BendBubble2: Goodbye Bend Aeronautical Dreams

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Goodbye Bend Aeronautical Dreams

A short one today, I promise hbm.

Well, we basically are watching the demise of one of the biggest attempted grifts in Bend history, and that is saying something.

Epic Air finally folded. You may be able to detect my incredulity about this little wingding in my Oct 1, 2007 post:

How To Make $100 Million A Year In Bend, Oregon

Which one of these guys apparently invested $200,000,000 in a Bend aircraft maker this week?

1) Peter Tork of "The Monkees"
2) Rip Taylor
3) Liberace
4) Indian Billionaire, Vijay "Jazzy Jeff And The Fresh Prince" Mallya

I know, it's hard to figure cuz each has One Sweet Ass Fuckin' Hair Doo! I mean, WTF? Did anyone else see that pic in The Bulletin, and wonder what the hell is up with that dudes hair? I mean, DAMN.

ATTENTION INDIAN DUDE: That sweet-ass tight fro may have landed the ladies in 1973, but that thing is just weird!

Anyway, this is YET ANOTHER STORY THAT DOESN'T PASS THE SMELL TEST.

I wrote in the comments: This whole thing SMELLS BAD.

$200MM (if true), values Epic at $400MM. WHAT! No way. With 140 employees, that is almost $2.9MM/employee.

No freakin' way is that real.

Boeing market cap is $82.52BB
Employees: 153,000
Value/Employee: $540,000

Is this Indian Dude INSANE? He's valuing a po-dunk little maker of kit planes out in the desert at more than 5X the per employee value of BOEING?

Man, if this Rick Schrameck guy actually convinced this nut to pay $200MM for 50%, he is One Hell Of A Shyster. Valuing Epic at well over 5X the relative value of Boeing on an employee basis is straight up INSANE.

That Rick Schrameck dude has pulled off the Bend Enterprise Investment Marketing Boondoggle Of A Lifetime. He got rocks.

Bangin' a friend of his for $200MM, for only HALF of Epic, a podunk nut'n out in the desert. That's one thing. But he did it while RIGHT NEXT DOOR, there is a much larger competitor GOING BANKRUPT! Holy Shit! That is just brutal!

Seriously, it is stuff like this that reaffirms my faith in The Impossible.

If this is true, which I seriously doubt, this guy has pulled off a dot-com era boondoggle the likes of which this town will never see again. Good job Rick!

See, this was never possible. This Epic thing was EPIC: Epic-ly Impossible.

Now you might think, "What the fuck happened to the money?". Well, my dear friend, there NEVER WAS ANY MONEY. NEVER.

See if you can detect the misdirection by Costa:

‘A big shot in the arm for the Bend economy’
By Anna Sowa / The Bulletin The Bulletin

The $200 million investment by an India-based airline mogul in Bend’s Epic Aircraft could help the local airplane maker break into the commercial jet market by producing larger planes for larger companies, an Epic spokesman said Thursday.

“It’s extremely likely that the Bend facility will grow substantially and contribute more to the job market in Bend,” said Lyn Freeman, the Epic spokesman who revealed how much Vijay Mallya is investing in Epic.

“It will be a big shot in the arm for the Bend economy, but how big a shot it turns out to be ... I don’t know.”

Epic employs 140 people in Bend. Epic President and CEO Rick Schrameck announced Wednesday that Mallya, his friend and fellow aviation buff, was investing in the company, but Schrameck did not disclose the investment’s size.

Mallya representatives could not be reached for comment the past two days, but Freeman said Mallya’s office has confirmed the $200 million investment.

Mallya now owns 50 percent of Epic, Freeman said, adding that Mallya “has insisted” that Schrameck remain as company chief.

You see? There are about 46X where Costa intimates that the investment HAS ALREADY BEEN MADE. Or that it is already in check form, merely being flown to CACB at warp speed. Or that it is ABOUT TO BE MADE. Or that it is pretty much a foregone conclusion. Or that it will probably be made. And about 400 other states of progress on getting the money.

Seriously. This is our local paper's idea of "news".

What really happened here is our local guy got RICK Schmareck ROLL'D by a true global super grifter.

Vijay Mallya singing his one hit wonder to Rick Schrameck.

What's funny about this is that Costa bought into his own munificience, and thought one of his hillbilly stupid motherfucking drinking buddies could actually roll with the big dogs. Jeebus H Christmas, what a dumbfuck.

This is Bend, COSTA. NOBODY of any substance does ANYTHING in Bend. Small fish, small pond.

That 3 year bubble was a fluke, it wasn't you, or me, or anyone sort of "exceptionalism".

As we are all starting to see, Bend is Mortal. And we have built an enormous false prosperity based on an incredible set of lies: Summit 1031, Tammy Sawyer, Jay Audia, Juniper Ridge, Cessna, Epic.... and on and on.

This whole area is built on the idea that you can start something without any real substance, I don't know... such as... a wheel you drag behind your car that somehow powers the car... or a black box where you burn shit, and the ashes somehow turn to gold.

The Last Thing You Do In Bend is WORK. Start a business based on some definable need.

No you Do What You Love And The Money Will Follow, and things like that.

Bend is built on dreams, dreams that are bought and sold, despite having no real definable business objective or need, and certainly no revenue stream. We're in a state of suspended animation, always selling our speculative dream to yet a bigger sucker.

And here is where it ended. Epic really was going for the EPIC GRIFT. And you can FEEL THE DESPERATION of just how bad Costa wanted us to reel in and boat that Mallya Bass. He basically said we had already boated that bass, when in reality Mallya hadn't even bit.

And so with the collapse of Epic, and Cessna as well letting go the last of it's zombies, we see the end of the Bend Aeronautical Dream. And you certainly won't be reminded, but this Dream was our Big One. It was going to power Bend's economy for the next 1,000 years.

Epic was going to have 4,000 employees. But that was a piker, as Cessna was going to have tens of thousands. Not to mention the tens of thousands of "support" companies that would crop up by the hundreds at the Bend International Air Complex.

All gone.

No, now the Bend Municipal Airport will go down. It may well go broke. The virtuous circle will Yet Again, become a vicious cycle, as a vortex of death just drags down everything caught in it's rip current.

And history will RHYME yet again in the future.

Communal Frisk Bank (aka Priney Bank) was closed Friday. Eff-Dick swooped in and closed this little bank that could... not.

What should you look for now? Well my thick headed confidante, if you don't know the answer to that, you are well and truly a motherfucking retard.

The answer is that CACB is The Next To Fall. PERIOD.

In a pathetic Beg For Cash piece in the Bully (Cascade Bancorp: Where does it stand?), Patty "Horse Face" Moss answers the question:

CACB Stands In A Shitpile Of It's Own Making.

CACB cannot get money from ANY SOURCE. Not the government, not it's biggest owner, not the mafia, NO ONE.

And the piece is a non-stop BEG-O-THON for someone, ANYONE, to give Moss cash munee. It is quite clear that ALL SOURCES HAVE BEEN EXHAUSTED, and she resorted to a public PLEADING FOR MONEY. ANYONE. PLEEZE GIMME MUNEE!

You should know that most institutions don't even deign this sort of activity as acceptable, and they would rather SHUT THEIR FUCKING DOORS than publicly beg for munee.

Not Moss. Because she knows fully well that Eff-Dick is going to pay her a visit VERY SOON. She needs millions or CACB's charter WILL BE PULLED.

Prediction: IT, OF COURSE, WILL BE PULLED. The money is gone.

You see folks, the Grift Always Fails In The End. The Moving Around Of Money is just that. It doesn't DO anything. It doesn't MAKE anything. Lots of sound and fury signifying NOTHING.

But COSTA wanted us all to believe that it signified EVERYTHING.

That Mallya actually WAS Schrameck's FRIEND. No. They were NEVER FRIENDS.

That InEn Tec's Garbage To Gold Black Box was actually a Real Life Rumplestiltskin-esque spinning wheel that would turn shit into Gold.

That Cessna would plop down in the middle of ASS NOWHERE and start building planes.

That Patty Moss was actually some sort of financial genius, when she is really a horse-faced dumbass who drank her own Kool-Aid.

You have heard, and will no doubt continue to hear that Bend is Xanadu, a mythical place where all your dreams and flights of fancy will come true.

And everyone hears what they want to hear in that situation. You? You want to start a cooking supplies store? No problem, your wish is granted!

How about a furniture store or an art gallery? You can't fail!

Car dealership? A swipe of the magic wand guarantees success.

You see, in Bend, our Game Is The Grift. Has been for decades.

And by a miracle of happenstance, we were in the right country, the right era, and the right instant in time, and it actually seemed like all our dreams and flights of fancy could actually come true.

But of course, that's not true, and was the reason for starting this poor little despised blog. A little Wake Up Call to tell people that you can't Get Something For Nothing Forever. Much to hateful chagrin of those who hoped differently, we are starting to see the unraveling of the Bend Web Of Lies.

Epic Air, Cessna, the thousands of foreclosures, the tumbleweed ridden and abandoned developments, the mass of business closings, the incredible unemployment, the ridiculous movie-themed housing developments/amusement parks, the imploding prices...

All the lies that we've been sold are finally being exposed for what they are. And you need to realize that the Guilty Parties are:

JOHN COSTA & BEND MEDIA
BEND CITY COUNCIL
PATTY MOSS & CACB
EDCO & OTHER TAXPAYER FUNDED BOONDOGGLES
CROOKED DEVELOPERS & LENDERS (SUMMIT 1031 & RENAISSANCE, et al)

These people will leave this town completely broken and 100% busted. Get your fucking torches & pitchforks and run these motherfuckers out on a rail.

Costa, my nippies get hard when you get Rick Roll'd!

I got Epic Juggs!

In short hbm, I think you're all wet!

325 comments:

«Oldest ‹Older 1 – 200 of 325 Newer› Newest»

hbm said...: "A big shot in the arm for the Bend economy"

Like the one they gave Michael Jackson?

Thanks for the (relatively) short post, but the titty pics leave a little to be desired. Not your finest effort, sir, I'm sorry to say.; August 9, 2009 at 9:08 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: Why Home Prices Will Continue To Fall

In the last week, a slew of economic reports and news articles have suggested that the U.S. housing market has bottomed out.

Don't believe it. More pricey areas, often in large metro areas, still have plenty of room to fall.

