Obamunism! Foreclosures Rise in 75% of Top Urban Areas

From Reuters:

Foreclosures rose in three of every four large U.S. metro areas in this year’s first half, likely ruling out sustained home price gains until 2013, real estate data company RealtyTrac said on Thursday.

Unemployment was the main culprit driving foreclosure actions on more than 1.6 million properties, the company said…

It is a strange thing – I know people who have essentially not done anything (no payments, no discussions with lender, etc) for nearly two years, and no action has been taken against them. I also know people who got foreclosed on very fast. The thing I see in the home lending business, from my point of view, is a complete lack of understanding coupled with rank incompetence – at the banks, it does appear that the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing.

Be that as it may, the problem is so large that even with banks using “extend and pretend” as much as possible with home loans, the number of foreclosures continues to sky rocket. I bet that if everyone who was 90 days or more late got a foreclosure notice, it would amount to millions of people.

There is no cure for this in the sense of any expectation of swiftly stabilizing prices, followed by a steady increase. Until we really allow things to fall flat – or work out alternative methods of essentially sending our housing market through bankruptcy reorganization (“cram down” or my more recent idea of working out a leasing program for foreclosed homes) – we won’t reach the bottom on housing prices. But here’s the really bad news: once we reach bottom, we won’t climb out any time soon – perhaps not for a decade or more.

The reason for that is pure demographics – even if the economy improves, it’ll be several years before wealth and credit are rebuilt to the point where the pool of eligible buyers is sufficient to clear out existing inventory. And even at that point, there will still be a negative drag on home price increases as the Boomers retire and start to die off. Such people will not be looking for big, new homes – if anything, they’ll be looking to downsize…and as they die of old age, the upcoming generation will prove too small to make up the difference in demand.

All is not gloom and doom – this situation will keep homes cheap for people just starting out in life, provided they can get jobs – but it is a harsh situation and we should meet it squarely. No more illusions about a rapid recovery; no more idiot theories that home prices will rebound towards 2006 levels; no more price supports for a dead housing market.

Hey, This Obama Guy Might Force a Second American Revolution

Someone else picks up on it – only a short 16 months after I first noted this:

The Internet is a large-scale version of the “Committees of Correspondence” that led to the first American Revolution — and with Washington’s failings now so obvious and awful, it may lead to another.

People are asking, “Is the government doing us more harm than good? Should we change what it does and the way it does it?”…

Or, as I put it:

… We don’t want our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor destroyed to placate the false gods of group-think, environmentalism and grievance-mongering.

Liberalism won the 2008 election, but it did not win the right to dictate to the whole nation how it shall live…we didn’t vote once and for all for Obama’s vision of America…

The fundamental flaw in the Obama Administration – and liberalism as a whole – was the presumption that the 2008 result was definitive. They really thought that the majority had voted for liberalism. The fact of the matter is that the people who gave Obama his victory voted not for liberalism, but against a worn-out GOP and in favor of fundamental change in the way government does business.

“Change” didn’t mean “spend even more money on a failed governing theory”. It also didn’t mean “in the first non-white Administration, harp endlessly upon racism”. It further didn’t mean “hey, now we can be even more corrupt than before!”. Most importantly, it did not mean “the people a ticked off about Bush’s TARP, so lets do even more of it!”.

It is our good fortune – such good fortune as can easily be classed as God’s grace – that our Founders set up a system where by even in our current condition, we can have a revolution at the ballot box. And we will have one – its starts this November, and it will go on for a generation. We will restore America – we will be free, now and forever.

I Had a Root Canal Yesterday Open Thread

So, what does having a root canal have to do with either the price of tea in China or whether or not you get a good blog entry for the AM? Nothing with the former; for the latter, it just means my jaw hurts and I’m tired – so no good entry.

On the other hand, there were a lot of great subjects to cover:

FDIC Friday – bank failures hit 106 for 2010.

Democrats are raking in lobbyist cash.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) joins Rangel in ethics hot water.

59% still back the Arizona immigration law.

And Iowahawk takes on that creepy birthday card for the President thing.

BP to Take $10 Billion Tax Credit

From CBS:

While BP took a $17 billion loss in the second quarter, the financial news isn’t all bad for the beleaguered oil giant.

