We are being run by assholes:
So says Jon Stewart, so say we all.
Author: Matthew G. Saroff
White Spaces Passes FCC
White Spaces at a Glance:
“A” can use 400 MHz without interfering with anyone
Which means that it’s now official, and any number of high speed wireless devices will be able to operate without a license in the spaces between TV channels:
The Federal Communications Commission today unanimously approved new rules for the use of unlicensed white space spectrum in a move that could pave the way for more unused wireless spectrum to be released in the future.
White space is unused spectrum that sits between TV channels. The 300MHz to 400MHz of unused spectrum is considered prime spectrum for offering wireless broadband services because it can travel long distances and penetrate through walls. The FCC unanimously agreed in November 2008 to open up this spectrum for unlicensed use. Even so, technical issues to allow device makers and service providers to use the spectrum still need to be worked out.
(emphasis mine)
The technical issues are a big deal, because, as the redoubtable Harold Feld notes, the devil is really in the details here, and the incumbent wireless providers want to require that devices ping themselves to death:
Right now, the rules require a Mode 2 (the ones that access the database directly) to ping the database every 24 hours. Mode 1 devices “listen” to Mode 2, according to the 2008 Order (which I understand means “get told when an actual change occurs). The broadcasters want the Mode 1 devices to ping the Mode 2s every 60 seconds and want Mode 2 to ping the database every 15 minutes, if not more frequently. Since television broadcast towers are big stationary things, not Ents marching on Isengard, one may ask why devices need to check more than once a day. In response, broadcasters explain that if some day some news team somewhere they might possibly be running down the street after some hot news lead if they ran into someone using a smart phone with white spaces capability it might, possibly, cause some sort of interference with the mobile news crew’s wireless microphone system.
At this time, it appears that they did not go with the ping of death regulations, nor did they require “Sense and Avoid” technology, which is purported to be both expensive and technically challenging.
One of the big things here is the geographical database: If the TV stations start making bogus claims of interference, we may end up with a situation where the coverage will be limited to remote rural areas.
Quote of the Day
Out of the mouths of babes:
The worst thing is the uncertainty. Just give us a set of rules and then we’ll figure out how to work around them… I mean work with them.
—A senior American banker who was caught in a moment of unintended candor
Cowardly Conservadems Cause Tax Cut Catastrophe
What Cee Lo Green Said (NSFW)
So, put a fork in it, the Democrats won’t be voting on middle class tax cuts, because the conservadems are unwilling to support the idea:
Obama wanted a vote on his proposed extension of some of the tax cuts before lawmakers returned to the campaign trail for the November 2 elections, in part to reinforce Democratic support for pocketbook issues.
Democratic strategists have been divided over whether it’s politically beneficial to push for a vote on the tax cuts now, citing their candidates from conservative states in tough re-election battles who would have to defend the resulting increase in the tax rate on wealthy Americans to previous levels.
Of course, voting on this would have put the Republicans on the defensive, by forcing them to vote against middle class tax cuts, the the conservadem/Blue Dog types are so terrified of Republicans that they are shooting themselves in the foot.
Bad policy and bad politics.
Truth be told, I’m for letting it all expire, and then increasing taxes on the very rich (94% sounds good), but still it is remarkably how Dems can pull defeat from the jaws of victory.
Take it away Cee Lo.
Economics Update
It’s jobless Thursday, and initial unemployment claims are up again, t0 465,000, with the 4-week moving average falling yp 463,250 from 466,500, continuing claims falling by 48,000 to 4.49 million, and emergency claims rising by 208,000 to 5.17 million.
All in all, not a pretty picture, and neither are home sales, notwithstanding the press noting how much better August was than July, because up 7.6% from July means less than down 19% from August 2009.
In the business world, Blockbuster video filed for bankruptcy, which is not a surprise, it’s been expected for months, but it’s still the end of an era.
The Republican Senate Caucus Blinks
After announcing her write in bid for the Alaska Senate, the Senate Republican caucus threatened to yank Lisa Murkowski’s position as rinking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, but they have now backed away from that:
In a surprise move, Senate Republicans did not vote to drop one of their own, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, as top Republican on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Senator Murkowski’s decision to mount a write-in campaign after losing her primary to “tea party” backed attorney Joe Miller angered many of her Senate colleagues. Even a failed bid risks splitting the Republican vote in Alaska, giving Democrats an unexpected pickup and curbing GOP prospects for taking back the Senate.
