Same ‘Ole, Same ‘Ole

Please indulge me if I use a quotation from the Psalms, because in many ways not much has changed in more than 2000 years. The unbridled personal and structural self-indulgence which led to the current worldwide economic meltdown reminds me that the exploitation of men by other men is as rife now as it was then:

“Defend me, O God, and plead my cause
against a godless nation.
From deceitful and cunning men
rescue me, O God”

Throughout remote history, helpless people pleaded to God for relief from those who took advantage of them. By 2008, mankind should have made quantum leaps toward the Golden Rule, don’t you think? Here we are centuries later; whom are we to trust? To whom among us do we plead?

Palin’s Popularity

The reaction to Palin since she was chosen as McCain’s running mate has been at polar extremes, much of it virulently negative. I don’t know why. To listen to some people, you’d think that Alaska is a third-world country.

Antagonists either stigmatize her or treat her as though she has no grey matter between the ears. Even Kathleen Parker, a prominent conservative columnist, has come down hard on Palin. The piling on continues. Let me share with you what I think:

Sarah Palin is intelligent. That’s right, intelligent. Without smarts, you don’t get to be a governor and to survive and thrive in the political battles which she won in Alaska. Her detractors would like to label her as the brunette version of a dumb blonde – both sexist insults, but political correctness restrains them from saying what they think. She is tough. After getting bushwhacked several times in a couple of unprepared TV interviews, she jumped right back into the fight, seemingly stronger than before, a quick learner.

She is even-tempered. Not once have I seen her lose her cool under relentless campaign pressure. She evokes jealously: Palin has had the guts to have succeeded in a man’s world while simultaneously achieving what women do splendidly – being a loving wife and mother. That has got to stick in the craw of the dying breed of 1960’s-style feminists. She can be self-deprecating; that was evident in her appearance on Saturday Night Live.

She has a magnetic personality and is the best- looking woman on the campaign circuit: Is she supposed to apologize for that? Is she supposed to put a bag on her head? The woman has charisma and is using it almost effortlessly to her advantage. And why not? Others only wish.

OK! OK! She doesn’t have any international exposure and foreign policy experience. She hasn’t hobnobbed with the Washington, D.C. cocktail party crowd. She isn’t a national economics whiz. She doesn’t come from an ivy-league school. She doesn’t charm the New York Times. She doesn’t have the sophistication of Northeast intellectuals and the approval of Hollywood narcissists.

Nor has she taken bribes; or slept around like so many of our prominent Washington officials; or become addicted to drugs, drinking and drunk driving, like a few D.C. Senators and Representatives from prominent families; or aborted a Down Syndrome baby; or taken to abandoning a practicing faith; or rejected her daughter for getting pregnant; or gone along to get along with her own Republican party caught up in scandal and bribery in Alaska.

Whatever else may be said, the woman has integrity.

Too Smart for Their Own Britches

On October 23, 2008, former Fed Chief Alan Greenspan appeared before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to testify about the recent credit freeze caused by the sub-prime mortgage mess. He read from a prepared text and then took what were mainly softball questions from committee members.

I pored over every word contained in Greenspan’s written testimony before that committee. I also listened carefully to Greenspan’s response to questions from the House panel. This is a man of great intelligence who simply cannot sit before other people and express in common language what he did and why he did it.

Greenspan was a key factor in causing the credit markets to fall apart. He kept interest rates too low, too long, and refused to introduce regulatory measures that might have kept the house of cards from crumbling. His written testimony was more like an excuse than an explanation. I won’t bore you with all of the 50-cent words that he used as a shield.

Greenspan’s basic and most absurdly memorable explanation for the sub-prime fiasco was to state its cause as originating from, “A flaw in the model that I perceived is the critical functioning structure that defines how the world works.” Huh! Is he kidding? Please read that quote again. With a straight face, Greenspan told everyone within earshot not only that there is a complex mathematical computer model that defines how the world goes ‘round & ‘round, but that the model is a financial one. How overly simplistic!

