The City Paper runs the numbers on the Baltimore Sun’s chosen ‘victim’.

Like so many others, Baltimore City Paper writer Edward Ericson Jr. takes issue with yesterdays Baltimore Sun font page housing foreclosure victim.  Mr. Ericson took the time to run a few numbers on Veronica Peterson’s mortgage and came up with a perhaps not so surprising revelation:

Victim Mentality

But it appears that Peterson made few–if any–payments. The foreclosure was filed July 31, 2007. The balance on the main note then was $435,735.86, plus unpaid interest accrued from Jan. 1, 2007, plus $1,005.72 in late charges. This suggests that Peterson made, at most, one payment on her house: the December, 2006 payment. Given the grace periods typical in home-mortgage business, it is at least as likely that her first payment was not due until January 2007, which would mean she has made zero payments.

So basically it looks like Peterson managed to game the system and live in a half a million dollar home for a year practically for free.  But remember, she’s the victim and the banks, who allowed her to go for a year without payment before forclosing, it the villan.  In Peterson’s own words:

“This bill doesn’t do anything for the people who have lost their homes or are in the process of losing their homes,” Peterson said, according to The Sun. “All the laws passed have been basically to help the lending institutions.”

Well of course…. because obviously taxpayers should be required to keep you in your McMansion…  while you pay nothing.

Baltimore Sun chooses the wrong ‘victim’

President Bush signed the housing bailout bill today (otherwise known as the ‘Punish those who act responsibly and reward the idiots and thieves’ bill). To highlight this, the Sun decided to pick a local ‘victim’ of the so-called foreclosure crisis to highlight on their front page.

They didn’t really think it through too well.

Rescue is quirk of timing

Hundreds of thousands of struggling homeowners may get the help they need to stave off foreclosure from the federal housing bill that Congress passed last week. But for hundreds of thousands more, people like Veronica Peterson, it comes too late.

So everyone is supposed to feel sorry for single Mom Veronica Petereson and her kids. Right?

Well fine…. then you read this:

Peterson is waiting for the eviction notice that will force her out of the $545,000 house she bought in Columbia two years ago.

Wha-Whaaaaat? She bought a half a million dollar home? Well she must have one hell of a job then. What? She runs a home based daycare? Oh. Then WHY IN THE HELL did she buy a .5 million dollar home?

She said her mortgage broker inflated her income and asset value to put her into a mortgage she could not afford.

Oh well OBVIOUSLY. No way is this her fault. I mean there’s just no way to expect a person to really be able to add up the dollars they pull in a month and compare that to a mortgage payment (and yes, even with an ARM its pretty easy to see if you’ll be able to afford the monthly payments or not).

I’m not alone in my reaction to this story. As of this writing, there are 249 comments to the Baltimore Sun article. The popular opinion is most definitely NOT in Veronica Peterson’s camp.

Both Veronica Petereson and her Mortgage Agent are at fault here and both need to face the music (though who knows… maybe the mortgage agent has already been arrested).

And what did I just say?

Ok… so I didn’t ‘just’ say it, I said it more like a month ago. Still…

As a refresher, a link to the post I’m talking about:

Gas taxes will be going up.

Peters expressed concern that the cutbacks have resulted in the collection of fewer taxes on gasoline.

And what article did I come across today?

Congress considers raising pump tax to help repair crumbling highways

The political vision of a summer gas tax holiday died a quick death in Congress, losing to a view that federal excise taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel will have to go up if they go anywhere.

…

lawmakers quietly are talking about raising fuel taxes by a dime from the current 18.4 cents a gallon on gasoline and 24.3 cents on diesel fuel.

10 cents per gallon more to 28.4 cents. Thats over a 50% increase.

Is it any wonder the approval rating of this congress is in the single digits?

False Advertising #2

On the way into work the other morning, I caught a General Motors ad on the radio.  It started out talking about how bad gas prices were and how properly inflated tires could increase gas milage up to 1-3%.  Ok, fine.

The ad then goes on to say (and I’m paraphrasing a bit) ‘thats why all GM vehicles come with a tire pressure monitoring system as standard equipment’.

Bullshit.

All new vehicles, not just GM vehicles, but all new vehicles come with a tire pressure monitoring system.  Its been a Federal (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) regulation since late 2003.  It comes from the TREAD act which was a result of the Firestone/Ford Explorer rollover problems.

Of course the ad fails to mention that a large majority of these monitoring systems only report a problem when the tire pressure is reduced enough to cause a safety issue.  Proper manual monitoring is still required in order to keep a constant tire pressure that will have any positive effect on gas milage.

Nice try GM.

