Letters to the Editor
sunspot
Published Letters: 349 Editor's Choice: 43
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Apple could give a flip
[Read the article: Amazon's MP3 store: Better than iTunes]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The iTunes store only exists to help plug the iPod and make it easier for users to get new music onto their iPods without having to go out, buy a CD and rip it. Amazon's store performs the same function, without Apple having to pay for the bandwidth. I'm guessing Jobs is delighted to see another vendor offering DRM-free music. The sooner that becomes the standard, the better for Apple.
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Uh-Oh
[Read the article: The UAW strike is over: Did anyone win? ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The French are the most productive per hour.
A thousand conservatives' heads just imploded.
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"Back To The Past" *IS* The Only Way Out Of This Mess
[Read the article: New home sales: The downward spiral continues]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The housing crisis occurred becasue, buyers sought out loan agencies who would loan them money for a hosue they could not afford.
Um, you've got this backwards. Crooked, deregulated lenders sought out customers to foist these obviously bogus loans on. I've personally been inundated with telemarketing and direct mailers from mortgage scam artists for most of this decade.
Yes, a lot of chicanery in the "sub-prime" market took place; many unsuspecting or unaware consumers are caught in a trap at least partially of their own making. But "back to the past" is not going to work. Encouraging fiscal responsibility and consumer awareness, whether with 80% or 100% financing, is the way out of the current mess.
How do you think those traditional lending standards were originally established? By picking numbers out of a hat? No. They were established because they WORKED, because those borrowers were typically financially and psychologically able to meet their debt obligations. Until we return to those standards we're going to continue to suffer from these meltdowns in the mortgage market (not to mention the kind of wild price swings which force legitimate borrowers right out of the marketplace).
If most Americans couldn't actually afford to buy a home anymore if subjected to realistic lending standards, that speaks to the gross mismanagement of our economy over the past 25 years by free market libertarian numbnuts. It does not indicate that there's a problem with responsible lending standards. Stop voting for Republican frootbats and quisling Democrats and start voting for people who will manage the economy for the benefit of all our citizens - not just those on Barbara Bush's Christmas card list. Maybe then the average Joe might actually be able to afford a home.
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Buyer Beware? Hardly.
[Read the article: New home sales: The downward spiral continues]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Those people aren't victims, they're greedy.
All of them? Sorry, that's a crock. Sure, the flippers are getting burned, and rightly so - I'm not shedding any tears for that bunch of idiots. But what the heck were the lenders doing giving pretty much anyone that kind of a mortgage, even folks who were just trying to put a roof over their heads?
Chalking these problems up to buyers being "naive", "greedy" or "stupid" sort of misses the point. The crooked mortgage outfits which created this mess here in our deregulated libertarian wonderland are supposed to be professionals, and like all businesses are only licensed to operate in the public interest. I don't expect janitors, truck drivers or for that matter doctors and rocket scientists to be experts on mortgage finance - that would be unrealistic at best, not to mention a complete waste of society's time and resources. But I most certainly do expect mortgage professionals to provide a high degree of expertise. No reputable, legitimate professional would offer most borrowers a stated income, interest only, no money down, adjustable rate mortgage. Not only is it not in the borrower's interest, it's not in the public's interest, either. Yet shady instruments like those were flying out the doors of scamsters like Countrywide and Ameriquest, to name just two of many offenders.
Now that the politically well-connected leaders of these outfits have cashed out (didn't the former CEO of Countrywide recent cash out to the tune of something like $500 million?), taxpayers are going to be forced to clean up their catastrophe. We're already paying for it - the Fed's decision to slash interest rates is punishing responsible savers, and leading to a further decline in the value of the dollar, pushing up the cost of imported goods (including most of our oil and the bulk of our manufactured goods).
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You people made the Baby Jebzus cry . . .
[Read the article: Our rosy future, according to Freeman Dyson]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Waaaaahhhh!
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The Prius is hardly "slow"
[Read the article: The Prius vs. the Edge]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I test drove one and found it to be pretty zippy. It's certainly comparable to other cars in its class, like the Corolla Sport or the V4 Camry. It's super-quiet for a $22k vehicle, and the interior is about as spacious as you can get in a car this size. A Prius could haul a LOT of cargo. I think it's a much better deal than a Civic or a Corolla - you essentially get Camry performance combined with Corolla economy, an ideal mix for those commuting thru stop & go traffic and worth paying a little extra for.
They also seem to be exceedingly reliable, probably because a lot of wear and tear on components like the engine and brakes is mitigated by the electrical systems - the electric motor, the regenerative braking and so forth. It's absolutely the ideal commuter car.
I'm waiting for the hybrid sports cars to turn up. As the incremental cost of this technology declines, that's where components like electric motors and regenerative braking are really going to shine.