Links and Minifeatures 04 03 Monday

Carnival of Investing Recommended: Frugal Wisdom from Wenchypoo's Warehouse, Ask Uncle Bill



Carnival of the Capitalists Recommended: Entrepreneur's Journey



RINO Sightings Recommended: World According to Nick, Armies of Liberation

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If you're a regular here, this is about as surprising as falling rocks: Some homeowners struggle to keep up with adjustable rates If you read the article carefully, all of the loans they are talking about are short term adjustable. Although right now 30 year fixed rate loan rates are very comparable to things like a 5/1 ARM, that is not generally or even usually the case. And I got a real laugh out of the last line: "But within 24 hours of a call from a reporter, Saxon agreed to give the couple a fixed-rate loan at 7%." Some favor. If they're A paper borrowers, that's a three points to the originator loan today, not counting what they'll earn selling it on the secondary market. In other words, assuming they don't stick the poor borrowers with a brand new prepayment penalty, the bank just earned at least $5000 for their "generosity", assuming a $100,000 loan. If they put a prepayment penalty on it, you're looking at maybe $9000. Multiply accordingly for larger mortgages.



One of these days, reporters may learn. But don't hold your breath.



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Obama Strikes Out at Bush's Energy Policy



I'll concede that this is a reasonable idea, at least by government standards. Don't support it, but that's the topic for a whole essay, if Perry doesn't beat me to it. I definitely don't see the need or the advantage in attacking the President.



Reading the article, it appears as if he's calling for the government to shoulder the costs of the automakers retirees provided the automakers then turn around and use the savings for alternative energy research.



Okay, bad idea economically. Very bad idea economically. Good idea politically. Why not just propose it as an "improvement"?



Last I checked, psychologists called this phenomenon "obsession" It's not a sign of a healthy mind, I'm afraid.



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Wizbang makes a point that cannot be made too often.



Ditto Vodkapundit



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Iraq the Model has two posts about the formation of a government in Iraq. The first deals with the hard line attitude of the leader of the party that got the largest number of votes, and the second deals with how power is slipping away from him due his his inability or unwillingness to compromise.



Strategy Page has more on the situation.



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Dean's World details some scary stuff with regards to voting machines and fraud, and how easy it was to buffalo Gimme Carter and his election rubberstamping "monitoring" cohorts.



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Argghhh! visited the Korean War Memorial in Seoul, and I think it's worth taking a gander at his pictures.