Noteworthy News

I am the first to admit I’m a news junkie. Not as bad now as I once was, but I’m still an addict. Now days I just hide it a little better. It has been said that our modern society is inundated with too much news from too many sources. My disagreement could not be any more vehement. Fact of the matter is that a disproportionately large number of people have absolutely no clue what goes on in the world beyond their tabloids and the latest episode with Ms. Spears or Ms. Hilton.

With my news addiction and the current state of world affairs I thought I would point out a couple of news events that people should actually be concerned about.

Credit Market Crisis

It looks like what I personally have been telling friends and family for the past two years is starting to unfold. The subprime lenders are starting to fold like houses of cards. For those who don’t know one of the things the subprimes are infamous for is lending money to high-risk individuals for purchasing homes. A lot of the “rent to own” companies work with the subprimes. In short what appears to be happening is that the banking organizations have decided to begin reeling in the subprimes because they were/are way over-extended.

If that were the end of it I wouldn’t think it would be so newsworthy, but fact of the matter is that this credit issue is affecting even the traditional mortgage companies. The stock market has been sliding down a slippery slope for the past several days all initiated by concerns over the housing industry. It’s not likely to stop there either. As it picks up momentum and investors begin to grow more and more wary things will only get more dismal for the economy. It should be noted that at this point many people say it hasn’t spilled over into the economy, but I’m confident it will. After all there’s not a lot of other places it can spill over in.

For more reading pleasure check out this news article, and this one, and this one, , and finally this one. There’s plenty more where those came from (Google subprime search results). I’m not bringing this up so people can worry, but instead so they can be aware. Things are not all roses, and this isn’t just effecting the United States.

National ID Program

Am I the only one who gets concerned when words like “national id plan” are thrown around by a member of the same administration that brought us the Patriot Act (parts 1 and 2)? I didn’t think I was, but yet here we are in the midst of it happening and seemingly no one could care much less. I realize I’m writing about an American topic as far as this particular national id plan goes, but many nations have had just such a thing for a number of years now. I’m curious to hear from international readers and their thoughts on it. When their nations were first adopting national id plans what was your position on it, and what is your position now? If it has changed, why?

As for me I can’t help but wonder if our government will ever stop sticking its monsterous nose into private affairs or are we resigned to that fate by virtue of the world we live in? Anyone with half an active brain is well aware that American citizens have not had control of our government for a long, long time (since Lincoln, but that is another subject altogether), but have we gotten so far away from the design of the founding fathers that there is no hope?

If you’re interested in learning a little more about the governments trespass upon our rights and how they have usurped our authority over them take a look around the internet. You might even be suprised to learn that it is not a new phenomenon with the Bush administration, but an ongoing problem. For example while the Bush adminstration enacted and largely refined the Patriot Act it was actually the Clinton administration which developed the framework for it.

I could go on and on about innumberable events, from earthquakes (Peru, Japan, and Indonesia) to extremist Islam (being “pushed” into terrorism, massive bombings kill 500+) and so much more, but I figured getting things started with the economy and national ID plans was enough.