North Carolina Governor Bev Purdue recently Tweeted on a blog entry regarding North Carolina High Speed rail:
Today, NCDOT’s Rail Division officially received the first $20.3 million of the $545 million allocated to our state for high-speed rail improvements under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. North Carolina was granted the sixth highest award to any state as part of President Obama’s high-speed rail plan, demonstrating the growing strength of our rail program.
Jeez. Here we go…
Posted in Politics: North Carolina, Transportation
Tagged High Speed Rail, Leftist, North Carolina, North Carolina Politics, Politics, Stimulus
There is an old story about Milton Friedman.
It goes roughly like this:
Milton Friedman was being escorted past a large construction project by a government finance minister. Friedman observed that all the workers were using shovels and he asked the finance minister why there were no bulldozers or excavators. The minister said “Because, Mr. Friedman, our goal is JOBS.” to which Friedman responded, “If your goal is jobs, give them spoons.”
Posted in Economics, Economy, Politics: National
Tagged Leftist, Milton Friedman, Stimulus, Unemployment
It continues to continue.
Each and every day we hear from Washing that we hate banks and business. And look, there’s a lot to hate. When it comes to shady deals and crooked crooks, banks and Wall Street are full of ’em. We all want ’em gone.
But serious. If you’re gonna call out greedy crooks, you should make sure you call out ALL greedy crooks.
Posted in Politics: National, States Behaving Badly
Tagged Abuse of Power, Fannie Mae, Leftist, Stimulus
This morning I was driving to work and had the radio tuned to WZTK. Brad and Britt are the morning talent. The discussion during the segment I caught was “Cash for Appliance Clunkers”. Apparently I missed the lead up ’cause Brad was all worked up over the fact that folks were callin’ him out for taking advantage of the program. I kinda resonate with that fact, I mean serious, if you have a 20-year-old freezer and you claim to be concerned about the environment, why is it you will only replace your nasty old hardware when I pay for it?
Anyway, the conversation turned to the other “Cash for…” program, the infamous “Cash for Clunkers”.
Posted in Economics, Energy, Global Warming, Transportation
Tagged Brad and Britt, Cash for Clunkers, Environment, Leftist, North Carolina Politics, Politics, Stimulus, Taxes
We have needed a new washing machine for about 8 months now. It’s old, grumpy and just doesn’t do the job I want it to do. Normally, I would have bought one about 6 months ago. But when there is “Obama money” to be had, I’ll wait the extra 6 months.
I am convinced that Fannie and Freddie were the causes that led to the current recession. I am sure that when incentives were created to give people money who had no or little ability to pay that money back, bad bad things were going to happen.
But somehow all of that got lost in all of the fall out. What we heard was how evil those greedy corporations are. What we heard was how Wall Street doesn’t look after Main Street. What we heard was that it was Big Corporations that are somehow “Too Big To Fail” that brought this country to its knees.
What we didn’t hear was the story behind Fannie and Freddie:
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Freddie Mac, the second largest provider of U.S. residential mortgage funding, on Friday posted a loss of $5 billion in the third quarter and predicted it would need more government support amid a “prolonged deterioration” in housing.
And why is the company losing so much money?
delinquencies worsened on loans it guarantees.
Well, heck, what can ya expect? The little brother of Fannie Mae is surly the runt of the litter and can only look on as big sister excels, right? Right?
Its larger rival Fannie Mae on Thursday said it would need $15 billion from the U.S. Treasury after a whopping $18.9 billion third-quarter loss.
Whoops! Didn’t see THAT one coming.
But hey, Fannie and Freddie–ya know, they are players but really, they aren’t THAT big; are they? Or are they?
Results at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are widely watched as a barometer of the U.S. housing market since they own or back nearly half of outstanding mortgages.
Jeepers. By golly, they ARE that of a player in the market! And maybe, just maybe, when those two players begin to change the way in which they do business, the rest of the market attempts to adapt?
In other words, I guess what I’m saying is that when Fannie and Freddie, backed by good Ol’ Unc [that’s the USofA to you and me], begin too incent market forces to provide mortgages to people who can’t afford mortgages, you end up with a bunch of:
But hey, what’s $51.7 billion between friends? Or even $60.9 billion? At least your good for it, right?
Starting in 2010, the company will begin accounting for $1.8 trillion in mortgage-backed securities it guarantees on its balance sheet to meet new guidelines. This will increase interest income and interest expenses, and could have a significant negative impact on net worth, it said.
Hmm, something smells in the State of Denmark.
Shares of Freddie Mac were flat at $1.23 in light after-hours trading following the results.
And if you’ll buy shares at a buck 23, I have some fertilizer for your garden…
Posted in Economics, Economy, Politics: National
Tagged Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, North Carolina Politics, Politics, Recession, Recovery Plan, Stimulus, TARP