You wouldn't know it from Tuesday's release of the National Association of Realtors' index, which showed that nationally pending home sales had increased from the levels of one month ago.

Also on Tuesday, homebuilder D.R. Horton reported smaller losses, a day after Pulte Homes Inc. and Centex Corp. said that orders for new homes had been increasing.

And there was plenty of excitement last week after the S&P Case Shiller index seemed to show a mild rise in month-over-month prices for existing single family homes.

Well, not so fast. In reality, the seasonally-adjusted version of the Case Shiller index – which came out later in the day, after the initial headlines had been written -- reveals a continued month-to-month decline from April to May. And the year-over-year decline remains around 17 percent.

The reason to expect further declines in some areas is that the U.S. housing market has now bifurcated. It's true that some areas with lofty rises (and subsequent severe falls) may have stabilized.

Not so some of the more expensive areas, especially those in metro areas with houses that are over $750,000, which also experienced skyrocketing prices (a two- or three-fold increase since 2000 wasn't unusual) but are taking much longer to revert to normal.

Put another way, the U.S. housing collapse is affecting different markets differently. The yet-to-fall areas represent a small stock of the overall housing market, under 5 percent of the total, but a much greater share by total price.; August 9, 2009 at 9:13 AM
hbm said...: Front-page story in The Bull today about what a great buyers' market this is, featuring a young couple who have just become my neighbors (sort of) by buying a home in Pahlisch's Sun Meadow crapshack development on southeast Bend (3,500 sq ft houses on 3,510 sq ft lots). The crapshack originally sold for $355,900, was appraised at $190,000, they picked it up for $183,000.; August 9, 2009 at 9:14 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: CONT:

This is the conclusion the Wall Street Journal also reached in an article on Monday. It looked at the differences between the less- and more-affluent suburbs of Chicago:

Inventory of expensive homes is rising. Overall, the inventory of unsold homes in June was enough to last 9.4 months at the current selling pace, down from 11 months a year ago, according to the NAR. But the supply of unsold homes priced above $750,000 swelled to around 17 months in June, up from a 14.5-month backlog one year ago. A recent forecast by analysts at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. said it would take until at least 2012 for the expensive-home market to recover and that peak-to-trough declines could surpass 60 percent, compared to 40 percent for the rest of the market.

Defaults are rising, too. Among prime mortgages, jumbo mortgages are now leading delinquencies and defaults and are the fastest-rising category for defaults of all types of mortgages. The rate of 60-day delinquencies on prime-jumbo mortgages jumped to 7.4 percent in May, from 4.5 percent in November, according to First American CoreLogic. By comparison, 60-day delinquencies on prime-conforming loans reached 4.9 percent in May, from 3.6 percent in November.

A recent survey by the NAR found nearly three-quarters of real-estate agents said buyers were purchasing smaller houses due to tighter credit requirements. "We're in a 'trade-down' environment for the first time since the 1930s," says Kenneth Rosen, chairman of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at the University of California, Berkeley.

High-end homes are also being hurt by changing perceptions about how much home one should own. For years, people were encouraged to buy the most expensive home they could afford because there would be a payoff when it was time to sell. But buyers can't count on that any longer.

The San Francisco Bay area is another example. Residential real estate throughout the metro area zoomed upward throughout the bubble, and has fallen dramatically in areas like Antioch, where prices per square foot have dropped from $240 in late 2007 to around $100 today. The ratios are similar for Vallejo and Richmond.

More expensive cities on the west side of the bay like San Francisco, Palo Alto, and Burlingame also experienced a doubling or tripling of home prices this decade -- even though their residents' salaries have not followed suit. Nor have residential rents. That's a signal that those localized housing bubbles have yet to deflate.

As I wrote in a column in February that ran the numbers for some buy-vs.-rent comparisons, the same phenomenon is true in New York City and Washington, D.C. too.; August 9, 2009 at 9:14 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: One explanation for this is that real estate is not as liquid as stocks or bonds. Psychology plays a larger role, and without foreclosures to establish market prices rapidly, denial can be a powerful force. Homeowners will invent reasons to differentiate their property from their neighbor's – even if the square footage, age, and lot sizes are identical – to avoid admitting that 2006's bubble price is now a memory.

(This is one reason why stock market crashes can happen in a period of months, but real estate crashes tend to take years. During a more modest bubble, Los Angeles home prices peaked in 1990 and didn't bottom out until 1996 or 1997.)

So what happens next? That depends on monetary policy, inflation expectations, interest rates, unemployment, consumer confidence, and the overall state of the economy. In some markets, whether the temporary Fannie Mae loan limit of $729,750 (up from $625,500) is extended past December 31, 2009 will make a difference. So will the expiry, or extension, of the $8,000 tax credit for some home buyers, currently scheduled to end on December 1, 2009.

Jed Smith, an economist in the National Association of Realtors' research department, also thinks the market is bifurcated. "Most of the market action is in the lower end of the market," he told me in an CBSNews.com interview earlier this summer. Above $500,000 or so, "the market is substantially slower," he said. "For the jumbo end of the market, it's very much slower." (Jumbo loans exceed Fannie's limit of $729,750 and tend to be a few percentage points more expensive.)

"The outlook is probably for very modest price increases next year and market stabilization this year," Smith said. "I would guess that somewhere around the 4th quarter of this year we'll have agreement among most people that prices have stabilized."

Then again, asking a Realtor whether it's a good time to buy a house is a little like asking a used car salesman whether it's a good time to buy an automobile. Let's not forget that another economist for the National Association of Realtors, David Lereah, was the soothsayer who published a book titled "Why the Real Estate Boom Will Not Bust - And How You Can Profit from It" a few months before the housing bubble started to burst. He is, to put it delicately, no longer employed by the association.

A better way to come up with a prognosis might be to invoke another real estate agent maxim: location, location, location. Assuming the economy doesn't decay further, some areas may be stabilizing. But in many others, a historic boom means the historic bust is still to come.; August 9, 2009 at 9:14 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: a young couple who have just become my neighbors...

Did you note their terrible, terrible GUILT?

The horrors of capitalizing on someone else's loss.

Mercifully, it didn't stop them.; August 9, 2009 at 9:16 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: But the supply of unsold homes priced above $750,000 swelled to around 17 months in June, up from a 14.5-month backlog one year ago. A recent forecast by analysts at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. said it would take until at least 2012 for the expensive-home market to recover and that peak-to-trough declines could surpass 60 percent, compared to 40 percent for the rest of the market.

This is what's so great about the mass of shadow inventory in Bend: It's a HUGE AMOUNT of these sorts of high-end homes.

If it were a mere 17 months worth, we'd be in great shape. But it's more like 60-72 months. If that.

This ramshackle town will be flooded with near million-dollar inventory for at least a decade before normalizing... even remotely.; August 9, 2009 at 9:19 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: READ:

(This is one reason why stock market crashes can happen in a period of months, but real estate crashes tend to take years. During a more modest bubble, Los Angeles home prices peaked in 1990 and didn't bottom out until 1996 or 1997.); August 9, 2009 at 9:19 AM
hbm said...: I don't feel much sympathy myself for the assholes who paid $355,900 for that POS in Bend, Ory-gun. And not even in one of the "fashionable" areas of Bend, Ory-gun.

I know of one guy who bought, like, five or six houses over there. Wonder where he is today. Sleeping in a cardboard box, probably.; August 9, 2009 at 9:20 AM
Anonymous said...: Butter, you have been right since you started this blog and we are seeing your, an others, predictions come to fruition.
The GREAT unwinding is fully under way. The tens of thousands of sq ft of unused CRE will bust Bend more than the foreclosed homes. The uncollected taxes on these will Bust the Smart Ass City of Bend. They, like Obama, will triple taxes on the residents and then, and only then, will we see the mass exodus from Bend. Bend will be back to 30k people with abandoned homes and empty CRE. The homeless will move off China Hat into spacious buidings that no one cares about.
Mexico is starting to look better all the time.; August 9, 2009 at 9:22 AM
hbn said...: "This whole area is built on the idea that you can start something without any real substance"

Yep, it's all blue sky and bullshit. 375 days of sunshine a year and a "unique outdoor lifestyle." You just gotta BELIEVE and it will happen!

Speaking of which, has anybody else noticed the historical pattern of economic calamity being preceded by the ascendancy of "positive thinking" in the popular culture? In the '20s there was Norman Vincent Peale and Coueism, which taught that you could make your life wonderful by standing in front of a mirror every morning and saying, "Every day in every way I am getting better and better." And "The Secret" (which preached that all you had to do to make something wonderful happen was to BELIEVE it would happen) became a huge craze just before the latest bubble popped.

Could be I'm on to something: When books like "The Secret" start topping the best-seller lists, it's time to bail. They're a sign that people have totally lost touch with reality.; August 9, 2009 at 9:29 AM
Anonymous said...: Not including any shadow inventory, Bend has over 30 months of $750 and up homes on the market right now. 39 sold in the past year with 147 for sale..5 sold in the past 30 days. The real selling season for Bend is all but over..now we head to the bottom of the market again. It's that pesky seasonal thing.; August 9, 2009 at 9:32 AM
hbm said...: "But the supply of unsold homes priced above $750,000 swelled to around 17 months in June, up from a 14.5-month backlog one year ago."

Dirty little secret: There NEVER WAS a real market for $750,00-plus homes in Bend, Ory-gun. There was a bubble market driven by speculation, but not a market driven by actual consumer demand -- or at least not one-tenth as big as it appeared to be. As I've said before, somebody who can afford a million-dollar house can afford to live almost anywhere. So why the hell would he buy a million-dollar house in Bend, Ory-gun? Answer: As an investment (flipper).; August 9, 2009 at 9:35 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: Young Margie! So nice to have you :-)

When I search centraloregonrealtors.com for $750K+ crapshacks in Bend, I see 280 for sale.

Maybe you are looking at additional filters on the data?; August 9, 2009 at 9:41 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: In "All Areas" I see 591 residences over $750K for sale.... Yikes.; August 9, 2009 at 9:42 AM
Anonymous said...: hbm,

I like your idea, but the reality is that delusional ideas and books always attract attention, and are perennial favorites, maybe even more so during bad times. The depth of the Depression had tons of them, and all kinds of craziness was popular during the inflation-racked late 70s.

