Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Making Money on Line


Juan Williams' firing sends a wake-up call just in time for the mid-term elections. Voters should demand to know if candidates will continue funding NPR. It's time to stop putting government funding into programs that compete with the private sector. Tax dollars, after all, should be used to fund initiatives that take care of the needy or provide services that the private sector can't or isn't willing to provide. Information radio in the United States is hardly something that our government should think is a top priority, especially when we have budget deficits, sky-rocketing unemployment, falling government revenue and critical public programs being cut. There is also a healthy and vibrant private sector news radio industry and, therefore, no need to prop up one funded with tax dollars. Government money given to NPR means government sponsored radio competing with the private sector - a uniquely un-American idea. If private sector citizens want to fund NPR then they should step up and do it with more commitment. Coercing the rest of us to pay for NPR's elite radio programming through our taxes is clearly a subsidy for the wealthy.



NPR and its executives are to blame for the reaction to this alarm bell going off. NPR's intolerance of conservative opinions is well-known. There are very few voices allowed on NPR programs that represent opinions outside the traditional liberal and elite viewpoints. When NPR does allow a conservative voice air-time, it is limited and usually preceded by a condescending question or commentary. Juan Williams firing by NPR was only a matter of time because the liberal executives running the shows at NPR never liked the fact that Williams was on Fox News. It's clear that NPR would rather play consistently to the left than reach a balanced audience. And for that, they deserve to be pushed away from the public trough.



As all conservatives already know, NPR consistently frames stories in a slanted way to aid and comfort its overwhelming left listenership. For instance, the current rising unemployment rate is not portrayed as an Obama Administration problem. It is usually reported by NPR without an Obama angle and more times than not, as a total spin job. Conversely, every month the unemployment rate went up during the Bush Administration it was portrayed as an announcement from the Bush White House or Bush Team followed by an evaluation of Bush's economic policies. The NPR diatribe was clear: unemployment is rising and Bush's policies are not working.



This past Labor Day, the traditional start of election season, NPR reported the rising 9.6 unemployment rate as a recovery in the making. And I'm not joking. Shockingly, commentators and story selections were spinning that a recovery was happening, just slowly. NPR even highlighted a story suggesting that more people were traveling for Labor Day and feeling good about the economy. But in fact, a recovery wasn't happening and the unemployment rate has risen.



Conservatives have seethed for years as NPR hosts mock conservative ideas, poke fun at conservative candidates' mistakes and run stories over several days when there is a negative story to tell about a Republican. Every conservative scandal receives multiple days of commentary and a thorough analysis, while Democrats caught in mishaps either get little coverage, no mentions at all or one hit.



My local NPR station in Los Angeles just yesterday ran a LIVE extended interview with one of the most liberal members of the County Board of Supervisors (15 days before the mid-term elections) where he lauded Senator Barbara Boxer's leadership on public transportation issues. He praised Boxer for something she hasn't even taken credit for. He went on to give additional credit to only Democrats for bringing a new rail line to the people of LA. The host of the interview never pushed back or asked a question of the Supervisor's claim that Boxer brought the rail line to LA - it was just assumed that Boxer delivered to the people. Boxer's new rail line, by the way, doesn't even extend to the airport - which happens to be the number one transportation concern for residents - so if she did bring this project to LA it's a colossal waste of tax dollars. Sadly, it was an expected and typical interview from NPR.



But thanks to Juan Williams being fired, the rest of us might be able to keep a little more money in our paychecks. Voters everywhere should ask their congressional candidates to commit to stop publicly funding NPR before they cast their ballots on November 2. My mom used to take the ball away from us when someone cheated. She would say, "If you can't play fair then you can't play at all". It's time voters took the ball away from NPR.







Liar, Liar, Sheep on Fire


Glenn Fleishman is a Seattle journalist who started one of the first Web-hosting companies in 1994, worked for Amazon in 96-97, and then decided he wanted a life. He writes for The Seattle Times, The Economist, and TidBITS, among other publications.






Photo: Prasad Kholkute



Firesheep should freak you out, at least for a moment. It's a Firefox extension that lets any normal human being--I'm not talking about you, BoingBoing readers--install the add-on and then steal the active sessions of people using unencrypted browsing sessions with popular online services on the same Wi-Fi network. This involves no Wi-Fi foolery, because the necessary network traffic is openly available.



Walk into any busy coffeeshop, fire up the 'sheep, and a list of potential identities to assume at any of two dozen popular sites appears. Double-click, and you snarf their identifying token, and log in to the site in question as that person.



Firesheep is a business-model tour de force, not a zero-day technical one. It's a proof of concept that repackages and expands on earlier security research to expose a failure in the risk profile adopted by Web sites on behalf of their unsuspecting users. There's no money to be made by a Web site in fixing this problem for its customers or readers. Thus, only a security-conscious CIO might be able to push through the budget item necessary to bump the back-end systems up to the level needed.



Firesheep is a public relations exploit, too; it's so easy to use and to demonstrate that it shot round the world. Previous demonstrations spread the word in the tech community, and a little beyond. Firesheep is telegenic.



The add-on is the latest effort to lay bare a well-known problem in how major (and minor) Web sites identify users after login. Even if you log in using a secure SSL/TLS connection, a reliable method of end-to-end encryption, many sites still hand you back to plain old HTTP. In the process, sites brand you with a token that stands in for the login process you completed. This is a separate issue from involuntary ad tracking or the undeletable evercookie. (BoingBoing is a practitioner of tokens for both commenting and the Submitterator, which arguably means that someone could post nonsense under your name from a coffeeshop, but don't do that already?)



Because the open Web is stateless, a sequence of pages viewed by the same browser might as well be pages viewed by entirely different browsers. A login token placed in a cookie glues a binding on the edge of those pages, creating a session. The token doesn't let a third party sniff your user name or password, but it does let a browser lay claim to your identity for a set period of time. (HTTP does have a stateful account-based authentication system, but it has weak cryptographic elements, and browsers have unchangeable interface elements for handling failed logins, lost passwords, or add-ons, like a CAPTCHA.)



The developer of Firesheep, Eric Butler, traces the understanding back to 2004, but 2007 is when knowledge went over the top. Robert Graham of Errata Security coined the term in 2007 in a Black Hat presentation. He created a proof-of-concept not much different in intent or function than Firesheep, but without the click-to-install simplicity, the long list of sites to snarf, and browser integration.



Of the large firms with this flaw, I'd argue that Google took this most seriously. In the intervening three years, Google has been layering SSL/TLS on ever more of its services. Gmail even added an option to kill other sessions. (Scroll to the bottom of the Gmail screen, and click Details at the end of the "last account activity" line to view the option.)



Many other sites have let the problem remain, though, beefing up security through the sop of offering secure logins, as noted above. It's quite rare to find any major site allowing an unencrypted login, which is a big improvement over a few years ago. Firesheep comes with 26 prefabricated sidejacking tools for sites like Facebook, Amazon, and bit.ly. Amazon and other sites that have a mix of plain HTTP and SSL/TLS-protected pages require re-authentication and SSL/TLS when you move into making a purchase, canceling an order, or other account-based activities. But you can place a 1-Click order without logging in again.



Less-visited sites in the millions have this sheepish problem, and some use identical software (and thus token names in the browser) making a mass-exploit via a Firesheep update the work of minutes. But it's far less likely a random coffeeshop ne'er-do-well would sidejack such a session, or get anything out of it.



The remaining question is, of course, what can you do to prevent your credentials from making you go baaaaaaaaaa? Lots.



* Firefox users should install HTTPS Everywhere, a joint effort of The Tor Project and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. This forces SSL/TLS connections for sites that offer, but don't require, continuous secured browsing, including content sites like the New York Times and Wikipedia. You can use the Tools > Add-Ons option to disable specific sites if you have trouble.



* Engage in no unsecured Web logins when working on an untrusted network, public or otherwise. This is my primary approach after HTTPS Everywhere. It's easier than it sounds. If I can't use SSL/TLS through a session, I don't do it unless I use a VPN (see below).



* Secure all the services you use. Most email hosts offers SSL/TLS protected POP, IMAP, and SMTP sessions. FTP is absolutely in the clear; use SFTP (an SSH-based variant) or FTPS (FTP with SSL/TLS encryption). Check the box for SSL/TLS anywhere it's available. Twitter's API for third-party clients defaults to unprotected transactions; Echofon, at least, has a "use SSL" box I check.



* Use a VPN. A virtual private network connection creates an encrypted tunnel for all your data between your computer or mobile and a server somewhere else on the Internet. That's typically more than enough to protect you from sniffing on the local link. I've used WiTopia for years, which is a fee-based service offering PPTP and SSL VPN connections. AnchorFree offers Hotspot Shield at no cost.



* Instead of a VPN, set up an SSL/TLS Web proxy through which all your browsing is rerouted. That also protects the local link, and can be easier if you have a server elsewhere that you can set this up, or use a paid service.



Eric Butler has complementary advice in a post on his site about the day after releasing Firesheep that he wrote with co-presenter Ian Gallgher. Read that for more on what does not work, too.