It appears that while he was Fed Chairman, Greenspan placed great faith in economic models. Although he did not specify in his testimony the one to which he referred, there are several candidates. One is known by its abbreviation, CAPM (The Capital Asset Pricing Model). Another is the Black–Scholes model. Developers of both received Nobel Prizes for their work.

Greenspan defended the use of computerized risk management models which became the backbone for the trading of mortgage-backed securities. Heck, he testified, there was nothing wrong with them; it’s just that people didn’t feed in the right data.

So many smart people, so little wisdom. Have I said that before?

Loins, Politics, & Religion

When Joe Biden addressed a group of supporters at a fundraiser on Sunday night, his comments were notable for at least three reasons. One, Biden rattled his handlers with, “Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy . . . we’re going to have . . . an international . . . generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy . . . I promise you it will occur.”

Two, Biden made these comments and others like it before he realized that print journalists were in the room, after which he promptly concluded his address, stating, “I probably shouldn’t have said all this because it dawned on me that the press is here.”

Three, in his remarks that evening, Biden used Biblical language in explaining that the “generated crisis” would engender a response by Barack Obama that would be hugely unpopular and would cause his standing to plummet in the polls. Americans would, according to Biden, have to “gird their loins.”

I’m not exactly thrilled with the idea that Obama, the man who is supposed to get us out of Iraq, is according to Biden, going to turn into a hawk in the first six months of 2009 in order to prove his mettle. Besides, Biden didn’t get the term right.

Although I have read several internet interpretations of the Biblical expression that “girding their loins” means simply securing one’s belt a little tighter, that’s not what it indicates.

The expression appears in several places and forms in Scripture. Its original intent in some of the earliest writings of the Bible, as in 1 Kings, refers to getting ready for battle. In this context, it signifies that a fighter “draws up and ties his lower garments between his legs as to increase mobility and agility.” Although the practice varied as the centuries progressed, there is nothing peaceful about it.

Later in time, in his letter to the Ephesians, Paul speaks about “taking on the whole armor of God . . . and, having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist." Paul continues, “Take the shield of faith.” These are intended as words of internal fortitude and of peaceful resistance, not of warfare. To which of the two meanings was Joe Biden referring?

Autumn Leaf Peeping

Since this could be the last favorable weekend to view the sunny brilliance of autumn foliage in the Garden State, Priscille and I decided to grasp the opportunity. Starting in Bridgewater, we drove northwest onto the byways of Warren County early this afternoon. When we embark upon one of these short local motor trips, we always end up meandering along scenic back roads in a random fashion.

Today was no exception. Our goal was to let our eyes and minds soak in the palette of rich autumn colors found in the foliage spilling out along the roadside and on the rolling hills of New Jersey. We weren’t disappointed and both agreed that this year is one of the best for leaf peeping.

Eventually finding ourselves on State Road 519 in Belvidere, we stopped at the Four Sisters Winery at Matarazzo Farms. This winery offers plenty of choices, but one of my favorite local varietals is Beaver Creek Red. I like it because it’s made with love and skill from Concord grapes – semi-sweet, but not sugary. I came to appreciate the robust, full-bodied flavor that this type of grape produces when we lived for a time close to the wine country of New York’s Finger Lakes region, host to a wide variety of small wineries.

If anybody out there is in the market for changing careers and seeks to run a winery, Four Sisters is up for sale. We spotted an announcement to that fact as we checked out with three cherished bottles of Beaver Creek Red.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

In the movie classic, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” there is a moment when the terminally ill family patriarch, played by Burl Ives, unexpectedly walks into the drawing room of his southern mansion and finds his two grown children and their mates quarreling among themselves about how they will split things up upon his death.

There is a moment of hanging quiet as they realize that he has heard them talking about him. Not having picked up the entire conversation, but knowing that he is on the carpet, Ives, in his heavy authoritarian voice, declares, “I smell mendacity in this room.”

After listening for months on end to the race for the White House as it has narrowed down to the remaining candidates, Obama and McCain, I also declare that, “I smell mendacity in this room.” Although one might think that McCain and Obama are as far apart as their ages, there is, in one respect, not even spitting distance between the two.

