03.31.08
Posted in Current Events, Economics at 11:14 pm by madcap
Risk is an inherent feature of all investment. Many people thought they could make a fast buck by buying a house they couldn’t otherwise afford and either selling it in a year or two for a profit, or refinancing for a lower rate when their appraised value jumped. There were many, many onlookers to the growing housing bubble who knew that at some point the bubble would have to burst. For some, however, the promises of easy profits, coupled with the the temptation of convenient (and questionable) lending policies drew many into real estate purchases beyond their ability to pay or in some cases, even understand.
Of course, there were cases of unfair, even fraudulent lending practices leading unsuspecting lenders into disaster, and these should be vigorously prosecuted, and as a community we should investigate ways to help those unfairly treated. However, I suspect these cases do not make up a majority of the mortgages in default, which increasingly includes even more credit-worthy and ostensibly financially savvy borrowers.
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Posted in Current Events, Economics at 11:13 pm by madcap
Benjamin Franklin famously wrote “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety”. We are all well aware of the importance of this wariness when it comes to trading our political liberties for physical safety.
We should, however, be equally wary when offered the chance to trade economic liberty in exchange for financial security. The nation is sliding into a recessionary credit squeeze, brought about by the imprudent actions of many parties, including the Federal Reserve, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, institutions that are meant to help regulate our economy. Recently, the HUD secretary Alphonso Jackson, perhaps uniquely positioned to help oversee the responsible development of housing among the less fortunate, resigned under allegations of corruption.
What an interesting time, then, for the Treasury Secretary Paulson to unveil sweeping new proposals to overhaul our nation’s financial regulatory system. Apparently these proposals have been in under development for a year or more, well before the current economic downturn, and by all accounts, they would do little or nothing to deal with any of the issues that led to the current crisis, spurned by the collapse of mortgage-backed securities. This raises the interesting question: why is the Bush administration, with less than a year left in office, pushing for a vast overhaul of this system?
Let’s not allow the administration to once again take advantage of our present financial fears and encroach on the economic freedoms that fuel the long-term strength of our economy. It is bad enough that our government is using our tax money to bail out individuals and corporations who made bad decisions, creating a moral hazard for speculators by cushioning their risk. It is an even greater travesty to allow our leaders to usurp our economic freedom in the name of taking care of us… and from a Republican administration no less!
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Posted in Culture, Current Events, Religion, atheism at 9:26 pm by madcap
My favorite illustration of confirmation bias is Nicholas Taleb’s retelling of a tale by Cicero in his book
The Black Swan:
One Diagoras, a nonbeliever in the gods, was shown painted tablets bearing the portraits of some worshippers who prayed, then survived a subsequent shipwreck. The implication was that praying protects you from drowning. Diagoras asked, “Where were the pictures of those who prayed, then drowned?”
Well, there’s no picture, but here’s a story of one little girl who witnessed the awe-inspiring power of prayer:
WESTON, Wis. - Police are investigating an 11-year-old girl’s death from an undiagnosed, treatable form of diabetes after her parents chose to pray for her rather than take her to a doctor.
Wisconsin girl, 11, dies of treatable diabetes probed after parents pick prayer over medicine
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Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, Religion at 12:25 am by madcap
If there is a God, it’s going to be a whole lot bigger and a whole lot more incomprehensible than anything that any theologian of any religion has ever proposed.
Richard Dawkins, God vs. Science - TIME
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03.30.08
Posted in Culture, Economics, Technology at 11:13 pm by madcap
From his Cessna a mile above the southern Amazon, John Carter looks down on the destruction of the world’s greatest ecological jewel. He watches men converting rain forest into cattle pastures and soybean fields with bulldozers and chains. He sees fires wiping out such gigantic swaths of jungle that scientists now debate the “savannization” of the Amazon. Brazil just announced that deforestation is on track to double this year; Carter, a Texas cowboy with all the subtlety of a chainsaw, says it’s going to get worse fast. “It gives me goose bumps,” says Carter, who founded a nonprofit to promote sustainable ranching on the Amazon frontier. “It’s like witnessing a rape.”
The Clean Energy Scam - TIME
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