Firesheep is named after the famous Wall of Sheep at Defcon, which displays selected details of unencrypted logins and other sessions over the event's Wi-Fi network from people who, by attending Defcon, should know better than to ever send anything unencrypted over a public Wi-Fi network. If Firesheep succeeds, the whole world becomes a Wall of Shame, with the shame reflecting on the sites that haven't updated their costs and systems to reflect the current reality of basic security when their users surf in public.



Glenn Fleishman contributes continuously to the Economist's Babbage blog, and is a senior editor at the Mac journal TidBITS.



Exclusive: Yahoo Courts Former <b>News</b> Corp. Digital Exec Ross <b>...</b>

He's baaaaaack. Former Fox Interactive Media President Ross Levinsohn, that is, who is the top candidate to replace Hilary Schneider as Yahoo's US head, according to several sources close to the situation. While the deal is not ...

ABC <b>News</b> airs big exposé on BMW N54 engine problems, lawsuits [w <b>...</b>

ABC News investigates BMW fuel pump problems – Click above to watch video after the jump ABC News has cottoned on to the story that BMW.

ABC <b>News</b> for iPad adds 2010 Election Results | iLounge <b>News</b>

iLounge news discussing the ABC News for iPad adds 2010 Election Results. Find more iPad news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.


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Exclusive: Yahoo Courts Former <b>News</b> Corp. Digital Exec Ross <b>...</b>

He's baaaaaack. Former Fox Interactive Media President Ross Levinsohn, that is, who is the top candidate to replace Hilary Schneider as Yahoo's US head, according to several sources close to the situation. While the deal is not ...

ABC <b>News</b> airs big exposé on BMW N54 engine problems, lawsuits [w <b>...</b>

ABC News investigates BMW fuel pump problems – Click above to watch video after the jump ABC News has cottoned on to the story that BMW.

ABC <b>News</b> for iPad adds 2010 Election Results | iLounge <b>News</b>

iLounge news discussing the ABC News for iPad adds 2010 Election Results. Find more iPad news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.



Juan Williams' firing sends a wake-up call just in time for the mid-term elections. Voters should demand to know if candidates will continue funding NPR. It's time to stop putting government funding into programs that compete with the private sector. Tax dollars, after all, should be used to fund initiatives that take care of the needy or provide services that the private sector can't or isn't willing to provide. Information radio in the United States is hardly something that our government should think is a top priority, especially when we have budget deficits, sky-rocketing unemployment, falling government revenue and critical public programs being cut. There is also a healthy and vibrant private sector news radio industry and, therefore, no need to prop up one funded with tax dollars. Government money given to NPR means government sponsored radio competing with the private sector - a uniquely un-American idea. If private sector citizens want to fund NPR then they should step up and do it with more commitment. Coercing the rest of us to pay for NPR's elite radio programming through our taxes is clearly a subsidy for the wealthy.



NPR and its executives are to blame for the reaction to this alarm bell going off. NPR's intolerance of conservative opinions is well-known. There are very few voices allowed on NPR programs that represent opinions outside the traditional liberal and elite viewpoints. When NPR does allow a conservative voice air-time, it is limited and usually preceded by a condescending question or commentary. Juan Williams firing by NPR was only a matter of time because the liberal executives running the shows at NPR never liked the fact that Williams was on Fox News. It's clear that NPR would rather play consistently to the left than reach a balanced audience. And for that, they deserve to be pushed away from the public trough.



As all conservatives already know, NPR consistently frames stories in a slanted way to aid and comfort its overwhelming left listenership. For instance, the current rising unemployment rate is not portrayed as an Obama Administration problem. It is usually reported by NPR without an Obama angle and more times than not, as a total spin job. Conversely, every month the unemployment rate went up during the Bush Administration it was portrayed as an announcement from the Bush White House or Bush Team followed by an evaluation of Bush's economic policies. The NPR diatribe was clear: unemployment is rising and Bush's policies are not working.



This past Labor Day, the traditional start of election season, NPR reported the rising 9.6 unemployment rate as a recovery in the making. And I'm not joking. Shockingly, commentators and story selections were spinning that a recovery was happening, just slowly. NPR even highlighted a story suggesting that more people were traveling for Labor Day and feeling good about the economy. But in fact, a recovery wasn't happening and the unemployment rate has risen.



Conservatives have seethed for years as NPR hosts mock conservative ideas, poke fun at conservative candidates' mistakes and run stories over several days when there is a negative story to tell about a Republican. Every conservative scandal receives multiple days of commentary and a thorough analysis, while Democrats caught in mishaps either get little coverage, no mentions at all or one hit.



My local NPR station in Los Angeles just yesterday ran a LIVE extended interview with one of the most liberal members of the County Board of Supervisors (15 days before the mid-term elections) where he lauded Senator Barbara Boxer's leadership on public transportation issues. He praised Boxer for something she hasn't even taken credit for. He went on to give additional credit to only Democrats for bringing a new rail line to the people of LA. The host of the interview never pushed back or asked a question of the Supervisor's claim that Boxer brought the rail line to LA - it was just assumed that Boxer delivered to the people. Boxer's new rail line, by the way, doesn't even extend to the airport - which happens to be the number one transportation concern for residents - so if she did bring this project to LA it's a colossal waste of tax dollars. Sadly, it was an expected and typical interview from NPR.



But thanks to Juan Williams being fired, the rest of us might be able to keep a little more money in our paychecks. Voters everywhere should ask their congressional candidates to commit to stop publicly funding NPR before they cast their ballots on November 2. My mom used to take the ball away from us when someone cheated. She would say, "If you can't play fair then you can't play at all". It's time voters took the ball away from NPR.







Liar, Liar, Sheep on Fire


Glenn Fleishman is a Seattle journalist who started one of the first Web-hosting companies in 1994, worked for Amazon in 96-97, and then decided he wanted a life. He writes for The Seattle Times, The Economist, and TidBITS, among other publications.






Photo: Prasad Kholkute



Firesheep should freak you out, at least for a moment. It's a Firefox extension that lets any normal human being--I'm not talking about you, BoingBoing readers--install the add-on and then steal the active sessions of people using unencrypted browsing sessions with popular online services on the same Wi-Fi network. This involves no Wi-Fi foolery, because the necessary network traffic is openly available.



Walk into any busy coffeeshop, fire up the 'sheep, and a list of potential identities to assume at any of two dozen popular sites appears. Double-click, and you snarf their identifying token, and log in to the site in question as that person.



Firesheep is a business-model tour de force, not a zero-day technical one. It's a proof of concept that repackages and expands on earlier security research to expose a failure in the risk profile adopted by Web sites on behalf of their unsuspecting users. There's no money to be made by a Web site in fixing this problem for its customers or readers. Thus, only a security-conscious CIO might be able to push through the budget item necessary to bump the back-end systems up to the level needed.



Firesheep is a public relations exploit, too; it's so easy to use and to demonstrate that it shot round the world. Previous demonstrations spread the word in the tech community, and a little beyond. Firesheep is telegenic.



The add-on is the latest effort to lay bare a well-known problem in how major (and minor) Web sites identify users after login. Even if you log in using a secure SSL/TLS connection, a reliable method of end-to-end encryption, many sites still hand you back to plain old HTTP. In the process, sites brand you with a token that stands in for the login process you completed. This is a separate issue from involuntary ad tracking or the undeletable evercookie. (BoingBoing is a practitioner of tokens for both commenting and the Submitterator, which arguably means that someone could post nonsense under your name from a coffeeshop, but don't do that already?)



Because the open Web is stateless, a sequence of pages viewed by the same browser might as well be pages viewed by entirely different browsers. A login token placed in a cookie glues a binding on the edge of those pages, creating a session. The token doesn't let a third party sniff your user name or password, but it does let a browser lay claim to your identity for a set period of time. (HTTP does have a stateful account-based authentication system, but it has weak cryptographic elements, and browsers have unchangeable interface elements for handling failed logins, lost passwords, or add-ons, like a CAPTCHA.)



The developer of Firesheep, Eric Butler, traces the understanding back to 2004, but 2007 is when knowledge went over the top. Robert Graham of Errata Security coined the term in 2007 in a Black Hat presentation. He created a proof-of-concept not much different in intent or function than Firesheep, but without the click-to-install simplicity, the long list of sites to snarf, and browser integration.



Of the large firms with this flaw, I'd argue that Google took this most seriously. In the intervening three years, Google has been layering SSL/TLS on ever more of its services. Gmail even added an option to kill other sessions. (Scroll to the bottom of the Gmail screen, and click Details at the end of the "last account activity" line to view the option.)



Many other sites have let the problem remain, though, beefing up security through the sop of offering secure logins, as noted above. It's quite rare to find any major site allowing an unencrypted login, which is a big improvement over a few years ago. Firesheep comes with 26 prefabricated sidejacking tools for sites like Facebook, Amazon, and bit.ly. Amazon and other sites that have a mix of plain HTTP and SSL/TLS-protected pages require re-authentication and SSL/TLS when you move into making a purchase, canceling an order, or other account-based activities. But you can place a 1-Click order without logging in again.



Less-visited sites in the millions have this sheepish problem, and some use identical software (and thus token names in the browser) making a mass-exploit via a Firesheep update the work of minutes. But it's far less likely a random coffeeshop ne'er-do-well would sidejack such a session, or get anything out of it.



The remaining question is, of course, what can you do to prevent your credentials from making you go baaaaaaaaaa? Lots.



