Friday August 31, 2007

Heat wave not taking a holiday

Oh Fuck. We need to read this? Anybody who is not in a fucking coma can figure this one out.

It's fucking hot godamnit.

Are these stories unrelated?


Allowing Mexican trucks delayed

Thursday would be earliest start date
By Paul M. Krawzak
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
August 31, 2007
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation has delayed plans to open the border to long-haul Mexican trucks until at least Thursday, after earlier reports that it could happen over Labor Day weekend.


Border lanes closed due to protest

By Karen Kucher
UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM
10:26 a.m. August 31, 2007
SAN DIEGO – California Highway Patrol officers closed all southbound lanes on Interstate 5 and Interstate 805 near the U.S.-Mexico border early Friday because of a planned Mexican teachers union protest.


Why a U.S. Subprime Mortgage Crisis Is Felt Around the World

The evening entertainment for roughly 500 financial executives at the Deutsche Bank global derivatives conference last month in Barcelona did not come cheap — the Rolling Stones reportedly were paid more than $5 million.

“The best part is, it’s coming out of your bonuses,” Mick Jagger joked to the crowd.


(just kidding, right Mick?)

...As low interest rates fueled a lending boom to borrowers with weak credit, banks looked for new ways to package those loans, so they could sell more. A central building block to offset the risk was asset-backed securities, which are bonds backed by pools of mortgages or other income-producing assets, like student loans, auto loans, and credit card receivables.

Banks and other financial institutions pooled those asset-backed securities into new units, dividing them up again and issuing securities against them, creating collateralized debt obligations...


...According to JPMorgan, there are about $1.5 trillion in global collateralized debt obligations, and about $500 billion to $600 billion in structured-finance C.D.O.’s, referring to those made up of bonds backed by subprime mortgages, slightly safer mortgages and commercial mortgage backed securities...

Hmmmm. I lasted 4 days in a JP Morgan cubicle. I had never seen a mortgage file before. Once I realized what I was doing (they didn't like that any more than I liked being stuck in a cubicle with no human contact) I wanted out big-time. They were happy to oblige, only hamsters on a wheel need apply here. The pay sucked worse than the job itself. Pissing all over the American dream is not my idea of a good time. These people never should have been offered loans.