They each have or have had on their teams, key advisors who played a direct role in the developing financial debacle. As to Obama, mortgage executive Franklin Delano Raines is said to have “taken calls from Barack Obama's presidential campaign seeking his advice on mortgage and housing matters," according to http://www.realclearpolitics.com/. Raines was chairman and CEO of Fannie Mae and walked off after earning $99 million in three years.

For McCain, it’s economic advisor Phil Gramm, the former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. He led the fight to successfully poison financial markets by dismantling laws which separated banking, insurance and brokerage activities. Gramm got his reward by subsequently landing a job as vice-chairman for Swiss-based UBS investment bank.

The choice of these men and others like them for campaign advice underscores that both McCain and Obama have put personal relationships ahead of good judgment. There is no evidence that it will be any different when one of them is in the White House.

Subaru Satisfaction

We have two old cars that are on the road a lot. Many of our driving is to points north or south to visit with our out-of-state children, their kids, families and friends. So it’s absolutely necessary to have those two vehicles ready to go at any time and in tip-top condition.

It’s a bonus to have competent, courteous service when we take one of those cars in for scheduled maintenance. One of them, the Subaru, always gets serviced at Flemington Subaru. That dealership, I’m guessing, is one of the smaller ones in the group. But the service is among the best and the attitudes which we run across at the service desk are always customer-oriented. There is no question in my mind about that.

Friday, we needed to take the Subaru in for an oil & filter change – just a routine trip, no other problems. Or, so I thought. As I pulled out of the driveway, I felt the gear shifter stiffening up. Oh! Oh! Didn’t notice that one before. Well, I thought, if it had to happen, then it might as well be on our way to a service appointment.

The team at Flemington Subaru maintains a welcoming, positive demeanor every time that Priscille and I drive there. The people at the front desk have always handled the pressure of that job professionally, while personally assuring us that whatever the problem is, it will be taken care of.

We drove out that afternoon with the car in good shape and even had a great time joking around in the waiting area with a woman from Jugtown Mountain who has a great sense of humor.

FHA Nixes Home Financing Program

The Washington Post recently featured the story of a lending abuse practice which the Federal Housing Administration shut down mere days before the current financial panic caused a freeze-up in credit markets.

This mortgage procedure was just one of many loan gimmicks which the housing industry, government, and banks cooked up to push out mortgages to people, most of whom didn’t have a prayer of honoring their obligations.

Here’s how it worked: Until October 1, when the FHA dismantled the program, home buyers could purchase FHA-insured homes by taking advantage of a chancy procedure known as a seller-funded down payment.

Writing for the Washington Post, Dina ElBoghdady describes it this way: “Under this arrangement, the FHA allowed charities to provide down-payment money to buyers. The sellers then reimbursed the charities and paid an administrative fee for the service.” The result was yet another class of brittle loans to otherwise unqualified buyers. These loans contributed to the current flood of “foreclosures that crippled the housing market and damaged the economy at large.”

According to ElBoghdady, the FHA sought to rid itself of the seller-funded down payment program because people who get such loans “go into foreclosure at nearly three times the rate of those who do not.”

This funding method was used by home builders and promoted by their mortgage representatives who pushed these predatory loans onto “first-time home buyers, minorities and single parents.”

Keep an eye out for the building industry and its lobbyists, as they could try to reinstate similar programs through modification of the recently enacted $700 billion Emergency Economic Stabilization Act.

A Committee of Vultures

The Washington, D.C. political vultures who have been circling the corpse of Lehman Brothers descended on it today and began picking at the remains. It happened in the Rayburn House Office Building this morning, when members of Henry Waxman’s (D-CA) Committee on Oversight and Government Reform grilled Richard Fuld. Fuld is the former Chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers, the now-defunct Wall Street investment firm.

The usage of the phrase ‘Oversight and Government Reform’ in the name of Waxman’s Committee is one of the best examples of the noun ‘oxymoron’ that I can think of. Waxman’s committee has enforced absolutely no effective oversight, nor has it proposed any significant reforms having to do with the economic meltdown and resulting panic gripping U.S. and international markets. Nada!