On Wednesday, the caucus did replace Murkowski with Sen. John Barrasso (R) of Wyoming as vice chair of the Republican Conference – the policy wing of Senate Republicans – but it declined to go further.
So they went with a largely symbolic slap on the wrist, because losing her ranking status would have made it far more difficult for her to campaign in Alaska on the political currency of that realm, pork barrel spending.
I don’t know what went on behind closed doors, 24 hours ago her being stripped of her position was thought to be a done deal.
Jon Stewart Answers the Questions that Need to Be Answered
We Have Found Obama’s Kryptonite
At a CNBC town hall, hedge fund manager Anthony Scaramucci asks Barack Obama, “When are we going to stop whacking at the Wall Steet piñata?
Well, Jon Stewart has the answer:
How long will we on Wall Street be hit like a piñata with a stick????
How about until the f%$#ing candy comes out!
How about that!
That’s how piñatas work!
…………
What you call a stick on Wall Street? I guess Amercans call a Trillion dollar bailout of your industry.
…………
Until your paper mâché bellies are no longer stuffed with government candy, walk it off!
Jon Stewart is not a man I ever want angry with me.
Senators Ask the Right Question
And the question is, “why aren’t the people who broke banking and our economy going to jail?”
Senators pressed investigators on a lack of prosecutions of top Wall Street executives in the wake of the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression.
“I will say right now that I’m frustrated,” Sen. Edward Kaufman, a Delaware Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said on Wednesday.
“We have seen very little in the way of senior officer or boardroom-level prosecutions of the people on Wall Street who brought this country to the brink of financial ruin. Why is that?”
The reason that there have been no prosecutions is because the the Cossacks work for the Czar, and the Czar, Obama, does not want the prosecutions, and instead wants to “look forward.”
The technical term for this is “cowardice reinforcing rewards for moral hazard.”
This Isn’t Just Because Heath Shuler has Always Been an Over Paid Under-Performing Punk*
But I really want every seat lost by the Dems this election cycle to come from the Blue Dog Democrats.
The Blue Dogs and other conservative are trying to prevent a vote on extending the tax breaks for people making less than $¼ million a year because they pants wetting cowards, and are afraid that Republicans will say something bad about them, and are busy on their knees to their wealthy donors.
They want their tax cuts for the rich, even though it is ruinously bad policy, and even worse politics, because they are hopeless wimps.
*He was a first round draft pick for the Washington Redskins, and turned out to be, according to ESPN, the the 4th biggest NFL Draft bust of all time, as well as being the whip for the Blue Dog Caucus in the House of Representations.
Economics (Real Estate) Update
Click for full size
Fasten your seat belts……it’s going to be a bumpy night!
Really, it’s a real estate news update today, with home prices dropping for the 2nd straight month in July, as did Moody’s commercial property price index, and, despite historically low rates, home loan applications fell again, showing that the current housing market is weakening following the expiration of the tax credits.
Additionally, we have the American Institute of Architects’ Architecture Billings Index continuing to show contraction, which indicates that prospects in the next 6-12 months are not great either.
It’s not all bad news though, as August housing starts rose sharply over the previous month, though as the official census figures show, this is just a anemic 2% year over year gain. (PDF)
Non-Combat Role My Ass, Part XVII
Barack Obama’s claim that combat troops are of Iraq is a lie, as is made clear by a letter from a soldier:
“The reason I’m sending this out is because I have had a few people ask if I left Iraq early because all of the combat troops are out of Iraq and I wanted to let everyone know the real deal.
Take our Brigade for example. We were originally called a HBCT (Heavy Brigade Combat Team). Well, since Obama said he would pull all of the “combat” troops out by Aug, all they did before we left was change our name from a HBCT to an AAB (Advise and Assist Brigade). We have the same personnel/equipment layout as before and are doing the same missions. The ONLY difference is that they changed our name from a HBCT to an AAB and that’s how we pulled all of the ‘combat’ troops out.
There are other Brigades just like ours that are doing the same missions that are still over here. So anyway now you know the REAL story, so that’s why I’m not coming back early.”
Obama does not realize that being commander-in-chief of the military means to command.