The difference is that people can actually afford the books during the bubbles.; August 9, 2009 at 10:00 AM
Anonymous said...: The filter may be that the contingent(short sales) in MLS are not included in active. There are 200 contingent and some pendings also.; August 9, 2009 at 10:18 AM
Anonymous said...: What I see in Deschutes and Crook is 550 active over $750k, 8 sold in past 30 days and 25 contingent or pending. Pretty dim picture for those flippers.; August 9, 2009 at 10:26 AM
Duncan McGeary said...: The whole idea that rich people were moving to Bend -- I finally decided it was true, based on what my customers tell me. But they are building their OWN custom houses. They aren't buying off the shelf.; August 9, 2009 at 10:27 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: What I see in Deschutes and Crook is 550 active over $750k, 8 sold in past 30 days...

That sounds about right. 69 months, give or take.; August 9, 2009 at 10:32 AM
Anonymous said...: As the number of below-$500k houses have grown, the number of above-$500k houses has shrunk.

Obviously, some expensive houses have become cheaper. But I can't help but think we have loads of high-end shadow inventory that's off the market while the owners (be they investors or banks) wait out the days of great misery.

It's just hopeless to try to sell the high-end stuff. we're seeing that across the country as mansions go into foreclosure.

On the other hand, the cheap stuff is moving.

http://bendhousingdata.com/; August 9, 2009 at 10:39 AM
Anonymous said...: I think a lot of the "cheap stuff" is being bought by investors to flip. Be prepared for them to puke it up as they realize prices are still going down. They'll want stocks and commodities when inflation takes hold, just to stay even.; August 9, 2009 at 10:51 AM
hbm said...: "the reality is that delusional ideas and books always attract attention, and are perennial favorites"

True; it's in the American gene pool. But their popularity waxes and wanes. Hypothesis: Delusional "positive" thinking feeds things like real estate and stock market bubbles as well as sales of books like "The Secret." If this hypothesis is right we should see a correlation in the historical data -- sales of the books would peak at or close to the peak of the bubbles and then subside when the bubbles pop. There's a Ph.D. thesis here for somebody.

I have no data, but it seems the "positive thinking" books aren't flying off the shelves like they used to be. The popular titles today tend to be ones like "How to Survive Armageddon by Raising Rabbits and Chickens in Your Back Yard."; August 9, 2009 at 12:08 PM
hbm said...: "The whole idea that rich people were moving to Bend -- I finally decided it was true, based on what my customers tell me. But they are building their OWN custom houses."

Of course, that's what REALLY rich people do. And there are not that many of them. There are indeed some rich people in Bend -- always have been -- but the claim that this town is "affluent" is just more PR puffery. The statistics just don't bear it out.; August 9, 2009 at 12:11 PM
Bewert said...: BTW, here is the contract with EDCO (aka the Roger Lee Employment Act):

http://tinyurl.com/n4vujz

That first paragraph from the BULL article is about as rich as it gets:

Citing the experience and track record of Economic Development for Central Oregon, the city of Bend is nearing approval of a deal with the nonprofit that will make EDCO the primary economic development arm of the city, according to Bend City Manager Eric King...The position would be modeled after similar EDCO positions in Prineville, Redmond and Madras...

Classic.

Roger is going to bring green shoots to Bend? Like he did to Prineville?

And Jeff Eager, who I watched sleep through a City Council session, just happens to be Epic Air's lawyer....

I've got to admit--I thought things couldn't get any more fucked up over there when I left.

Be sure to read page 12 of that contract your taxes are paying for--the "Deliverables".

A. Draft program completed and reviewed by the City Council by June 30, 2010.; August 9, 2009 at 2:00 PM
Anonymous said...: I think the rags to riches books of inspiration sell best in the worst times. "Think and Grow Rich" is a classic depression book (1937).

Transcendental Meditation books in times of shortages and inflation.

During the booms the books are much less philosophical. It's the flipping books that were popular during this boom. No time for introspection when there's a buck to be made.

In short hbm, I think you're all wet.; August 9, 2009 at 2:49 PM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: In short hbm, I think you're all wet.

Worthy of posting one more titty babe for hbm...; August 9, 2009 at 4:06 PM
Anonymous said...: Just ran into an old Epic person. They never got the money...period. the malays bailed. Whenever they got an injection of cash they blew it on banker bounus', cars and high living. he bailed along time ago, he could see the theft on the wall. Total scumbag CEO.
As for Cessna buying Columbia, 24 mil was cheap for a plane that had a 65 mil certification. They never intended to build here.; August 9, 2009 at 4:30 PM
Anonymous said...: OK Butter. That wet TShirt is jackpot.; August 9, 2009 at 4:45 PM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: OK Butter. That wet TShirt is jackpot.

I'm not sure that is technically a t-shirt. Or any other sort of shirt. Looks like she got tangled up in it somehow... maybe had to struggle to get away... worked herself into a sweat... maybe got aroused...

OK, I gotta go.; August 9, 2009 at 5:37 PM
Anonymous said...: So this Obama guy. Big spender, eh?; August 9, 2009 at 6:16 PM
Anonymous said...: http://www.ktvz.com/Global/story.asp?S=10869333

What a disaster. Virtually no orders in a year? Health insurance not paid? Nice.; August 9, 2009 at 9:03 PM
Kevin said...: But, but, the Oregonian in May said:

"Even as it struggles with crippling unemployment and a decimated property market, Bend retains its ability to attract talent and nurture business -- in select fields. Companies doing well make everything from bullets to dog backpacks.

Keys to success: Develop hot products, find customers beyond Bend and either attract them to the city or ship goods to them.

Epic Air, formally Aircraft Investor Resources, occupies a 90,000-square-foot plant at Bend Municipal Airport. A Cessna Aircraft Co. factory next door will close this summer, claiming as many as 200 jobs. At Epic, customers build their own planes under close supervision, coming to Bend at intervals until flying out in their completed aircraft."; August 10, 2009 at 1:26 AM
Anonymous said...: Well, May was a long time ago.; August 10, 2009 at 7:33 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: Prineville bank's closure, takeover shocks customers

Really? Cuz you gotta be a real idiot not to see that something BAD was happening, given the stock chart; August 10, 2009 at 8:08 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: And apparently, shareholders want out REAL BAD today:

PNVL $.04/sh, DOWN $.36, or DOWN 90% for the morning.; August 10, 2009 at 8:09 AM
LavaBear said...: Cracker Ass touched $2.00 this morning. Up 30%...most of been that Bully article on Friday.; August 10, 2009 at 9:35 AM
tim said...: http://www.cnbc.com/id/32358109

This Recovery Will Be 'Square Root-Shaped': Leon Cooperman

Something tells me this guy has never graphed the square root of x [0..1]. It's way steeper than a "V." It starts out going almost straight up. So I figured hes saying we're going straight up. But then he has all these warnings. Maybe he meant x squared?; August 10, 2009 at 9:55 AM
Anonymous said...: Pelosi and Hoyer go after the "Un-Americans."

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/08/unamerican-attacks-cant-derail-health-care-debate-.html

I think they should start some kind of House Un-American Activities Committee.; August 10, 2009 at 10:48 AM
Anonymous said...: Pathetic fucks...sounds to me like
you're rooting for a Depression. Damn easy to lob all this shit from the sidelines, isn't it?

Don't like it? Do something constructive or get the fuck outta' here.; August 10, 2009 at 11:35 AM
Anonymous said...: If you don't know what to do, do nothing. First, do no harm.; August 10, 2009 at 11:56 AM
Anonymous said...: Actually, I prefer hyperinflation! Go, Pelosi, go!; August 10, 2009 at 11:59 AM
Anonymous said...: Here's where the Democrats are falling apart: Dissatisfaction with the last administration and with the suckiness of the current health care system does _not_ mean we trust the government to get it right. It's a big deal, so do more work and come up with a better plan. Don't half-ass it. Don't just do what you _want_ to do--do what's _right_.; August 10, 2009 at 12:17 PM
hbm said...: ""Think and Grow Rich" is a classic depression book (1937)."

But Napoleon Hill, the author of that book, published his first one in 1928. How's that coincide with the Great Depresssion, eh?

"I'm not sure that is technically a t-shirt. Or any other sort of shirt."

It is a rubber band stretched to the breaking point. You can see where it's starting to come apart in the middle.; August 10, 2009 at 1:06 PM
Anonymous said...: >>But Napoleon Hill, the author of that book, published his first one in 1928. How's that coincide with the Great Depresssion, eh?

And yet that one didn't catch on the way Think an Grow Rich did, eh?; August 10, 2009 at 1:07 PM
Anonymous said...: Ouch. Was that hbm being dumb, or someone smart pretending to be hbm to make him look dumb?

With this damned blog you never know.; August 10, 2009 at 1:26 PM
Duncan McGeary said...: I don't 'trust' a delay in health care reform not to last forever....; August 10, 2009 at 1:27 PM
Anonymous said...: I don't trust more government spending not to last forever.; August 10, 2009 at 1:32 PM
hbm said...: "And yet that one didn't catch on the way Think an Grow Rich did, eh?"

Like I said, it was only a hypothesis and I had no data. I may be not merely all wet but full of shit. But that has not been proven. One book doesn't prove anything.; August 10, 2009 at 1:34 PM
hbm said...: Dunc: We've been talking about health care reform since Harry Truman was president. It will NEVER be the right time for reform for the insurance companies and the politicians they own. They will delay and delay and delay until the whole system falls apart.

Just for the hell of it I'd like to see Obama stand up in a news conference and say, "Okay, we've had a lot of arguments over whether I'm supporting socialized medicine. So I'm clearing things up: I AM supporting socialized medicine. Now, will somebody please explain to me what the hell is wrong with socialized medicine?"

Won't happen of course.; August 10, 2009 at 1:39 PM
Duncan McGeary said...: standard obstructionist politics...; August 10, 2009 at 1:40 PM
Anonymous said...: "Won't happen of course."

Of course not. Obama just told Canadians that a Canadian model would not be right for the U.S.

Typical Democrat cock-up in the works.; August 10, 2009 at 1:44 PM
hbm said...: BTW, Homeboy, thanks for the nice natural titty photo. A refreshing, wholesome change from the usual silicone super-boobs.; August 10, 2009 at 1:44 PM
hbm said...: "Typical Democrat cock-up in the works."

Let's leave Bill Clinton and Elliot Spitzer out of this.

