Paying other people's debts...

Friday, April 4th
2158 hrs

I thought I should read up a lot+ruminate on what
is transpiring before my departure to Botswana :

The National Association of Home Builders cut
off all political funding (around $20m, 65% to
Republicans and the rest to Dems) in February
after a tax refund clause failed to make it into
an economic stimulus package passed back in
January. Just yesterday, the US Senate agreed to
a bill that lets the same homebuilders to "carry
back" recent losses to earlier years of profit!!
Now, the Congeressional Budget Office (CBO) figures
that the taxpayer will end up paying the homebuilders
approximately $6b, a very large percentage of which
will end up in the coffers of the very same
homebuilders that are partially responsible (along
with end American greed!) for the mess that we
are in right now. Some scoundrels ("All politicians
are scoundrels", GB Shaw)up in Washington tout
this as a measure to avoid distressed prices and
prevent layoffs.

Bull Shit!

The last credit card bill that I paid late was
when I was back in school (1993-94). I, as a
taxpayer am being penalized for paying my cards
on time, paying up my mortgages on time and in
general, for being circumspect about my fiscal
responsibilities. I am being forced to pay to
rescue companies and individuals that did not
have a sense of fiscal responsibility and just
pandered to their own whims and greed.

This country is going to the dogs -- as long
as idiot politicians who are in the back pockets
of corporate america are around and as long as
special interest groups are around, this country
will never learn what it means to be fiscally
responsible. After all, fiscal responsibility
has to start from a grass roots level and that
means you, I and the rest of the people that
inhabit this country. This malaise thrives up
every orifice - we are a huge debtor nation.

Let the homebuilders and mindless people that
accumulated debt fail. That's the only way true
capitalism will work because that is being
responsible for the actions we take.

I've never been able to trade T-bond futures
profitably. I would be a lot richer if I could
just get my losses on those things paid back
to my by the US government. Now, why would you
not want to pay for that one?

I detest/hate/resent/loathe what is happening.
We are all thieves as we are stealing from
future generations by not letting the people
that need to take pain, take it.

Very soon you will read that the National
Association of Homebuilders has re-instated
its political contributions, or even doubled it.
Here we call them "lobby groups" but we point
to other countries and call it "bribery".

- aLV

PS: FYI, the best performing group amongst stocks
has been the homebuilders. The best performing
company this year amongst the SP500 has been
Pulte Homes.