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Chairman Frank, Ranking Member Bachus, and Members of the Committee, I appreciate the opportunity to testify on behalf of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) regarding recent efforts to stabilize the nation's financial markets and reduce foreclosures.
The events of the past several months are unprecedented. Conditions in the financial markets have shaken the confidence of people around the world in their financial systems. Losses in the stock markets have reduced the valuations of publicly-traded companies and have imposed losses on individual investors. Credit markets have not been functioning normally, contributing to a rising level of distress in the economy. In addition, high levels of foreclosures are contributing to downward pressure on home prices.
The impact on confidence resulting from the cumulative impact of these events has required the government to take extraordinary steps to bolster public confidence in our financial institutions and the American economy.
Achieving this goal requires a sustained and coordinated effort by government authorities. Congress passed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA), which provides authority for the purchase of troubled assets and direct investments in financial institutions, a mechanism for reducing home foreclosures, and a temporary increase in deposit insurance coverage. Working with our colleagues at the Treasury Department and our fellow bank regulators, the FDIC is prepared to undertake all necessary measures to preserve confidence in insured financial institutions.
Despite what we hear about the credit crisis and the problems facing banks, the bulk of the U.S. banking industry is healthy and remains well-capitalized. What we do have, however, is a liquidity problem. This problem originally arose from uncertainty about the value of mortgage-related assets, but credit concerns have broadened over time, making banks reluctant to lend to each other or lend to consumers and businesses.
In my testimony, I will detail recent actions by the FDIC to restore confidence in insured financial institutions. I also will discuss the FDIC's continuing efforts to address the root cause of the current economic crisis - the failure to deal effectively with unaffordable loans and unnecessary foreclosures.
Recent Actions to Restore Confidence
The FDIC has taken several actions in coordination with Congress, the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve Board, and other federal regulators, designed to restore confidence in insured financial institutions. These have included temporarily increasing deposit insurance coverage and providing guarantees to new, senior unsecured debt issued by banks, thrifts or holding companies. These measures will help banks fund their operations.
Increased Deposit Insurance
With the enactment of the EESA, deposit insurance coverage for all deposit accounts was temporarily increased to $250,000, the same amount of coverage previously provided for self-directed retirement accounts. Temporarily raising the deposit insurance limits has bolstered public confidence and successfully provided additional liquidity to FDIC-insured institutions.
The FDIC implemented the coverage increase immediately upon enactment of EESA. The FDIC website and deposit insurance calculators were updated promptly to reflect the increase in coverage and ensure that depositors understand the change. It is important to note that the increase in coverage to $250,000 is temporary and only extends through December 31, 2009. The FDIC will work closely with Congress in the coming year to ensure that consumers are fully informed of changes to the deposit insurance coverage level, as well as the temporary nature of the increase, and understand the impact on their accounts.
Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program
On October 14, the FDIC Board of Directors approved a new Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program (TLGP) to unlock inter-bank credit markets and restore rationality to credit spreads. This voluntary program is designed to free up funding for banks to make loans to creditworthy businesses and consumers. The Board issued an interim rule and requested comments on a number of issues. Comments were due by November 13 and the Board will be reviewing those comments and considering any changes before publishing a final rule. The Board expects to adopt a final rule at its meeting scheduled for Friday this week.
The program as outlined in the interim rule has two key features. The first feature is a guarantee for new, senior unsecured debt issued by banks, thrifts, bank holding companies, and most thrift holding companies, which will help institutions fund their operations. Eligible entities include: 1) FDIC-insured depository institutions; 2) U.S. bank holding companies; 3) U.S. financial holding companies; and 4) U.S. savings and loan holding companies that either engage only in activities that are permissible for financial holding companies under section 4(k) of the Bank Holding Company Act (BHCA) or have an insured depository institution subsidiary that is the subject of an application under section 4(c)(8) of the BHCA regarding activities closely related to banking.
The guarantee applies to all senior unsecured debt issued by participating entities on or after October 14, 2008, through and including June 30, 2009. In general, issuers will be limited in the amount of guaranteed debt they raise, which may not exceed 125 percent of senior unsecured debt that was outstanding as of September 30, 2008, and scheduled to mature before June 30, 2009. For eligible debt issued on or before June 30, 2009, coverage is only provided until the earlier of the date of maturity of the debt or June 30, 2012.
We originally announced that eligible entities would automatically participate in the FDIC's TLGP unless they opted out by November 12. The Board subsequently extended this date to December 5 in order to give banks additional time to determine how to proceed once the FDIC adopts a final rule. Participating institutions will be subject to supervisory oversight to prevent rapid growth or excessive risk-taking. The FDIC, in consultation with the entity's primary Federal regulator, will determine continued eligibility and parameters for use.
Unsecured bank funding was under extreme pressure in recent weeks, with the interest rate for short-term funding ballooning to several hundred basis points over the rate for comparable U.S. Treasury bills. Since the introduction of this program, we have seen bank funding rates moderate significantly. The new temporary FDIC guarantee has allowed banks and their holding companies to roll maturing senior debt into new issues fully backed by the FDIC.
The second feature of the new program provides insurance coverage for all deposits in non-interest-bearing transaction accounts at insured depository institutions unless they choose to opt out. These accounts are mainly payment processing accounts such as payroll accounts used by businesses. Frequently, such accounts exceed the current maximum insurance limit of $250,000. Many smaller, healthy banks had expressed concerns about deposit outflows based on market conditions.
The temporary guarantee will expire December 31, 2009, consistent with the temporary statutory increase in deposit insurance. This aspect of the program allows bank customers to conduct normal business knowing that their cash accounts are safe and sound. The guarantee has helped stabilize these accounts, and helped the FDIC avoid having to close otherwise viable banks because of large deposit withdrawals.
It is important to note that the TLGP does not rely on taxpayer funding or the Deposit Insurance Fund. Instead, both aspects of the program will be paid for by direct user fees. Coverage for both parts of the program is initially automatic. By December 5, eligible entities must inform the FDIC whether they will opt out of the guarantee program. If an entity does not opt out of the program within a timely manner, it must participate in the program. For an entity that opts out of the program by the opt-out deadline, coverage extends at no cost until the entity opts out. For an entity that remains in the program, premiums or user fees for the coverage will begin accruing as of November 13.
Under the interim rule, premiums are proposed as follows. All newly issued senior unsecured debt will be assessed an annualized fee equal to 75 basis points multiplied by the amount of debt issued under the program. This assessment will generally be at the time of issuance or shortly thereafter. For noninterest-bearing transaction deposit accounts, a 10 basis point surcharge will be applied to deposits in noninterest-bearing transaction deposit accounts not otherwise covered by the existing deposit insurance limit of $250,000. This surcharge will be added to the participating bank's existing risk-based deposit insurance premium paid on those deposits.
As noted above, the comment period on the interim rule closed on November 13 and we expect a final rule to be considered by the FDIC Board at the end of this week. We received numerous comments on several aspects of the interim rule, including the type of debt guaranteed, the types of transaction accounts guaranteed, the disclosures to be required, and the user fees. We are evaluating carefully all the comments received and may make some changes to the program when we adopt a final rule. For example, we are considering suggestions with regard to whether the debt guarantee program should cover very short term funding or whether we should have a tiered fee structure based upon the maturity of the debt guaranteed.
The TLGP is similar to actions by the international community. If the FDIC had not acted, guarantees for bank debt and increases in deposit insurance by foreign governments would have created a competitive disadvantage for U.S. banks. Along with Treasury's actions to inject more capital into the banking system, the combined coordinated measures to free up credit markets have had a stabilizing effect on bank funding.
Since these measures were implemented on October14, we have seen steady progress in reducing risk premiums in money and credit markets. Yields on short-term Treasury instruments, which had approached zero in mid-September, have now risen back in line with longer-maturity instruments. Quotes for Libor, the London Interbank Offer Rate, also have declined in relation to Treasury yields -- indicating a slow thaw in the interbank lending market. Interest rates on short-term commercial paper have fallen back to their lowest levels since mid-September, indicating that liquidity is also starting to return to that market. While it is clearly too early to declare the end of the crisis in our financial markets, as a result of the coordinated response of the Fed, the Treasury, the FDIC and our counterparts overseas, we are making steady progress in returning money and credit markets to a more normal state.
The FDIC's action in establishing the TLGP is unprecedented and necessitated by the crisis in our credit markets, which has been fed by rising risk aversion and serious concerns about the effects this will have on the real economy. The FDIC's action is authorized under the systemic risk exception of the FDIC Improvement Act of 1991. In accordance with the statute, the Secretary of the Treasury invoked the systemic risk exception after consultation with the President and upon the recommendation of the Boards of the FDIC and the Federal Reserve. The systemic risk exception gives the FDIC flexibility to provide such guarantees which are designed to avoid serious adverse effects on economic conditions or financial stability.
TARP Capital Purchase Program
As a part of EESA, the Treasury also has developed a Capital Purchase Program (CPP) which allows certain financial companies to make application for capital augmentation of up to three percent of risk weighted assets. As mentioned earlier, the federal government intervened to inject capital in banks and to guarantee a larger portion of their liabilities so they can better meet the credit needs of the economy. The ongoing financial crisis has already disrupted a number of the channels through which market-based financing is normally provided to U.S. businesses and households. Private asset-backed securitization remains virtually shut down, and the commercial paper market is now heavily dependent on credit facilities created by the Federal Reserve. In this environment, banks will need to provide a greater share of credit intermediation than in the past to support normal levels of economic activity. By contrast, a significant reduction in bank lending would be expected to have strong, negative procyclical effects on the U.S. economy that would worsen the problems of the financial sector.
Before the recent capital infusions, banks appeared to be on course to significantly reduce their supply of new credit as a response to an unusually severe combination of credit distress and financial market turmoil. Standard banking practice during previous periods of severe credit distress has been to conserve capital by curtailing lending. In the present episode, lending standards were likely to be tightened further due to higher funding costs resulting from overall financial market uncertainty. There was ample evidence in the Federal Reserve's Senior Loan Officer Survey in October that bank lending standards were being tightened to a degree that is unprecedented in recent history.
Government intervention was essential to interrupt this self-reinforcing cycle of credit losses and reduced lending. We fully support the CPP as a means of countering the procyclical economic effects of financial sector de-leveraging. We see the TLGP as a necessary complement to this effort, and are looking at additional ways that we might structure our liquidity guarantees to enhance the incentive and capacity to lend on the part of FDIC-insured institutions.
The combined federal policy response will make capital and debt finance more readily available to banks on favorable terms. The expectation is that banks will actively seek ways to use this assistance by making sound loans to household and business borrowers. Doing so will require a balanced perspective that takes into account the long-term viability of these borrowers and the fact that they may have unusual short-term liquidity needs.
We recognize that banks will need to make adjustments to their operations, even cutting back in certain areas, to cope with recent adverse credit trends. However, the goal of providing government support is to ensure that such adjustments are made mostly in areas such as dividend policy and the management compensation, rather than in the volume of bank lending. These considerations are consistent with the precept that the highest and best use of bank capital in the present crisis is to support lending activity. Ongoing supervisory assessments of bank earnings and capital will take into account how available capital is deployed to generate income through expanded lending.
In addition, we maintain that compensation programs must discourage excessive risk-taking and the pursuit of near-term rewards with long-term risks. Only compensation structures that create appropriate incentives for bank managers and reward long-term performance are consistent with the basic principles of safe-and-sound banking. The federal banking regulators expect that all banks will compensate their managers in ways that will encourage the type of sustainable lending that leads to long-term profitability. Bank supervisors will consider the incentives built into compensation policies when assessing the quality of bank management.
Thus far, a number of the largest banking companies in the U.S. have taken advantage of the CPP, significantly bolstering their capital base during a period of economic and financial stress. In addition, over 1,000 community financial institutions have applied to this program. We understand that Treasury will soon finalize terms of the CPP program for the great majority of banks which are not actively traded public companies, including those organized as Subchapter S corporations and mutuals.
It is critically important that community banks (commonly defined as those under $1 billion in total assets) participate in this program. Although, as a group, community banks have performed somewhat better than their larger competitors, they have not fully escaped recent economic problems.
Community banks control eleven percent of industry total assets; however, their importance is especially evident in small towns and rural communities. Of the 9,800 banking offices located in communities with populations of under 10,000, 67 percent are community banks. In these markets, the local bank is often the essential provider of banking services and credit. Their contribution to small business and agriculture lending is especially important and disproportionate to their size. As of June 30, bank lending by community banks accounted for 29 percent of small commercial and industrial loans, 40 percent of small commercial real estate loans, 77 percent of small agricultural production loans, and 75 percent of small farm land loans.
Although the viability of community banks as a sector continues to be strong, the CPP offers an opportunity for individual institutions to strengthen their balance sheets and continue providing banking services and credit to their communities.
Also, last week the FDIC issued an Interagency Statement on Meeting the Needs of Creditworthy Borrowers to all FDIC supervised institutions. The statement encourages financial institutions to support the lending needs of creditworthy borrowers, strengthen capital, engage in loss-mitigation strategies and foreclosure-prevention strategies with mortgage borrowers, and assess the incentive implications of compensation policies.
Efforts to Reduce Unnecessary Foreclosures
Minimizing foreclosures is essential to the broader effort to stabilize global financial markets and the U.S. economy. There were an estimated 1.5 million U.S. foreclosures last year, and another 1.2 million in the first half alone of 2008. Foreclosure is often a very lengthy, costly and destructive process that puts downward pressure on the price of nearby homes. While some level of home price decline is necessary to restore U.S. housing markets to equilibrium, unnecessary foreclosures perpetuate the cycle of financial distress and risk aversion, thus raising the very real possibility that home prices could overcorrect on the downside.