But seriously: Obama and the Democrats have no fucking balls. So we'll end up with a half-ass "reform" that protects the insurance companies, screws taxpayers and consumers and does nothing to fundamentally improve our shitty health care system. But it will allow the enemies of real reform to say they've "done something" and delay real reform for another 15 years.; August 10, 2009 at 1:48 PM
Duncan McGeary said...: "But it will allow the enemies of real reform to say they've "done something" and delay real reform for another 15 years."

By which time I'll be an old fart with medicare and I can go to town hall meetings and scream about socialized medicine!; August 10, 2009 at 1:57 PM
Anonymous said...: Problem is you have to spend political capital quickly, or it dissipates on its own. I think the Democrats overreached.

Obama thought a few singles would be a warmup to a homer. But in reality, he used up his capital on singles.

Should have been health care first. Clinton made the same mistake.

Of course, in both cases you can say the Republicans outplayed the Democrats. Maybe they weren't unforced errors. Maybe the Democrats act so reflexively that it's utterly simple to pull them off message.

Anyhow, pathetic.; August 10, 2009 at 2:12 PM
Anonymous said...: I'm unclear how Obama got here. It sounds like he's saying he doesn't want to change it, just make it more efficient.

Sounds like what corporate raiders say when they use debt to buy a company.

I think the Democrats will manage to pass something we can all hate equally, but for different reasons.; August 10, 2009 at 3:17 PM
Anonymous said...: Obama- three more years!; August 10, 2009 at 4:41 PM
Anonymous said...: Ah, all is well. The White House has disputed Pelosi's statement that town hall Americans are un-American.; August 10, 2009 at 5:20 PM
Anonymous said...: What!? No death panels? Why would Sarah Palin & Newt Gingrich lie?

I live in a country with a single payer health care system (Japan) and guess what? They still have private insurers from whom people can buy supplemental insurance above-and-beyond the standard package (if they want to buy it), and most of the same drugs are available at prices lower than Americans pay. In fact, the Japan headquarters of Pfizer & Glaxo Smith Kline are located about 10 minutes from where I type this. They haven't fled the Japanese market, even though their profitability is lower than in the US, where many Americans actually seem eager to overpay for their services.

Universal Health Care systems, assuming they aren't crippled by corrupt politicians, cost less than what Americans pay, and they are easy to use/administer, and they're transparent.

The right wing objections to the Democrat's less comprehensive plans are almost always nothing more than outright falsehoods intended to scare the dim-witted. They should just be ignored in the debate since they contribute nothing worthwhile.; August 10, 2009 at 5:26 PM
Bewert said...: Re: Pathetic fucks...sounds to me like you're rooting for a Depression. Damn easy to lob all this shit from the sidelines, isn't it?

Don't like it? Do something constructive or get the fuck outta' here.

####

You mean like use your real name to show everyone the great things you've done?

(Sorry, couldn't resist)

Bend is the 327th pretty town on a river next to the mountains that is in bad place financially. Of course, if the City had restrained growth (and flipping for profit) and enforced viable SDC's, things wouldn't be so bad right now.

But they didn't. And they look to be deferring SDCs forever...; August 10, 2009 at 5:31 PM
Bewert said...: Re: If you don't know what to do, do nothing. First, do no harm.

####

Harm is being done already.

Rationing? If you don't believe that happens, you haven't dealt with Regence BC/BS lately.

Wouldn't you rather have an idiot that doesn't make more money denying your loved one's care give the OK than one that does make more money to deny?

Our health care system is pathetic. Now 37th in the world according to WHO and OCED. And we pay over twice as much as all the other "first world" countries.; August 10, 2009 at 5:37 PM
Bewert said...: GM on EBay.

Good idea?; August 10, 2009 at 5:38 PM
Bewert said...: BTW, best meteor shower of the year the next two nights.; August 10, 2009 at 5:41 PM
Anonymous said...: "They haven't fled the Japanese market, even though their profitability is lower than in the US, where many Americans actually seem eager to overpay for their services."

It will be interesting to see the rest of the world have to choke up some more money for drugs once the US stops subsidizing the drug industry. Guess what Canada, U.S. isn't overpaying anymore, so no more cheap drugs for you.; August 10, 2009 at 6:18 PM
Anonymous said...: college grads going to china for jobs http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/business/economy/11expats.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&partner=rss&emc=rss; August 10, 2009 at 7:59 PM
Anonymous said...: >>college grads going to china for jobs

Wow. I wondered when that would get rolling.; August 10, 2009 at 9:01 PM
Anonymous said...: "the suckiness of the current health care system does _not_ mean we trust the government to get it right."

Ummm ... doesn't Medicare work pretty well? And isn't it doen by the government (God forbid!). Krugman recently wrote of a senior citizen who told his senator:
"Keep your government mits off my Medicare"

Excuse me - but Medicare IS the government, bonehead.; August 10, 2009 at 9:05 PM
Anonymous said...: Why do you think Medicare is working well? Cost per patient is high.; August 10, 2009 at 9:08 PM
Anonymous said...: "Why do you think Medicare is working well?"

If it wasn't working well, people wouldn't say "get your govt mits off of it."

I don't know why you say that "cost per patient is high." I would guess you're just being argumentative.

Doctors and the pharmeucetical companies don't necessarily like Medicare because the government is a tough negotiator. They only pay so much for a given procedure. They like to do research to see which treatments are actually effective and which are just stupid shit done by doctors to charge their fees (kind of like the mechanic that tells you that you need to replace your brake pads long before they're actually do).

The irony is that now the Obama administration appears to be placating the pharmeucetical companies by saying that they won't negotiate too hard on prices. This is sad. It's exactly why Medicare is very successful at holding down costs per patient.

Good night, all.; August 10, 2009 at 9:32 PM
Anonymous said...: >>If it wasn't working well, people wouldn't say "get your govt mits off of it."

People say "keep your mitts off my program" any time it's to their benefit at the expense of taxpayers at large.; August 10, 2009 at 9:46 PM
Anonymous said...: DailyKOS is awesome lately. Very angry at moderate Democrats. You can almost see their blood boiling!; August 10, 2009 at 10:02 PM
Anonymous said...: O.K. people, let's FOCUS here. I just saw a short film of what was...and what can again be. A film of a time and a place that inspires all who watch. This short movie belongs atop the heap at Bend Film Festival. IT'S THAT GOOD. So follow the link, sit back, and be transported into a land of wonder and merriment. Ah, Bend Oregon, just two short years ago...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVt_FyKp_yA; August 10, 2009 at 10:22 PM
Anonymous said...: Gallup poll.

"Resistance among seniors. Fewer than half of seniors polled want an overhaul enacted this year."

Why? Because they already have it made with their programs. Greedy bastards. What's the single, solitary group that cares more about expanding coverage to more people than it does about controlling costs? Why the 18-29 group, of course.

This is a very skewed-by-age issue, and given the power of AARP and the political impotence of the young, I'd guess meaningful reform is already dead.; August 11, 2009 at 6:51 AM
Anonymous said...: I am thinking about taking a vacation in Bend.(I live inLA).
What time of year is the weather the best to visit?; August 11, 2009 at 7:15 AM
Anonymous said...: "I am thinking about taking a vacation in Bend.(I live inLA).
What time of year is the weather the best to visit?"

That would be last week. Sorry you missed it. When is the best time to visit LA?; August 11, 2009 at 7:18 AM
hbm said...: "Why do you think Medicare is working well? Cost per patient is high."

Cost per patient is high because it deals with old folks who tend to have a lot of medical problems.

Are you aware that before Medicare was enacted, medical bills were the leading cause of bankruptcy for people over 65 -- just as they are for the country as a whole now?

Oh yeah, and when Medicare was being debated the AMA and the insurance companies screamed "SOCIALISM!" just as they're doing now.

Our private, profit-driven medical industry (I won't dignify it with the term "health care system) is something this country simply cannot afford anymore. We can always find another trillion or two for another war somewhere, but we can't find a trillion over 10 years to fix health care. It makes me sick.; August 11, 2009 at 9:34 AM
hbm said...: "So follow the link, sit back, and be transported into a land of wonder and merriment."

That video is a comic classic for out time. I especially enjoyed the lines about a "simpler lifestyle" -- in million-dollar "cottages."

And what's with the narrator's accent? What's it supposed to be? English? Australian? Elvish?

ALso somebody has a great comment about how all the pretty mountain scenery shown in the opening is miles away from The Shire, which actually is situated "on the fringes of Mordor." LOL!; August 11, 2009 at 9:42 AM
Anonymous said...: "We can always find another trillion or two for another war somewhere, but we can't find a trillion over 10 years to fix health care. It makes me sick."

That's the problem with Americans and your health care. Everything makes you sick.; August 11, 2009 at 9:55 AM
Anonymous said...: GM's electric car gets great gas mileage. How weird is that?; August 11, 2009 at 10:20 AM
Anonymous said...: My partner and I live in West Hollywood. We love mountain biking
(who doesn't?) and want to move somewhere where we can afford a house. We heard that Bend has good mountain biking and sunny weather.
But Bruce had heard that there may be some redneck people in Bend.
Would we be welcome there??; August 11, 2009 at 11:25 AM
Anonymous said...: Anonymous said...
My partner and I live in West Hollywood. We love mountain biking
(who doesn't?) and want to move somewhere where we can afford a house. We heard that Bend has good mountain biking and sunny weather.
But Bruce had heard that there may be some redneck people in Bend.
Would we be welcome there??

The fact that you say, "My parter," tells me right away that you're gay, and want to move here with you butt buddy. I say to you, stay in L. Aids! Oh, tell Bruce he's wrong about the rednecks. There are some homophobes, though.; August 11, 2009 at 11:37 AM
hbm said...: ""I am thinking about taking a vacation in Bend.(I live inLA).
What time of year is the weather the best to visit?"

Doesn't matter. The sun shines 24 hours a day, 365 days a year here. But if you come in the early spring you can catch the unicorn foaling season. They are SOOOOoooo cute!; August 11, 2009 at 12:45 PM
hbm said...: Larry Flynt's advice to Obama:

President Obama:

You have proven to be a great campaigner. You have yet to demonstrate your ability to govern. Who needs the Republicans? They don't know what compromise is. They're just out to derail your presidency. Bitch slap 'em at every opportunity and put them in their place. They lost; you didn't.