Unfortunately, he is dealing with a military which, like pretty much all militaries, is culturally incapable of seeing a conflict beyond the prism of “winning”, and so by compromising, we simply dig ourselves deeper.
More Federal Reserve Kremlinology
The FOMC met and issued its report, and their policy remained unchanged, though they did say that they might engage in more quantitative easing (printing money) because they believe that the economy may be trending down.
Basically, they won’t do anything this time around, but they might later, even though, “Measures of underlying inflation are currently at levels somewhat below those the Committee judges most consistent, over the longer run, with its mandate to promote maximum employment and price stability.”
So, unemployment is higher than their mandate allows, and inflation is lower than their mandate allows, and so they will do ……… nothing at all for now.
As Atrios so aptly noted, “The sociopaths at the Fed have spoken.” (Emphasis mine)
It’s the only way you can describe their behavior: They are essentially saying that we are in, or entering, a recessionary spiral, but doing their job is hard.
That being said, the US dollar weakened following the fed statement.
The full Fed statement is after the break:
Press Release
Federal Reserve Press ReleaseRelease Date: September 21, 2010
For immediate releaseInformation received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in August indicates that the pace of recovery in output and employment has slowed in recent months. Household spending is increasing gradually, but remains constrained by high unemployment, modest income growth, lower housing wealth, and tight credit. Business spending on equipment and software is rising, though less rapidly than earlier in the year, while investment in nonresidential structures continues to be weak. Employers remain reluctant to add to payrolls. Housing starts are at a depressed level. Bank lending has continued to contract, but at a reduced rate in recent months. The Committee anticipates a gradual return to higher levels of resource utilization in a context of price stability, although the pace of economic recovery is likely to be modest in the near term.
Measures of underlying inflation are currently at levels somewhat below those the Committee judges most consistent, over the longer run, with its mandate to promote maximum employment and price stability. With substantial resource slack continuing to restrain cost pressures and longer-term inflation expectations stable, inflation is likely to remain subdued for some time before rising to levels the Committee considers consistent with its mandate.
The Committee will maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent and continues to anticipate that economic conditions, including low rates of resource utilization, subdued inflation trends, and stable inflation expectations, are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate for an extended period. The Committee also will maintain its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from its securities holdings.
The Committee will continue to monitor the economic outlook and financial developments and is prepared to provide additional accommodation if needed to support the economic recovery and to return inflation, over time, to levels consistent with its mandate.
Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman; William C. Dudley, Vice Chairman; James Bullard; Elizabeth A. Duke; Sandra Pianalto; Eric S. Rosengren; Daniel K. Tarullo; and Kevin M. Warsh.
Voting against the policy was Thomas M. Hoenig, who judged that the economy continues to recover at a moderate pace. Accordingly, he believed that continuing to express the expectation of exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period was no longer warranted and will lead to future imbalances that undermine stable long-run growth. In addition, given economic and financial conditions, Mr. Hoenig did not believe that continuing to reinvest principal payments from its securities holdings was required to support the Committee’s policy objectives.
Larry Summers to Resign After November Elections
It looks like Obama needed to make some change, though it looks like they will be changes for the worse, because they are looking to replace him as director of Obama’s National Economic Council with someone who is even more of a wall street insider than Summers:
Administration officials are weighing whether to put a prominent corporate executive in the NEC director’s job to counter criticism that the administration is anti-business, one person familiar with White House discussions said. White House aides are also eager to name a woman to serve in a high-level position, two people said.…
Because appeasing whining bankers is job 1 at the White House, I guess, because we are all just little people.
… They also are concerned about finding someone with Summers’ experience and stature, one person said.
Well, if they want someone who can match Summers’ record of being right, and his record of moral rectitude, I might suggest Dick Cheney, Ben Stein, or Vlad Tepes.
As I have said many times, remember, the Cossacks work for the Czar, and I think that the basic problem here is top down, not bottom up.
Cloture Fails on DADT in Senate, Thanks Barry
So the Republicans successfully filibustered the Defense authorization bill.
It’s not surprising given the full court press that we didn’t hear coming from the White House.
When one considers the fact that the Obama Department of Justice submitted a legal brief equating homosexuality with incest, his administration defied a judges order to provide health benefits for a same sex spouse, and his campaign had an anti gay bigot front a campaign concert, one begins to wonder whether is inaction on DADT is more than cowardice, or whether he actually has a problem with “th ghay”.
