From the Dept. of Things That Make You Go Hmmm ... I submit an entry from a blog I like to read on a semi-regular basis, Oraculations. The proprietor is Howard Veit, and he's rather curmudgeonly but I like his abrasive style and many times his instincts are razor-sharp. Note - I've added a couple line breaks for readability.
Thousands of photographs of families thrown out of foreclosed homes can be found......er, ummm....well they can't be found.
Could it possibly be because they don't exist?
That 'poor' family victims were actually speculators who got caught? Wouldn't a hate Bush crazed media display them all over, if they exist? I bring this up because coming in contact with fifty or so new people after the graduations I attended last week turned up a ton of conversations in which all concerned said everyone they knew who were 'victims' of foreclosures were speculating...AND KNEW IT.
I know emperical data shouldn't be trusted and that I should trust the Main Stream Media, but I just wonder........
#1
My conversations with friends in Vegas show both cases. On one hand, realtors caught playing the market with multiple properties in their name when the game of musical credit chairs ended. On the other, another friend spending weekends helping move working buds who've had to clear out of their mortgaged house, into an apartment or on their way to elsewhere in the US where work awaited. I suspect that video of the latter loading their 52" wide screen LCD into the UHaul along with a truck full of belongings wouldn't make good theater has mom and the kids crying at the curb with a couple pieces of meager furniture.
#2
Seafarious,
Don't know where you or Mr. Veit live, but here in the Twin Cities, most of the foreclosures are in poor neighborhoods of North Minneapolis. Not very many rich speculators up there.
What you've got is alot of not very educated people trying to buy their first home and thinking that the mortgage broker was their on their side.
However the Twin Cities was listed by the FBI as one of the centers for mortgage fraud.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
06/28/2008 14:45 Comments ||
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#3
Precisely Frozen Al,
A lot of families who were first time home owners took the brunt of this. Call them unsophisticated buyers if you like, but you are t-totally right. They thought the mortgage broker was operating with their best interests in mind and they got caught with their pants down. This Veit guy is a dickweed, there are 4 families I know of personally that lost their homes out of this bullshit, and they didn't deserve it.
#4
Sorry but if you're too stupid to realize that "adjustable rate" means that your rate will adjust you have no business buying real estate. Or if you can't prepare a budget that will let you make the payments you've agreed to make ....
#5
Gotta go with AzCat on this one. Speculator or not you signed a contract. And if that's not it let me know who's gonna start making my payments for me. I'll stop tomorrow.
#6
I like Howard Veit. He's crusty as hell but he's sharp and usually has the fact to back his assertions up. Moreover, he's willing to admit when he was wrong without having to be prompted. Last but not least, who could dislike a guy who claims to have a Ph.D in Home Invasions from San Quentin?
#7
Maybe, but anyone who's ever bought a house knows what it's like at closing. The guys that sell these kinds of loans arent like the guys at your friendly neighborhood bank, they're sharks. They are the same guys that sell used cars at the buy here pay here lots, they're crooks and they're good at hustling people. If they weren't good at it nobody would agree to the crazy ass terms in those loans. People get scammed, not because they're stupid, because they don't know any better and because these guys are slick.
It is distressing and alarming that communal tension is rising over the decision of the Jammu and Kashmir [Images] state government to transfer a little less than 40 hectares of land to the Sri Amarnathji Shrine Board to enable the latter to provide accommodation facilities to the thousands of Hindu pilgrims who visit the Amarnath shrine every summer. One cannot expect separatist and militant outfits in Jammu and Kashmir to make a sober and mature appraisal of the larger issues at stake. It is the attitude of mainstream political parties that is most disappointing and worrying.
The specious grounds for the the Peoples Democratic Party's objections are that the implementation of the decision of the state government would change the "eco-cultural character" of the state. What is the nature of this eco-cultural character of Jammu and Kashmir that is so fragile that it cannot survive the transfer of a small tract of land? Does the Kashmir valley have only a "Muslim" character? What happened to the much-touted Kashmiriyat? Or is that a politically correct platitude that has become an inconvenience to be ignored now that most of the Kashmiri Pandits have been hounded out of their homes in the Valley to Jammu, Delhi and elsewhere in India? Kashmiri politicians owe it to the rest of India to clarify their position on this issue.
To my mind, whether or not the land in question should be transferred to the SASB is only a technical question, not the heart of the issue. The more important thing is whether the state government feels that it has an obligation to improve the facilities that would make the pilgrimage of thousands of Hindu devotees more secure and more comfortable. For centuries pilgrims have been making the arduous trip to Amarnath cave without the benefit of any facilitation by the state. They relied on the local people for food, accommodation and other facilities. They lived in tents. But a caring State in independent India can and should do more.
It would be instructive to see what the Government of India does for Haj pilgrims visiting Mecca and Medina. The government is, in the words of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, "committed to ensure that the best possible arrangements are put in place for the comfort and well-being of Indian pilgrims to facilitate their sacred pilgrimage." The "welfare and well-being of Haj pilgrims," he says, "is always a matter of utmost concern to the government."
In keeping with these public policy statements, the Government of India makes elaborate arrangements for the welfare of Haj pilgrims and strives to improve the facilities provided to them every year. That is how it should be. The Government of India, and the ministry of external affairs in particular, deserves credit for providing perhaps the best arrangements that any government makes for their Haj pilgrims.
And what exactly does the Government of India do? For starters, it provides an airfare subsidy to about 100,000 pilgrims selected by the Haj Committee of India who go for Haj annually. Pilgrims pay only Rs 12,000 for their air travel. This figure has remained unchanged for at least a decade or more.
