Are we being honest about the Homeowner Stability Initiative?

MSNBC: The plan I’m announcing focuses on rescuing families who have played by the rules and acted responsibly,” Obama said. “It will not rescue the unscrupulous or irresponsible by throwing good taxpayer money after bad loans.”


He said the plan will not help those dishonest lenders who distorted facts for naive buyers, or buyers who signed on for loans they knew they could not afford.



But...


There are incentives for lenders to modify loans for borrowers who can't afford their loan and the government to make up "part of" the difference between the old monthly payment and the new payment.  I don't see how one can argue that this doesn't in some way either benefit "dishonest" lenders or stupid buyers who could not afford their loan.  I don't actually believe in the dishonest lender so I'd categorize everyone facing foreclosure as a poor buyer that should have known they could not afforded their loan or at least taken responsibility for the risk of that loan.


In the end, the incentive is perfect for the lenders who will be getting above market rates on the loans that they made to buyers rather than face the losses they would have sustained from foreclosure.  The risk of foreclosure was the very thing that should have kept these lenders scared of making the loan in the first place but now the government had reduced their risk so everyone who acted foolishly truly does win.

The Times are Changing

"A DNA test will be performed to determine if a 13-year-old boy fathered a baby with his 15-year-old girlfriend, his spokesman said Monday.

The test comes after a Sunday tabloid newspaper reported that two other teenage boys have come forward claiming to be the father of the newborn baby girl."

Am I really to believe that two teenage boys are coming forward to claim paternity of a baby?  To take that honor (or should I say honour) away from this 13 year old British boy is a travesty against irresponsibility.  The whole focus of this story should shift from the fact that one young boy fathered a child with a young girl to the fact that all of these young individuals are responsible enough to claim paternity in the case of the lowly pregnant 15 year old who recently gave birth.  How inspiring this must be for Britain and all of humanity.

Remote Office

I wish that I had the balls to take a picture but I'll just have to paint the scene with words instead.

I walk into a Starbucks on a rainy Monday morning.  Out of the corner of my eye I see an Indian man in his 50's holding what appears to be an old fashioned telephone handset to his ear.  The rain must keep foot traffic way way down because there was no line so I proceeded to place my order.  The baristas were discussing a Craigslist add for a coffee shop down the street that would give preference to any laid-off Starbucks employees.  The mood still seemed rather light despite the conversation.

After having placed my order I walked over to where I pick up my drink, but while waiting I had a better opportunity to inspect Old Fashioned Phone Guy.  In fact, Old Fashioned Phone Guy was sporting a full fledged video phone (with streaming video that I could see updating), presumably running off the Starbucks wifi and also had a laptop set up.  There was nobody in the seats behind him but this was a light day as I mentioned before.  I wonder if people would have felt the need for privacy enough to vacate the area had it been a busier day.  The man continued on with what I can only presume was business as usual, not feeling the least bit odd holing the large handset to his ear, looking at someone on the video phone while typing away at his computer.  A true multitasker for the generations!

Is China trying to kill Indians?

"In fact, a CNN-IBN special investigation one year ago, tested a random sample of toys for lead.

The results revealed that Chinese toys contained higher levels lead than their Indian counterparts.

The study also showed that the highest content of this heavy metal was in products like teethers for newborn and toddlers."

Coincidence or international conspiracy?  One country has a "one-baby" policy and the other (I'm assuming from watching the Simpsons) has a "lotta babies" policy.  I think we all know the answer to this one.

Tax PSA

"Nearly 1 of every 6 tax returns filed so far includes errors in reporting last year’s federal stimulus payments, the Internal Revenue Service said, blaming confusion among professional tax preparers and early releases of tax software."


Software can understandably be flawed, especially early releases of something new.  I would like to know how many of these professional tax preparers are getting this wrong because clearly this degree of incompetence in their profession is something that should be highlighted.  I understand if people didn't remember that it wasn't taxable (I won't go as far to excuse not knowing because the letter which came with the check did clearly state that it wasn't taxable).  I will not excuse a professional for this disregard.


A week ago I got some prior returns from a prospective client.  In order to estimate their fees I reviewed their return in detail in order to determine their complexity.  I found in my short review 2 glaring errors that to me are so Tax 101 that I'm embarrassed that a professional practitioner did not catch it.  In the end our fees were likely too high and this client will go to some other practitioner but I included a letter with my observation of the errors so they could hopefully realize the value of a professional reviewing a return rather than the individual practitioners who claim to be professionals.  It's a matter of pride.

Nice Package

"We don't want a package that is too small because that will end up just wasting money. On the other hand, we're very leery of having an enormous package that would not be necessary and would just boost the federal deficit," Collins said as Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Nebraska, nodded in agreement.


If you didn't laugh while reading that then there's something wrong with you.