* Firefox users should install HTTPS Everywhere, a joint effort of The Tor Project and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. This forces SSL/TLS connections for sites that offer, but don't require, continuous secured browsing, including content sites like the New York Times and Wikipedia. You can use the Tools > Add-Ons option to disable specific sites if you have trouble.



* Engage in no unsecured Web logins when working on an untrusted network, public or otherwise. This is my primary approach after HTTPS Everywhere. It's easier than it sounds. If I can't use SSL/TLS through a session, I don't do it unless I use a VPN (see below).



* Secure all the services you use. Most email hosts offers SSL/TLS protected POP, IMAP, and SMTP sessions. FTP is absolutely in the clear; use SFTP (an SSH-based variant) or FTPS (FTP with SSL/TLS encryption). Check the box for SSL/TLS anywhere it's available. Twitter's API for third-party clients defaults to unprotected transactions; Echofon, at least, has a "use SSL" box I check.



* Use a VPN. A virtual private network connection creates an encrypted tunnel for all your data between your computer or mobile and a server somewhere else on the Internet. That's typically more than enough to protect you from sniffing on the local link. I've used WiTopia for years, which is a fee-based service offering PPTP and SSL VPN connections. AnchorFree offers Hotspot Shield at no cost.



* Instead of a VPN, set up an SSL/TLS Web proxy through which all your browsing is rerouted. That also protects the local link, and can be easier if you have a server elsewhere that you can set this up, or use a paid service.



Eric Butler has complementary advice in a post on his site about the day after releasing Firesheep that he wrote with co-presenter Ian Gallgher. Read that for more on what does not work, too.



Firesheep is named after the famous Wall of Sheep at Defcon, which displays selected details of unencrypted logins and other sessions over the event's Wi-Fi network from people who, by attending Defcon, should know better than to ever send anything unencrypted over a public Wi-Fi network. If Firesheep succeeds, the whole world becomes a Wall of Shame, with the shame reflecting on the sites that haven't updated their costs and systems to reflect the current reality of basic security when their users surf in public.



Glenn Fleishman contributes continuously to the Economist's Babbage blog, and is a senior editor at the Mac journal TidBITS.




04-19-2009 003 by ABPUSA.US


Exclusive: Yahoo Courts Former <b>News</b> Corp. Digital Exec Ross <b>...</b>

He's baaaaaack. Former Fox Interactive Media President Ross Levinsohn, that is, who is the top candidate to replace Hilary Schneider as Yahoo's US head, according to several sources close to the situation. While the deal is not ...

ABC <b>News</b> airs big exposé on BMW N54 engine problems, lawsuits [w <b>...</b>

ABC News investigates BMW fuel pump problems – Click above to watch video after the jump ABC News has cottoned on to the story that BMW.

ABC <b>News</b> for iPad adds 2010 Election Results | iLounge <b>News</b>

iLounge news discussing the ABC News for iPad adds 2010 Election Results. Find more iPad news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.


Exclusive: Yahoo Courts Former <b>News</b> Corp. Digital Exec Ross <b>...</b>

He's baaaaaack. Former Fox Interactive Media President Ross Levinsohn, that is, who is the top candidate to replace Hilary Schneider as Yahoo's US head, according to several sources close to the situation. While the deal is not ...

ABC <b>News</b> airs big exposé on BMW N54 engine problems, lawsuits [w <b>...</b>

ABC News investigates BMW fuel pump problems – Click above to watch video after the jump ABC News has cottoned on to the story that BMW.

ABC <b>News</b> for iPad adds 2010 Election Results | iLounge <b>News</b>

iLounge news discussing the ABC News for iPad adds 2010 Election Results. Find more iPad news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

















Making Money With Youtube


Google’s recent push into tablets and mobile, along with offering new search services such as Google Instant, are pushing up the company’s capital expenditures, which are slotted to grow almost 184 percent in 2010 compared to last year. Next year, that amount is going to go even higher. This spending is a good thing, because it allows Google to leverage its inherent advantage: infrastructure.


A few years ago, I noted in a post that infrastructure was Google’s key competitive advantage. It’s what allowed the company to innovate and outpace its rivals. It allowed the company to give us results faster than our broadband connections could offer, making us more subservient to its search in the process. In the end, we all forgot the directories and instead focused on the search-box as the start of our Internet journey. Today, Google is a gigantic, $7.3-billion-in-quarterly-sales business.


One thing Google knows: It needs to keep spending money on this infrastructure in order to stay competitive and current. The company recently introduced Google Instant, a new feature that allows you to get results even as you’re still typing the search term. It’s a service akin to the days when an Intel chip got multimedia extensions.


In many ways, Google Instant demonstrates the evolution of a product in order to keep up with times; today’s faster broadband means that the search results need to come up faster than one could type. More importantly, Google Instant is a search product optimized for a brave new world where the user interface is touch rather than keyboards, and devices aren’t your classic computer, but instead mobile and tablet-like.


One of the reasons Google was able to launch Google Instant is because it can afford to spend a lot of money on its infrastructure. During the third quarter of 2010, the company spent nearly $757 million, the highest amount since the first quarter of 2008, according to investment bank J.P. Morgan. (In comparison, Google spent a total of $810 million on capital expenditures in all of 2009.) In a conference call with Wall Street yesterday, Google VP Jonathan Rosenberg told the analyst community:


From a revenue standpoint, its impact has been very minimal; and from a resource standpoint, it’s actually pretty expensive. So why did we do it? Well, we believe from a user standpoint, Instant is outstanding and the data that we are seeing actually bears this out.


Google’s spending on capital expenditures (mostly on data centers) had been on a decline. That is about to change. According to J.P. Morgan, the company is going to spend $2.3 billion on capital expenses in 2010 versus $810 million last year. For next year, the investment bank  is forecasting $3.2 billion in capital spending.



Some Wall Street analysts are going to view this increased spending and wring their hands. They’re idiots and short-term thinkers. I see the growth in capital expenses as a sign of health, and that things are going well for Google –actually, really well.


Let me explain; until recently, Google had to focus on a small subset of actions to satisfy its end customers – all of us – and thus make money off of advertising. Throw in YouTube videos and Gmail, if you want, but browser-based search and search-based advertising were its bread and butter.


Google is said to be the single biggest source of traffic on many of the world’s networks and that’s with only a handful of offerings. Now imagine how big Google will be as a percentage of the source of Internet traffic once we start taking their new initiatives into account. That also explains why they need to build their own networks and lay their own fiber pipes.



Now the number of consumer interactions has grown multifold. Google’s Android mobile operating system is an Internet-enabled OS peppered with Google services that are used more frequently because we have access to them in our pockets. This overall growth in data center capabilities is only going to go up as the company becomes more successful with its Android push. By spending on data centers and networks, what Google is ensuring is that Google Android will always have a great user experience. Remember, in a world dominated by cloud clients, nothing matters more than instant access to various Internet services.


Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req’d) about Google, and its Mobile Efforts:



  • Why Google Should Fear the Social Web

  • Report: Google’s Voice Possibilities

  • How Mobile Cloud Computing Will Change Tech



According to AllThingsD, Microsoft will almost singlehandedly bring the advertising industry of its lull by investing around $1 billion in making sure its Windows Phone 7 operating system and Kinect Xbox accessory get the best possible launch sales when they hit worldwide markets.


It is thought that over $400 million will be spent popularising Windows Phone 7 in an attempt to claim back a share of the smartphone market from Apple, Nokia, Google and RIM. The mobile operating system is due to launch in selected European countries on the October 22, with a North American launch coming in early November.


Microsoft will also focus attention on its new Kinect accessory, a hands-free sensory device that allows Xbox players to interact with games using their movements without additional tools or accessories.

Shepard Smith Inks New Fox <b>News</b> Deal – Deadline.com

EXCLUSIVE: Fox News Channel's signature news anchor Shepard Smith has signed a new multi-year deal to continue as the channel's lead news anchor as well as anchor of FOX Report and Studio B. Smith's most recent pact with Fox News inked ...

PalmAddicts: Traffic jam <b>news</b>

[From Mauricio Tanzi, Costa Rica] Hi Sammy! Just wanted to let you know that I'm stuck in traffic and in need for enerteinment.... What can I so? Just pop out my Palm Pre Plus and enjoy the rush hour with...

Telefuture | Old <b>News</b> Report | TVs Merging with Computers | Mediaite

Well, print media, you were warned. A 30 year old news report from NBC news, archived by Vortex Technology, discusses the future of television in a segment creatively entitled Telefuture. In it, they spend a lof of time examining the ...


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New Web2Upgrade to upgrade all websites with Social Networking functionality: Build Networks and Make Money by Wong Tooi Giap


Shepard Smith Inks New Fox <b>News</b> Deal – Deadline.com

EXCLUSIVE: Fox News Channel's signature news anchor Shepard Smith has signed a new multi-year deal to continue as the channel's lead news anchor as well as anchor of FOX Report and Studio B. Smith's most recent pact with Fox News inked ...

PalmAddicts: Traffic jam <b>news</b>

[From Mauricio Tanzi, Costa Rica] Hi Sammy! Just wanted to let you know that I'm stuck in traffic and in need for enerteinment.... What can I so? Just pop out my Palm Pre Plus and enjoy the rush hour with...

