( – promoted by odum)

Wow, just when I thought the mortgage crisis was finally being dealt with, here comes yet another email offer! 

Hi Nate.  I recently received the information that you submitted about purchasing a home.  I called the number that you provided but was not able to reach you.  Please call or email me at your earliest convenience.  Thank you.

Fred
—
Peak Mortgage
Fred Phillips
Senior Loan Officer
fred.themortgageguy@cox.net
480-251-9771

Fred, Fred, Fred….  When did we last talk?  Never.  When did I submit information about purchasing a home?  Not in quite a while, and not with anyone other than my local Vermont bank.  So, Fred, who are you?  Who is Peak Mortgage?  Since it seems that our national banking oversight is absent, let me forward your personal note to Vermont's regulatory agency, BISCHA.   

And guess what they tell me about you?

Dear Mr. Freeman:

Thank you for your email.  Peak Mortgage is not licensed by this Department and may be in violation of Vermont banking statute.  The Department will followup accordingly.

Good job, BISCHA!  I hope you let Fred know that Vermonters don't need to put their good mortgage dollars into a bad mortgage industry.

Has Fred contacted you?  Are you being solicited by mortgage sales pros who may or may not be licensed in Vermont?  If so, send your questionable solicitations along to bankdiv@bishca.state.vt.us

In all of the noise about who's at fault at creating the mortgage crisis, one factor rarely makes it to print:  the hyper-marketing and hard-selling of questionable financial products to consumers who can't possibly know the difference between a tranche and CMO (which is how their mortgage gets sliced, diced, and resold around the world).

The mortgage originators are cold-calling, emailing, and pushing consumer debt like crack-cocaine, and now they're looking for new junkies.  Thanks, Fred;  I'll pass.

 What with all the chest beating about tax,budget and revenue policies these past days I found this and it looked newsworthy .  

State to host new type of company

Burlington Free Press

Vermont is poised to become the first state in the country to host a new type of company, dubbed an “L3C.”

The designation allows for the creation of a hybrid between a nonprofit organization and a for-profit corporation. The entity would be a low-profit company with “charitable or educational” goals.

Enacting the legislation in Vermont, advocates say, gives the state an opportunity to further burnish its credentials as a progressive and innovative economy and might generate revenue for the state when in- and out-of-state companies register as L3Cs here.

The three “l”s from “low-profit, limited liability company” are used to form the L3C label, said Robert Lang, president and CEO of the Cross River, N.Y.-based Mary Elizabeth & Gordon B. Mannweiler Foundation Inc. that advocated for L3C legislation in Vermont and elsewhere in the United States.

“We wanted a branding that implied the LLC concept … and yet be distinctive enough to be recognized as a specialized vehicle,” Lang said; an LLC is a limited liability company

It would cost Vermont companies $75 to file as an L3C and those located elsewhere, $100, not including the fees generated by filing annual reports, said Deputy Secretary of State Bill Dalton. There are no estimates on how much money the measure could raise.

Selecting Vermont

Rep. Michele Kupersmith, D-South Burlington, one of the bill’s sponsor’s, said the measure could be used to help with downtown redevelopment, low-income

housing, energy initiatives and work force development.

The legislation passed the Vermont House and Senate on voice votes and awaits the signature of Republican Gov. Jim Douglas. The governor plans to sign the bill, said Jason Gibbs, his spokesman.

“It’s a rare example of this Legislature passing a bill that has, at its core, economic growth as its objective. And the governor looks forward to signing it,” Gibbs said.

I just, really, am at a bit of a loss here.  Per the Rutland Herald:

Gov. James Douglas wants to stimulate the state’s economy by borrowing money, shifting investments and loosening the permitting process for new construction.

The governor’s economic stimulus package, which he unveiled on Saturday, calls for little new state spending, causing some to wonder how effective it would be.

Douglas has repeatedly said he will not support an increase in broad-based taxes, and recently the state has been faced with making $25 million in cuts to the 2009 budget in response to falling state revenues.

At the Vermont Home and Garden Show in Essex Junction, the governor presented a proposal to help Vermont weather a national recession. His plan relies to a large extent on additional state bonding, shifting teachers and state employees’ retirement systems investments into VHFA bonds and relaxing the permitting process for new homes.

Homes.

Right.

Because the housing market is really what we should be relying on at this point in time?

Really, does anyone else here feel like we’ve all gone down the rabbit hole?  

Anyway, I have a different idea: perhaps we could, you know, study our state’s economy so that when we, I don’t know, end up with a $25 million revenue shortfall, it doesn’t put us in such a state of shock.

I’m not a genius when it comes to the economy, but nor am I a moron.  It does not take a genius to see that when faced with an economy that’s in a downturn, it is unwise to invest in a market which is in virtual shambles.  

In the meantime, however, I think I understand why one of the initial moves in response to this is to start cutting the benefits to those who are most defenseless in a poor economy.  It’s because we’re morons.

Seriously, how on earth did Republicans manage to convince anyone that they understand the first thing about economics?  It’s not like we end up with anything but shell games from them.  Borrowing money and just shifting investments?

How about we actually invest in our state?