The continuing trend of unnecessary foreclosures imposes costs not only on borrowers and lenders, but also on entire communities and the economy as a whole. Foreclosures may result in vacant homes that may invite crime and create an appearance of market distress, diminishing the market value of other nearby properties. Foreclosures add inventory and create distressed sale prices which place downward pressure on surrounding home values. In addition, the direct costs of foreclosure include legal fees, brokers' fees, property management fees, and other holding costs that are avoided in workout scenarios. These costs can total between 20 and 40 percent of the market value of the property. The FDIC has strongly encouraged loan holders and servicers to adopt systematic approaches to loan modifications that result in affordable loans that are sustainable over the long term.
Over the past year and a half, the FDIC has worked with mortgage lenders, the securitization industry, servicers, consumer groups, other regulators and Congress to identify and correct barriers to solving current market problems while establishing controls to guard against their reappearance in the future.
As we all know from events over recent months, no single solution or "silver bullet" can address the adverse effects of the deficiencies that have contributed to the current market turmoil. However, as foreclosures escalate, we are clearly falling behind the curve. Much more aggressive intervention is needed if we are to curb the damage to our neighborhoods and broader economic health.
HOPE for Homeowners Act
The FDIC has been playing a role in the implementation of the HOPE for Homeowners Act. As a member of the Board of Directors of the HOPE for Homeowners Program (Oversight Board), which oversees implementation of the Act, the FDIC has joined the Departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Treasury and the Federal Reserve in establishing requirements and standards for the Program that are not otherwise specified in the legislation, and prescribing necessary regulations and guidance to implement those requirements and standards.
By working cooperatively to address the many issues necessary to achieve implementation, the Oversight Board was able to meet the October 1, 2008 statutory deadline for implementation. The final rules, as well as other guidance documents and disclosures, were posted on the Program's website on October 1, and the final rules were published in the Federal Register on October 6. Interagency staff is working on revisions to the rules to reflect amendments to the HOPE for Homeowners Act made by EESA and plans to take them to the Oversight Board in the near future. Outreach efforts to servicers, investors, housing counselors and borrowers are underway.
The statutory approach for the Program makes use of existing governmental and market structures. By modeling the proposal on existing FHA programs, the time and expense of implementing the Act were significantly reduced. The Program design incorporates certain principles that the FDIC considers necessary to be effective. In particular, it converts troubled mortgages into loans that should be sustainable over the long-term and subsequently convertible into securities. It also requires that lenders and investors accept significant discounts, protects the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) against redefault risk, and prevents borrowers from being unjustly enriched if home prices appreciate. The Program is still in the early stages of implementation. As a member of the Oversight Board, the FDIC will work to make the Program as effective as possible within the parameters of the statute. The Program has the potential to provide relief to several hundred thousand homeowners. However, given the inherent limitations in a loan-by-loan refinancing process, we believe additional measures must be undertaken to provide stronger incentives for wide-scale loan restructuring.
Emergency Economic Stabilization Act
The EESA, recently passed by Congress, provides broad authority to the Secretary of the Treasury to take action to ameliorate the growing distress in our credit and financial markets, as well as the broader economy. The EESA specifically provides the Secretary with the authority to use loan guarantees and credit enhancements to facilitate loan modifications to prevent avoidable foreclosures. We believe that it is essential to utilize this authority to accelerate the pace of loan modifications in order to halt and reverse the rising tide of foreclosures that is imperiling the economy.
The FDIC has proposed to Treasury the creation of a guarantee program based on the FDIC's practical experience in modifying mortgages at IndyMac Federal Bank in California. We believe this program could prevent as many as 1.5 million avoidable foreclosures by the end of 2009. As outlined in more detail below, we have proposed that the government establish standards for loan modifications and provide for a defined sharing of losses on any default by modified mortgages meeting those standards. By doing so, unaffordable loans could be converted into loans that are sustainable over the long term. This proposal is authorized by the EESA and may be implemented under the authority provided to the Secretary under that statute. We have strongly advocated this type of approach to Treasury and continue to believe that it offers the best mechanism for providing appropriate protection for homeowners.
In recent months, the FDIC has demonstrated through our actions with the troubled loans owned or serviced by IndyMac Federal Bank that it is possible to implement a streamlined process to modify troubled mortgages into loans that are affordable and sustainable over the long-term. Not only can the approach used successfully at IndyMac serve as a model for the servicing and banking industry, but we believe it can provide the foundation for a loss sharing guarantee program under the EESA.
IndyMac Federal Bank Loan Modifications
As the Committee knows, the former IndyMac Bank, F.S.B., Pasadena, California, was closed July 11. The FDIC is conservator for a new institution, IndyMac Federal Bank, F.S.B. (IndyMac Federal), which continues the depository, mortgage servicing, and certain other operations of the former IndyMac Bank, F.S.B. As a result, the FDIC has inherited responsibility for servicing a pool of approximately 653,000 first lien mortgage loans, including more than 60,000 mortgage loans that are more than 60 days past due, in bankruptcy, in foreclosure, and otherwise not currently paying. As conservator, the FDIC has the responsibility to maximize the value of the loans owned or serviced by IndyMac Federal. Like any other servicer, IndyMac Federal must comply with its contractual duties in servicing loans owned by investors. Consistent with these duties, we have implemented a loan modification program to convert as many of these distressed loans as possible into performing loans that are affordable and sustainable over the long term. In addition, we are seeking to refinance distressed mortgages through FHA programs, including FHA Secure and HOPE for Homeowners, and have sent letters proposing refinancing through FHA to more than 2,000 borrowers.
On August 20, the FDIC announced a loan modification program to systematically modify troubled residential loans for borrowers with mortgages owned or serviced by IndyMac Federal. This program modifies eligible, delinquent mortgages to achieve affordable and sustainable payments using interest rate reductions, extended amortization and, where necessary, deferring a portion of the principal. By modifying the loans to an affordable debt-to-income ratio and using this menu of options to lower borrowers' payments for the life of their loan, the program improves the value of these troubled mortgages while achieving economies of scale for servicers and stability for borrowers. Of the more than 60,000 mortgages serviced by IndyMac Federal that are more than 60 days past due, in bankruptcy, in foreclosure, and otherwise not currently paying, approximately 40,000 are potentially eligible for our loan modification program. Initially, the program was applied only to mortgages either owned by IndyMac Federal or serviced under IndyMac Federal's pre-existing securitization agreements. Subsequently, we have obtained agreements to apply the program to many delinquent loans owned by Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and other investors.
It is important to recognize that securitization agreements typically provide servicers with sufficient flexibility to apply the IndyMac Federal loan modification approach. While some have argued that servicing agreements preclude or routinely require investor approval for loan modifications, this is not true for the vast majority of servicing agreements. In fact, the American Securitization Forum has repeatedly confirmed that most servicing agreements do allow for loan modifications for troubled mortgages that are delinquent or where default is "reasonably foreseeable" if the modification is in the best interest of securityholders as a whole. If, as under the model applied at IndyMac Federal, the modification provides an improved net present value for securityholders as a whole in the securitization compared to foreclosure, the modification is permitted under the agreements as well as applicable tax and accounting standards. In fact, the agreements at IndyMac Federal were more restrictive than those that apply to many other securitizations as they limited modifications to mortgages that were "seriously delinquent" rather than permitting modification when default was "reasonably foreseeable." As a result, the model applied at IndyMac Federal can be applied broadly for securitized as well as for portfolio loans.
Using the model at IndyMac Federal to achieve mortgage payments for borrowers that are both affordable and sustainable, the distressed mortgages will be rehabilitated into performing loans and avoid unnecessary and costly foreclosures. By taking this approach, future defaults will be reduced, the value of the mortgages will improve, and servicing costs will be cut. The streamlined modification program will achieve improved recoveries on loans in default or in danger of default, and improve the return to uninsured depositors, the deposit insurance fund, and other creditors of the failed institution. At the same time, many troubled borrowers can remain in their homes. Under the program, modifications are only being offered where doing so will result in an improved value for IndyMac Federal or for investors in securitized or whole loans, and where consistent with relevant servicing agreements.
Applying workout procedures for troubled loans in a failed bank scenario is something the FDIC has been doing since the 1980s. Our experience has been that performing loans yield greater returns than non-performing loans. In recent years, we have seen troubled loan portfolios yield about 32 percent of book value compared to our sales of performing loans, which have yielded over 87 percent.
Through this week, IndyMac Federal has mailed more than 23,000 loan modification proposals to borrowers, and will mail over 7,000 more in the next several days. We have contacted many thousands more in continuing efforts to help avoid unnecessary foreclosures. Already, over 5,000 borrowers have accepted the offers, verified their incomes, and are now making payments on their modified mortgages. Thousands more are making lower payments as we complete verification of incomes. I am pleased to report that these efforts have prevented many foreclosures that would have been costly to the FDIC and to investors. This has been done while providing long-term sustainable mortgage payments to borrowers who were seriously delinquent. On average, the modifications have cut each borrower's monthly payment by more than $380 or 23 percent of their monthly payment on principal and interest. Our hope is that the program we announced at IndyMac Federal will serve as a catalyst to promote more loan modifications for troubled borrowers across the country.
Loss Sharing Proposal to Promote Affordable Loan Modifications
Although foreclosures are costly to lenders, borrowers and communities, efforts to avoid unnecessary foreclosures are not keeping pace with delinquencies. By the end of 2009, more than 4.4 million non-GSE mortgages are estimated to become delinquent. While the HOPE for Homeowners refinancing program is part of the solution, the limitations inherent in refinancing mortgages out of securitization transactions indicate that other, more streamlined approaches are necessary.
A major acceleration in loan modifications is essential if we are to stem the growing flood of foreclosures. Yet today, only around 4 percent of seriously delinquent loans are being modified each month. While the FDIC's experience at IndyMac demonstrates that modifications provide a better return than foreclosure in the vast majority of mortgages today, many servicers continue to rely on slower custom modifications that are not focused on long-term affordability. Many servicers continue to argue that they are concerned about proving to investors that modifications provide a better return than foreclosure. As a result, far too many of the responses to troubled mortgages have focused on repayment plans, temporary forbearance, or short-term modifications often based on verbal financial information.
Today, the stakes are too high to rely exclusively on industry commitments to apply more streamlined loan modification protocols. The damage to borrowers, our communities, our public finances, and our financial institutions is already too severe. An effective remedy requires targeted, prudent incentives to servicers that will achieve sustainable modifications by controlling the key risk from the prior, less sustainable modifications - the losses on redefault. The FDIC's loss sharing proposal addresses this risk directly by providing that the government will share up to 50 percent of the losses with lenders or investors if a mortgage -- modified under the sustainable guidelines used at IndyMac Federal -- later redefaults. With the government sharing the risk of future redefaults, we propose to reduce this risk even further by modifying the mortgages to an even more affordable 31 percent ratio of first mortgage debt to gross income. By controlling this risk, the greater net present value of many more modifications compared to foreclosure will be clear.
Over the next two years, an estimated 4 to 5 million mortgage loans will enter foreclosure if nothing is done. We believe that this program has the potential to reduce the number of foreclosures by up to 1.5 million, thereby helping to reduce the overhang of excess vacant homes that is driving down U.S. home prices. In addition, this approach keeps modified mortgages within existing securitization transactions, does not require approval by second lienholders, ensures that lenders and investors retain some risk of loss, and protects servicers from the putative risks of litigation by providing a clear benefit from the modifications.
The program, limited to loans secured by owner-occupied homes, would have a government loss-sharing component available only after the borrower has made six payments on the modified mortgage. Some of the other features of the proposal include:
- Standard Net Present Value (NPV) Test - In order to promote consistency and simplicity in implementation and audit, a standard test comparing the expected NPV of modifying past due loans compared to foreclosure will be applied. Under this NPV test, standard assumptions will be used to ensure that a consistent standard of affordability is provided based on a 31 percent borrower mortgage debt-to-income ratio.
- Systematic Loan Review by Participating Servicers - Participating servicers would be required to undertake a systematic review of all of the loans under their management, to subject each loan to a standard NPV test to determine whether it is a suitable candidate for modification, and to modify all loans that pass this test.
- Reduced Loss Share Percentage for "Underwater Loans" - For loan-to-value ratios (LTVs) above 100 percent, the government loss share will be progressively reduced from 50 percent to 20 percent as the current LTV rises. If the LTV for the first lien exceeds 150 percent, no loss sharing would be provided.
- Simplified Loss Share Calculation - In general terms, the calculation would be based on the difference between the net present value of the modified loan and the amount of recoveries obtained in a disposition by refinancing, short sale or REO sale, net of disposal costs as estimated according to industry standards. Interim modifications would be allowed.
- De minimis Test - To lower administrative costs, a de minimis test excludes from loss sharing any modification that did not lower the monthly payment at least 10 percent.
- Eight-year Limit on Loss Sharing Payments - The loss sharing guarantee ends eight years after the modification.
Assuming a re-default rate of 33 percent, our plan could reduce the number of foreclosures initiated between now and year-end 2009 by some 1.5 million at a projected program cost of $24.4 billion.
This proposal efficiently uses federal money to achieve an objective that is critical to our economic recovery - stability in our mortgage and housing markets. Mortgage loan modifications have been an area of intense interest and discussion for more than a year now. Meanwhile, despite the many programs introduced to address the problem, the problem continues to get worse. During the second quarter of this year, we saw new mortgage loans becoming 60 days or more past due at a rate of more that 700,000 per quarter - net of past due loans that returned to current status. No one can dispute that this remains the fundamental source of uncertainty for our financial markets and the key sector of weakness for our economy. We must decisively address the mortgage problem as part of our wider strategy to restore confidence and stability to our economy.
While the proposed FDIC program would require a cash outlay in the event of default, we must consider the returns this guarantee would deliver in terms of our housing markets and, by extension, the economic well-being of our communities. While we support the various initiatives taken to date, if we are to achieve stability in our credit and financial markets we cannot simply provide funds to market participants. We must address the root cause of the financial crisis - too many unaffordable mortgages creating too many delinquencies and foreclosures. The time is overdue for us to invest in our homes and communities by adopting a program that will prudently achieve large-scale loan modifications to minimize the impact of foreclosures on households, lenders and local housing markets.
The FDIC has engaged in unprecedented actions to maintain confidence and stability in the banking system. Although some of these steps have been quite broad, we believe that they were necessary to avoid consequences that could have resulted in sustained and significant harm to the economy. The FDIC remains committed to achieving what has been our core mission for the past 75 years - protecting depositors and maintaining public confidence in the financial system.
I will be pleased to answer any questions the Committee might have.