Telefuture | Old <b>News</b> Report | TVs Merging with Computers | Mediaite

Well, print media, you were warned. A 30 year old news report from NBC news, archived by Vortex Technology, discusses the future of television in a segment creatively entitled Telefuture. In it, they spend a lof of time examining the ...


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Google’s recent push into tablets and mobile, along with offering new search services such as Google Instant, are pushing up the company’s capital expenditures, which are slotted to grow almost 184 percent in 2010 compared to last year. Next year, that amount is going to go even higher. This spending is a good thing, because it allows Google to leverage its inherent advantage: infrastructure.


A few years ago, I noted in a post that infrastructure was Google’s key competitive advantage. It’s what allowed the company to innovate and outpace its rivals. It allowed the company to give us results faster than our broadband connections could offer, making us more subservient to its search in the process. In the end, we all forgot the directories and instead focused on the search-box as the start of our Internet journey. Today, Google is a gigantic, $7.3-billion-in-quarterly-sales business.


One thing Google knows: It needs to keep spending money on this infrastructure in order to stay competitive and current. The company recently introduced Google Instant, a new feature that allows you to get results even as you’re still typing the search term. It’s a service akin to the days when an Intel chip got multimedia extensions.


In many ways, Google Instant demonstrates the evolution of a product in order to keep up with times; today’s faster broadband means that the search results need to come up faster than one could type. More importantly, Google Instant is a search product optimized for a brave new world where the user interface is touch rather than keyboards, and devices aren’t your classic computer, but instead mobile and tablet-like.


One of the reasons Google was able to launch Google Instant is because it can afford to spend a lot of money on its infrastructure. During the third quarter of 2010, the company spent nearly $757 million, the highest amount since the first quarter of 2008, according to investment bank J.P. Morgan. (In comparison, Google spent a total of $810 million on capital expenditures in all of 2009.) In a conference call with Wall Street yesterday, Google VP Jonathan Rosenberg told the analyst community:


From a revenue standpoint, its impact has been very minimal; and from a resource standpoint, it’s actually pretty expensive. So why did we do it? Well, we believe from a user standpoint, Instant is outstanding and the data that we are seeing actually bears this out.


Google’s spending on capital expenditures (mostly on data centers) had been on a decline. That is about to change. According to J.P. Morgan, the company is going to spend $2.3 billion on capital expenses in 2010 versus $810 million last year. For next year, the investment bank  is forecasting $3.2 billion in capital spending.



Some Wall Street analysts are going to view this increased spending and wring their hands. They’re idiots and short-term thinkers. I see the growth in capital expenses as a sign of health, and that things are going well for Google –actually, really well.


Let me explain; until recently, Google had to focus on a small subset of actions to satisfy its end customers – all of us – and thus make money off of advertising. Throw in YouTube videos and Gmail, if you want, but browser-based search and search-based advertising were its bread and butter.


Google is said to be the single biggest source of traffic on many of the world’s networks and that’s with only a handful of offerings. Now imagine how big Google will be as a percentage of the source of Internet traffic once we start taking their new initiatives into account. That also explains why they need to build their own networks and lay their own fiber pipes.



Now the number of consumer interactions has grown multifold. Google’s Android mobile operating system is an Internet-enabled OS peppered with Google services that are used more frequently because we have access to them in our pockets. This overall growth in data center capabilities is only going to go up as the company becomes more successful with its Android push. By spending on data centers and networks, what Google is ensuring is that Google Android will always have a great user experience. Remember, in a world dominated by cloud clients, nothing matters more than instant access to various Internet services.


Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req’d) about Google, and its Mobile Efforts:



  • Why Google Should Fear the Social Web

  • Report: Google’s Voice Possibilities

  • How Mobile Cloud Computing Will Change Tech



According to AllThingsD, Microsoft will almost singlehandedly bring the advertising industry of its lull by investing around $1 billion in making sure its Windows Phone 7 operating system and Kinect Xbox accessory get the best possible launch sales when they hit worldwide markets.


It is thought that over $400 million will be spent popularising Windows Phone 7 in an attempt to claim back a share of the smartphone market from Apple, Nokia, Google and RIM. The mobile operating system is due to launch in selected European countries on the October 22, with a North American launch coming in early November.


Microsoft will also focus attention on its new Kinect accessory, a hands-free sensory device that allows Xbox players to interact with games using their movements without additional tools or accessories.
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Shepard Smith Inks New Fox <b>News</b> Deal – Deadline.com

EXCLUSIVE: Fox News Channel's signature news anchor Shepard Smith has signed a new multi-year deal to continue as the channel's lead news anchor as well as anchor of FOX Report and Studio B. Smith's most recent pact with Fox News inked ...

PalmAddicts: Traffic jam <b>news</b>

[From Mauricio Tanzi, Costa Rica] Hi Sammy! Just wanted to let you know that I'm stuck in traffic and in need for enerteinment.... What can I so? Just pop out my Palm Pre Plus and enjoy the rush hour with...

Telefuture | Old <b>News</b> Report | TVs Merging with Computers | Mediaite

Well, print media, you were warned. A 30 year old news report from NBC news, archived by Vortex Technology, discusses the future of television in a segment creatively entitled Telefuture. In it, they spend a lof of time examining the ...


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Shepard Smith Inks New Fox <b>News</b> Deal – Deadline.com

EXCLUSIVE: Fox News Channel's signature news anchor Shepard Smith has signed a new multi-year deal to continue as the channel's lead news anchor as well as anchor of FOX Report and Studio B. Smith's most recent pact with Fox News inked ...

PalmAddicts: Traffic jam <b>news</b>

[From Mauricio Tanzi, Costa Rica] Hi Sammy! Just wanted to let you know that I'm stuck in traffic and in need for enerteinment.... What can I so? Just pop out my Palm Pre Plus and enjoy the rush hour with...

Telefuture | Old <b>News</b> Report | TVs Merging with Computers | Mediaite

Well, print media, you were warned. A 30 year old news report from NBC news, archived by Vortex Technology, discusses the future of television in a segment creatively entitled Telefuture. In it, they spend a lof of time examining the ...


bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Shepard Smith Inks New Fox <b>News</b> Deal – Deadline.com

EXCLUSIVE: Fox News Channel's signature news anchor Shepard Smith has signed a new multi-year deal to continue as the channel's lead news anchor as well as anchor of FOX Report and Studio B. Smith's most recent pact with Fox News inked ...

PalmAddicts: Traffic jam <b>news</b>

[From Mauricio Tanzi, Costa Rica] Hi Sammy! Just wanted to let you know that I'm stuck in traffic and in need for enerteinment.... What can I so? Just pop out my Palm Pre Plus and enjoy the rush hour with...

Telefuture | Old <b>News</b> Report | TVs Merging with Computers | Mediaite

Well, print media, you were warned. A 30 year old news report from NBC news, archived by Vortex Technology, discusses the future of television in a segment creatively entitled Telefuture. In it, they spend a lof of time examining the ...


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Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Being Right or Making Money

style="text-align: center;">

/> [style="text-decoration: underline;">Ed. note: This post is authored by Evan Jowers and Robert Kinney of Kinney Recruiting, sponsor of the Asia Chronicles. Kinney has made more placements of U.S. associates and partners in Asia than any other firm in the past four years. You can reach them by email: asia at kinneyrecruiting dot com.]

Evan here. It continues to be a very busy year for lateral biglaw associate and partner hiring in Hong Kong / China. Further we have noticed that in HK, BJ and SHG there is more enthusiasm coming from US, UK and PRC firm partners, regarding the market, than we have seen since mid ’07. You can tell a big difference in enthusiasm by simply going to meetings in firm offices in those markets. Earlier this year, while it was a boom, there was optimism, but much more cautioned and guarded. Sure, the IPO boom at its current pace in China is not sustainable forever, but there is much less concern of a bubble burst or other type of economic downturn. Frankly, Hong Kong has become the market of choice for many major international companies and banks to have IPOs, with many choosing HK over NYC and London. Needless to say, US firms are going to be in and expand in HK / China for a long time. Offices are turning from outposts to much more substantial and strategic parts of US firms, globally.

Our Asia team is so busy, we have fallen behind on fully launching our new theasiachronicles.com blog and we apologize for that. Starting this weekend, we will have daily original posts, as promised (to go along with the numerous daily biglaw asia news posts).

For our readers in NYC who would like to meet us, please note that Robert and I will be in NYC again October 20 to 22. I will be back in China in a few weeks for meetings, as well as trying to catch the last days of the World Expo in Shanghai. Alexis is of course based in Hong Kong and Yuliya is based in Russia (not really Asia, but part of our Asia team nonetheless).id="more-40142">

Of course this is the time of year when our 2L law student readers are choosing where to summer. If you would like to talk about your firm choices, with regards to the firms’ Asia practices and offices, we are happy to speak with you. Feel free to reach out any time.

Here are, off the top of my head, some of the type of associate openings our Asia team is now working on for our law firm clients (we have in-house openings as well, but not listed here):

[please note that there are far more openings than what we happen to mention in this column. Please check them out at kinneyrecruiting.com/jobs or theasiachronicles.com/jobs, keeping in mind we don’t list cap markets / corporate openings multiple times if similar, and there are many of those]

Japanese speaking US cap markets associate – New York/> -One of our firm clients has an urgent need for a mid-level Japanese fluent US associate in their NYC cap markets practice. This position could be filled by someone in Tokyo who needs the two years practicing outside of Japan for certain qualifications, but who would want to be back in Tokyo in two years (this firm has a Tokyo office). Of course, it can be filled by a Japanese fluent associate already in NYC as well.

