Too Little, Way Too Late

It's nice that the Federal Reserve has decided to step up and do something about predatory lending practices--but the time to do so was over three or four years ago. What is it about these people that angers me more--their incompetence or the fact that they seem to have the uncanny ability to wait until everyone who can make their fortunes at the expense of others have done so?

The Federal Reserve has adopted rules to give home buyers more protection from the types of shady lending practices that have contributed to the housing crisis and propelled foreclosures to record highs.

Chairman Ben Bernanke and his central bank colleagues approved a plan Monday that would crack down on dubious lending practices that have hurt many of the riskiest "subprime" borrowers - people with tarnished credit histories or low incomes.

What? All of those warning signs over the past couple of years weren't enough? Anyone who thinks the mortgage meltdown just happened is kidding themselves. That's okay--all of the predatory lending people have moved on. They're probably running slum lord housing for renters who used to be homeowners...

--WS

Hold on to your butt...

If Bernancke could, he'd make it -1.5%...and it still wouldn't help...

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve, continuing an aggressive series of actions to try and right the struggling economy, cut a key short-term interest rate three-quarters of a point Tuesday to its lowest level in three years.

The central bank cut the federal funds rate, which is used as a benchmark for a wide variety of business and consumer loans, to 2.25 percent from 3 percent. It was the third time the Fed had cut the rate this year, and marked the sixth time the Fed has cut the rate since the economy began to sputter late last summer, when the fed funds rate was at 5.25 percent.

Here, this will distract you from the pain:

While grappling with MSNBC and CNN for viewers, Fox News has also been battling a smaller, more insidious enemy closer to home: bed bugs in its Midtown Manhattan newsroom. In an interview on Monday, Warren Vandeveer, senior vice president for operations and engineering at Fox News, said the cable channel had realized it had a problem a few weeks ago, when an employee “caught a bug and showed it to us.” An exterminator determined that the incursion was limited to a “very small area in the newsroom.” But the source of the bugs was not determined until the exterminator inspected the homes of about 20 employees. Mr. Vandeveer said the exterminator later described one employee’s home as having “the worst infestation he had seen in 25 years in the business.” After making large bags available for employees to stash their belongings, and replacing a number of fabric-covered desk chairs, Mr. Vandeveer said that the treatments had ended about a week ago, and that the problem had been contained. “It’s totally eradicated,” he said. [ h/t to Think Progress]

Heckuva Job, Bernancke--Time to Distract Everyone!

When he has to say this:

BREAKING NEWS: Bush says administration is 'on top of the situation' in dealing with the economy

It really means this:

BREAKING NEWS: Sales of medieval weapons and texts on casting out evil spirits soar; barter system approved by temporary Congress; millions of rioting people smited with powerful laser weapons whose existence not previously disclosed.

Soon--very soon--either a whole lot of people will lose their jobs or there will be pronouncements of "I serve at the pleasure of the President" crowding out the bad news.

And isn't it time for someone blonde and beautiful to come along and distract us from all of this icky bad news? Isn't it time for people to start distracting us from the bad news?


You know, whoever advised Heather Mills in her divorce from Paul McCartney could probably do a better job--she asked for a hundred million, was offered fifty million, and now only gets 48.6 million. If we had that kind of crackerjack leadership in this country, we'd only be moderately screwed blue and left by the side of the road.

Nah, I think we're gonna need more distraction than that. For example, instead of paying attention to current events, your typical conservative blogger goes for the cheap stuff to fill up space. Case in point--Ace of Spades gets his love on:

Coffee, Tea, or Me?
—Ace
Ace of Spades Lifestyle (TM), aerial division.

A 21-year-old Harris County woman filed a $200,000 lawsuit against American Airlines alleging employees on a flight to Los Angeles from Dallas/Fort Worth Airport failed to protect her while she slept from another passenger who masturbated to her and ejaculated in her hair, according to a lawsuit she filed last week in Tarrant County.

Destined for a Spring Break visit with family and friends March 19, the woman flew from Houston to DFW Airport and had settled into her seat for the last leg of flight 2074 to Los Angeles about 11 p.m., the suit states. The woman slept most of the flight, but awoke about 20 minutes before landing when the pilot announced the plane was on decent into Los Angeles. When the woman opened her eyes, she saw that an unknown man had moved into the seat next to her and was staring at her as he masturbated, the suit states.

The woman turned toward the window in embarrassment and in an act of nervousness began to run her fingers through her hair where she noticed “a substantial amount of an extremely sticky substance in her hair,” the suit states.

The man was arrested.

Squares. In Europe they don't have these childish American hang-ups about assaulting someone with flying genetic material. When I was in France, for example, I sat next to a pleasant grandmother sleeping on a train. Cute as a button; must have been ninety five years young.

Anyhoo, I left more DNA on her than OJ left at Rockingham, and she just stirred a little and said "Touche."

Hey, if you're gonna go classy and try to distract yourself from these matters, you gotta stick with Ace. Any man who can make a joke about sexually assaulting old women has to be the cream of the crop when it comes to conservative thought. And by cream, I do mean, cream.