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U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins allowed to keep CPA title despite lapsed permit
Kansas regulators have allowed U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins to continue tagging congressional and campaign materials with a CPA label although her state permit to work as a certified public accountant expired nearly two years ago.
The arrangement was approved by the Kansas Board of Accountancy in 2011 before Jenkins' permit to practice as a CPA expired in 2012.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the executive director of the state Board of Accountancy declined the newspaper's interview requests.
Jenkins' congressional office said she doesn't engage in CPA duties. Jenkins' spokesman Tom Brandt says guidelines of the U.S. House regarding taxpayer-funded mailings enabled official stationary to include information about a member's professional license. He says Jenkins' professional experience as an accountant applies directly to her responsibilities in Congress.

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The GOP, Fox political purge
Republicans and Fox News are moving to purge the controversial political creatures they created.
Both were damaged badly in 2012 by loud, partisan voices that stoked the base — but that scared the hell out of many voters. Now, the GOP, with its dismal image, and Fox News, with its depressed ratings in January, are scrambling to dim those voices. To wit:
- Fox ousted contributors Sarah Palin and Dick Morris, two of the most obnoxiously partisan figures on the network's air.
- Karl Rove, himself sidelined by Fox after the election, has helped start a new super PAC, the Conservative Victory Fund, designed to keep controversial conservatives like Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) from winning Senate primaries.
- Senate GOP leaders created what amounts to a buddy system with their caucus's most popular tea party members, Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas, to get their help in taming anti-establishment conservatives.
- Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has been running around the country warning anyone who will listen that Republicans must quit being the "stupid party" that nominates nutty candidates.
Story Continued Below
"The fact that we lost a winnable election has caused Republicans to take this very, very seriously," Jindal told us in an interview. "I don't think it's just a marketing change. I don't think it's just cosmetic changes. It is going to require some serious changes, not in principles, but in the way we talk and act."
One high-profile Republican strategist, who refused to be named in order to avoid inflaming the very segments of the party he wants to silence, said there is a deliberate effort by party leaders to "marginalize the cranks, haters and bigots — there's a lot of underbrush that has to be cleaned out."
For establishment Republicans, this is all about survival, after two straight elections that saw extremely conservative candidates blow Senate races Republicans should have won. For Fox, it's about credibility: The cable network, while still easily the top-ranked in news, has seen its ratings dip since the election, in part, conservatives tell us, because a lot of Republicans felt duped by the coverage.
( Also on POLITCO: Dick Morris, 'worst pundit of 2012')
Roger Ailes, the channel's chairman and CEO, has a politician's sense of his base — Fox viewers. He revolutionized television by tapping into Republican disgust and anger with the mainstream media. This has worked brilliantly for him. He created not only the most-watched cable news channel in the country — he created political celebrities, several of whom dominated Republican politics in the 2012 cycle.
At various points, many of those celebrities, all with Fox contracts, were at or near the top of Republican presidential polls: Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Palin and Mike Huckabee. But by the end of campaign, Fox could seem like an alternate universe, one in which the Benghazi killings were the most important story in America and Mitt Romney, contrary to public polls and Fox's own polls, was on his way to winning the election. While ratings were strong, the network had a bumpy election night, capped off by Rove taking to its air to argue that everyone else was premature in calling Ohio for President Barack Obama. Rove, who recently had his Fox contract renewed, saw his appearances scaled back after the scene.
( Also on POLITICO: PPP: Trust in Fox hits record low)


