Hard Times: August 2008 Archives

Mercy Corps, according to their web site, "works amid disasters, conflicts, chronic poverty and instability to unleash the potential of people who can win against nearly impossible odds." Founded in 1979 by Dan O'Neill, who witnessed the horrors of Idi Amin in Uganda and the terrorism at the 1972 Munich Olympics, Mercy Corps has provided about $1.5 billion in assistance to people in more than a hundred nations. The Mercy Corps team has been active in the Georgia-Russian situation, utilizing donations to distribute food and other critical supplies. Mercy Corps is also sponsoring "Take Note," a the first annual fundraising gala "Music For Mercy Corps" which will be hosted by Sarah Silverman to benefit the Mercy Corps organization on Saturday, August 23rd at the Tuscan Villa in The Hamptons. The event is to raise funds for Mercy Corps' Action Center to End World Hunger in Darfur. The highest profile celebrity items being auctioned is a walk on role in the next Robert Zemeckis movie (the current bid is $9,000).

It's not just about donations, although those help. Mercy Corps is also looking for graduate and undergraduate student interns looking "to apply your education to hands-on projects that contribute to Mercy Corps' efforts to end world poverty." More on Internships here.

[Image: GBGM-UMC]

Growing political unrest in places like Georgia, Mauritania and the Kashmir province highlight the need for news bureau boots-on-the-ground to ferret out the real story coming out of those unfamiliar, far off regions. Unfortunately, online competition has led to declining revenues which in turn has stoked the fires of cost-cutting at newspapers and television networks internationally. This perfect storm of closing foreign bureaus and the rise of post 9/11 global instability has left many stories of struggle around the world that need to be told conspicuously unrelayed. Brian Stelter of The New York Times writes today about the new realities of news coverage in this era of tightened belts:

"Today, as they confront new competition on the Web, television networks are increasingly embracing portable -- and inexpensive -- methods of production. Decades of budget cuts have forced the news divisions to reduce their global footprint, shutting bureaus and abandoning the old norm of four-person crews.

"NBC, ABC and CBS now pool most of their international resources in London and deploy reporters to other countries as needed.

"But a new breed of reporter, sometimes called a 'one-man band,' has become the new norm. Though the style of reporting has existed for years, it is being adopted more widely as these reporters act as their own producer, cameraman and editor, and sometimes even transmit live video."

On the positive side, new streamlined multimedia news bureaus -- some aimed specifically at a younger, presently ill-served demographic -- is a development we all can applaud. And the story of the ABC News bureau which at one time had "three camera crews, three producers, two correspondents, drivers, and a chef in a house with a view of the Eiffel Tower" are excesses that were probably unrealistic for a publicly traded company from the outset.

[Image: Masternewmedia]

When Tim Russert, Buffalo's favorite son, drew his last breath, the nation briefly looked at that most American-working class of regions and its impact on the life of the now-legendary NBC newsman. And then we looked away, focusing on the man, his accomplishments, his bonhomie, as Route 290 receded into the hazy distance of our rear-view mirrors as we collectively continued down the information superhighway. The latest issue of Forbes informs us that Buffalo -- and old manufacturing cities throughout this great Republic - is one of the nation's 10 fastest-dying cities. With those cities is dying The American Dream that is a part of this country's fabric that a high-school educated working person with a solid Protestant ethic - whatever one's actual religion -- can raise their families with a car, a house with a white picket fence and decent schools. That idea of The American dream seems increasingly Rockwellian, belonging to a remote national past. From Forbes:

"According to an article in Forbes' new issue, New York state's second largest city qualifies for the publication's list because of its declining population and slow economic growth. The article says old manufacturing cities such as Buffalo are in rougher shape than ever and still looking for something to replace their factories and mills.

"Buffalo is the only city in New York to make the list. Ohio leads the way with four -- Youngstown, Dayton, Canton and Cleveland -- followed by Michigan with two, Detroit and Flint.

"Also making the list are Charleston, W.Va.; Springfield, Mass., and Scranton, Pa."

We cannot fail to note that these cities, these electoral districts, figured prominently in the primary process in both parties. Much has been made of the "white, blue-collar working-class vote" and how important it will be in places like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and West Virginia. Even beyond the electoral math, these cities deserve our attention. The future of these cities augurs greatly upon the future of the United States of America.

[Image: CFO via TheEconomist]

Seriously. This country needs more judges with a bit more "pro-little people" common sense. The term "activist judge" was pushed by the extreme right as a pejorative to describe judges who wouldn't "play" by their social, cultural or political rules. So, for example, a judge who would rule against a bank in a foreclosure case, would be considered "an activist", especially if the judge was trying to aver the catastrophe of putting families in the street. 

Well, welcome the new wave of foreclosure and bankruptcy judicial activists, judges who are  going to great lengths to verify the claims being put forth by banks during foreclosure proceedings. 

In June, the judge dismissed with prejudice two cases filed by a unit of Wells Fargo & Co. By doing online public-records research himself, the judge found that Wells Fargo didn't own the two loans, and his dismissals mean that even if Wells Fargo eventually obtained legal ownership, it could take up to another year to obtain foreclosure.

Another dismissal involved a foreclosure filed by a U.S. unit of HSBC Holdings PLC. Included in Justice Schack's concerns was that the filed documents list the address for HSBC and a loan payment collector as being the same suite in a West Palm Beach, Fla., building, and that in prior foreclosure filings, other financial entities also claimed to be located in the same suite.

"The Court ponders if Suite 100 is the size of Madison Square Garden to house all of these financial behemoths or if there is a more nefarious reason for this corporate togetherness," he wrote, adding that HSBC would have to write an affidavit explaining the popularity of suite 100.

To those who may get a knee-jerk reaction out of "activist judge" should take a moment to ponder the Wall Street Journal article after reading it. Why? The judges are doing what the banks made all but impossible for borrowers to do for themselves: read the fine print. 

With the advent of "NINA" loans, approved on-the-spot on "no income, no assets", many borrowers basically had no idea what they were getting into. And even to this day, many people don't find the extent of their financial ruin until they hit the courts with their foreclosure notices.

So it's refreshing to hear that judges are going back to doing what many used to do before the  days of rubber stamp gaveling: to use their resources to find the truth of the claims presented to them and their courts.