False Advertising #1

My local Rutters gas station had the following stickers on their pumps for quite a while now (yes, I took pictures of the stickers because they annoyed me):

It was a fairly small and unobtrusive sticker. All it really did was cause me to try and a find a station that was selling actual gasoline and not watered down gasoline. However, as more and more stations switch over to E10 fuel, that is becoming harder to find.

So a couple of days ago I found myself having to stop at this same Rutters and get a shot of so-called ‘gas’. You could help but notice the new Ethanol sticks which are almost 3 times as large as the original ones:

What? Enriched? Are they serious? Lets take a look at the definition of the word ‘enrich‘:

: to make rich or richer esp. by the addition or increase of some desirable quality, attribute, or ingredient <the experience will enrich your life>: as a: to add beauty to : adorn b: to enhance the taste of <butter will enrich the sauce> c: to make (a soil) more fertile d: to improve the nutritive value of (a food) by adding nutrients (as vitamins or amino acids) and especially by restoring part of the nutrients lost in processing <enriched flour> e: to process so as to add or increase the proportion of a desirable ingredient <enriched uranium> <enriched natural gas>

Blending ethanol into gasoline does not enrich it. In a best case scenario the automobiles MPG are not impacted. More often than not (as in my case), ethanol has a negative impact on fuel economy.

The only thing ethanol enriches is the bank account of the corn lobby.

A sign of things to come?

I read through the following article this morning with mild amusement.

The Greenest Show on Earth: Democrats Gear Up for Denver

As the Mile High City gears up to host a Democratic bash for 50,000, organizers are discovering the perils of trying to stage a political spectacle that’s also politically correct.

Consider the fanny packs.

The host committee for the Democratic National Convention wanted 15,000 fanny packs for volunteers. But they had to be made of organic cotton. By unionized labor. In the USA.

Official merchandiser Bob DeMasse scoured the country. His weary conclusion: “That just doesn’t exist.”

Ditto for the baseball caps. “We have a union cap or an organic cap,” Mr. DeMasse says. “But we don’t have a union-organic offering.”

Of course then you hit a section which makes you scratch your head and wonder ‘are they serious?’

But Matt Burns, a spokesman for the Republican convention, looks on with undisguised glee at some of the Democrats’ efforts — such as the “lean ‘n’ green” catering guidelines.

Among them: No fried food. And, on the theory that nutritious food is more vibrant, each meal should include “at least three of the following colors: red, green, yellow, blue/purple, and white.” (Garnishes don’t count.) At least 70% of ingredients should be organic or grown locally, to minimize emissions from fuel burned during transportation. “One would think,” says Mr. Burns, “that the Democrats in Denver have bigger fish to bake — they have ruled out frying already — than mandating color-coordinated pretzel platters.”

But, as usual, there’s just no way to make everyone happy.

Joanne Katz, who runs the Denver caterer Three Tomatoes, will take one for the green team by removing her fried goat-cheese won tons with chipotle pepper caramel sauce from the menu. But she questions whether some of the guidelines will have the desired earth-saving effects.

Compostable utensils, she says, are often shipped from Asia on fuel-guzzling cargo ships. As for the plates: “Is it better to drive across town to have china delivered to an event and then use hot water to wash it, or is it better to use petroleum-based disposables?” she asks.

Even beer is causing a problem.

But it’s almost inevitable that principles, politics and profit will conflict. To wit: Coors Brewing Co., in Golden, Colo., will donate biofuel made from beer waste to power the convention’s fleet of flex-fuel vehicles. A green star for the convention — but it has rankled die-hard liberals, who boycotted Coors in the 1960s and ’70s to protest hiring practices that they said discriminated against blacks, Latinos, women and gays. Heirs to the Coors fortune have long been active in conservative causes and Republican politics.

…

No matter, grumbles Anna Flynn, a longtime union member from Denver who objected to the donation. “Any way you put it, it’s still Coors,” she says.

So will the fanny packs — made in the USA of undyed, organic fabric. Mr. DeMasse vows to get a union shop to print the logo, but he says the ink will be petroleum based. Unless, that is, he decides to get the logo embroidered — with biodegradable thread.

I couldn’t help but be reminded of the ‘Office Christmas Party’ joke that worked its way around the internet a couple of years ago. If you haven’t seen it, or would like to see it again, I’ve included it below the fold.

Ethanol Hurts Gas Mileage

Ethanol Blended Fuel Hurts Gas Mileage

Supporters of ethanol use say it’s a cheaper, cleaner burning fuel. They claim the 10% blend has virtually no impact on fuel efficiency, but some mechanics disagree.

…

Block says it’s simple science. He says a car must burn more ethanol to create the same energy as gasoline. So if you remove 10% pure gasoline and replace it with ethanol, the fuel won’t burn the same.

