The Endicott Enquirer News from the Southern Tier

31Jan/090

We Will Miss You in the Morning Scott Jagow

This past Friday when I heard that Scott Jagow was not going to be hosting the morning report for Marketplace on NPR any longer, I think it was one of the most depressing things I had heard in a while. Now don't get me wrong, he will still be hosting the "After the Bell" show and leading Marketplace's blog efforts but he did make the financial crisis we are in now bearable. It is a radio show that people made sure to listen to, not just catch when they could. I had to be in my car by no later than 7:50 am in order to listen to this show each weekday because I new that I wanted to be up to speed on what was happening in the world of finance.

Not only did I listen to the show but many of my co-workers did as well. We would get to work and discuss what we had heard in the car that morning on the report and then try and figure out how our little credit union was going to survive another day in this crappy economic reality. Ultimately it was Scott that kept us somewhat hopeful that we were going to make it through this thing and come out the other end better off than when we went in. Between him and his regular commentators like Alan Sloan it kept us all sane in this insane world that we have been living in for years now.

We wish you the best of luck Scott and yes we will all be listening to your podcasts and reading the blogs.

1Mar/082

Hotline On Call: Pregnant Pause – Hillary’s Inexperience

It was, in this reporter's opinion, the most interesting moment in today's Clinton campaign phoner with reporters. Responding to the release of HRC's new TX TV ad, which asserts in no subtle terms that only she has the experience to deal with a major world crisis, and, relatedly, to keep your children safe, Slate's John Dickerson asked the obvious question:

"What foreign policy moment would you point to in Hillary's career where she's been tested by crisis?" he said.

Silence on the call. You could've knit a sweater in the time it took the usually verbose team of Mark Penn, Howard Wolfson and Lee Feinstein, Clinton's national security director, to find a cogent answer. And what they came up with was weak -- that she's been endorsed by many high ranking members of the uniformed military.

Take a listen ...

Hotline On Call: Pregnant Pause

Was there ever any doubt that Hillary Clinton didn't actually have any foreign policy experience or any crisis experience? Just because she worked for a giant corporate law firm and then sat in the White House for 8 years being the cold witch that everyone know she is at the time does not mean you have any real experience. Her actions after her husband left the White House have only emphasized her cold, calculating attitude of doing anything that will get her ahead whether or not it is morally or ethically right. This kind of experience should make you worry that she will do the same thing if she were to be elected, once there she will just continue to do the same old thing.

There is no experience here, there is none to be found. The fact is that she does not really have any more experience of her own than Barack Obama. The only experience she has is sitting and watching her Husband get impeached in front of the entire world and then staying with him so her own political ambitions could be realized. This is exactly the kind of experience that we should be running away from as fast as we can, after all, would you want someone answering the phone in the middle of the night cutting a deal that only advances their own personal agenda?

2Feb/082

Subprime Loans not the Lenders Fault

"I would like to encourage those who have a subprime loan and who may be facing foreclosure or risking other financial problems because of their mortgage to consult an attorney to inquire about a class action suit against the predatory, unscrupulous mortgage lenders who inflated the financial condition of a borrower, just to sell a mortgage. All the evidence you need is right in the news every day. These loans never should have been approved, and these lenders knew it up front. If you, the American citizen, were robbed at gunpoint or someone broke into your home, the thief would be held accountable, so the predatory lenders should be, too. They are stealing your emotional security as well as your financial security. I am not a person who has been duped by this scam. I am a concerned citizen who is saddened for those put in - so go for it." - Sharpsburg

Mail Call - The Herald-Mail Online - News for Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia

I know this is going to sound insensitive, but quite honestly, a subprime loan is not the fault of the lender, no one forced a person to take it, they did so willingly. As a matter of fact, a bailout of people who went into these kind of loans actually hurts those of us that acted responsibly and did not jump at something we knew was too good to be true. If a 25 year old knows better than to go after an ARM because it is too risky then why should someone that has actually had a house before not understand this. Don't go and start lawsuits that take my tax dollars away because we have to fund regulation that provides some type of special assistance for reading contracts so people don't get confused when they try and buy a house. Personal responsibility is what should be emphasized here, do your research, read the fine print and if something is too good to be true then it probably is. I'm sorry if people not doing this has already taken its toll, but I don't think it is anyone's fault but their own. The best way to stop this type of lending is to vote with your dollars and not take out the loans, do this and lenders will stop offering them.

29Jan/080

State of the Union: Same as Last Year + A Slowing Economy

Ok, so I know I will be ripped apart by the conservative readers out there for this but was there anything new in the State of the Union address this year? Here is my summarization of the address:

  1. Let's accomplish more in a bi-partisan atmosphere
  2. The economy is slowing
  3. The war in Iraq is and will be successful
  4. No Child Left Behind is successful
  5. Let's make my tax cuts permanent
  6. The housing market is still in trouble
  7. Stop putting ear-marks in spending bills
  8. We need to develop alternative energy sources and people tell me we have a thing called "Global Warming" going on
  9. By the way... If you attempt to send me anything that isn't exactly what I want, it will be vetoed. How's that for bi-partisan action!

So rather than saying what will be coming this year and all of the great things we are going to do, President Bush dwelled on the past and tried to convince us that he had done a good job in the past year. Shouldn't the achievements of the past year speak for themselves? Should we need this speech to try and convince us that everything finally went to plan? I would have liked to hear some plans for things that he hopes to accomplish that maybe are not what he would have attempted earlier in his presidency. Instead we got a regurgitation of what has already happened which is not what should be said in this type of forum.

I guess I am just a disappointed moderate that really has become completely disillusioned with the current administration. All I seem to ever hear are hollow promises and arguments that use half truths to try and convince me that things are not as bad as they sound. The only good thing to come of this presidency is that it has energized the population to finally take who they elect as president seriously again and get out there to make a choice. I just hope it is the right one.