That’s because the amount the oil company set aside to cover the costs of the oil spill will end up saving the oil giant $10 billion in U.S taxes, according to an msnbc.com report…

This just goes to my point about corporate taxes – they are utterly pointless. Corporations don’t pay them – even if you manage to get a dollar from a corporate bank account in to the Treasury, it is just going to be taken out of the pockets of consumers or employees, or both. Better to just give it up and seek revenues elsewhere.

Tough Fighting in Afghanistan

The troops are in the thick of it:

In a summer of suffering, America’s military death toll in Afghanistan is rising, with back-to-back record months for U.S. losses in the grinding conflict. All signs point to more bloodshed in the months ahead, straining the already shaky international support for the war.

Six more Americans were reported killed in fighting in the south — three Thursday and three Friday — pushing the U.S. death toll for July to a record 66 and surpassing June as the deadliest month for U.S. forces in the nearly nine-year war…

Keep them in your prayers – always remember that while we are safe here at home, the best of America is overseas, fighting for us.

Sen. Leahy (D-VT) Refuses to Investigate Panther Case

Pajamas Media has the run-down on the absurd reasoning from Senator Leahy.

What is happening here is a desperate attempt by Democrats to make this go away – everything is falling apart for them and they don’t want to have a case which promises to upset their own side if pursued – they need donation and as much enthusiasm as they can get from their base. This would be eroded greatly if they went after the truth about the NBPP.

And so, law and justice will be set aside – Democrats have more important hings on their mind…such as their own power and wealth.

This is Obama’s America. How do you like it?

Country Class vs Ruling Class: Border Security Edition

From Rasmussen:

…A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 68% of U.S. voters now believe the United States should continue to build a fence on the Mexican border. That’s up nine points from March when the Obama administration halted funding for the fence and the highest level of support ever.

Just 21% oppose the continued building of the border fence.

Support for the fence is strong across all demographic groups. But while 76% of Mainstream voters think the United States should continue to build the fence, 67% of the Political Class are opposed to it…

Not much more be said than that – the people who presume to rule in our name are, once again, completely off the ranch. Remember, even people like me who do favor a path to citizenship for illegals and a guest worker program are in favor of strict border security. It takes a complete out-to-lunch elitist to be opposed to border security.

And thus the real battle of 2010 – not so much Republican vs Democrat, but People vs Powerful. In this year, the GOP is just the convenient vehicle of popular discontent. And if the GOP doesn’t understand that they are being sent do DC to do the people’s will, then they will be in their turn tossed out.

It is time for we, the people to completely reclaim our government – to make it our servant, not our master.

UPDATE: Amnesty without a vote?

The Culture of Death Tries to Save Barbara Boxer

Because they just can’t stand the thought of having one less pro-abortion vote in the Senate:

…pro-life views run counter to the way in which Boxer has defended everything from taxpayer funding of abortions to partial-birth abortions in the Senate, refusing to vote for or allow even the most modest abortion limits most Americans support.

Kathy Kneer, president of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, told the Associated Press today that her group believes Boxer will come out on top in November because polls show a majority of California residents back legalized abortions.

But the victory she assuredly believes Boxer will win won’t come without a hefty pricetag: one million dollars…

Boxer’s opponent points out that her mother in law was advised to obtain an abortion – which would have meant no husband for Carly Fiorina. That is an important point to make – behind each “choice” is a dead human being, a life cut short – love and devotion for others removed from the world. Abortion is an act of despair which lasts as long as this world will last – we can never repair the mutilation of our society represented by the tens of millions of abortions. Love was given to the world, and it was taken away – and it cannot be made good, ever.

Abortion is also an act of enslavement for women, in to the bargain. A woman who chooses abortion has not made a stand for independence but has instead turned her body in to the merest implement for the pleasure of the most unworthy of men – those men who would see their own child aborted rather than exerting themselves to care for both mother and child.

There is no good in abortion – it is a wicked, inhuman practice. But it does have its defenders, such as Barbara Boxer. And the people and groups who rake it in off despair and death – such as Planned Parenthood – don’t want their gravy train interfered with. And so, they’ll spend bags of money backing their kept Senators – and, dear Americans, it is really your tax dollars at work here. Planned Parenthood is subsidized in part by taxpayers – and that frees up funds for PP to use in politics. Keep that in mind as this election season goes on – any such PP action in politics is your hard earned money.

It won’t work – the Culture of Death is on its last legs. Barbara Boxer is doomed. She is doomed by the utter failure of liberalism in California. Doomed by the rank corruption of the Democrat Party. Doomed by the worthlessness of the Culture of Death.