US cap markets associates – Hong Kong / China/> -many firms have this need (almost too many openings to count), with most requiring Mandarin fluency, but a few being ok with English only hires if the candidate is impressive enough. Due to the IPO boom in China continuing now for more than a year, along with US and UK firms all coming off hiring freezes by end ’09 / early ’10, there has been a lot of cap markets hiring in HK / China. Firms are still much more selective than in ’07 boom, but selectivity has fallen a bit recently, due to the amount of hiring occurring. Some firms will continue to require Mandarin fluency and take a look at candidates coming from less than top 10 US firms, whereas other firms will continue to focus on associates coming from top 10 firms, but drop requirement for Mandarin. Interestingly, M&A focused candidates coming from top 10 US firms can usually land cap markets positions, but not so much vice versa. If you are not coming from a top 10 or 20 US firm, it is a must to be fluent in Mandarin and you should expect a longer job search (as much as three to six + months, but you will land a spot in a market this hot, so don’t despair).

US M&A associates – Hong Kong / China/> -while M&A activity is noticeably picking up recently in China, it is still far behind cap markets deal flow at most firms. We are seeing an uptick in hiring for M&A groups, but it can still be difficult for an M&A focused associate to land an M&A focused spot at a top US or UK firm in HK / China. There is a lot of competition for these spots and the selectivity is much higher than with cap markets spots. With that said, we just made two such placements in HK in the past week, one PE / M&A focused and one general M&A, so they are happening.

Hong Kong qualified cap markets and M&A associates – Hong Kong/> -almost every US and UK firm with a HK local practice is now hiring HK qualified cap markets associates and many are also looking for M&A help. It is currently a recruiting war for such persons.

US Derivatives associate – Hong Kong/> -two of our law firm clients are interviewing for derivatives associates at mid-level. This is a rare type of opening in HK, and Asia in general, and it may be a while before both firms make such hires. Usually, derivatives background associates moving to Asia have to transition to more traditional corporate / cap markets practices in order to make the move.

US Funds Formation associates – Hong Kong, Beijing and Singapore/> -Four of our firm clients are looking for funds formation US associates, junior to mid-level. Two of those spots do not require Mandarin and English only is ok. Even in ’07 hiring boom, we did not see this many funds formation openings. Unlike in ’07, these groups can now be more selective and typically want someone with solid funds experience (in ’06 and ’07, such spots were being filled by those with little funds experience).

Korean speaking US corporate / cap markets associates – Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul/> -We are seeing a increase in Korea practice openings in Hong Kong, at US and UK firms, as well as there being a few top firms that seek a Korean fluent US corporate associate, but don’t have a Korea practice team. As usual, Korea firms in Seoul are interviewing US associates and a couple of our clients in Tokyo are interviewing Korean speakers (it is much easier to land in HK than Tokyo). Keep in mind that there is an abundance of solid Korean US associate candidates on the market, so firms are being very selective and not moving so quickly with hires. There is a lack of Korean background associates with stellar JD academics (many exist with solid academics and coming from solid firms) on the market, so if you fall in that fortunate category and are interested in lateral move in HK, you would be extremely marketable.

Project Finance US associates – Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo/> -A few of our firm clients in HK, Tokyo and Singapore have this need, at various seniority levels.

US corporate / cap markets associates – Tokyo/> -An increasing number of our firm clients in Tokyo are now hiring. Whereas in ’07, they were not always requiring Japanese, today they mostly are. However, firms are finding it very difficult to find Japanese fluent very well qualified US associates. It is an easy time for a Japanese fluent corporate / cap markets associate from a top US firm to land in Tokyo. Cap markets and M&A needed.

US corporate / cap markets associates – Singapore/> -While Singapore will never have nearly as many US associate openings as Hong Kong, it is in general and under-lawyered market and there are firms hiring. We made a number of Singapore placements earlier this year and the pace of hiring has slowed a bit there (firms moved quickly when coming off hiring freeze), but most US practices are very busy and there will be more hiring. In Singapore, while English only is obviously better in that market than other Asia markets, firms still look to find a connection to Singapore or reason for moving to Singapore in their candidates. Mandarin can be a nice bonus there, but not if the target firm is concerned the new hire will move to China in a year or two.

US acquisition finance associates – Hong Kong/> -Two of our firm clients are looking for this relatively rare type of US associate hire in Hong Kong, one a senior hire and one at the mid-level. Mandarin required.

US banking / finance associates – Hong Kong/> -A few of our firm clients in Hong Kong have banking / finance associate openings, at various levels. Mandarin required.

US IP transactional associate – Hong Kong/> -One of our firm clients has a mid-level to senior IP transactional associate need. This is a rare opening, although we expect IP openings to be a bit more common in 5 or so years in HK / China. Mandarin required.

US IP litigation / transactional associate – Tokyo/> -Two of our firm clients have this need, at various levels, in Tokyo. Japanese required.

US corporate associate, Indonesian background – Singapore/> -One of our firm clients in Singapore needs a US corporate associate with Indonesian background.

US corporate associates, Indian background – Singapore/> -A few of our firm clients in Singapore are building up their India practice and would prefer to hire US associates with Indian background, although that is not a requirement.

US cap markets associates – Sydney/> -Two of our firm clients in Sydney have US cap markets associate needs, at mid-level.

US cap markets / corporate associates – Moscow/> -A few of our clients are hiring in Moscow, although being extremely selective and requiring Russian.

US banking / finance corporate associate – Moscow/> -One of our firm clients in Moscow has an urgent banking / finance need at mid-level. Russian required.


Didn’t he once say he’d rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-termer? Well, the chances of a “really good” first term are pretty much shot, so I guess now it’s mediocrity or bust. Shoot for the stars, champ!


President Obama signaled today that he will seek reelection and dismissed as “completely unfounded” reports that he might replace Vice President Joe Biden on his 2012 ticket with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.


“Obviously, I haven’t made any formal decision” on reelection, the president told National Journal in an exclusive 45-minute interview, “but I feel like I’ve got a lot of work left to do.”


Told that his answer sounded like he was saying “yes,” Obama nodded, then broadly smiled. “Take it as you will,” he said, laughing.


Obama bluntly dismissed suggestions, first raised by author Bob Woodward, that he might replace Biden with Clinton for the 2012 race.


Lest you think he’s bluffing, Axelrod is already starting to inch away from The One’s stance against Democratic outside groups with anonymous donors spending big money on elections. The old rule: No outside groups, please. The soon-to-be new rule: Yes, outside groups, please, but kindly disclose your contributors. As I said a few days ago, surely no one (including Harry Reid) found Sharron Angle’s mammoth third-quarter fundraising haul as frightening as the White House did, simply because it’s an early sign of how much money the conservative base will cough up in 2012 to knock Obama out of office. Axelrod will need all hands on deck to keep up, notwithstanding The One’s already legendary fundraising powers from 2008. So here’s his signal to lefty PACs to get in the game.


Even so, will it be enough? Mickey Kaus:


What comments [about voters being "scared"] suggest isn’t just that Obama will get clobbered in the midterms. It suggests that after he gets clobbered he won’t be able to adjust and turn the setback into a longterm victory the way Bill Clinton did. Clinton reacted to his 1994 midterm loss by acknowledging his opponents’ strongest arguments and pursuing a balanced budget and welfare reform. Obama seems more inclined to just tough it out until the economy recovers and the scared, confused voters become unscared and see the light. Meanwhile, he’ll spend his time in a protective cocoon.


A few weeks ago a right-wing reporter told me that worried Dem congresspersons who met with Obama left their meetings more worried than when they went in. I discounted the gossip, but now it’s beginning to ring true. We thought he was a great salesman. He turned out to be a lousy salesman. We thought he was a great politician. Instead he makes elementary mistakes and doesn’t learn from them. He didn’t know “shovel-ready” from a hole in the ground, and then somehow thinks admitting this ignorance without apology will add to his appeal.


I’d still defend most of the decisions Obama’s made, especially on health care refom. I’d rather have him making those decisions than 85% of the likely Republican candidates. But for the first time, he’s looking like a one-termer, even if the jobs start to come back.


It’s hard to imagine any incumbent losing if unemployment is trending downwards, especially after a sustained economic crisis, and it’s hard to imagine The One being so stupid as to stay in his liberal cocoon knowing that it would put the center of the electorate in play for 2012. Peter Beinart predicted a few weeks ago that Obama will actually tack left after the election on the theory that presidents tend to revert to campaign form when they get in trouble, but of course to hear David Brooks or Peggy Noonan or Kathleen Parker or Christopher Buckley tell it, Obama wasn’t a hard leftist during the campaign at all. He was an omnicompetent post-partisan pragmatist, eager to solve America’s problems by trying whatever would work. If he does revert to form, that’s the form he’ll revert to — which means he’ll try to make whatever deals he can with the new GOP House to push some compromise legislation through to pander to centrists. And then, if he gets reelected, he’ll govern as an even harder-left liberal in his second term. Good luck in 2012, moderate voters!