According to official figures, this subsidy was Rs 280 crores in 2006, or about Rs 28,000 per pilgrim. Today, with rising fuel prices, this figure would have gone up to Rs 350-400 crores. Although there is a 2006 Allahabad high court judgment ruling against this subsidy, it continues to be given because the government got the Supreme Court to pass a stay order.
Add to this the losses suffered by Air India, and the inconvenience to passengers because its planes are diverted to carry Haj pilgrims. For the convenience of pilgrims, charter flights are operated directly from 16 airports in India to Saudi Arabia. Returning pilgrims can transport 10 litres of holy Zam Zam water with them free of cost. At Delhi airport there is a separate Haj terminal. To improve the comfort of pilgrims, Air India has been advised to use wide-body jets in future for their Haj flights.
Great attention and care to Haj matters is given at the highest levels of government. The United Progressive Alliance government has successfully lobbied with the Saudi government to increase the quota for pilgrims from India, as a result of which the annual quota has increased by 38,000 over the last four years. It will go up by a further 3,000 or so this year because of the exertions of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee during his visit to Saudi Arabia in April this year.
There is a separate Haj cell in the ministry of external affairs. The Haj Committee of India has its own premises in Mumbai. Similarly the State Haj Committees have their own premises in various other Indian cities. These facilities have been built on land provided by the state governments.
Very high priority is given to Haj matters in the mandate given by the government to both the Indian ambassador in Riyadh and the Indian consul general in Jeddah. Every government in Delhi has ensured that only Muslims are appointed to these posts, a practical decision intended to facilitate their travel to Mecca and Medina, where non-Muslims are not allowed. There is also a separate consul for Haj matters in the Indian consulate general in Jeddah.
Accommodation in Mecca and Medina is decided keeping in mind the need to provide maximum convenience and comfort to the pilgrims. Typically, all accommodation has lifts, telephones, running water, electricity and telephone at the minimum. There is total computerisation of pilgrim location and movement. During Haj, a large contingent of seasonal local staff, supervisors, data entry operators, as well as drivers and messengers (whose job is to round up and bring home safely elderly pilgrims who may have got lost) is appointed by the consulate general of India, Jeddah, during the Haj period.
For Haj 2007, a contingent of 115 doctors (including 63 specialists with post-graduate degrees) and 141 nurses and other para-medical staff, 3 coordinators, 46 assistant Haj officers, 165 Haj assistants and 186 Khadimul Hujjaj were sent from India on short-term deputation to Saudi Arabia. Special attention is given to medical facilities for the pilgrims.
Some of the facilities provided by the government are: arrangements for polio, meningitis and influenza vaccinations for pilgrims before departure; a 75-bed hospital and 12 branch offices-cum-dispensaries in Mecca; a 15-bed hospital and 6 branch offices-cum-dispensaries in Medina; three medical teams at Jeddah airport to provide medical care round the clock to Haj pilgrims; 17 ambulances in Mecca and Medina; supply of medicines, medical supplies and critical medical equipment from India. All this adds up to the total money spent by the government to facilitate a hassle-free Haj pilgrimage each year for tens of thousands of Muslims from India.
Perhaps our self-righteous and petty Kashmiri politicians in India's only Muslim-majority state should reflect over these facts and tell us whether they think it is at least their moral if not political obligation to be more caring and sensitive to Hindu pilgrims visiting Amarnath. If we can do so much for Indians going on a pilgrimage abroad, should we not be able to do as much if not better for pilgrims at home?
For a start, should not the Jammu and Kashmir government at least try to match the facilities given to pilgrims to Vaishno Devi shrine, which is located in the same state? And is it too much to expect our politicians and other "secular" leaders to be a bit more courageous and vocal in trying to knock some sense into the heads of shortsighted and irresponsible Kashmiri politicians?
As those in power, both in Delhi and Srinagar [Images], ponder over this matter, the litmus test has to be whether the decision finally taken adds to the comfort and convenience of the pilgrims.
Indian citizens and taxpayers deserve honest answers to the questions posed above.
Posted by: john frum ||
06/28/2008 06:16 ||
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Have you all noticed that Cedar Rapids is under 10 feet of water. Thousands upon thousands of people are displaced?
Have you noticed that nobody is looting every empty property in sight ?
Have you noticed that nobody is shooting at rescuers?
Have you noticed any victims on TV wondering where the federal
government is to 'take care of them'?
Or, have you noticed victims, who have lost everything, make comments like 'life goes on', 'we'll just need to pick up the pieces and start over', and 'at least we still have our life'.
Maybe Government could help make 'victims' of these survivors as well, convince them that they aren't strong enough to take care of themselves, they're not smart enough to survive. Maybe we should subsidize their lives for the next 2+ years, free housing, $2000/month to not work....Just food for thought
Have you noticed that the media does not make nearly as big a deal of this as they did of Katrina in New Orleans? Maybe if they could find an angle that says: 'Bush doesn't care about minorities' they would give the kind of coverage they did in New Orleans.
But wait, the water will eventually break through and make its way down river to New Orleans. Then we will see the coverage change. Then it will be a moral tragedy and evidence that Republicans don't care about minorities. Then you will see Obama and Sharpton on the scene. The news will explain why the people are frustrated and that is why they shoot at the rescue helicopters and loot and steal.
#1
Have you noticed the population composition ? Nuff said. I doubt the gov't will shower these good and industrious folk with bazillions in aid either. They'll be left to their own devices. And, yet, they'll make it somehow.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