To paraphrase Kanye West, I’m beginning to wonder if “Barack Obama doesn’t care about gay people,” because it’s clear that the Obama administration antipathy to being seen as pro-LGBT at this point is both bad politics, it loses votes, and bad policy.
A Sincere and Honest Takedown of Obama
Blah, blah, blah!
The questioner, Velma Hart is asking for a reason to keep believing:
“I’m one of your middle-class Americans, and quite frankly I’m exhausted. I’m exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the mantle of change that I voted for, and deeply disappointed with where we are right now. I had been told that I voted for a man who said he was going to change things in a meaningful way for the middle class. I’m one of those people and I’m waiting, sir. I’m waiting. I don’t feel it yet, and I thought that — while it wouldn’t be in great measure — I would feel it in some small measure.”
Obama’s response is a laundry list of accomplishments, but this misses the bigger point, which is that people are no longer willing to believe that he is willing to fight for them, because he appears to be unwilling to fight at all.
When looking at situations where there are real malefactors involved, his solution is to find common ground, whether it is health care, Wall Street, or BP, and some times, actually a lot of the time, that is simply not enough.
Federal Courts Rule that Software Publishers Own You
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court, and ruled that it’s not a sale, it’s a license, and so they can do whatever they want:
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit today ruled (PDF) on a long-standing case involving used software on eBay, and it came to an important decision: if a company says you don’t have the right to resell a program, you don’t have that right. Could this mean the end of the resale market for all digital content? Yup. But the court says it had no choice.
The case is Vernor v. Autodesk, in which Timothy Vernor made his living from selling items (including software) on eBay. Vernor had picked up some old copies of AutoCAD from an architect’s office sale, complete with their serial numbers, and he put them up on eBay noting that they were not currently installed on any computer. Sounds legal, right?
But there’s a catch. Autodesk, the software’s developer, forced all users to accept an agreement before using AutoCAD. This agreement made clear that AutoCAD was merely licensed, never sold, and that one’s license was non-transferable. Further, a licensee could not rent, lease, or sell the software to anyone else; you couldn’t even physically transfer the discs out of the Western Hemisphere (!). Finally, if you upgraded to a new version, the old version had to be destroyed.
That sound that you hear is the stock price of Gamestop falling like the 54th floor of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
Almost every single video game out there bans resale in the license, or as Aris Technica notes, “So, to recap: EULAs are binding, they can control just about everything you might dream up, and only Congress can change the situation.”
This means that a publisher can deactivate your software wherever, and whenever they want, so long as they have it in the license, or they have a section of the license that allows them to change their license whenever they want, like credit card companies do.
Call your congresscritter, and look hard at open source software.
I Write Letters
So, the New York Times has an article where they bemoan the fact that Wall Street financiers could not buy 3 New York State Senate elections for “educational reformers”:
They were the candidates of riches, flush with hundreds of thousands of dollars from Wall Street investors who believed in the promise of charter schools.
But when the election results came in on Tuesday, all three State Senate candidates supporting education reform — Basil Smikle, Lynn Nunes and Mark H. Pollard — lost by huge margins, with none cracking 30 percent of the total vote in primary contests against union-backed rivals.
The three New York races amounted to some of the country’s first proxy wars between labor groups and Wall Street financiers pushing for education reform, and in the end, the time-tested union machine prevailed.
You see the message here: something is wrong with America if a bunch of rich pukes from Wall Street cannot buy elections in order to privatize an essential public service, in this through for-profit charter schools, and generate taxpayer subsidized profits.
It’s worked so well for prisons, and for military contractors, that we must feed our children to feed the Wall Street beast yet again.
In any case, it pissed me off enough to write a letter to the editor on the subject, which is almost certainly not going to get published:
I found the article one sided. While it is clear that unions played a role in the elections, you make it sound as if this was somehow unfair, while relegating those who donated, “hundreds of thousands of dollars from Wall Street investors” to these candidates who lost as somehow simply being people of good will, “who believed in the promise of charter schools.”
The promise of charter schools that attracts ” Wall Street investors” is its creation of an educational-industrial complex and its associated revenue streams.
There have been numerous studies of charter schools over decades, and they do not meaningfully outperform public schools in properly constructed studies.