You need some gonads, Mr. President, and if you don't have any, as Hillary would say, you'd better grow some.

As for disloyal Democrats, you need to yank the carpet out from under them. Remind them that their survival is dependent upon yours. Don't pull punches, Mr. President. You need some gonads, and if you don't have any, as Hillary would say, you'd better grow some.

You have failed to keep many campaign promises. You've ignored civil-liberty violations such as warrantless wiretapping.

You passed a stimulus package that is obviously full of pork for Democrats.

You handed over billions more in taxpayer dollars to crooked bankers.

You listened to the very people who created our economic meltdown, the Mutt and Jeff team of Larry Summers and Tim Geithner.

You've let the insurance lobbyists hijack health-care reform to the detriment of every man, woman, and child in America.

You must say what you mean and mean what you say.

Closing Guantanamo means just that. You could do it right now, Mr. President. You don't have to wait until January. You can place terrorist suspects in the federal correctional system without creating any risk to our citizens.

You're a nice guy. Everybody likes nice guys. Sometimes they finish last. You don't want that, and neither do those of us who voted you in.

The American people have placed their future in your hands. For heaven's sake don't let them down. Don't let yourself down.; August 11, 2009 at 1:34 PM
Anonymous said...: Gee, let me think... Yep! Larry Flint is #1 on my list of guys to take advice from. He's a real fucking jeanious.; August 11, 2009 at 2:06 PM
Anonymous said...: He said "grow gonads" twice.

Why is it that these liberals think Obama is something special and not just another politician? It's easy to believe what you want to believe, I guess.; August 11, 2009 at 2:07 PM
Anonymous said...: Health care. From the government that brought you the "Post Office that's always having problem." Wait for it.; August 11, 2009 at 2:12 PM
Anonymous said...: The Post Office is doing fine. Of course they have to raise rates periodically, but not out of line with inflation.

What's YOUR plan? Status quo?

By the way: Larry Flynt speaks truth to power.; August 11, 2009 at 2:50 PM
Anonymous said...: Post Office doing fine, eh? Obama just said it was always running into trouble. :-); August 11, 2009 at 3:13 PM
Anonymous said...: Actually, I hate the status quo. I want a single payer system. I'm just not impressed by this crew's political smarts. I think they'll either fail or pass a horrible mess of a bill.; August 11, 2009 at 3:15 PM
hbm said...: "Yep! Larry Flint is #1 on my list of guys to take advice from. He's a real fucking jeanious [sic]."

Larry Flynt is, as he describes himself, "an honest hard-working pornographer" and has more brains (and integrity) than about 2/3 of the US Congress. And his basic point here is absolutely correct -- Obama needs to grow a pair and stop sucking up to the Republicans and Blue Dogs, who are never going to be satisfied with ANY idea that comes out of this White House.; August 11, 2009 at 5:11 PM
hbm said...: BTW I don't really have anything to say but I like to come here to look at the wet T-shirt / rubber band picture. Probably like most of the guys who visit the site.; August 11, 2009 at 5:13 PM
Anonymous said...: Well of course Obama's not going to grow a pair of balls, and we all know it, so this is just Flynt grandstanding.; August 11, 2009 at 5:17 PM
Anonymous said...: "Gee, let me think... Yep! Larry Flint is #1 on my list of guys to take advice from. He's a real fucking jeanious."

At first I thought maybe your use of the word jeanious might be some street or urban slang I wasn't aware of.

But after checking the urban dictionary and the OED I figured out my initial assessment was correct.; August 11, 2009 at 5:20 PM
Anonymous said...: HBM, what would we do without your smarts. Thank God you pointed out that jeanious was indeed...[sick]. To bad we can't all be smart, like you.; August 11, 2009 at 5:23 PM
Anonymous said...: At first I thought maybe your use of the word jeanious might be some street or urban slang I wasn't aware of.

You're reading way too much into it there, big boy. Maybe try the term "Dickhead" in your urban dickshunary.; August 11, 2009 at 7:38 PM
hbm said...: "To [sic] bad we can't all be smart, like you."

Yeah, it is too bad. Maybe this country wouldn't be so fucked up if there weren't so many fucking ILLITERATE MORONS in it.

Oooh, does that make me an ELITIST? I didn't mean to say "illiterate morons." I meant to say "REAL AMERICANS"!

I am SOOOOoooo fucking sorry!

Asshole.; August 11, 2009 at 7:52 PM
Anonymous said...: Don't get your panties in a wad, fat man. Oh, and by the way, ELITIST is a great description. Keep up the good work!; August 11, 2009 at 8:15 PM
Anonymous said...: When will heads start to roll?

http://www.salon.com/opinion/paglia/2009/08/12/town_halls/; August 11, 2009 at 8:23 PM
Anonymous said...: We all make spelling mistakes but it takes a real moron to fuck up a word so bad it doesn't even pass the "looks close enough" test.

I'm with HBM - too bad the people of this world forgot how to read and write. Without comprehension and expression you might as well hang in the jungle with the rest of the apes.; August 11, 2009 at 10:06 PM
Bend Economy Man said...: It's clear now that economic development in Central Oregon has happened in spite of, not because of, local economic development people. John Costa, Roger Lee and their ilk couldn't economically develop their way out of a paper bag.

Is there a single undertaking in this region that won't be revealed to be a tragicomedy fraud and make John Costa look even less relevant and truthful?; August 11, 2009 at 10:54 PM
Anonymous said...: What's going on with Juniper ridge?; August 12, 2009 at 6:41 AM
Anonymous said...: 20 % of all American adults are functionally illiterate. They can not even read a newspaper headline.
When I worked retail in an auto parts store, many people could not read the chart that shows what windshield wipers to use. Had to go over and read it for them.
Lots of these people around- they learn to use others for their shortcoming.; August 12, 2009 at 6:59 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: 5 downsides to 'cash for clunkers'

2. The used-car market might go haywire. Since clunkers that get traded in have to be destroyed, the program could take 750,000 vehicles out of the used-car market. That's about 5% of the market, according to kbb.com, or enough of a contraction to cause significant price hikes for used vehicles.

Kbb.com predicts there will even be a used-car bubble, with a shortage now leading used-car dealers to stock up on inventory. But when the clunker rebates end, dealers could end up with too many cars, causing prices to seesaw the other way.

A serpentine sales curve makes it much harder to manage a business and earn profits than a nice steady one.; August 12, 2009 at 8:30 AM
Anonymous said...: >>They can not even read a newspaper headline.

I'm not sure that's the fault of the reader. Our journalism graduates can't seem to write headlines that make sense.; August 12, 2009 at 8:54 AM
Anonymous said...: Why are we even talking about health care when we have only 4 months to fix the climate? http://www.un.org/apps/news/infocus/sgspeeches/statments_full.asp?statID=557; August 12, 2009 at 8:57 AM
Anonymous said...: Epic Failure: "If they would have just given us notice..."

http://www.un.org/apps/news/infocus/sgspeeches/statments_full.asp?statID=557; August 12, 2009 at 9:29 AM
Anonymous said...: Yeah, sorry. Speaking of failure...

http://www.ktvz.com/Global/story.asp?S=10888073; August 12, 2009 at 9:30 AM
Anonymous said...: Does anyone have a reccomendation for a good car wax?; August 12, 2009 at 11:59 AM
Anonymous said...: Anonymous said...
Does anyone have a reccomendation for a good car wax?

Ask HBM. He's been using a carnauba product on his ball (yes, singular) for years and swears by it.; August 12, 2009 at 12:50 PM
Anonymous said...: "Who would have believed that this politician celebrated, above all, for his eloquence and capacity to connect with voters would end up as president proving so profoundly tone deaf?"; August 12, 2009 at 1:42 PM
hbm said...: "too bad the people of this world forgot how to read and write."

They didn't forget -- they were never taught. And it's mainly the people of the US who have the problem, not the citizens of other developed nations.

Illiterate morons have always been around. The disturbing thing now is that the illiterate morons are being told by demagogues like Sarah Palin that it's a GOOD THING to be an illiterate moron, and that if you're not an illiterate moron you're an "elitist" and not a "real American."

This type of toxic phony "populism" is, of course, nothing new in America; Thomas Jefferson's opponents attacked him for being "elitist" and "too French," much like John Kerry's did. Jefferson wouldn't have a chance in hell of getting elected today; he could read LATIN and GREEK (besides French), fer crap's sake, and was practically a damn ATHEIST.; August 12, 2009 at 1:54 PM
hbm said...: "Our journalism graduates can't seem to write headlines that make sense."

True. They're the products of a lousy education system too.

As somebody who's spent 40 years in newspaper journalism I'm amazed at how copy editing standards have fallen. Every day I see grammatical errors in the NY Times that probably would have gotten me fired from the copy desk at Newsday back in the '70s.; August 12, 2009 at 1:57 PM
hbm said...: ""Who would have believed that this politician celebrated, above all, for his eloquence and capacity to connect with voters would end up as president proving so profoundly tone deaf?"

I believe O's big problem is testicular rather than auditory in nature.; August 12, 2009 at 1:59 PM
Anonymous said...: If Democrats were smart enough to manage to speak to Americans without offending them, we wouldn't have to worry about nincompoops like Palin.; August 12, 2009 at 2:20 PM
hbm said...: The Republican Noise Machine has the ability to make anything a Democrat says sound offensive -- even if that means quoting it out of context, distorting it or simply lying (viz. telling people that health care reform means euthanasia). They've developed it into a fine art and they've got the resources to keep the Noise Machine in overdrive 24/7. This puts Democrats at a disadvantage because they're always have to react to the Noise Machine instead of getting their own message out.

"A lie gets halfway around the world while the truth is still putting its pants on." -- Churchill; August 12, 2009 at 3:13 PM
Anonymous said...: It's funny to say the American people are stupid when we have Senators like this...

http://community.detnews.com/apps/blogs/henrypayneblog/index.php?blogid=2041; August 12, 2009 at 3:32 PM
Anonymous said...: Democrats have to, at some point, man up and stop blaming their inability to connect with the American public on mean Republicans.

Stop being such an apologist for this pathetic party.

Face it. We have two lousy parties. Both equality duplicitous and ineffective at actually accomplishing anything worthwhile.; August 12, 2009 at 3:34 PM
Anonymous said...: Democrats also have the problem of being unable to defend against mocking and cruel depictions of Obama due to their mocking and cruel depictions of Bush.