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GET ME A UNICORN CHASER! (Oh. Wait.)
[Note: Today's post contains a mildly bad word, because I put it in to make John laugh and then he said it was too funny to take out. Please parent accordingly.]
According to Urban Dictionary, a unicorn chaser is anything that "serves as a cleansing of the palate after a viewer has been subjected to a distasteful internet image or experience." If you've ever mistakenly clicked a link that showed you something really disgusting, like clown porn or Snooki's pregnancy pictures, then you know what I'm talking about.
You can even buy a Unicorn Chaser from ThinkGeek, although they don't mention what it tastes like. I'm guessing moonbeams and Oreo filling, because I can't imagine anything that tastes better than that, except maybe Oreo filling without the moonbeams. But it might taste like green Skittles, which would be disgusting, and then you'd need another chaser for your Unicorn chaser. Which would be both sad and kind of filling.
Look, my point is that these clouds look like shit:
No, wait. That wasn't my point at all.
My point is, Unicorn horns: Do they really need a point?
Or can they just be a giant lump like a cartoon head injury?
Or a large pile of bird doo-doo?
And do unicorns need heads, or can they just puke rainbows directly out of their necks?
Assuming they still have a horn jammed in there somewhere, I mean?
True Story: As I was typing "do unicorns need heads" just now, I could totally hear one of you saying, "Why would a unicorn need a bathroom at sea?" And I was all, "WAIT FOR ME TO FINISH THE QUESTION, IMAGINARY WISE-GUY READER." And then you were all, "Gee, sorry," and I was able to move on after eating a spoonful of Oreo filling for recovery purposes.
This unicorn-pooping-cupcakes cake is adorable, and I won't have any of you speaking a WORD against it.
Unless you want to comment on the wonky elongated nipple/leg. That I'd be ok with.
And finally, you know how when you visit a friend or relative, and you break something, and you just lay the broken bits down like they're not broken and hope nobody notices until a few days after you leave? No?
Ok, how about this:
You know how when you can't get a cake unicorn head to stand up on its own, so you just break it off and plop it back down on the body at an unnatural angle and pretend it's supposed to look like that?
[backing away slowly]
If anyone needs me, I'll just be over here eating Oreo fillings in the moonlight. Just as soon as I find a picture of the moon for my computer screen.
Hey Laura B., Andrea & Anne Marie, Joshanna R., Robin E., & Samantha S. - why the long face and creepy demon eyes?


text:
Taking potshots at the Indian cricketers for objecting to the Decision Review System, Cricket Australia Chief Executive James Sutherland has said that ''some awful decisions'' against them could convince India to use the controversial technology.
Indian players and the Cricket Board (BCCI) are not favour of using the DRS as they feel that the technology has many flaws and they were at the receiving end when one component of it was used.
Before the ongoing Test series against Australia, there were calls for the use of DRS but the Indian cricket establishment, including skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, has stuck to their guns of not using the technology.
The ICC rules require both countries to agree to the use of DRS.
ut, Sutherland was adamant that the DRS should be introduced in all international matches.
"The technology is here, the viewers are watching it on TV and we're not using it," Sutherland said.
"Perhaps we need some pretty awful decisions to go against Indian batsmen," he was quoted as saying by 'The Age'.
He said he is hopeful that the Indians will agree to the use of DRS in the near future.
"My sense talking to Indian administrators is that there are a couple of players within the Indian team who don't have a lot of confidence in DRS. I suspect that is perhaps a reason why the BCCI haven't seen themselves in a position to really approve it at this stage," Sutherland said.
"It's fact - the number of decisions that were correct have increased with the introduction of DRS and I think the entertainment value of cricket has increased as a result of DRS," he added


text:
I'm asking this because I'm considering distributing a commercial Windows application to mac users. The application would run in WINE, but WINE depends on X11.
I've read that X11 is installed by default on OS X 10.5 and later, and available as an optional install on the installation dvd for OS X 10.4
Can I reasonably expect X11 to be available on most of the users' computers? If not, how difficult it would be to install for the user? Can I just provide them a link to download and install it from apple's website?