There are real problems in our schools, but neither the mindless focus on test scores nor bringing Wall Street profiteers into the equation are the solution.
OK, Time to Freak Out
A few days ago, Yves Smith noted that Wells Fargo has started to spring a last minute contract clause on its foreclosure sales that basically says if the property does not have a clear title, it’s your tough sh%$:
Yves here. Some readers may take this all to be unduly alarmist. But confirmation that this problem is real and potentially serious comes via a new “gotcha” practice by Wells Fargo on foreclosure sales. Wells is sufficiently concerned about the risks of selling properties out of foreclosure that it is springing an addendum on buyers, shortly before closing, which effectively shifts all risk for any title deficiency on to the buyer.
Now why is this a big deal? Go reread the boldfaced sentence above. [“Technically, the foreclosing bank has no recorded title rights to foreclose in the first place“] If a bank like Wells does not have the right to foreclose, it cannot have clean title to the property. So the bank could conceivably be selling something it does not own.
Let’s say you buy a vase from a store. You open the box when you get home and find out the box is empty. You’d clearly be within your rights to get your money back.
With the Wells Fargo addendum, even if the bank has sold you the equivalent of an empty box, you have no recourse to Wells. Zero. Zip. Nada.
So the banks realize that they are selling properties at auction that they do not own or hold the note on.
They want to clear their balance sheets, and they are now more than willing to engage in outright fraud to do so.
Well, it looks like it’s not just Wells Fargo who is freaking out about this, because GMAC has just suspended its foreclosures in 23 states based on similar concerns that the documentation was forged, though they claim that it will be resolved, “within the next few weeks”.
There are also rumors of a criminal investigation, while GMAC has denied any moratorium.
It appears that much of this has to do with the foreclosure mills law firms, largely based in Florida, most notably Watson, Shapiro & Fishman, and David J. Stern. (MoJo has a good tour of their business practices here)
Note also that Congressman Alan Grayson has written a letter too the Florida Supreme Court asking for an immediate suspension of foreclosures, because these firm are doing the paperwork on about 80% of the foreclosures in the state and have already been cited by a judge for blatant fraud.
There are a couple of issues here, the first is that in the mortgage mixmaster, title for a lot of properties may have been lost, and the second is that the law firms doing the paperwork are simply defrauding homeowners and the courts.
Grayson’s letter is after the break:
September 20, 2010
Chief Justice Charles T. Canady
Florida Supreme Court
500 South Duval Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1900Dear Chief Justice Canady,
I am disturbed by the increasing reports of predatory ‘foreclosure mills’ in Florida. The New York Times and Mother Jones have both recently reported on the rampant and widespread practices of document fraud and forgery involved in mortgage assignments. My staff has spoken with multiple foreclosure specialists and attorneys in Florida who confirm these reports.
Three foreclosure mills – the Law Offices of Marshall C. Watson, Shapiro & Fishman, and the Law Offices of David J. Stern – constitute roughly 80% of all foreclosure proceedings in the state of Florida. All are under investigation by Attorney General Bill McCollum. If the reports I am hearing are true, the illegal foreclosures taking place represent the largest seizure of private property ever attempted by banks and government entities. This is lawlessness.
I respectfully request that you abate all foreclosures involving these firms until the Attorney General of the state of Florida has finished his investigations of those firms for document fraud.
I have included a court order, in which Chase, WAMU, and Shapiro and Fishman are excoriated by a judge for document fraud on the court. In this case, Chase attempted to foreclose on a home, when the mortgage note was actually owned by Fannie Mae.
Taking someone’s home should not be done lightly. And it should certainly be done in accordance with the law.
Thank you for your consideration of this request.
Sincerely,
Alan Grayson
Member of Congress
How Not to Bury an Effective Ad
Robin Carnahan, who is running against, Roy “I f%$#ed a lobbyist and took money from Abramhoff” Blunt released a pretty damn effective ad with Fox News’ Chris Wallace cutting Roy Blunt a new one on his conflicts of interest.
Well, Fox sued, claiming “copyright infringement and that the ad “compromises “Fox’s integrity. (I have to clean my screen now)
Of course, now everyone wants to see the video. Smooth move, Fox.
In any case, here is the video:
The Next Big Investment Opportunity
That is all.