In other words, they are being bitten in the ass by their own teeth.; August 12, 2009 at 3:36 PM
hbm said...: "Democrats also have the problem of being unable to defend against mocking and cruel depictions of Obama due to their mocking and cruel depictions of Bush."

With one big difference: Bush really IS a goddamn bloody idiot. Also (just hitting the highlights here) he was asleep at the wheel when the worst terrorist attack in US history happened, lied to drag the country into a completely unnecessary war, was asleep at the wheel again when New Orleans drowned and, once more, was asleep at the wheel when the stage was being set for the worst economic collapse since 1929.

See a kind of pattern there?

Bush deserved all the mocking and cruel depictions he got -- and then some.

I know you Republicans would love to make us forget that you gave us The Worst President in History, but it ain't gonna be that easy.; August 12, 2009 at 4:07 PM
hbm said...: "Democrats have to, at some point, man up and stop blaming their inability to connect with the American public on mean Republicans."

"Inability to connect"? They seem to have connected pretty well in the last two elections.

The problem isn't that the Republicans are "mean." The problem is they are goddamn bareassed fucking LIARS.; August 12, 2009 at 4:11 PM
Anonymous said...: I don't think the Democrats connected as well as they thought they did. I think they assumed that because people hated Bush, they loved the Democrats. I think the embrace of Democrats was rather reluctant. It's a conservative country.; August 12, 2009 at 4:16 PM
Anonymous said...: Boy, if you think this blog is dead, you should see the Bend Economy Bulletin Board.; August 12, 2009 at 4:53 PM
hbm said...: Re Republicans being bareassed fucking liars:

"One of the three Republican senators working on a bipartisan health care bill perpetuated a particularly outrageous untruth about the legislation on Wednesday.

"Appearing at a town hall in his home state of Iowa, Sen. Chuck Grassley told a crowd of more than 300 that they were correct to fear that the government would "pull the plug on grandma."

"There is some fear because in the House bill, there is counseling for end-of-life," Grassley said. "And from that standpoint, you have every right to fear. You shouldn't have counseling at the end of life. You ought to have counseling 20 years before you're going to die. You ought to plan these things out. And I don't have any problem with things like living wills. But they ought to be done within the family. We should not have a government program that determines if you're going to pull the plug on grandma."

"In making his remarks, Grassley becomes the latest in a string of GOP lawmakers to jump on a myth about the health care legislation produced by the House of Representatives. The most infamous statement was made last week by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who declared that the President's health care plan would set up a "death panel" to determine whether or not to euthanize her son with Down Syndrome.

"The Iowa Independent was the first to report Grassley's remarks. The Huffington Post was able to obtain audio from an attendee at the event.

"On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs hit back at Palin for her death panel remark, saying that the former governor had given out "information that I think many of you all pointed out was wrong." The House bill would require Medicare to cover voluntary consultations between individuals and their doctors about end of life care, including whether or not to write a living will. Several Republican lawmakers have endorsed the idea in past legislation."

If you don't trust HuffPo's account, go to the site and watch the video.

Democratic politicians will sometimes shade the truth ("I did not have sexual relations with that woman") or tell less than the whole truth, but I can't think of one in modern times who simply our-and-out lies like this. And the Republicans do it routinely, over and over and over.; August 12, 2009 at 4:54 PM
Anonymous said...: Look, this is as good as it gets for the Democrats.

The White House, the Senate, and the House.

If they can't do what they want, they have themselves and only themselves to blame. There's no national mama for them to whine to.; August 12, 2009 at 4:55 PM
hbm said...: Anon. 4:16: You "think" a lot of things and you may, of course, "think" whatever you like. But I KNOW the Democrats hold substantial majorities in both houses of Congress and the presidency. And I KNOW Obama won by a substantially larger margin than Bush did in 2004, after which Republicans claimed they had a huge "mandate." And I KNOW that only about 25% of Americans today identify themselves as Republicans, the lowest percentage in 16 years. Rather odd in a "conservative" country, eh?

Of course there is growing dissatisfaction with Obama, but the Republicans are too busy acting like hysterical wackos to take advantage of it. Obama is losing support but Republicans are not gaining it.; August 12, 2009 at 5:01 PM
hbm said...: Anon 4:55: So you're perfectly cool with Republican politicians lying their fucking asses off about health care, right? You're perfectly cool with them telling old ladies that the government is gonna drag them off to the gas chambers?

Of course you are. You were perfectly cool with Republicans lying to mislead the country into a war that cost more than 4,000 American lives, so what the hell. Anything's fine as long as your team "wins," eh?

"Putting Country First" my ass. The Republican Party doesn't give a shit about this country and hasn't for more than 30 years.; August 12, 2009 at 5:10 PM
Anonymous said...: What once made our country great was people recognized and promoted smart people but the genious of our all knowing government has decided that this isn't fair so they have mandated Affirmative Action through out our society.

What once was a "Search for Excellence" has become a search and promotion for a "Dumba$$".

People are being put into positions that they cannot do because they are not educated enough or they just don't have the brain power to do.

As we seen with FireFighters in Connecticut they absolutley do not want to promote on Merit, they want to promote on race.

After 40 years this is starting to have a drastic affect on our country. You have people in high position, technical positions, positions that actually matter that do not have a clue and usually they are held up by the virtue of color alone.; August 12, 2009 at 5:38 PM
Bewert said...: Re: It's clear now that economic development in Central Oregon has happened in spite of, not because of, local economic development people. John Costa, Roger Lee and their ilk couldn't economically develop their way out of a paper bag.

Is there a single undertaking in this region that won't be revealed to be a tragicomedy fraud and make John Costa look even less relevant and truthful?

####

Nope.

That cover the next 100 comments as well.

And Mexico just kicked our ass.

Welcome to reality, mofos. Especially yours with 25%+ real unemployment.

Jeez, just got yet another email begging me to work for them this morning. Never happened back there...

Costa, Roger, et al are going to suck off the gov teat until they kill it.

Enjoy.; August 12, 2009 at 5:42 PM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: SHUT THIS FUCKING BLOG DOWN!

Sorry, but no one's said that in like 2 days.; August 12, 2009 at 6:25 PM
Anonymous said...: What up with Juniper Ridge? Superserious.; August 12, 2009 at 6:42 PM
Anonymous said...: "It's funny to say the American people are stupid when we have Senators like this..."

Since only an American citizen can be elected to the Senate it's not surprising we have stupid Senators; they matriculated from the general population.

Just wait until the Facebook generation gets elected. For a sense of what this might look like check this out.

"...promoted smart people but the genious of our all knowing government ..."

At least this spelling of genius passes the "looks close enough" test.; August 12, 2009 at 7:36 PM
Anonymous said...: I'd be more upset with Republicans if the Democrats weren't reprehensible as well.; August 12, 2009 at 8:21 PM
hbm said...: "What once was a "Search for Excellence" has become a search and promotion for a "Dumba$$"."

So that's how Chimpy got in the White House -- "affirmative action." Thanks for explaining that.; August 12, 2009 at 8:57 PM
Anonymous said...: Sarah Palin in 2012!
She will lead us out of the wilderness.; August 13, 2009 at 7:36 AM
Anonymous said...: Both parties are rather insensitive to their own failings, but hypersensitive to the failings of the other side. It's a mirror. Just listen to how they talk about each other. Equally mean. It's truly disturbing. Childish name-calling.; August 13, 2009 at 7:51 AM
Anonymous said...: I don't want anyone especially dumb in gov't, but I also don't want anyone especially smart (necessarily). If what's notable about a person is that they are smart (Nixon, Carter, McNamara), I don't feel in good hands. I want them to have their shit together politically and know who they are (Reagan, Clinton). Possibly Obama knows who he is, but he's got a crapload of weird losers surrounding him. His test, in my opinion, is who he throws out and who he replaces them with. He can't just be a kick-ass President, he also needs a kick-ass staff.; August 13, 2009 at 7:56 AM
Anonymous said...: "Nationally, support for the health care reform plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats has fallen to a new low. Just 42% favor the plan while 53% are opposed. Other data shows that 51% fear the federal government more than private insurance companies. Forty-one percent (41%) fear the insurance companies more. Overall, 32% favor a single-payer health care system for the U.S. while 57% are opposed."

I think Obama can turn that around. But it's going to have to be a less haughty approach. He needs to use his bully pulpit productively, and tell those Senators and Representatives to stop having town hall meetings. Those idiots need to hole-up--they are doing him no good.; August 13, 2009 at 8:06 AM
hbm said...: "Sarah Palin in 2012!
She will lead us out of the wilderness."

I don't know about leading us out of the wilderness, but if she's elected I WILL leave the United States. That's a promise.; August 13, 2009 at 9:00 AM
hbm said...: "Just 42% favor the plan while 53% are opposed."

Does the poll show how many oppose the plan because they think it doesn't go far enough as opposed to those who think it goes too far?; August 13, 2009 at 9:02 AM
Anonymous said...: "I don't know about leading us out of the wilderness, but if she's elected I WILL leave the United States. That's a promise."

Try leaving Bend first.; August 13, 2009 at 9:50 AM
Anonymous said...: HBM: "I don't know about leading us out of the wilderness, but if she's elected I WILL leave the United States. That's a promise."

Oh shit, the shrieking fanatics begin already...and it's only 2009.

HBM, you sound like a Hollywood starlet in 2004.

You look utterly ridiculous clinging to the two party system of ideas. You are the other part of the country's problem and a socialist to boot.; August 13, 2009 at 9:53 AM
Anonymous said...: The most disappointing thing about hbm is his predictability. Everything he says sounds like a left-wing talking point that comes out of the left-wing echo chamber.

I'm desperate for him to surprise me just once with something that doesn't sound like a was churned out of the left-wing machine.; August 13, 2009 at 9:57 AM
Anonymous said...: Oregon foreclosures up 84 friggin percent from last July! Holy Moly this pig is far from cooked and the classic Oregon 12-18 lag vs CA and other early toppers is in full effect. Banks methinks are holding on to a TON of foreclosed property - and the beat goes on.; August 13, 2009 at 10:04 AM
Anonymous said...: People underestimated Regan, and he was a great president for 8 years.
Sarah Palin is also underestimated. Her intellegence, wit, and humanity are far better than the person we have a 1600 Pennsylvania avenue now.

