to borrow) The high property taxes in Chicago and Cook County (without the commensurate services of let say DuPage County which also has high taxes but much better schools, excellent parks, and incredible forest preserves, much cleaner government buildings--and almost 50% of your property tax bill is education so again--much better schools--and a better Community College system) The high taxes and high cost of living make it difficult to exclusively dedicate a portion of your income to the mortgage. Chicago city government acts as an extortionist. Credit card companies and some mortgages act worse than the loans given by the outfit and are at worst interest rates--no they don't break your legs but they do destroy your life.
This Thanksgiving, I'm very thankful we still have reporters like BenJay, Lil Mick, Dane "Hogan" Placko, Russ " "70's" Stewart, John " EGO" Kass, Tim" Undercover Lover" Novak and Julie " I would love to undress' Unruh! -------------------------------- This is oreo's song to Mayor Dimwit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZBnCk-uW70
Whats wrong with James Brown,his music is timeless. When you revisionists benefited from the real estate bubble created by Mayor Daley's land policies,he could do no wrong. Now you back stabbing cowardly miscreants see your investments sliding you see the need to strike out at someone. Ed and 13 sound like Coconate. Who said life would be easy. Grow up.
"Who said life would be easy. Grow up." How profound. It's fortunate, for the orion's, and daley's and their ilk, that most people respect the laws, of God and of man. Otherwise the likes of these schemers wouldn't live past the age of consent. Orion once posted an insulting comment, calling the fine members of the CPD 'pussies'. Were it not for those 'pussies', little oreo, do you really think you'd last more than a new york minute, in the real world? Not even your well developed, natural skills at ass kissing would buy you much more than a few weeks, and that, only if you were fortunate enough to please that 300 pound butch tranny that scared your soul, back when you first began to grow hair on your bung hole. As for that 'bubble' you give credit to the midget for creating, we've already covered why those who manipulated the real estate market did so, and it wasn't to benefit the commoners. Like I said, so much effort wasted on getting, and so little concern given to living. Do you hear that knocking? It's Father Time, trying to tell you that your time is nearer than you imagine, not 'opportunity' knocking. But at least you have the comfort of knowing that you weren't alone in wasting your gift of life.
You spent yours on crap you did not need. You bought porno, sex tapes, hookers, and vice. Me and Mayor Daley saved our money. I love you Mayor Daley, sorry about all those slobs looking for a handout. I like the view from my new condo I bought dirt cheap, some sucker needed the money!
Ah, money. Lots and lots of money. How much of it do you think it will take to prolong your body's life for one minute? For 5 minutes? 10? An hour? An extra day? Or week? Or even a month? And what will you be experiencing during those extra moments? Anything you'd choose to experience, if you still had the ability to choose? Many things that you'd choose not to experience, if only you still had the choice? Or do you believe that you've figured out how to 'take it with you'? Good luck on that one. 'And when I die, and when I'm dead, dead and gone There'll be one child born, to carry on' Who said life would be easy. Grow up, little oreo, grow up.
See oreo, there is more to life than stealing OPM. ( Other Peoples Momey) Another song for Mayor Retardo and you! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3m-gOelA8g
Edward is not Frank Coconate. You can check the IP address and type of writing. The others I cannot comment on because I don't know although some may imitate. Orion creates straw me instead of making a logical argument against what I said. Orion also uses the logical fallacy of an ad hominen attack against me personally by claiming I am someone else or that I benefitted from the real estate bubble or I am doing what a James Brown song says--I am doing none of that and I am not any of that. Orion does not use logic. I stand by what I said. Bill Daley, Bill Daley Jr and Patrick Daley all made money in the financial sector which helped hurt our economy. Mayor Daley created an artificial real estate boom that has now bust with high vacancies and substandard construction and high end residential overbuilding. Mayor Daley's taxes and high cost of living make Chicago have a higher than national average unemployment rate, eviction rate and murder rate--nothing to brag about and objective statistics whatever Orion thinks the cause is. Usury is a factor but one that nobody wants to admit although many philosophic and spiritual traditions clearly condemn it.
Obama's donation to his campaign? Zip —Bob Secter November 28, 2008 Before her death, Barack Obama's grandmother in Hawaii gave his campaign $2,300, which is precisely $2,300 more than Obama himself donated to his $639 million, record-breaking war chest. And in this practice, Obama is in good company. Buried in federal election records is a curious fact: Candidates often don't financially support their own campaigns. Records show that John McCain, he of the seven houses, did not donate to his presidential campaign. Neither did Sarah Palin. Joe Biden didn't chip in for his own national run either. Mayor Richard Daley also has a closed wallet when it comes to funding his or anybody else's campaign. To be fair, Obama's wife did contribute—though not much. Michelle Obama gave $399 to her husband's campaign. The Obamas, who earned $4 million last year, sent substantially more money—$4,600—to Hillary Clinton, to help her debt-ridden campaign after she quit challenging his nomination. "It may be that campaign managers and consultants tell people, 'Don't put your own money in the campaign,'" says Kent Redfield, a campaign finance expert at the University of Illinois' Springfield campus. "If you're having to finance your campaign, maybe you ought to rethink your candidacy." True, there are wealthy candidates who try to tilt the playing field with tons of their own money. Chicago's Rahm Emanuel, Obama's pick for chief of staff, was one. In 2002, Emanuel lent himself $450,000 to win a U.S. House seat. Since then, he hasn't made a personal political contribution to anybody, Obama included, even though Emanuel is known as an aggressive fundraiser who has ripped up donors' checks he deemed inadequate. An Obama spokesman dodged the question of why the president-elect never donated to his own campaign, saying only that Obama was "deeply grateful for the more than 3 million Americans" who did give. So next time you hear Obama repeat his signature line about "change we can believe in," remember this: More than likely, the change isn't coming from his pocket.
