SAR #10132

“Judge not the play before the play is done”

Finem respice, Francis Quarles

Takes One to Know One:  JPMorgan is complaining that enough ruthless underwater borrowers are walking away to endanger future profits through their selfish anti-social acts.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho. It's Off To Reposses We Go:  In the first quarter of this year, Fannie, Freddie and the FHA ended up with 22% more foreclosed homes than they had in 4Q2009, and 59% more than 1Q2009.   Non-government investors, banks and thrifts hold an even larger number of REOs.

The Scene of the Crime:   According to BP, drilling the “relief” well runs the risk of another blowout, one that could release 240,000 barrels a day vs. the current 5,000.   Some cure.

As If:   Everybody who wants to suffer miserably for a few years, raise your hands.   And that's why the Euro Defence Fund is doomed.   You can put your hands down now.

It Can't Happen Here:   Chevron Canada has promised a bunch of Canadian politicians that drilling an exploratory well off Newfoundland in water even deeper than the Deepwater Horizon is perfectly safe, there being no beaches in the neighborhood.

Quantity vs Quality:  Upwards of 18 US missiles were sent into a “terrorist training camp” in Pakistan, killing 14 people who, being dead, were undoubtedly terrorists.   Note that the US war in Pakistan now targets 'areas', the effort to pick out particular individuals having long since failed.   Also note that there is a US war going on in Pakistan.   Write your congressman, he probably doesn't remember voting on it.

Some Rules:   Best out of ten: #4 – The Goldman Sachs Rule: Financial products (and financial advice) are designed to benefit the seller, not the buyer.   And #3 The Derivative Rule: If you can't explain how it works to your mother, don't invest in it.   And of course: Location, location, location.

Believe It or Don't:   BP could pay for the oil cleanup with just 4 days of its profits.   'Could' being the operative word.

About Face:  Faced with claims by inmates who survived and were inexplicably released, the US Air Force said it was pretty sure there is only one prison at the Bagram airbase and that all the torture was done there, but promised to check again and see if it missed one.

Fact Finding:  Thirty-two of the 40 Congressmen sitting in judgment of BP & Friends have received millions of dollars from BP and other oil and gas interests.  But don't worry, for the rules BP etc. may have violated were written by... BP & friends whose American Petroleum Institute wrote nearly 100 of the standards in the nation's offshore operating regulations.

Warming Trend:   2009 was the warmest year on record for the South Pole, but at -54.2ºF not a lot of ice melted.  Last year was the second warmest year on record for the entire planet.

Shadowlands:  Over 6,500 Chicago rental buildings, containing 21,000 apartments, were foreclosed last year.  The financial pages treats it as tangential issue to the collapse of the CMBS issues.  Tenants? Why should bankers and investors be concerned with tenants?

Diet Plan:  Ever notice that when someone's on a diet they tend to sneak snacks and end up gaining weight?  Same thing has happened to the national debt since the Republicans started “starving the beast” back in the 1980's. Thirty years of experience (during 20 of which the GOP was in charge) has given us not one iota of evidence that cutting taxes has any effect on the size of government or the ever raising deficit, except to increase it.  Even so, it is still a bedrock Republican dream.

Porn O'Graph:  Ever downward, in a small country blessed with oil.