Exit question: If you were a lefty president terrified that your base of young voters will stay home on election day, which show would you appear on a few nights before to plead with them to go to the polls? Bingo.






Fox <b>News</b> Crew Gets Scolded At Democratic Meeting (VIDEO)

A Fox News camera crew showed up unannounced at a Democratic meeting in Wisconsin Monday, prompting a confrontation that eventually forced the show's producer into a rather startling admission: he understands why Democrats are wary of ...

Probably Bad <b>News</b>: Parenting FAIL - Epic Fail Funny Videos and <b>...</b>

epic fail photos - Probably Bad News: Parenting FAIL.

&quot;Xbox 2&quot; game WarDevil canned Xbox 360 <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our Xbox 360 news of. ... "Xbox 2" game WarDevil canned Related content. Latest WarDevil: Unleash the Beast Within screenshots; News WarDevil trailer set for Tokyo ; News Digi-Guys shows off gorgeous Xbox 2 war game ...


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make money by John Paul - Money Dummy Blog


Fox <b>News</b> Crew Gets Scolded At Democratic Meeting (VIDEO)

A Fox News camera crew showed up unannounced at a Democratic meeting in Wisconsin Monday, prompting a confrontation that eventually forced the show's producer into a rather startling admission: he understands why Democrats are wary of ...

Probably Bad <b>News</b>: Parenting FAIL - Epic Fail Funny Videos and <b>...</b>

epic fail photos - Probably Bad News: Parenting FAIL.

&quot;Xbox 2&quot; game WarDevil canned Xbox 360 <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our Xbox 360 news of. ... "Xbox 2" game WarDevil canned Related content. Latest WarDevil: Unleash the Beast Within screenshots; News WarDevil trailer set for Tokyo ; News Digi-Guys shows off gorgeous Xbox 2 war game ...


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style="text-align: center;">

/> [style="text-decoration: underline;">Ed. note: This post is authored by Evan Jowers and Robert Kinney of Kinney Recruiting, sponsor of the Asia Chronicles. Kinney has made more placements of U.S. associates and partners in Asia than any other firm in the past four years. You can reach them by email: asia at kinneyrecruiting dot com.]

Evan here. It continues to be a very busy year for lateral biglaw associate and partner hiring in Hong Kong / China. Further we have noticed that in HK, BJ and SHG there is more enthusiasm coming from US, UK and PRC firm partners, regarding the market, than we have seen since mid ’07. You can tell a big difference in enthusiasm by simply going to meetings in firm offices in those markets. Earlier this year, while it was a boom, there was optimism, but much more cautioned and guarded. Sure, the IPO boom at its current pace in China is not sustainable forever, but there is much less concern of a bubble burst or other type of economic downturn. Frankly, Hong Kong has become the market of choice for many major international companies and banks to have IPOs, with many choosing HK over NYC and London. Needless to say, US firms are going to be in and expand in HK / China for a long time. Offices are turning from outposts to much more substantial and strategic parts of US firms, globally.

Our Asia team is so busy, we have fallen behind on fully launching our new theasiachronicles.com blog and we apologize for that. Starting this weekend, we will have daily original posts, as promised (to go along with the numerous daily biglaw asia news posts).

For our readers in NYC who would like to meet us, please note that Robert and I will be in NYC again October 20 to 22. I will be back in China in a few weeks for meetings, as well as trying to catch the last days of the World Expo in Shanghai. Alexis is of course based in Hong Kong and Yuliya is based in Russia (not really Asia, but part of our Asia team nonetheless).id="more-40142">

Of course this is the time of year when our 2L law student readers are choosing where to summer. If you would like to talk about your firm choices, with regards to the firms’ Asia practices and offices, we are happy to speak with you. Feel free to reach out any time.

Here are, off the top of my head, some of the type of associate openings our Asia team is now working on for our law firm clients (we have in-house openings as well, but not listed here):

[please note that there are far more openings than what we happen to mention in this column. Please check them out at kinneyrecruiting.com/jobs or theasiachronicles.com/jobs, keeping in mind we don’t list cap markets / corporate openings multiple times if similar, and there are many of those]

Japanese speaking US cap markets associate – New York/> -One of our firm clients has an urgent need for a mid-level Japanese fluent US associate in their NYC cap markets practice. This position could be filled by someone in Tokyo who needs the two years practicing outside of Japan for certain qualifications, but who would want to be back in Tokyo in two years (this firm has a Tokyo office). Of course, it can be filled by a Japanese fluent associate already in NYC as well.

US cap markets associates – Hong Kong / China/> -many firms have this need (almost too many openings to count), with most requiring Mandarin fluency, but a few being ok with English only hires if the candidate is impressive enough. Due to the IPO boom in China continuing now for more than a year, along with US and UK firms all coming off hiring freezes by end ’09 / early ’10, there has been a lot of cap markets hiring in HK / China. Firms are still much more selective than in ’07 boom, but selectivity has fallen a bit recently, due to the amount of hiring occurring. Some firms will continue to require Mandarin fluency and take a look at candidates coming from less than top 10 US firms, whereas other firms will continue to focus on associates coming from top 10 firms, but drop requirement for Mandarin. Interestingly, M&A focused candidates coming from top 10 US firms can usually land cap markets positions, but not so much vice versa. If you are not coming from a top 10 or 20 US firm, it is a must to be fluent in Mandarin and you should expect a longer job search (as much as three to six + months, but you will land a spot in a market this hot, so don’t despair).

US M&A associates – Hong Kong / China/> -while M&A activity is noticeably picking up recently in China, it is still far behind cap markets deal flow at most firms. We are seeing an uptick in hiring for M&A groups, but it can still be difficult for an M&A focused associate to land an M&A focused spot at a top US or UK firm in HK / China. There is a lot of competition for these spots and the selectivity is much higher than with cap markets spots. With that said, we just made two such placements in HK in the past week, one PE / M&A focused and one general M&A, so they are happening.

Hong Kong qualified cap markets and M&A associates – Hong Kong/> -almost every US and UK firm with a HK local practice is now hiring HK qualified cap markets associates and many are also looking for M&A help. It is currently a recruiting war for such persons.

US Derivatives associate – Hong Kong/> -two of our law firm clients are interviewing for derivatives associates at mid-level. This is a rare type of opening in HK, and Asia in general, and it may be a while before both firms make such hires. Usually, derivatives background associates moving to Asia have to transition to more traditional corporate / cap markets practices in order to make the move.

US Funds Formation associates – Hong Kong, Beijing and Singapore/> -Four of our firm clients are looking for funds formation US associates, junior to mid-level. Two of those spots do not require Mandarin and English only is ok. Even in ’07 hiring boom, we did not see this many funds formation openings. Unlike in ’07, these groups can now be more selective and typically want someone with solid funds experience (in ’06 and ’07, such spots were being filled by those with little funds experience).

Korean speaking US corporate / cap markets associates – Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul/> -We are seeing a increase in Korea practice openings in Hong Kong, at US and UK firms, as well as there being a few top firms that seek a Korean fluent US corporate associate, but don’t have a Korea practice team. As usual, Korea firms in Seoul are interviewing US associates and a couple of our clients in Tokyo are interviewing Korean speakers (it is much easier to land in HK than Tokyo). Keep in mind that there is an abundance of solid Korean US associate candidates on the market, so firms are being very selective and not moving so quickly with hires. There is a lack of Korean background associates with stellar JD academics (many exist with solid academics and coming from solid firms) on the market, so if you fall in that fortunate category and are interested in lateral move in HK, you would be extremely marketable.

Project Finance US associates – Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo/> -A few of our firm clients in HK, Tokyo and Singapore have this need, at various seniority levels.

US corporate / cap markets associates – Tokyo/> -An increasing number of our firm clients in Tokyo are now hiring. Whereas in ’07, they were not always requiring Japanese, today they mostly are. However, firms are finding it very difficult to find Japanese fluent very well qualified US associates. It is an easy time for a Japanese fluent corporate / cap markets associate from a top US firm to land in Tokyo. Cap markets and M&A needed.

US corporate / cap markets associates – Singapore/> -While Singapore will never have nearly as many US associate openings as Hong Kong, it is in general and under-lawyered market and there are firms hiring. We made a number of Singapore placements earlier this year and the pace of hiring has slowed a bit there (firms moved quickly when coming off hiring freeze), but most US practices are very busy and there will be more hiring. In Singapore, while English only is obviously better in that market than other Asia markets, firms still look to find a connection to Singapore or reason for moving to Singapore in their candidates. Mandarin can be a nice bonus there, but not if the target firm is concerned the new hire will move to China in a year or two.

US acquisition finance associates – Hong Kong/> -Two of our firm clients are looking for this relatively rare type of US associate hire in Hong Kong, one a senior hire and one at the mid-level. Mandarin required.

US banking / finance associates – Hong Kong/> -A few of our firm clients in Hong Kong have banking / finance associate openings, at various levels. Mandarin required.

US IP transactional associate – Hong Kong/> -One of our firm clients has a mid-level to senior IP transactional associate need. This is a rare opening, although we expect IP openings to be a bit more common in 5 or so years in HK / China. Mandarin required.

US IP litigation / transactional associate – Tokyo/> -Two of our firm clients have this need, at various levels, in Tokyo. Japanese required.