Daley and probably unfortunately Obama too--they view your money, taxpayer money as their money.
This post was by an imposter: "Orion November 28th - 10:18 a.m. Whats wrong with James Brown,his music is timeless. When you revisionists benefited from the real estate bubble created by Mayor Daley's land policies,he could do no wrong. Now you back stabbing cowardly miscreants see your investments sliding you see the need to strike out at someone. Ed and 13 sound like Coconate. Who said life would be easy. Grow up." I will take it as a sincere form of flattery.... BTW - Life is beautiful....closing on a two flat on Monday that the owner had to let go cheap after he and his wife lost their jobs at the Ford Manufacturing campus on Torrence. They should not have put their eggs in one basket and worked at the same place. Democracy is wonderful.
Every person infected with the lust for wealth, commonly called greed, considers other people's money as potentially their's. To the greed infected, it's only a matter of how they're going to be able to get your money transfered into their greedy little paws. Some select the means of elected authority, since all three branches of every government have direct, or indirect, control over the authority to impose taxation and determine where, for what and to whom those taxes are to be distributed. The Legislative branch creates laws to legitimatize taxations. The Executive branch creates policies, and agencies, to distribute taxations. The Judicial branch reviews and adjudicates the legitimacy of the laws and distributions concerning taxations. So all persons seeking elected authorities, and infected with greed, consider elected authority to be their chosen means to satisfy their disease. Other persons infected with the disease of greed choose to pursue, as their means, the manipulation of our free market system of economics. Their chosen path to satisfy their never to be satisfied lust for wealth leads them to become skillful and accomplished liars, much like the paths of those who've chosen elected authority. Politician's lies concern their chosen area of expertise, namely, succeeding in deceiving as many citizens as needed to get elected and/or reelected. And, once elected, they predictably utilize their respective authorities to enrich themselves and those of like mind. Those who choose 'business' as their means utilize a slightly different set of lies, namely, whatever is the most effective to persuade all consumers, citizens and non-citizens alike, to transfer whatever monies they, the consumers, have earned or have borrowed, into the greedy little paws of these 'business' men and women. Now, understand, neither of the above, greed driven persons we are discussing has anything in common with the honest elected official, rare as an honest elected official may be, or with the honest business man or woman, honestly engaging in the free and fair exchange of goods and services with the consuming public. In fact, the consuming public consists of, directly or indirectly, those who also produce goods and provide services, to others and to themselves. So, in a very real sense, the previously described two groups of greed infected persons are actually parasites, neither producing goods, nor providing services nor exchanging fair market value for same. Economic blood suckers would be an appropriate description of them. One particularly obvious scheme of the elected parasites is the one that goes something like this: 'Elect me and I will impose taxes upon everyone OTHER THAN YOU, and share those tax monies, directly or indirectly, with YOU.' Another particularly obvious scheme, of the parasites we know as business men, and women, is the one that goes something like this: 'I can MAKE YOU MONEY, just TRUST ME and we'll BOTH make lots of money.' Much of the time, these two, greed infected groups either keep their activities within the boundaries of the written law, or manipulate changes in the written law to fraudulently legitimatize their naturally illegitimate activities or successfully conceal those actions they know are illegal and cannot be, at present, legitimized. No member of these two, greed infected groups, could succeed in their greed motivated endeavors without the cooperation of a large portion of the citizenry. As the saying goes, "You can't cheat an honest man.". And a companion to the above could be 'You can't fool a thoughtful man'. We may all be familiar with the Abe Lincoln quote: "You may fool some of the People all of the time, All of the People some of the time, But you cannot fool all of the People, all of the time." While true, what is also true is this: You don't need to fool all of the People, all of the time. You only need to fool just the right number of People, at just the right time. For the greed infected politicians, that right time is on Election Day. For the greed infected 'business' man or woman, that right time is whenever they recognize an opportunity to persuade someone else, anyone else, to take money out of their pocket and place that money into the hands of the greed infected. So, should you have an interest in discussing, and, thus, sharing with others, your specific experiences, observations or speculations on the many ways and means by which the greed infected have, or might intend to, trick others who've earned their money into transferring that money into the greedy, sticky little hands of the greed infected, please feel free to post here again.
Ah, how timely. "Real Orion November 29th - 8:33 p.m. BTW - Life is beautiful....closing on a two flat on Monday that the owner had to let go cheap after he and his wife lost their jobs at the Ford Manufacturing campus on Torrence. They should not have put their eggs in one basket and worked at the same place." How timely, indeed.
