Okay, so no pithy wonderful little bits of information to tempt you with today. I'm on a rant again - and this time it's not because of some ecological injustice or asanine government policy... well, not quite anyhow.
This time its because I'm one of the nearly hundreds of thousands of Americans affected by the recent woes of the folks over at Indymac Bank in Pasadena. In case you hadn't been watching the news (like me) and you were taken by surprise (like me) when the bank began freezing people's assets and credit lines... Evidenly there were like 11 days of faltering before the bank crashed. Time during which wise customers pulled something like 1.3 billion in deposits. It's now owned by the FCC. That's not good news. Particularly if the panic spreads to other banks. Interestingly, one reporter noted that even though the bank lost $614 million last year, and $184 million in just the first quarter of 2008, Indymac was not even on the FDIC's list of 90 "troubled banks". There are banks in worse shape out there - some estimates are as high as 150 banks that are in imminent danger of closing in the next 18 months.
And the Bush administration tells us the economy is growing and things look good. Eee gads.
I suppose there is a down side to being the Queen of Useless Knowledge - when the key word is "useless", there are a few important things which slip your mind. Like how phenemonally f*ed up the whole Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) thing really is. So, blithely, you listen to the 22 year old selling you the loan, and begin planning for custom cabinetry, soapstone countertops and a 200lb fireclay sink. Ha! At least we're not talking about my checking account, like some of those poor folks in Pasadena. Or my life savings. I'm kinda happy about being a Credit Union customer right about now.
And here's the news that some people are still shouting "This is NOT the bottom". I'm beginning to believe the doom-and-gloom sayers. I think the mortgage crisis is only the tip of a very ugly iceberg that is floating right through the boiling sea of an election year. Hold on to your hats, folks, and make sure you're bootie is well covered. It's gonna be a hell of a ride.
On a lighter note, at least my problems made the Daily Show:
Give it a good watch - it's all good...
Oh, and just because I'm feeling a little evil today:
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