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Life Science: Session 1
Curriculum Resources:
SCIS 3+, Lawrence Hall of Science
SCIS 3+ consists of 13 units, and spans from kindergarten through sixth grade. The concepts developed in each unit of SCIS 3+ are elaborated upon throughout the program. Students acquire a strong background for building scientific literacy, which enables them to make intelligent decisions about their environment and the world in which they live.
The original program, SCIS, integrated the learning theories of Jean Piaget. Using the Learning Cycle strategy, students are led to discover concepts through their investigations with a wide variety of manipulative materials and live organisms. Completely activity-based, the SCIS 3+ approach is based upon current research on how children learn. The SCIS approach to teaching science concepts and process skills has been proven through years of classroom use.
SCIS 3+ is a revision of the work of the Science Curriculum Improvement Study, which was developed by the Physics Department and the Lawrence Hall of Science of the University of California, Berkeley, with the support of the National Science Foundation. Development of SCIS 3+ was supported and copyrighted by Delta Education. For more information, contact:
Delta Education, Inc.
phone: 1-800-258-1302
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Ready to join a team committed to moving gene therapies into the clinical and commercial settings for patients and families devastated by rare neurological genetic diseases? AveXis is advancing cutting-edge science to treat rare and life-threatening genetic diseases starting with our clinical-stage, proprietary gene therapy candidate, AVXS-101 (ZOLGENSMA®). We are in the midst of an incredible journey and are looking for passionate individuals to join us on this important mission.
AveXis, Inc., a Novartis Company, is a clinical-stage gene therapy company, dedicated to developing and commercializing novel treatments for patients suffering from rare and life-threatening neurological genetic diseases. Our initial product candidate, AVXS-101, is our proprietary gene therapy product candidate currently in development for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy, or SMA, Type 1, the leading genetic cause of infant mortality, and for the treatment of SMA Type 2. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, has granted AVXS-101 Orphan Drug Designation for the treatment of all types of SMA and Breakthrough Therapy Designation, as well as Fast Track Designation for the treatment of SMA Type 1. In addition to developing AVXS-101 to treat SMA Type 1 and Type 2, we also plan to develop other novel treatments for rare neurological diseases, including Rett syndrome (RTT) and a genetic form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) caused by mutations in the superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) gene.
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by 000073 on 10.07.15 23:31