US corporate associate, Indonesian background – Singapore/> -One of our firm clients in Singapore needs a US corporate associate with Indonesian background.

US corporate associates, Indian background – Singapore/> -A few of our firm clients in Singapore are building up their India practice and would prefer to hire US associates with Indian background, although that is not a requirement.

US cap markets associates – Sydney/> -Two of our firm clients in Sydney have US cap markets associate needs, at mid-level.

US cap markets / corporate associates – Moscow/> -A few of our clients are hiring in Moscow, although being extremely selective and requiring Russian.

US banking / finance corporate associate – Moscow/> -One of our firm clients in Moscow has an urgent banking / finance need at mid-level. Russian required.


Didn’t he once say he’d rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-termer? Well, the chances of a “really good” first term are pretty much shot, so I guess now it’s mediocrity or bust. Shoot for the stars, champ!


President Obama signaled today that he will seek reelection and dismissed as “completely unfounded” reports that he might replace Vice President Joe Biden on his 2012 ticket with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.


“Obviously, I haven’t made any formal decision” on reelection, the president told National Journal in an exclusive 45-minute interview, “but I feel like I’ve got a lot of work left to do.”


Told that his answer sounded like he was saying “yes,” Obama nodded, then broadly smiled. “Take it as you will,” he said, laughing.


Obama bluntly dismissed suggestions, first raised by author Bob Woodward, that he might replace Biden with Clinton for the 2012 race.


Lest you think he’s bluffing, Axelrod is already starting to inch away from The One’s stance against Democratic outside groups with anonymous donors spending big money on elections. The old rule: No outside groups, please. The soon-to-be new rule: Yes, outside groups, please, but kindly disclose your contributors. As I said a few days ago, surely no one (including Harry Reid) found Sharron Angle’s mammoth third-quarter fundraising haul as frightening as the White House did, simply because it’s an early sign of how much money the conservative base will cough up in 2012 to knock Obama out of office. Axelrod will need all hands on deck to keep up, notwithstanding The One’s already legendary fundraising powers from 2008. So here’s his signal to lefty PACs to get in the game.


Even so, will it be enough? Mickey Kaus:


What comments [about voters being "scared"] suggest isn’t just that Obama will get clobbered in the midterms. It suggests that after he gets clobbered he won’t be able to adjust and turn the setback into a longterm victory the way Bill Clinton did. Clinton reacted to his 1994 midterm loss by acknowledging his opponents’ strongest arguments and pursuing a balanced budget and welfare reform. Obama seems more inclined to just tough it out until the economy recovers and the scared, confused voters become unscared and see the light. Meanwhile, he’ll spend his time in a protective cocoon.


A few weeks ago a right-wing reporter told me that worried Dem congresspersons who met with Obama left their meetings more worried than when they went in. I discounted the gossip, but now it’s beginning to ring true. We thought he was a great salesman. He turned out to be a lousy salesman. We thought he was a great politician. Instead he makes elementary mistakes and doesn’t learn from them. He didn’t know “shovel-ready” from a hole in the ground, and then somehow thinks admitting this ignorance without apology will add to his appeal.


I’d still defend most of the decisions Obama’s made, especially on health care refom. I’d rather have him making those decisions than 85% of the likely Republican candidates. But for the first time, he’s looking like a one-termer, even if the jobs start to come back.


It’s hard to imagine any incumbent losing if unemployment is trending downwards, especially after a sustained economic crisis, and it’s hard to imagine The One being so stupid as to stay in his liberal cocoon knowing that it would put the center of the electorate in play for 2012. Peter Beinart predicted a few weeks ago that Obama will actually tack left after the election on the theory that presidents tend to revert to campaign form when they get in trouble, but of course to hear David Brooks or Peggy Noonan or Kathleen Parker or Christopher Buckley tell it, Obama wasn’t a hard leftist during the campaign at all. He was an omnicompetent post-partisan pragmatist, eager to solve America’s problems by trying whatever would work. If he does revert to form, that’s the form he’ll revert to — which means he’ll try to make whatever deals he can with the new GOP House to push some compromise legislation through to pander to centrists. And then, if he gets reelected, he’ll govern as an even harder-left liberal in his second term. Good luck in 2012, moderate voters!


Exit question: If you were a lefty president terrified that your base of young voters will stay home on election day, which show would you appear on a few nights before to plead with them to go to the polls? Bingo.






bench craft company complaints

Fox <b>News</b> Crew Gets Scolded At Democratic Meeting (VIDEO)

A Fox News camera crew showed up unannounced at a Democratic meeting in Wisconsin Monday, prompting a confrontation that eventually forced the show's producer into a rather startling admission: he understands why Democrats are wary of ...

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epic fail photos - Probably Bad News: Parenting FAIL.

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bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Fox <b>News</b> Crew Gets Scolded At Democratic Meeting (VIDEO)

A Fox News camera crew showed up unannounced at a Democratic meeting in Wisconsin Monday, prompting a confrontation that eventually forced the show's producer into a rather startling admission: he understands why Democrats are wary of ...

Probably Bad <b>News</b>: Parenting FAIL - Epic Fail Funny Videos and <b>...</b>

epic fail photos - Probably Bad News: Parenting FAIL.

&quot;Xbox 2&quot; game WarDevil canned Xbox 360 <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our Xbox 360 news of. ... "Xbox 2" game WarDevil canned Related content. Latest WarDevil: Unleash the Beast Within screenshots; News WarDevil trailer set for Tokyo ; News Digi-Guys shows off gorgeous Xbox 2 war game ...


bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Fox <b>News</b> Crew Gets Scolded At Democratic Meeting (VIDEO)

A Fox News camera crew showed up unannounced at a Democratic meeting in Wisconsin Monday, prompting a confrontation that eventually forced the show's producer into a rather startling admission: he understands why Democrats are wary of ...

Probably Bad <b>News</b>: Parenting FAIL - Epic Fail Funny Videos and <b>...</b>

epic fail photos - Probably Bad News: Parenting FAIL.

&quot;Xbox 2&quot; game WarDevil canned Xbox 360 <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our Xbox 360 news of. ... "Xbox 2" game WarDevil canned Related content. Latest WarDevil: Unleash the Beast Within screenshots; News WarDevil trailer set for Tokyo ; News Digi-Guys shows off gorgeous Xbox 2 war game ...


bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Friday, October 22, 2010

foreclosure listings


The Foreclosure Mess-a Follow-up

October 18, 2010

David Kotok


>


Wow, there were many, many emails in response to the recent piece entitled “Foreclosure Mess.” Here are some of those observations.


Some folks missed the opening disclaimer and attributed the piece to me; that was their error. I did not write it [BR: The original was from Gonzalo Lira's blog]. I only edited out the expletives. I do not believe that F this and F that add anything. MK wrote back: “The article’s issues needed the expletives. In this particular case they would have been in context and not extraneous. Next time leave them in. &%$)@%%$.” Readers who get to the end of today’s follow-up will be able to judge for themselves.


The piece had many technical and legal errors, although most professionals agreed with this overall theme. Barry Ritholtz summarized the legal side with a “lawyer’s hat” on: “The flaw in this piece is that courts have long been authorized to apply principles of equity, as opposed to law, to cases brought before it. This means that we do not want to create unjust enrichment for either wrongdoers or other bad outcomes. We have two bad actors here: The homeowner who is in default, and the banks/securitizes who failed to do the document creation and title management correctly. Most judges do not want to see, in civil cases, an absurd outcome. Rewarding the homeowner (free house!) or the lenders (No penalty for massive screw-ups!), a total victory would offend those principles. An example of a possible outcome in a full-blown litigation might be for the court to order the mortgage modified to the current equity value of the home, so that it punishes the lenders who failed to do their proper legal work on the documents, but does not give a home to a defaulted homeowner free. Courts of “equity” (meaning fairness, not ownership) apply these principles to avoid ridiculous outcomes.”


A senior bank executive with extensive mortgage experience also responded. WP wrote: “There are technical errors made by the writer, but much of it is accurate.”


JR replied: “David, how are you, my mother fwd this to me as I am in the business. Is it safe to assume that the bank foreclosures will be taken off the market, which would then decrease the amount of homes that are listed dramatically (over 70%) in some markets. The market has been saturated with foreclosure listings. Over the past 2 years, it has been very easy to get a foreclosure sale, where individuals were able to buy a home for 76 cents on the dollar, in essence bringing the values down on sales-cost comparisons (appraisals). What impact will we see to the market? I’m thinking that with the foreclosures no longer as easy to get as a McDonalds happy meal, the remaining properties that are listed will now sell at or above market value, because the “value foreclosure meal” will be no longer available to the buyer. What will this do to the short sale market, being that short sales were the bank alternative to foreclosure?”


Another lawyer weighed in. Mr. B wrote: “In this case, I must quibble. I believe that the mortgagor cannot go scot-free. While enforcing the mortgage is by far the more convenient route, the claimant standing in the shoes of the mortgagee/note owner could claim against the home “owner” for unjust enrichment outside the mortgage enforcement procedure. Evidence of the existence of the claim can be adduced from related documentation. The “home owner” could be required to prove the source of funds for buying the house…, which of course he could not. All very inconvenient, time consuming and expensive. But look on the bright side. It’s employment for lawyers.”