But these politicians need cover, and that means beating the bushes for fall guys. It’s easy to do these days. One of Waxman’s first targets today was Lehman’s Richard Fuld. I’m no fan of this man, because a unit of his firm was up to its eyeballs in risky financial derivatives – a primary cause of the fiscal crisis.

That was not the only cause. Another major factor was the failure of Congress to implement and to enforce reasonable regulations for mortgage guidelines designed to protect vulnerable borrowers. No one in Congress wants to hear this now, but the Legislative Branch in D.C. is one of the key irresponsible participants for having actively stimulated the writing of loans to people who had no decent chance of repaying them.


Fuld, in response to a question about how the fiscal fiasco occurred, had the guts to push back on Waxman’s committee and to say, “A goal of the government was to provide funding to people who could not or would not pay their mortgages.” That’s an incontrovertible fact.

Bridgewater Road Gets Fixed

There’s been so much bad news pouring into our Township via Washington, D.C. in the last thirty days, that it is a refreshing relief to see evidence of something being done right at the local level in Bridgewater.

Anyone who has used Hunter Road which runs in a north/south pattern across the Second Watchung Mountain ridge knows how badly deteriorated the road surface had become. Every time that I have used this shortcut which crosses over I-78, I’ve always found myself impossibly trying to dodge patched potholes over patched potholes which covered the width of this short Bridgewater stretch of narrow roadway, as it wound its way north into the next township.

At one point, I just gave up and slowly hugged the right side of this tightly serpentine country road, away from oncoming vehicles. At commuter time, it was a serious hazard.

Somebody done good, though! For several days recently, Hunter road was closed to traffic as road crews worked diligently to resurface the entire Bridgewater section. I was on it again the day after it was reopened to traffic. Beautiful! It’s now as smooth as a baby’s bum.

I’m not sure who did the work, but I think it’s the crews of Bridgewater’s Public Works Department, or of their hired contractor. Either way, thanks. It’s a not so small blessing to see money being put to work the right way.

Note: For an compelling description of the volcanic origin of the Watchung ridges, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchung_Mountains

Blame it on God, or the Republicans

Monday, as my wife and I were driving north from Potomac, MD, about 15 miles from the center of the Capitol Building in D.C., I tuned in C-Span radio to get a live feed of the debate taking place in the House of Representatives. The lower house was debating the famed “bailout bill” which was defeated later that afternoon.

Radio, when used in this manner, presents events with surprising clarity. There are no Wolf Blitzers to paraphrase what happened and to tell you what you should think about it. Most TV talking heads like to spoon feed us with selected video clips tailored to their own views. Listening to an event in real time radio, uninterrupted and unvarnished, gives the listener a wholly different look: it’s called reality.

At one point in the deliberations last Monday, a congressman who arose to speak out against the proposal concluded his comments with this ending, “Duty is ours. Outcomes belong to God.” I could think about that for weeks before I could even begin to decipher what in blazes he was talking about. Could it have been something like this: “Well, I’m going to vote ‘no’ on this bill, and God can figure out what to do next.” It’s a pretty sick dude who would put the consequences for the sub-prime mess squarely in God’s lap.

Especially since the record shows that Congress, through its willful inaction, is largely responsible for ignoring oversight of the financial markets and, in particular, for not reining in the run-away lending habits of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

Furthermore, Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker, didn’t do herself or the process any good when, before Monday’s debate, she stood in front of reporters and pronounced in accusatory tones that Republicans who didn’t attend a previous bipartisan caucus were “unpatriotic” for not having been present.

If Republicans had attended that meeting, it would have been a slick trick, since Democrat Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, later confirmed that he had been so busy that he simply forgot to invite members of the opposing party.

Pelosi got a free pass from the media for that insult, because the brief news conference in which she fired the “unpatriotic” label against her opponents received scant, if any, TV coverage.

If you like, you can view Pelosi’s brief comments at, http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/pelosi_calls_republicans_unpatriotic/

As I wrote before, we all deserve much better than this from our representatives on “both sides of the aisle,” as they like to intone on Capitol Hill where, sometimes, I think the inmates run the asylum.