text:
So, I saw via that there twitter that some people are claiming that astrology effectively predicted Hurricane Irene. I don't know if that means they predicted it would happen in general, or that it would strike land at a specific time, or that it would be a certain intensity or blah blah blah. If they predicted it happening in general, I'm sure meteorologists would have done that with a greater degree of certainty long before anyone consulted the star charts. But that's just me, ever the dismissive cynic.
Astrology in general is believed to have predicted many things, like the September the 11thattacks, Royal Weddings, several wars and lord knows what else. I believe these questionable 'successes' can be explained by what is known in the scientific circles as 'throw enough shit at a wall and some will stick' technique. But I will admit to having a soft spot for astrology, despite what I may have said in the past. I always appreciate creativity, even when it's not something I'd necessarily approve of or agree with. But people love horoscopes and star signs, the thought that our lives are being influenced by something bigger and more powerful than we are is obviously very reassuring to many people (see also; All religions ever). I've even dabbled with writing horoscopes myself before now.
So overall, I feel us sciencey types are missing out with our knee-jerk dismissals of all things astrological. So, to hopefully address this concern, here is a new, revamped star chart for scientists, rationalists, sceptics and the like. What does your star-sign say about cynical old you? Find out*.
(Jan 20th – Feb 18th)
You are a brash and confident seeming, with an outgoing exterior that hides a crippling self-doubt and neurosis that eats away at you and will eventually cause you to blurt out all of your worries and fears in one long stream of consciousness, probably to a nearby commuter who will seriously consider alerting the police about you. Scientifically, you will end up in a discipline that sounds very impressive (e.g. Nuclear Physics, Genetic modification, Germ warfare) but makes people back away slowly when you tell them what is you do, which you will do often. If you end up doing research, you will publish your results anywhere as long is means you're first author. If it's a disreputable or poor-credibility journal, you will tell people that they were the only ones who would publish your data as it's 'too groundbreaking' or 'the establishment don't want people to hear it'. A Plutonius is most likely to be the 'lone maverick' or 'sole dissenting voice' when it comes to controversial theories, and will inevitably cause a public panic or scandal. You assume parties never go on later than 10pm, because that's when everyone has left whenever you go to one.
Likes: Olivia Lee, Heston Blumenthal, Hawaiian Shirts, 9/11 conspiracy theories.
Dislikes: All Bran, poets, the peer review process, JLS.
(Feb 19th – Mar20th)
Numbers are your friends. Even the imaginary ones. Ergo, you have imaginary friends. Your meticulous devotion to the mathematical properties of everyday life mean people are always keen to get your help when dealing with taxes and such, but you don't get invited out for dinner often, as you have an unsettling habit of only ever eating the items on your plate in a specific order, and your tendency to argue over what constitutes an appropriate tip gets quite embarrassing. Every collection of items you own (DVD's, pens, socks, books) adds up to a prime number. You are not consciously aware of this, but would be pleased if you found out. You have no particular style or appearance, but however you look you are always perfectly symmetrical. Animals tend to look at you with suspicion. You will probably have been tested for autism at some point in your life. You don't really see the point in Sudoku, you never even have to fill it in order to solve it. A Paisces is highly likely to be involved in some heavily numerical discipline, and more are entering the financial sector these days as the huge numbers being used constantly excites them in ways they're not keen to tell people about.
Likes: Pub Quiz machines, logic puzzles, Russell Crowe, the Financial Times, Stephen Baxter
Dislikes: Shakespeare, Hollywood sci-fi, Carol Vorderman, the X-factor, train stations
(Mar 21st – Apr 19th)
You are strident and forthright, but not in a way that's helpful to you or your career. Everyone is plotting against you. It's likely that your theory about this is true, but it's more often than not a consequence rather than a cause of your behaviour. You are keen to have a family while keeping your career going, largely just to show people you are capable of that. A Mariecuries may enter any number of scientific fields, but once there they will be very prolific, producing data and forging a reputation at the expense of any personal interaction or social skills. You want people to know your name, and they probably will, but any time they say it it'll be prefaced with the words 'Oh no! It's...', or some variation of this. A Mariecuries will get involved with causes of any sort; as long as they a) agree with them, and b) it'll give them a legitimate excuse to berate people and make themselves better known ('a' can be disregarded if the opportunity for 'b' is big enough). If you have a Mariecurie in your lab or institution they will do the work of 3 people, but you're likely to lose at least twice as many due to sudden resignations.
Likes: Ann Widdecombe, twitter, reputable journals, Simon Pegg, online commenting systems
Dislikes: Lottery winners, Simon Cowell, Anime, Banksy, The Guardian.
(Apr 20th – May 20th)
You have a very wide range of interests and will absorb and retain information very readily. This is usually at the expense of any ability to relay this information to other people in a manner which is in any way interesting or succinct. You think of clothing purely in terms of what offers the best protection from likely environmental conditions, and see food purely as an energy resource. If it ever did occur to you to go to a high-class restaurant, you would expect the prices to be indicative of the amount of consumable mass you will be given. As a Boreus, you will be ideally suited to lecturing, on any subject that has enough information to fill an hours-long monologue. You have no problem with continuous talking and are actually under the impression that people's default expression is one of crushing apathy or semi-consciousness. Invitations to attend meetings or give speeches rapidly decline as you get older. Depending on age, a Boreus is highly likely to be a big fan of Dungeons and Dragons or World of Warcraft (online). Relationships are sustainable only with partners who understand that it is purely just a means of reproducing and providing offspring with a minimal risk environment in which to develop, in order to ensure survival of genetic information, although a committed Boreus will be happy to explain in depth why this instinct is just an evolved tendency that isn't really essential to anyone who will listen (i.e. No-one)
Likes: Ledgers, grain, books with an index section, the dewy decimal system, cottage cheese.
Dislikes: Twitter, theme parks, news bulletins, the colour purple, Michael McIntyre.
(May 21st – Jun 20th)
Likes: ER, Doctor Who, Children in Need, the NHS, fun runs, Vegetables, Red Wine, Aeroplane socks.
Dislikes: House M.D., Scotland, Politicians, the Grand Theft Auto franchise, Secret Santa, Turkish delight.
(Jun 21st – Jul 22nd)
You are generally a passive person, one who lets events affect him/her rather than deciding your own course in life. However, when good fortune does come your way, your ability to deal with it and exploit it is minimal so you just make it up as you go along, and end up coming across as, at best, a baffling eccentric or, at worst, a power hungry idiot. Scientifically, you will probably end up in whichever field is most convenient, be it due to parental influence, pre-existing interests or it being a subject taught in a convenient university which accepts you based on the grades you're likely to get. Career progression will be achieved by stepping in for more senior people who leave. A low-level, uninspiring career is likely, except when, as sometimes happens, you stumble upon a new discovery or important finding that will have you achieving notoriety well beyond your competence level. You will either try to coast on this for several years until everyone notices that you've not produced any follow-up work and promptly forget about you, or you will try to make some clever-sounding claims about what your discovery means that will be poorly thought out and annoy everyone else in the field. You will not be shy of commitment in a relationship, as you will desperately need someone to make all the big decisions for you for your own safety. You will also tend to avoid people in your on field as they tend to make you realise the extent to which you've a very poor understanding of what it is you do.
Likes: Public transport, Supernanny, life coaches, CCTV, ready meals.
Dislikes: Elections, audits, assault courses, sushi, delegation, improvised comedy.
(Jul 23rd – Aug 22nd)
You are 'cool'. By which I mean you think you're cool, but go out of your way to show others how cool you are, which is not cool. You are interested in science because it is not as 'square' as it used to be, it features in a lot more films these days and allows you to affect an air of nonchalant superiority when you tell non-scientists what you do (which is probably something cutting edge and/or slightly dangerous, such as nanotechnology or drug development). Your desire to appear cool often clashes with your scientific instincts, such as wearing shades in low-light environments, boasting about your vegetarianism while wearing leather jackets, tweeting about the disgraceful consumerist attitudes of society via an iPhone, and so on. You will embrace all new trends and technologies in order to exploit the brief window where you're more 'ahead' of the rest of the people you know. You will behave similarly in your scientific work, favouring more unlikely and obscure conclusions and theories purely to stand apart from accepted wisdom and get noticed. This will happen, and you'll be labelled a dickhead. You may find yourself working with the media far more than anticipated, but nowhere near as much as you'd truly like.
Likes: Steve Jobs, Night clubs, swords, martial arts, the Sopranos, Thai food.
Dislikes: Carol Vorderman, Nokia phones, the peer-review process, blue cheese, golf, the periodic table.
(Aug 23rd – Sept 22nd)
You have borderline sociopathic tendencies. You're love of science stems from a deep-seated dislike of people in general. You may have had several negative experiences as a young child that led you to develop this loathing for your fellow man, but are unaware that, in a social context, they were largely self-inflicted. You pursue science, most likely in a biological discipline but not always, as it allows you to mentally reduce human beings to a collection of unconscious processes and also makes it somewhat easier for you to kill them if it ever comes to that. You think this will happen. You will probably excel in your scientific career, seeing as you care not for the concern and respect of others and completely lack even the vaguest hint of a social life. This allows you to get a lot of work done and data produced in a much shorter space of time, and this will reflect well on you with regards to people who don't know you and have no contact with you. The idea of a relationship with someone genuinely baffles you. You invariably dress smartly or at least in a standard manner as anything unusual means attention from people, and you don't want that. Not until you can find a suitable place to hide the bodies, anyway.
Likes: Band saws, plagues, private Health care, silence, the X factor.
Dislikes: Jehovah's Witnesses, Telesales, public transport, pubs, the immune system.
(Sept 23rd – Oct 22nd)
You are a somewhat other-worldly creature. Although physically a normal human in appearance and anatomy, mentally you dwell in some other world where the norms are your own. People often ask you if you're stoned or inebriated, you will reassure them at first then become distracted by your own wandering brain again, leaving them none the wiser over all. You care deeply about science as it means you might be able to eventually investigate the wild flights of fancy that occur to you approximately 34 times an hour. You will eventually gravitate towards quantum mechanics, parallel worlds theory, or one of the other sciences which still operates on a largely theoretical basis, so as to not spoil your daydreams with brutal logic and evidence. Your life could end up being a risky one, as although everyone will think of you as harmless of possibly endearing, you do have a concentration problem which means you are more likely to walk in front of buses or fall down manholes. The opposite sex will invariably be drawn to you, but they will eventually express their frustration with your lack of attention to them and leave in a huff. Maybe half the time, you'll notice this has happened.
Likes: Exotic cheese, Futurama, mountaintops, Steve Martin, the Vengaboys.
Dislikes: Census forms, the Peer review process, textbooks, gravity, open manholes.
(Oct 23rd – Nov 21st)
Likes: Jungles, adrenalin, arctic explorer ships, barbecues, Bear Grylles.
Dislikes: Desks, suits, mortgages, budget airlines, David Attenborough.
(Nov 22nd – Dec 21st)
Despite your best efforts, you will inevitably end up as the type of scientist that is often regarded as 'ridiculous stereotype'. If you are male, you'll start to develop unruly white hair, a ridiculous moustache at some time around your 21st Birthday, and it will get worse from there. You will discover all your clothes are made from tweed and can be worn over or under a lab coat with little or no bother. You may find yourself starting to speak with an Eastern European lilt for no discernible reason. Regardless of the scientific discipline you are involved with or what level you're at, people will start calling you 'Professor', to the point where you are officially declared one and are given all the associated responsibilities of one. You won't have a clue what you're doing, but it's Ok as everyone will assume you're an eccentric genius. If you are female, the exact same will happen, but instead of a moustache you'll grow shorter, and wear your hair in a bun.
Likes: Tweed, animals, tolerant postgraduates, rats, blackboards, port.
Dislikes: The internet, hip-hop, Starbucks, flamingos, lager.
(Dec 22nd – Jan 19th)
Urrghh. You know what you're like, I see no reason to state it here. Disgusting.
Likes: [CENSORED]
Dislikes: Overly-curious computer repair technicians.
* = I'd say one person at most will conform to these outrageous exaggerations. Happy scienceing!
Email: Humourology (at) live.co.uk
Twitter: @garwboy


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A crossing guard was injured Monday morning when a car struck him in front of Belmont Middle School.
Joseph Nottage stepped out onto Central Avenue as he typically did before helping children across the road. But a driver who was temporarily blinded by the sun did not see the 73-year-old man, according to police.
Randy Smith was driving a Chevrolet truck down Central Avenue when the incident happened just around 7:55 a.m., according to Belmont Police Chief Charlie Franklin.
Smith, 44, of Mount Holly was turning left onto Myrtle Street when he hit Nottage. The driver immediately jumped out of the vehicle and went to Nottage�s aid, Franklin said.
Smith was visibly upset about the incident, according to Franklin.
Nottage complained of leg and back pain following the collision, but Franklin didn�t feel his injuries were serious.
�He just bumped him, probably going about 4 or 5 mph,� said Franklin.
By Monday afternoon, Nottage had been treated and released from Gaston Memorial Hospital.
As a crossing guard, Nottage is employed by the city of Belmont rather than the school system. Belmont Middle School Principal Mark Schultz said he knows the man as Joe and has waved to him and brought him a cup of hot chocolate on occasion.
The incident happened just before class started Monday morning. Because most students had been dropped off, there was no disruption to the schedule, according to Schultz.
Franklin did not anticipate Smith being issued a citation for the incident.
You can reach reporter Diane Turbyfill at 704-869-1817 and twitter.com/GazetteDiane.