According to Block’s numbers, the driver of a vehicle that gets 20 miles per gallon would see his fuel efficiency drop to 19 miles per gallon on average.

Hmmm. This sounds familiar. Seems I read someone saying something like this not too long ago. Oh yeah, it was me.

Not to mention that Ethanol blend gasoline makes many cars (like mine) run like crap and causes them to burn MORE gas which makes people spend MORE money at the pump.

One MPG difference can have a significant impact over course of a tank of gas. For the record, by my calculations a 10% Ethanol blend causes me to lose a little over 2 MPG. In my case thats a days commute to work and back. Thats one more day I can go an without having to buy gas. Over a few months that adds up to a couple weeks. Over a year that adds up to… well, you get the point.

Gas taxes will be going up.

How do I know?

Americans drive 1.4 billion fewer highway miles

Americans drove 1.4 billion fewer highway miles in April than they did in April 2007, the Department of Transportation said Wednesday.

That marks the sixth consecutive monthly drop and coincides with record gas prices and an increase in transit ridership, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said.

Yeah, I can hear you out there. “So? What does this have to do with gas taxes?”

Well here’s the money quote:

Peters expressed concern that the cutbacks have resulted in the collection of fewer taxes on gasoline. Such taxes are funneled to the federal Highway Trust Fund, which gets 18.4 cents per gallon from gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon from diesel fuel.

“History shows that we’re going to continue to see congested roads while gas tax revenues decline even further,” she said.

In addition to driving less, Americans are buying smaller vehicles. Peters said sales of midsize SUV dropped 38 percent last month compared with May of last year as Americans increasingly choose to drive cars, the department said.

Fewer taxes? Oh no. We can’t have that. The Government is never expected to make do with less. Only the citizen. Need proof? Just look around for a few water bill tax stories. There’s plenty of them out there. In fact, he’s an entry I wrote about one back in 2006:

Local Government raises water bills BECAUSE…

Water bills in Harrisburg are going up. The Harrisburg Authority has approved a 13.5 percent rate increase that takes effect immediately. A household of four would see an average increase of $4.04 a month.The authority said the increase is due to a significant drop in water usage because people are conserving more.

No good deed goes unpunished. Conserve more and you will be taxed more.

The Farm Bill

Pelosi Statement on House Vote to Override the Presidents Veto of the Bipartisan Farm Bill

Last month, the Congress passed the Food and Energy Security Act, a new Farm Bill for America, because it will help lower food prices, makes an historic new commitment to nutrition assistance and food stamps, invests in energy independence, supports conservation, and recognizes the importance of fruits, vegetables, and other specialty crops.

The Food and Energy Security Act will also help reduce gas prices and ensure that Americas family farmers fuel Americas energy independence. The bill makes a $1 billion investment in energy independence, takes a critical step in transitioning from bio-fuels made from corn, and creates a new tax credit that will provide a $400 million investment in cellulosic biofuels, such as switchgrass. These efforts will help ensure that we send our energy dollars to the Midwest and across America, instead of to the Middle East.

Well yippee. Another billion to the Corn/Ethanol lobby. Nevermind that Ethanol production is causing serious increases in food prices as well as being obscenely wasteful in the amount of water needed for production. And why are they still pushing this ‘Ethanol will reduce gas prices’ crap? In my area you can’t find a gas station that isn’t selling at least a 10% Ethanol blend gasoline. Gas prices are still over $4 at those stations. Not to mention that Ethanol blend gasoline makes many cars (like mine) run like crap and causes them to burn MORE gas which makes people spend MORE money at the pump. If the Government insists on spending taxpayer’s money on biofules, those numbers should be reversed. Put a billion into celluosic biofuels (and algae based biofuels as well). Those biofuels are far more promising that Ethanol (not that the Corn lobby will admit that).

I’m really not understanding how Pelosi can say this bill will lower food prices. Not only, as mentioned before, does Ethanol production increase food prices, this farm bill still pays farmers to idle their land and not farm. All in the name of conservation. So which is it? Is there a ‘global food crisis’ that we hear so much about in the media or do we need farmers to idle their land for conservation? Which is more important?

The price of gasoline has doubled since the Democrats took over Congress two years ago. This pork laden farm bill is not going to help. These politicians are living in a dream world.

side note: I also notice they’ll still repeating the ‘Middle East’ mantra. It seems they want many people to keep believing that we import a majority of our oil from the Middle East when in fact our top suppliers include Canada (number one), Mexico, Venezuela and Nigeria.

Heh

I received this in an email with no link to the original source.  If someone knows the source, please let me know so I can give proper credit.