Stand Free

Urgent New Report!!!!!

2010-05-04T21:07:00.000-07:00

I'm going to file this one right behind the report entitled "Study shows humans need water to thrive."

Want to easily and fully understand the Mortgage Meltdown? Then Read This

2010-05-04T20:39:00.000-07:00

I just read The Big Short by Michael Lewis. That dude can write. His story telling is second to none. Everyone of our generation should really read this. Plus, it's fun as well. Anytime a bunch of Wall Street guys get together, the story is entertaining if nothing else. The rating agencies especially come off poorly. One of the more interesting aspects centers around people who made decisions without fully understanding the risk involved (read AIG).

My take is that the bottom line is when someone is willing to buy a product, people will sell it. In this case, people were willing to buy a product that represented assuming risk in anticipation of future cash flow. People should be selling mortgage on a million dollar house paid by someone on minimum wage if someone will buy it. In my mind, the people supplying the demand for these products are the suckers.

Of course that statement only holds in a true free market. Unfortunately, our government disagrees and bailed them out. Funny, that leaves the tab with us. Meanwhile, AIG execs are still getting paid. That sucker label gets moved to you and me.

So definitely go pick this one up and discover why we should all be pissed as drunk Irish boxers that we're stuck with the tab. Everything is clearly explained and some people could foresee this as early as 2003-2004. I highly recommend it. Great job Michael Lewis.

Well Done Webhead

2010-05-03T21:16:00.001-07:00

While many will chide and belittle these real life defenders against crime, we here at StandFree salute them with cocktails and some Weezer.

The Delusion of Socialist Comforts

2010-05-03T20:58:00.000-07:00

Economic reality has hit home in Europe as of late with the Greek debt crisis. Politicians of all stripes prey on the weak-minded, but the sheer lack of common sense being paraded around is approaching levels not seen since Homer Simpson's advice to his son about whether to take the $10,000 cash prize or an elephant:

Bart, with $10,000, we'd be millionaires! We could buy all kinds of useful things like...love!

Let's count the insanity.

1) On a May Day rally in opposition to the IMF funding - these are Greeks in opposition, not Germans - crowds chanted: "No to the IMF's junta." The IMF is negotiating with Greece about lending them some money. In turn for their portion of the $145 billion, they demand certain conditions. Conditions like the government must cut some pensions to the public sector. Of course, Greece doesn't have to do this. They can happily go elsewhere and raise their funds from someone else. Like, um, yeah, um, where did everyone go? They're not so much in opposition to the IMF as they are in opposition to anything in the universe that would stop their entitlements coming from the government. Which means they are in opposition to the science of mathematics. The only alternative to the IMF/Euro bailout is default on their debt. Which would mean no more issuance of new debt. Which would mean the entitlements would cease or experience draconian cuts due to complete lack of euros to pay the bill. Normally, in this scenario, a country prints a ton of money and devalues their currency. Greece has done this before in the 80s and 90s. This time they can't because the government doesn't have the authority to do that due to the shared currency. So the Greek lads are unknowingly campaigning for a worse outcome than the very sweet deal they received.

2) Meanwhile, as few as a couple of weeks ago, Papa George himself was railing against the evil, greedy bond traders. Turns out that rhetoric didn't stick because those SOBs are nowhere to be found.

3) Still others think it is all an American plot to annex Greece. Maybe there is some strategic geographical significance to having the most islands that I am overlooking here.

4) Others say it is another German occupation. Yeah, last I checked, they were just dying to help out

In the end, these delusions simply can't escape economic law. Having a society where people retire in their late forties with an unemployment rate of 30% amongst 16-24 year-olds that make up an ever smaller percentage of population does not work. Ever. The reality is that this will end badly, and the poor will be the ones hurt most. The very people that are deluded into a temporary alternate reality will be the ones crushed. Rich people will do what they always do - leave.

That's the problem with reality. It tends to persist despite mankind's best efforts.

Day 3 Watch

2010-05-03T19:23:00.000-07:00

It doesn't matter who is in the White House. What matters is the coverage. We'll be tracking how quickly the mainstream media picks it up. These guys would get sued out of existence if they didn't have some credible testimony to back it up. That said, people could be making stories for big paydays. Where there is smoke, it is either fire or lots of anti-Barack folks rubbing sticks together. Given Enquirer's history with nailing Edwards and the complete lack of an answer from the White House, Vegas odds would favor the former. We'll see how quick this gets picked up, but don't hold your breath.

Your creepy CEO of the Day

2010-05-03T19:13:00.000-07:00

If you have seen the GM commercial, you'll realize that guy will lie for anything if it benefits his company. See full explanation here: http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/23/general-motors-economy-bailout-opinions-columnists-shikha-dalmia.html

Is Bloomberg on the Mark.....or Building The Latest Straw Man?

2010-04-29T16:02:00.000-07:00

Bloomberg's analysis of the illegal immigrant crisis seems in line with what I heard today from a very informed Marco Rubio. Marco's take was that he didn't like the Arizona law, but would certainly support if he were a citizen of that state due to the fact that it is nearing anarchy in some spots. When your citizens are getting blown away by members of drug cartels and the federal government does nothing, the state of Arizona is forced to act. Rubio further expanded that he did not like the law because he is wary of giving government more power. This, juxtaposed with Bush Jr's attitude during crisis, makes Rubio, well, awesome.

Most of what Bloomberg says seems in line with Rubio. But there is one seemingly innocuous statement that reveals a larger difference between the two. Notice Bloomberg's statement when disagreeing with the Arizona law:

"We love immigrants here."

All he had to do was include the adjective legal in his statement. Instead his statements makes the assumption that if you do not support law-breaking in the form of illegal immigration, then you hate all immigration. It must be impossible to support or even love immigration while condemning illegal immigration. Mike, really, who's being real here?

See If You Can Find Out Where The Problem Really Lies

2010-04-29T15:36:00.000-07:00

Jesse's Cafe Americain has a good piece about what socialism really looks like over the past year. Before you jerk that knee and decide Wall Street is evil, ask yourself which of the institutions in that piece enforces it's desires through violence.

Welcome to the Show

2010-04-28T21:11:00.000-07:00

They say politics is an ugly game. Well, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave us underlings a rare glimpse behind the curtain. In a campaign for his life where he is already losing ground to both Cameron and the upstart Clegg, he decided to go out on the trail to talk with ordinary voters. The result is this:

Leaving aside the supercilious buffoonery of the bigoted comment, what is noticeable is the entire rest of the recorded conversation isn't even about the merits of the exchange, but rather solely focused on the how an ordinary person was able to pierce the veil of outward appearances carefully woven by the Brown campaign. I guess when a campaign uses the phrase "ordinary voters", they mean hand-picked individuals whose purpose is to make Brown look better. If politics is ugly, the facades put forth by leaders of western countries are a grotesque representation of that saying.