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- Jena Economic Resea...
- Volume 6
- Absorptive Capacity...
- Pictured person
- published
- Mon Oct 15 2012
- Number of discussion paper
- keyword(s)
absorptive capacity
cognitive distance
inter-firm cooperation
knowledge spillovers
- abstract
Cooperation can benefit and hurt firms at the same time. An important question then is: when is it better to cooperate. And how can an appropriate partner be selected? In this paper we present a model of inter-firm cooperation driven by cognitive distance, appropriability conditions and external knowledge. Absorptive capacity of firms develops as an outcome of the interaction between absorptive R&D and cognitive distance from voluntary and involuntary knowledge spillovers. Thus, we offer a revision of the original model by Cohen and Levinthal (1989) accounting for recent empirical findings and explicitly modeling absorptive capacity within the framework of interactive learning. We apply that to the analysis of firms' cooperation and R&D investment preferences. While the focus of this paper is limited to a static scenario, where the cognitive distance between cooperating firms is fixed and given exogenously, in Savin and Egbetokun (2012) we address the dynamic approach and provide more extensive simulation results.
- article pub. typess JER
- Research article
- article languages JER
- Englisch
- JEL-Classification for JER
- C63 - Computational Techniques ; C8 - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs; L14 - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation; Networks ; O32 - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D ; O33 - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes


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Friday, December 30, 2011
handmade gifts 2011: mouse house for Asher
(Late Note: This is now available as a PDF pattern in my shops: Etsy (emailed within 24 hours) and Craftsy (instant download))
A curiously small little mouse in a tin house for a wee boy I know. I hope he likes tiny things like I do. Actually, it was kind of hard to send little mousy away. We miss you, Alton.
Alton is corduroy and felt with an embroidery floss tail, and his house has a wool felt mattress and blankie, and a cotton ticking pillow.
The girls went crazy over him, and I happen to have two more Altoids tins, so they will be getting a little surprise for Valentines Day. I'm thinking white mice with pink ears. By the by, have you ever visited the Altoids Hall of Curiosities? It's...quirky.
28 comments:
eine sehr süße!ReplyDelete
liebe grüße . tabea
That is the cutest thing ever!!!!ReplyDelete
Aww, what a darling little mousie! He is just too cute! :)ReplyDelete
sweet little mouse!!ReplyDelete
Oh, this is so cute and clever. Now to find me some altoids tins!ReplyDelete
I have been delighted with all your postings about the handmade items for Christmas. So special, cute, usable for play. What wonderful traditions you are carrying on.ReplyDelete
so super cute :)ReplyDelete
You're so clever and you have that ability to think like a child long enough to make something as adorable as this!! Delightful!ReplyDelete
Oh my goodness! I can't believe your brain. Where in the world do you get your cute ideas? If I made something like that, I'm not sure I would let my kids play with it--it would have to stay in my purse to entertain me in waiting rooms or during...ahem...extra long sermons.ReplyDelete
I've been making things out of tin boxes that MYNTZ mints come in, because they are smooth and easy to spray paint.ReplyDelete
I LOVE this idea!
Gotta' go buy some more MYNTZ so I can make Mouse Houses!
I follow your blog, but saw this on pinterest first. Not knowing it was you I totally thought of you when I saw it. Super adorable! You always make the cutest things.ReplyDelete
Oh my goodness, this is sooo cute! I had to pin it on my Pinterest profile so I remember where it is when I'm ready to try one :-)ReplyDelete
that is so adorable!!! I am sure the girls will love their Valentine's presents!!! :)ReplyDelete
So cute! I'm sure he'll get carried around everywhere!!ReplyDelete
I saw this on pinterest a few days ago, and am now not surprised at all that it came from you. (I pinned it during one of my pinning craze's and didn't see where it came from.) Just catching up on my blog reading and I think I have pinned every single thing you have posted in the past 2 weeks. Seriously. That mind of yours is a whirl of beauty.ReplyDelete
I don't like altoids, but I would buy the tins and dump the contents to make that! Soooo adorable!!!ReplyDelete
I just tried to make this mouse but I'm hung up a bit. Did you sew the arms, legs, and ears on by hand after you sewed the body together or did you sew any of them on while sewing the body together? Your little guy looks so cute. I'm trying still:)ReplyDelete
Hey, diplobrisco, I sewed the arms and legs when I sewed the body together. The ears I added by hand, but don't see why you couldn't add those at the same time as the body sewing too.ReplyDelete
Thank you Larissa! Did you have a hard time making yours? I haven't sewn in no less than 10 years ago so I'm a bit rusty. I just figured out how to make the small turns when sewing the arms and feet. Did you leave the space between the legs (poor thing) open to turn right sides out and then sew it up by hand from there?ReplyDelete
Diplobrisco, mine came together pretty easily, but I have not had a 10 year break in sewing, LOL. Yes, leave a small space to turn and stuff the mouse between the legs.ReplyDelete
This is so adorable! And I love the Valentine idea.ReplyDelete
I'm back to ask another question:) did you use buttons for the eyes or are those tiny snaps?ReplyDelete
diplobrisco, french knot over a black sequin. Gives it a little sparkle.ReplyDelete
I love your Mouse!! Is there a pattern for the body and ears? I am going to have to try this!ReplyDelete
Hi, Jenni L! No pattern available for this. Maybe some day. But if you have an Altoid tin you can use it to size the mouse just right.ReplyDelete
Thought you might like to see this one on our site: http://www.ourmothersdaughters.blogspot.com/2012/02/handmade-toddler-gift-mouse-in-tin.htmlReplyDelete
You gave great inspiration!
Nice Blog
We are offering a wide range of Handmade gifts only on matrboomi.com
Hello. Enough about me. Let's hear from you! If you post a question, I answer with a reply comment, so be sure to click the 'notify me' box as you post your question to receive the answer via email. Thanks!


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Despite the housing construction quagmire and the sub-prime mortgage debacle being experienced nationwide, growth and development continues at a record pace in San Juan County.
During 2007, following a record year in 2006, 154 building permits were issued by the County, and the Cities of Monticello and Blanding.
The County issued 105 permits, valued at $11,124,237. Building permits outside the city limits of Blanding and Monticello are issued through the County. County permits were issued in the following areas: La Sal 30; Spanish Valley 28; Blanding area 23; Monticello area 18; Bluff 6; Wilson Arch 1; and Lisbon Valley 1.
The most surprising single statistic in the county breakdown is the large number of permits issued in La Sal. In recent years, Spanish Valley (south of Moab in San Juan County) has been far and away the largest single producer of building permits.
La Sal's high number of building permits in 2007 is an indication of how big an economic stimulus has become the Lisbon Valley Copper Mine and the resurgence of uranium mining.
Blanding City issued 35 permits valued at $2,520,887 and Monticello City issued 14 permits valued at $822,554.
The total value of permits from the county and the two incorporated cities came to nearly $15 million. That figure is for tax valuation purposes, not actual retail value, which is often higher.
A major blow economically occurred with the surprise announcement of the closing of mining operations at the Lisbon Valley Copper Mine and the loss of more than 100 high paying jobs. However, the continued growth in uranium mining, hauling and processing may take up much of the slack.
Bolstering uranium as an economic stimulator is the exploration for and transporting of natural gas. Drilling in the area has resulted in several major new natural gas wells. Also being brought into production are old wells that were capped decades ago because there was no way to get the gas in the wells to market.
There are $26 million worth of high pressure steel natural gas lines being installed to gather gas from wells in various parts of the county, (mostly east of Monticello) This gas will be shipped by pipeline to the Encana gas plant in Lisbon Valley. Encana is capable of purifying 80 million cubic feet of gas a day. Last fall they were limping along on 24 million cubic feet a day.
The new gas volume will not only greatly help Encana's bottom line, but will greatly expand the county tax base, provide new jobs for workers, and provide royalties for land owners who receive royalties on the gas soon to be produced and shipped to market in the new pipeline network.
Other large projects like phase two of the Elk Meadows subdivision north of Monticello and several new subdivisions in Blanding and others throughout the county are pouring millions of dollars into infrastructure, and providing many building sites for retirees and the new employees of the resurgent energy industries.
The overall economic forecast for the area in 2008 is as bullish as it has been in many years. It is an exciting time.


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Copyright Unfringement
Technically, you know, if you want to get all law-abiding about it, you have to have permission to use copyrighted characters on cakes.
Or, you can try one of these techniques:
1. The Alter-Ego:
2. The Unibrow:
3. The Brother By a Different Mother:
4. The Foreign Equivalent:
Tracy L., Ed S., Erin M., & Emily S., er, none of you are lawyers, right?
- Related Wreckage: Guess Who!


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We would like to share this page with everyone. "Like" us and share our page.
Help the homeless veterans and Food Bank.
We would like to break the record of over 1000 zombies walking through town. So come out and have your best zombie costume on.
Follow this page and keep up to date with the happenings.


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Principal & interest calculator
The Detail
This calculator model contains a number of assumptions and they are set out in the i button. Please click it for more details. The assumptions may not reflect the ways in which our Bank's computer systems work. The results from this calculator should be used as an indication only and it does not take into account of your personal circumstances. The results do not represent either quotes or pre-qualifications for a loan. It is advised that you consult your financial adviser before taking out a loan. If you apply for a loan we will make our own calculations and we may not take this calculation into account.