She will be an OUTSTANDING President.; August 13, 2009 at 10:12 AM
Anonymous said...: >>Does the poll show how many oppose the plan because they think it doesn't go far enough as opposed to those who think it goes too far?

Um, yeah. Pretty sure almost all of them think it doesn't go far enough. Good point, hbm! What we need is a more liberal congress, clearly. The current one is out of touch with the liberal electorate.; August 13, 2009 at 10:12 AM
Anonymous said...: Health care doesn't reveal the self-deception of Washington Democrats as clearly as the cap and trade bill does.

Trying to do cap and trade in a recession, with coal and manufacturing states being full of Democratic Senators and Representatives, is a much clearer indication that the administration is able to shoot itself in the foot without even realizing it owns a gun.

Who in the White House is in charge of counting votes? Send them back to public school for some remedial math.; August 13, 2009 at 10:20 AM
Anonymous said...: What is cap and trade??; August 13, 2009 at 10:49 AM
Susie said...: Woods Valley Place over in River Rim continues to crumble. Two more unsold Tamarack-built went back to Sterling Bank (Spokane, WA) in late July, and are now listed as REOs and another one is in short sale status (w/ Tamarack RE Services as Broker). There is also another short sale on that street, with another REO at the end of the street (BoA).
Tamarack recently had 11 unsold homes on that street--all with unpaid property taxes. I'd hate to be an owner there who paid $600K+ back in 2006-'07.; August 13, 2009 at 11:25 AM
Anonymous said...: More Democrats than Republicans, but more conservatives than liberals...

"In the 2008 exit poll, 34 percent of voters described themselves as conservatives and 32 percent as Republicans; 39 percent described themselves as Democrats but only 22 percent as liberals."

We are a conservative nation.; August 13, 2009 at 2:18 PM
hbm said...: "We are a conservative nation."

You're probably right, which is why we're fucked and will stay that way.

Conservative politicians and the corporations that own them fuck Americans up the ass again and again, and they just bend over and say, "Please, sir, may I have another?"

"Sarah Palin is also underestimated. Her intellegence [sic], wit, and humanity are far better than the person we have a 1600 Pennsylvania avenue now."

Somebody shoot me. Just shoot me now, please. I can't take any more of this.; August 13, 2009 at 2:53 PM
hbm said...: Anon 10:12: I asked a straight question but I see you couldn't give me a straight answer.

There are PLENTY of people out there who want single-payer and are pissed off because they think Obama and Congress are giving away too much to the insurance companies.; August 13, 2009 at 2:56 PM
hbm said...: Anon 10:12: I asked a straight question but I see you couldn't give me a straight answer.

There are PLENTY of people out there who want single-payer and are pissed off because they think Obama and Congress are giving away too much to the insurance companies.; August 13, 2009 at 2:56 PM
Anonymous said...: Obama will be viewed by history just like Jimmy Carter- a nice guy, but incompetent as president.

Thank god we only have 3 more years.

Romney in 2012!!; August 13, 2009 at 3:12 PM
Duncan McGeary said...: I keep thinking this guy is spoofing us. Nobody could be that stupid.; August 13, 2009 at 4:06 PM
Duncan McGeary said...: Or he's ten years old and he's spouting mommie and daddies politics without understanding them.; August 13, 2009 at 4:13 PM
Duncan McGeary said...: Romney/Palin supporter. Not only is what you say boring, but worse, the way you say it is boring.

Learn to create an interesting sentence, turn of phrase, unusual word choice...something!; August 13, 2009 at 4:29 PM
Anonymous said...: Which guy you talking about Dunc? I'm one of the anonymous dudes and there is at least one other in that avalanche of posts. Probably two or more others.; August 13, 2009 at 5:11 PM
Anonymous said...: Romney/Palin supporter has the sound of a liberal troll being sarcastic. Definitely a spoof. Or just trying to raise a reaction.; August 13, 2009 at 5:19 PM
Duncan McGeary said...: "Romney/Palin supporter has the sound of a liberal troll...."

Thank you, that's what it felt like to me, too.; August 13, 2009 at 5:40 PM
Anonymous said...: Fucking politics. It's like Bruce never left.

I'm going to assume there's nothing local to talk about. Just foreclosures and more foreclosures.; August 13, 2009 at 6:31 PM
Anonymous said...: "I'm going to assume there's nothing local to talk about"

Things will change a bit when Buster gets back at the end of the month. From the Pacific Ring of Fire.; August 13, 2009 at 8:47 PM
Anonymous said...: >Things will change a bit when Buster gets back at the end of the month. From the Pacific Ring of Fire.

Things will change, but not for the better. The subject will just turn to transvestite hookers and papayas. I haven't missed the blowhard at all. I dread the day he will come back and pretend he is god's gift to this blog, Bend and the world. He's a condescending fuck who is wrong more often than right. Maybe we'll get lucky and his plane will go down.; August 13, 2009 at 10:41 PM
Anonymous said...: I don't think buster is real. Nobody is that lame...; August 14, 2009 at 4:54 AM
Anonymous said...: I agree. Buster sounds and writes like a horny 14 year old boy who has just discovered girls. He adds nothing to this blog, and is the poster child for the poorly educated,anti- intellectual.; August 14, 2009 at 6:20 AM
Anonymous said...: after Bend non management city employees refused a 2% pay raise in effort to help the city, the city management gave themselves two more weeks of paid vacation as a merit bonus for working sooooo hard.; August 14, 2009 at 8:09 AM
Anonymous said...: >Buster has a weird aged wisdom in some of the things he writes about. I'm pretty sure he's not a youngster.

I'm pretty sure he's not a youngster as well. And I'm also pretty sure he's useless.; August 14, 2009 at 8:39 AM
Anonymous said...: I had Pelosi all wrong. She has a strong history of being in favor of disruptors. She thinks it's a very American thing to do--expressing yourself.

http://www.breitbart.tv/06-flashback-pelosi-tells-anti-war-protesters-im-a-fan-of-disruptors/

This is why Americans love our politicians. They are never hypocrites.; August 14, 2009 at 9:14 AM
Anonymous said...: The liberal dems. posting on this site would like to ignore:
Millions of people voted for Romney in the primaries.
Many millions of people voted for McCain/Palin.
If a few hundren thousand votes had swung the other way in key states, the GOP would be in the White House.; August 14, 2009 at 10:13 AM
Anonymous said...: Bend and Dechutes county BOTH
voted the majoritiy for McCain/Palin. This is a consevative area.; August 14, 2009 at 10:15 AM
Anonymous said...: >Bend and Dechutes county BOTH
voted the majoritiy for McCain/Palin. This is a consevative area.

You've been listening to Buster again. Repeat a lie enough and it becomes the "truth."

Bend voted Obama. Deschutes County voted McCain.; August 14, 2009 at 10:20 AM
Anonymous said...: The bulletin had a breakdown of the election results by district within the county. In some districts in Bend it was around 74% O, and 24% McCain. Northwest Bend was highly Dem, some of NE was Repub, and down by the dump was highly Repub. Much of the rest of town was slightly Dem.

Throw LaPine, Sisters and Redmond into the mix and the county came out republican, but Bend was Dem.; August 14, 2009 at 10:28 AM
Duncan McGeary said...: "The liberal dems. posting on this site would like to ignore..."

True, that.; August 14, 2009 at 10:43 AM
Anonymous said...: I am praying for a Palin/Santorum ticket in 2012. They will put this Christian country back on track.; August 14, 2009 at 10:55 AM
Duncan McGeary said...: "I am praying for a Palin/Santorum ticket in 2012."

Me too.; August 14, 2009 at 11:10 AM
PopGoesBend said...: >>Bend and Dechutes county BOTH voted the majoritiy for McCain/Palin. This is a consevative area.

FUCK. Not this again. Bend has 21 precincts. 15 went for Obama with an average margin victory of 21.7%. 6 went for McCain with an average victory of 6%.

The biggest McCain victory was 17% in Precinct D2.

Precincts D1 and D4 had a 51% Obama victory and D27 = 46% Obama victory. In those cases if nobody voted for a someone else a 51% margin = 75.5% of voters went Obama and 24.5% went McCain.

In McCain's second best win, D3, he had a 10% margin (55% to 45%). Obama won 12 precincts by that much or more.

The McCain/Palin ticket got it's ass handed to them in Bend. They squeaked out a victory in Deschutes county.

FACT.
http://bendbulletin.com/assets/PrecinctFolo-g1_113008.pdf

You listened to Buster, which was dumb.; August 14, 2009 at 11:39 AM
Bewert said...: Video and petition link to support Ron Paul in his effort to audit the Fed: http://dailybail.com/home/the-fed-under-fire-the-federal-reserve-is-the-black-hole-in.html; August 14, 2009 at 11:52 AM
Anonymous said...: Wow, Bend voted almost exactly like San Francisco.
What does that say about Bend??; August 14, 2009 at 11:54 AM
Bewert said...: Re: "Sarah Palin is also underestimated. Her intellegence [sic], wit, and humanity are far better than the person we have a 1600 Pennsylvania avenue now."

####

No, she's just another bible-thumper who can't even keep her own marriage together.

I would love to see a Palin/Santorum ticket in 2012.; August 14, 2009 at 11:56 AM
Quimby said...: Audit The Fed Petition & Video

Heck yeah Bruce, now you're talking some sense!; August 14, 2009 at 12:01 PM
Duncan McGeary said...: "Please, Br'er Republican. Do anything you want to me, but please, don't nominate Palin/Santorum!"; August 14, 2009 at 12:36 PM
Anonymous said...: Wow, Bend voted almost exactly like San Francisco.
What does that say about Bend??

It says that there is something the conservative trolls would like to ignore.; August 14, 2009 at 1:32 PM
Unknown said...: As a staunch Obama supporter I would LOVE to see a Palin/Santorium Repug ticket in 2012! It would be like taking candy from an uneducated, fear-driven child (read: today's conservative).

Oh, and Repug child, if you (erroneously) think that bad actor Reagan was such a "great" President then at least learn how to spell his name correctly. A lead balloon hint: it's NOT: "Regan".; August 14, 2009 at 2:05 PM
Anonymous said...: Delay/Santorum for the win!

Those two would be unstoppable...listen up republican people!; August 14, 2009 at 2:13 PM
Anonymous said...: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_rankings_of_United_States_Presidents

Reagan fares pretty well.

