In a flurry of posts indicative of a new and enthusiastic blogger (as opposed to the bimonthly updates of one who has gotten bored with it), here are some thoughts on a couple things (as anyone cares).
First, Ol' Cynthia Hedge-Morrell apologized for her life-threatening driving in February. Yeah, easy to do when: 1) Unlike anyone else caught in similar circumstances, she didn't get cited; and 2) the news "breaks" a month-and-a-half late. Where were the apologies before now? Why is it that she's only now sorry? At least respect us enough to try to pretend we're not that stupid.
Second, the state is asking HUD to let it dole out road home grants in a lump sum to homeowners. As someone who has been screwed around with by the LRA, I think I've got some perspective I can contribute to this. This is a horrible idea. Oddly, I'm actually with the lenders on this one. If the lender is "playing ball" and disbursing funds as they're requested (like Louisiana Capitol FCU has sort of been doing), there's no reason not to require invoices and installments. So, not only did insurance companies get a 7.5 BILLION dollar bailout (for claims shortfalls they didn't have to pay), the less-than-civic-minded developers are going to get a windfall from banks foreclosing and taking what they can get on ruined houses owned by people who liked the idea of getting $150,000 cash, no strings. Sorry, run on sentence. In any event, while the banks say:
The lenders also have the option of putting properties into foreclosure or suing in court to declare the borrower bankrupt.
Do you really think the defaulted homeowners now living in Houston will care? No. Of course not. While this really won't impact Broadmoor too much, it will certainly not do much to either rebuild the city or show the rest of the country we're serious about it. There is already the perception that we're all welfare-cheating criminals here, so to enable just that behavior is irresponsible. We shall see how this turns out.
On an unrelated note: We're going to Tahiti the week after we get our road home money.