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How to Locate Superior Subscription Content on Your Kindle Paperwhite
Kindle Paperwhite content isn't restricted to just e-books. In fact, one of the earliest selling points of the device was the capability to subscribe to Kindle versions of popular magazines, newspapers, and blogs. This type of content has been steadily increasing over the years. At present, several hundred magazines, newspapers, and blogs are available.
You have two options available for acquiring this type of content — an ongoing subscription or the purchase of a single issue. Per issue prices for a subscription will be less than the price to purchase a single issue, and both will usually be less than a traditional subscription or a print purchase.
If price is the determining factor, do your homework and shop around. On the other hand, if decreasing the clutter in your home is important and you want the convenience of wireless delivery daily, weekly, or monthly, you may find that a Kindle subscription is a viable option.
Some subscription content is available for free online, such as certain newspapers. So why pay for a Kindle Paperwhite subscription? If you commute on a train or a bus, the convenience of having the paper on your Kindle Paperwhite might be the deciding factor. On the other hand, if you like to read the paper on your computer, a subscription might not be a smart purchase.
Further, some online periodicals restrict content and make it available only to subscribers. For example, the New York Times limits nonsubscribers to ten articles per month online. Subscribers have unlimited access to the online edition, the complete archives of the New York Times, plus the convenience of having the paper delivered directly to the Kindle Paperwhite every morning at 4 a.m. (EST).
All Kindle subscriptions come with a minimum 14-day free trial. Special promotions may be offered with 90-day free trials for subscription content. You can cancel any time during the trial. If you don't cancel, your subscription begins automatically at the end of the trial period. Of course, you can cancel a subscription at any time, even after subscribing; you'll receive a pro-rated refund on the unused portion.
Please note that the trial (14 or 90 days) is a one-time option — if you cancel and then decide later you want to subscribe, even if many months have passed, your new paid subscription starts immediately.
Kindle subscriptions can be confusing because there are lots of little quirks that are generally not an issue with e-books. Recognize that many of these exist because of the way the publisher has decided to format and distribute the content, and thus these issues are not under the control of Amazon. Here are some things to be aware of:
The Kindle Paperwhite is a grayscale device. Magazines and newspapers that rely heavily on color photographs don't look the same on the Kindle Paperwhite. For this reason, your reading experience may not be a pleasurable.
Content in the print edition may not be included in the Kindle subscription version. For example, the New Yorker doesn't include its full complement of cartoons, and National Geographic doesn't include all the pictures found in the print edition. You should definitely take advantage of the free trial to determine whether you will find the content, as presented, satisfactory.
Not all periodicals are available for all devices, such as smartphones and the Kindle for PC app. Which devices are supported is clearly identified on the subscription page. For example, if you hope to read your subscription to the New Yorker on your iPhone, you're out of luck.
Unlike e-books, subscription content can be read only on one Kindle. You can't share subscriptions among devices, although you can change the device to which the subscription is delivered.
Only recent issues of newspapers and magazines and recent blog entries remain available on your device. Older issues of e-newspapers and e-magazines and older blog entries are deleted automatically from your Kindle Paperwhite to make room for additional content.
Older issues of newspapers and magazines appear inside the Periodicals: Back Issues grouping, which usually appears at the end of the content listing. The screen displays the back issues you have on your Kindle Paperwhite. Newspaper and magazine issues that are more than seven issues old are automatically deleted to free up space for new content. The word Expiring next to an issue indicates that it'll be deleted soon.
If you want to keep a copy of an issue on your Kindle Paperwhite, follow these steps:
Open the specific issue from the listing of periodicals.
Tap the top of the screen to display the toolbar.
Tap Menu→Keep This Issue.
Alternatively, from the list of periodicals, tap and hold down on the issue you want to keep. When the pop-up menu appears, select Keep This Issue.
You can delete a saved issue by following the preceding steps and selecting Do Not Keep This Issue from the Menu in Step 3.


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More Virginians are expected to travel this Labor Day weekend, reaching a new post-recession high for the state.
AAA Mid-Atlantic says that the number of people taking a trip at least 50 miles away from home is anticipated to increase about 2 percent this year.
That's nearly 950,000 Virginians traveling during the Thursday through Monday holiday weekend.
This year's numbers are a more than 9 percent increase since the end of the recession in 2009.
The majority of Virginians are expected to travel by car. And AAA anticipates the price tag for this year's travel to increase nearly $120 to an average of $946.
Gas prices have brought a welcome relief to motorists. Prices in Virginia are down about 7 percent per gallon compared with the same time last year.


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FISA Court Shuts Down DOJ's Attempt To Hold Onto Section 215 Metadata Indefinitely
from the not-much-'justice'-over-at-the-DOJ dept
As we recently covered, the DOJ asked the FISA court to extend the disposal deadline of phone metadata from the usual five years to an indefinite period of time, supposedly in order to preserve evidence it might need to present in lawsuits filed against the government. (Not that the DOJ has any intention of ever turning this information over, no longer how long the NSA holds onto it…) Somewhat surprisingly, (outgoing) FISC judge Reggie Walton has turned the DOJ's request down.
The DOJ contended it had a "duty" to preserve evidence -- a duty that supposedly superseded the destruction requirements of the metadata collection. Judge Walton calls the DOJ out for this claim ("the Court rejects this premise"), but more damningly, calls bullshit on the DOJ's citations.
The government cites three cases in support of its position: Inc. v. So, 271.R.D. 13 (S.D.N.Y. 2010), Richard Green (Fine Paintings) v. McClendon, 262 F.R.D. 284 (S.D.N.Y. 2009), and Zubulake v. UBS Warburg LLC, 229 F.R.D. 422 (S.D.N.Y. 2004). Although the destruction of electronic records was an issue in all three cases, R.F.M.A.S. at 40; at 287-88; Zubulake at 434, none of these cases involved a conflict between a litigant's duty to preserve electronic records and a statute or regulation that required their destruction. They merely demonstrate that, when triggered, a civil litigant's duty to preserve relevant evidence includes electronic records and that duty trumps a corporate document destruction policy. The Court has not found any case law supporting the government's broad assertion that its duty to preserve supersedes statutory or regulatory requirements.So, that's the DOJ's "legal basis" for the indefinite retention of bulk metadata: preservation of evidence statutes governing private entities. It somehow hoped to treat the FISA court as nothing more than a regulatory speed bump rather than the fine line between national security and outright civil liberty abuse. The FISA court points out that what it's asking for is much more significant than it seems to realize. As Walton reminded the NSA in one of his earlier court orders, without the minimization procedures in place, the Section 215 collection would be unconstitutional.
In other words, nearly all of the call detail records collected pertain to communications of non-U.S. persons who are not the subject of an FBI investigation to obtain foreign intelligence information, are communications of US. persons who are not the subject of an FBI investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities, and are data that otherwise could not be legally captured in bulk by the government.These are the same call records the DOJ wants to hold indefinitely, and its only justifications aren't even relevant to the data in question, as Judge Walton points out:
In sharp contrast with the document retention policies of corporations, the restrictions on retention of United States person information embodied in FISA minimization procedures are the means by which Congress has chosen to protect the privacy interests of United States persons when they are impacted by certain forms of intelligence gathering.Walton points out the danger of granting the DOJ this extension, saying doing so would "significantly increase" the chance of the retained metadata being improperly used or disseminated. There is little doubt the NSA would have enjoyed an indefinite extension on the destruction data, given the "collect it all" proclivities of its various directors. But the DOJ's argument is ultimately empty.
The argument is also highly suspect. As noted in our earlier story, the DOJ made no similar effort to retain data pertaining to a 2008 lawsuit with the EFF -- data which would have been disposed of in 2013. This data likely wouldn't have helped the DOJ, or at the very least, would have resulted in a long legal battle to keep it hidden.
With that in mind (and being naturally cynical), it's tempting to view the DOJ's weak effort to hold onto the data as a deliberate ploy to help it keep this metadata from ever appearing in court. Having this granted would have been a small win for the NSA, which could then hold onto data presumably forever. But old data isn't nearly as useful as fresh data, as the NSA knows. The bigger win would be the disposal of data related to lawsuits. The FISA court shooting down this request means that, if the NSA/DOJ buy enough time, the metadata will never appear in court.
The government seems to be dealing itself a lot of winning hands in the ongoing NSA debacle, leaving the surveilled public damned with both do's and don'ts.
[Also worth a read is Marcy Wheeler's coverage of this decision over at Emptywheel, where she points out that this is possibly the first time the FISA court has actually attempted to establish a limit on what the government finds "relevant" to its War on Terror.]
Filed Under: doj, fisa, fisc, metadata, section 215