To me, the interesting President is Truman. Left office as one of the most unpopular Presidents in history. But somehow became popular in the long run.; August 14, 2009 at 3:30 PM
hbm said...: "If a few hundren thousand votes had swung the other way in key states, the GOP would be in the White House."

And if pigs had wings we'd have to carry big umbrellas to protect us from all the pig shit falling from the sky.

How many votes did Chimpy carry Florida by?

As far as that goes, Obama beat McCain by a MUCH bigger margin, both popular vote-wise and electoral vote-wise, than Chimpy beat Kerry. In fact if a few thousand votes in Ohio had gone the other way it would have been bye-bye Chimpy in 2005.

Two can play this game, you know.; August 14, 2009 at 3:32 PM
hbm said...: "Oh, and Repug child, if you (erroneously) think that bad actor Reagan was such a "great" President then at least learn how to spell his name correctly."

Reagan's policies paved the way for the Chimpy economic debacle, just as Coolidge's policies paved the way for Hoover's.; August 14, 2009 at 3:34 PM
Anonymous said...: hbm, why do you keep saying "chimpy?" That makes you sound more retarded than the retard you're talking to. Grow up.; August 14, 2009 at 3:36 PM
Anonymous said...: Only half the people in our congressional district even graduated from high school.

The better educated people are ALL transplants from somewhere else.; August 14, 2009 at 4:54 PM
Anonymous said...: I refuse to think of the people who moved to Bend as "smart." Hell, hbm can't even figure out how to move away.; August 14, 2009 at 5:23 PM
hbm said...: "hbm, why do you keep saying "chimpy?"

I think it's cute. And descriptive.

"Hell, hbm can't even figure out how to move away."

Not as easy for me as it is for somebody who can put all his possessions in a backpack.; August 14, 2009 at 7:10 PM
Anonymous said...: It makes you come off as rather foamy at the mouth, so I'll call you "Old Yeller."; August 14, 2009 at 7:36 PM
Anonymous said...: "US President Barack Obama on Friday blamed headline-hungry television networks for enflaming an ugly backlash by foes of his top priority effort to offer health care to all Americans."

Yeah, can we go back to the Michael Jackson headlines? Those were more important than a huge new government program.; August 14, 2009 at 7:55 PM
LavaBear said...: >>>Not as easy for me as it is for somebody who can put all his possessions in a backpack.

Oh so true. It's much easy to sit and howl at the moon. Or post on a blog. Or sit at the end of the bar complaining. None of it will solve the problem, but it sure is easier. And possessions are everything in life right?; August 14, 2009 at 9:19 PM
Anonymous said...: Here is our dearly beloved shit-for-brains:
"Actually, I prefer hyperinflation!"

Here is today's news (in this case an article in MSNBC):

"Consumer prices have fallen more in the past year than in any 12-month period in nearly six decades."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32416504/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/

Isn't it fun?

Good night.; August 14, 2009 at 11:09 PM
Bewert said...: Re: "In the 2008 exit poll, 34 percent of voters described themselves as conservatives and 32 percent as Republicans; 39 percent described themselves as Democrats but only 22 percent as liberals."

We are a conservative nation.

####

You left out the 44% that are neither. America is very different, depending on where you are looking.

As for who is getting assfucked and saying "Thank you, now take all my money!", it's the bottom 90%. See http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~saez/saez-UStopincomes-2007.pdf

"Year 2007 was actually also quite good for the bottom 99 percent of US families as their average income grew by 2.8 percent. This is the best annual increase since 1998. Real income growth for the bottom 99 percent had been very meagre during the Bush expansion starting in 2002. Even including 2007—a good year for ordinary US families-the top percentile captured 65 percent of total real income growth per family from 2002 to 2007 (Table 1)."

If you can't read, here is a simpler picture: http://www.lcurve.org/

Trickle down economics works as well as ever, at least as long as you are on top doing the pissing.

BTW Can't wait to read Cheney's new book detailing how W lost his way when he started listening to the electorate too much.; August 15, 2009 at 6:27 AM
Anonymous said...: bottom 40% of employed people pay NO federal income tax.
Oregon has among the highest state income tax of any state, and definetly the one that the top rate starts at the lowest income.; August 15, 2009 at 8:05 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: I'll post this for hbm and other who are easily confused:

THIS IS THE 200TH COMMENT. YOU WILL NEED TO START HITTING THE "OLDER" AND "NEWER" LINKS NO NAVIGATE TO THE OLDEST AND NEWEST COMMENTS.

AGAIN, PLEASE REMAIN CALM. PUT DOWN THE ADULT DIAPERS AND DO NOT CALL A NURSE.

YOU ARE OLD AND EASILY CONFUSED AND IRRITABLE. IT IS TIME FOR YOUR PILLS.; August 15, 2009 at 8:16 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: Modifying loans creates credit mess, not relief

Here's a twist: What if your lender actively encouraged you to modify your loan -- and then reported you as delinquent, prompting credit card companies to treat you as a deadbeat?

That's what happened to two local CitiMortgage Inc. customers. Both spent hours on the phone trying to straighten out the mess, and one is still unresolved.

It's still the Wild West out there when it comes to staving off foreclosure.

The mortgage modification push championed first by a group of private lenders (HOPE NOW) and then by the Obama administration, remains more promise than panacea. As of late July, fewer than one in 10 eligible homeowners who had missed two payments had been given a three-month trial modification, the government said.

Loan servicers still aren't prepared to help homeowners. Frankly, they have worries that compete with yours.

Just ask Howard Spindel.

The former computer programming consultant from Southwest Portland inquired in March about possibly modifying his $170,000 mortgage. The onetime business owner had seen his earnings drop from six figures in 2002 to $2,000 a month. He gets that from a disability policy after sleep disorders caused him to quit working.

He's draining savings to cover his $1,187 mortgage payment.

After his call, he decided not to go forward. But Citi's contractor, Mortgage Outreach Services of Irvine, Calif., kept contacting him, he says, encouraging him to modify.

In April, he caved.

"I asked them what are the downsides?" Spindel said. "They told me there was absolutely no downside."

The trial deal trimmed his payment to $890 for three months while Citi determined his eligibility for a longer-term modification. He would owe a balloon payment of $1,780 in July if rejected.

When he got the agreement, he noticed a paragraph warning that his account would continue to be reported as delinquent to credit agencies until he made it current.

"I asked them about that," Spindel said. "They said it didn't apply to me because I wasn't delinquent."

The first whiff Spindel got that something was wrong came in a June 18 letter from Bank of America. His credit limit on a credit card was being cut to a laughable $500. The reason: "a major derogatory record" in his credit report."

A month later, Discover canceled his card because of inactivity and "delinquent credit obligations."

About the same time, CitiMortgage's collections department sent him a letter saying Citi had not received his forbearance payment. It threatened to cancel his repayment plan and send his mortgage to collections.

Yet Citi's own online account history indicated he paid every time.

Throughout this ordeal, Spindel repeatedly called both Citi and Mortgage Outreach to clear up the errors. He routinely waited on hold for 30 minutes or got transferred and put on hold again, getting no resolution and conflicting advice.

Twice representatives told him the repayment program he'd qualified for was no longer valid. They promised to enroll him in another program, possibly Obama's. They advised him not to make his balloon payment until he'd been qualified.; August 15, 2009 at 8:20 AM
IHateToBurstYourBubble said...: CONT:

Twice, other reps told him they had no record of him ever being enrolled in that second program.

At one point, a Citi supervisor asked him to fax an appeal of Citi's credit report. Later, Citi rejected it, citing the boilerplate language in his agreement about his "continued" delinquency -- the language he'd been told didn't apply to him.

Another rep told him to ignore the letter that declared him delinquent. This month, he got another letter saying Citi had canceled his repayment plan.

Now, Spindel doesn't know where he stands. Is he in a new modification program? Is his mortgage at collections? Will the delinquency on his credit report remain?

"They solicited me. I did everything they asked for," he said. "My credit rating is important to me, and these guys are trashing it." Just Thursday, he discovered he couldn't charge a $60 online purchase to his GE Money card. Its credit limit had been trimmed from $5,000 to $260.

A similar fate befell another Oregon man, according to the state attorney general's office.

A 29-year-old Medford man sought to refinance his 15-year mortgage to a 30-year loan after his income dropped. Citi, instead, recommended he modify it. A Mortgage Outreach case manager arranged a deal that temporarily reduced his payments for three months, the man said.

"I have never been late or delinquent in any way on my home loan," said the man, who asked not to be identified, in a complaint filed in June with Oregon Attorney General John Kroger. "This was a proactive step to ensure I never would be.

"I was also very clear with them that I relocated," he said. "They told me this was no issue."

When his three-month payment plan ended, Citi notified him that he was delinquent. It also boosted the interest rate on his Citi credit card, which carried a $16,000 balance, to 29.99 percent.

A new modification account manager told him what he was trying to do was never an option, partly because the Medford house was no longer his primary residence.

"I was grossly misled by CitiMortgage through this process," he said, "and they ultimately caused exactly what they were supposed to help me avoid."

Late last month, Citi told the state it would correct the man's derogatory report.

Now, recall that CitiMortgage's parent, Citigroup, got a $45 billion taxpayer bailout last year and $300 billion in government guarantee of its toxic assets. In exchange, it agreed to launch a borrower-relief push. It has publicly supported Obama's anti-foreclosure efforts.

A cynic would conclude that Citigroup, to fend off government takeover, embraced the modification process too much. Last week, the government reported progress on its $50 billion foreclosure-relief program. Citigroup sparkled, having modified 15 percent of eligible troubled mortgages.

If that figure includes mortgages such as Spindel's, it's misleading. And it's a good bet there are other borrowers in Citi's $729 billion loan portfolio lured into a modification they now regret.

"It's not surprising at all," said Joseph Mason, associate finance professor at Louisiana State University and an industry consultant. "The amount of pressure placed upon these servicers to modify, they'll take any opportunity to book a modification."

Citibank is not a lone actor in the foreclosure-prevention mess. Its larger competitors -- Wells Fargo & Co., Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. -- all have more complaints on file at Kroger's office than Citi.

In a statement, a CitiMortgage spokesperson promised to work with Spindel to address his issues but noted that information on credit reporting is included in repayment agreements.; August 15, 2009 at 8:21 AM

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