And another lawyer. Jay wrote: “Despite what your friend says, just because the chain of ownership of the note is broken does NOT mean a borrower is relieved of his debt. Observers have speculated for a long time about what would happen if a judge demanded that only the right owner could foreclose, and that particular chicken has come home to roost. It may take awhile, but sooner or later the banks will find the original note and the proper successor in interest will be found and the defaulting borrower will have to make a deal or be foreclosed out. Meanwhile, all the shenanigans are true and they will result in big delays and huge costs as lenders have to go back and do things right. Some homeowners who were improperly evicted will have claims and they will get some relief but they won’t get their houses back. This is indeed a mess and the lenders deserve everything they are getting – particularly Bank of America, which bought one of the worst offenders, Countrywide.


In addition, another lawyer named Howard said: “While it is true that some may take advantage of the mortgage mess, the process will always win. You do not make good law for the bad cases. You cannot have people lying and fraudulently fixing chain of title due to the inconvenience. I once had a mortgage foreclosure that XXXXXX handled. It took years, and at the end he had made a theoretical mistake and was forced to start over or seek judicial help in fixing the error. While the client was furious, the process was righteous.


Michael G. added to the debate: “We’re talking about estimates of $20bn or more in losses (from put-backs, etc.). I agree that you do not make good law from bad cases. And I know that shortcuts were taken when loans were securitized. I was not suggesting a solution, only the gravity of the problem. The halting of foreclosures is one more factor that will prevent the housing market from finding equilibrium and weigh on the health of American banks. Stagnant economic growth, a financial system under heavy stress, and plenty of landmines to side-step… but hey, at least NBER says that the recession ended!”


Kathy is a skilled observer of our system. She wrote “Suggesting the dissolution of civil society is fear mongering/hyperbole. I believe the US is in for a long uncertain meandering period as housing unravels, but I don’t think we’re going back to keeping cash and guns under the mattress.”


A senior partner in a major accounting firm liked the original piece. JB replied: “Whoever wrote it explained this situation as clearly as the Big Short explained the base mess. Please pass on my thanks for a job well done.”


CG chimed in from Hawaii: “The whole purpose of MBSs was for Wall Street to “Madoff the World.”


MS is a skilled lawyer and former judge. He wrote: “First paragraph starts off wrong. The note does not permit foreclosure. Suing on the note gives plaintiff a judgment. It is the mortgage which makes the property security for the note. No mortgage, no foreclosure. So I stopped reading.”


Highly tech-savvy businessperson GC wrote: “While it is popular to try and pin all the blame on Fannie and Freddie (and they certainly deserve as much opprobrium as we have energy left to give), in fact the ownership of MERS is a good indictment of all the players in the game. See this link: http://www.mersinc.org/about/shareholders.aspx . ”


Lastly, Elliot S. wrote and linked websites. He did this in response to John Mauldin who ran the original piece in his newsletter. “They are wrong with regards to the Note and chain of title. Actually, they couldn’t more wrong. The Note is just the IOU and gives the lender the right to collect any money lost. MERS has nothing to do with Notes only with mortgages. The mortgage is the controlling document that is used for the foreclosure and the ONLY document. The mortgage gets assigned from one lender to another and often the assignments didn’t get recorded and the last lender, who actually owned the mortgage, didn’t have the right to foreclosure. Therefore, they created MERS, which is a registration of the mortgage but not to a bank, but to MERS. MERS is the mortgage holder and the loans are assigned via registration number. Therefore, if XYZ sells a mortgage to ABC, MERS is notified that the lender’s MERS ID is changed from XYZ to ABC and there is no need for a recorded assignment and that alleviated a huge problem for unrecorded or lost assignment. The foreclosure is actually performed in the name of MERS. So I am not sure what the heck this guy is talking about. The issue with GMAC and other lenders has NOTHING to do with this. The issue is what they are calling “Robo-signers” which are individuals who signed affidavits stating that they had “personal knowledge” of the facts in a foreclosure case, when in fact they did not. http://www.forextv.com/forex-news-story/forex-why-did-the-mortgage-servicers-use-robo-signers Read this actual and in the paragraph that starts with Second, they will provide the support for my claims. Here are additional articles I searched for on the web. http://www.fiercefinance.com/story/robo-signer-wells-fargo-no-foreclosure-halt-yet/2010-10-14 and http://www.housingwire.com/2010/10/15/robo-signers-are-a-drop-in-the-bucket-to-mortgage-industrys-problems I hate people that have no idea what they are talking about and mislead people. They don’t even know what a Note and Mortgage are or what they are used for, holy cows. And MERS doesn’t slice or dice mortgages they are just a repository. Must of the slicing and dicing is done in CDOs, which if needed I will explain why. CDO unlike MBS or RBMS continually slice and dice the junior pieces or Mezz into new CDO whereby they take the more riskier debt make them look like AAA.”


I will stop and add just add a few personal observations. No writer mentioned the role of real estate taxes so we discussed this with NE, a highly skilled, community development real estate professional. He described how a well-informed tax-sale certificate buyer could jump ahead of the other lien holders and get a house on the cheap. In addition, an occupant could keep the tax payments current, delay the mortgage payment while the mess is in the courts, and remain in the house for quite a while. He noted how many mortgage servicers do not collect the real estate taxes and are therefore exposed.


Also, state law prevails on mortgages. That means 50 jurisdictions with 50 different sets of rules. The securities are mostly through NY trusts, noted Josh Rosner. The trust will determine how the securitizations are unwound, not the rules under which the foreclosures will occur. Many of our diverse legal opinions are coming to us because the lawyers involved are citing their own local jurisdictions.


We thank the many, many readers for their thoughtful comments. We do not normally pass on a piece and keep the writer anonymous. Had he written without rudeness and expletives the outcome might have been different. It is too bad he had to resort to abusive language. The original text, despite the technical errors, was provocative and captured the gist of the mess.


Many have asked about the identity of the original writer, LG sent this email: “David Kotok: A simple Google search would have revealed to you who wrote the following. I doubt he is need of you providing him 15 minutes of fame, but who knows…http://gonzalolira.blogspot.com/2010/10/second-leg-down-of-americas-death.html .” Thank you, LG.


BTW, there is an investment implication in our view. We believe the banking system will weather this mess and the weakness in the sector will evolve into a buying opportunity as a result. The new Fed policy of additional QE implies more liquidity to offset the economic weakness of the foreclosure mess and more subsidies for banks.




MOVIES

Nevada Smith: Steve McQueen plays novelist Harold Robbins' character at a younger age in this 1966 Western that sends the title character on a mission of vengeance after his father is murdered by three men in a dispute over gold — and nothing and no one will stand in his way. The strong supporting cast includes Karl Malden, Brian Keith and Suzanne Pleshette (2:30 p.m. TCM). 


The Lovely Bones: Director Peter Jackson's 2009 adaptation of Alice Sebold's bestseller stars Stanley Tucci as a neighbor of a murdered youngster (Saoirse Ronan). Her survivors, including her parents (Rachel Weisz, Mark Wahlberg), are seen through her eyes as her spirit witnesses the aftermath of the tragedy from above (8 p.m. HBO). 


SPORTS


College football: Boston College at Florida State (9 a.m. ESPN); Arkansas at Auburn (12:30 p.m. CBS); Texas at Nebraska (12:30 p.m. ABC); Iowa at Michigan (12:30 p.m. ESPN); California at USC (12:30 p.m. FS Prime); South Carolina at Kentucky (3 p.m. ESPN2); Ohio State at Wisconsin (4 p.m. ESPN); Iowa State at Oklahoma (4 p.m. FS Prime); Arizona at Washington State (4:30 p.m. VS); Mississippi at Alabama (6 p.m. ESPN2); Oregon State at Washington (7:15 p.m. ESPN).


Baseball: Playoffs: The New York Yankees visit the Texas Rangers (1 p.m. TBS); the San Francisco Giants visit the Philadelphia Phillies (4:30 p.m. Fox). 


Exhibition basketball: The Denver Nuggets visit the Lakers (7:30 p.m. FSN).


Photo: Justin Stephens / Cartoon Network



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Korean Grand Prix organisers are making minor modifications to the new Formula 1 track on Friday night following complaints from drivers about potential trouble spots on the new Yeongam circuit.

Is Fox <b>News</b> more tolerant than NPR? « Hot Air

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New Moscow Mayor, Russian Fashion Week and the Spartak – Chelsea match were among the most heavily discussed news items this week among Moscow expats.


eric seiger eric seiger

The Foreclosure Mess-a Follow-up

October 18, 2010

David Kotok


>


Wow, there were many, many emails in response to the recent piece entitled “Foreclosure Mess.” Here are some of those observations.


Some folks missed the opening disclaimer and attributed the piece to me; that was their error. I did not write it [BR: The original was from Gonzalo Lira's blog]. I only edited out the expletives. I do not believe that F this and F that add anything. MK wrote back: “The article’s issues needed the expletives. In this particular case they would have been in context and not extraneous. Next time leave them in. &%$)@%%$.” Readers who get to the end of today’s follow-up will be able to judge for themselves.


The piece had many technical and legal errors, although most professionals agreed with this overall theme. Barry Ritholtz summarized the legal side with a “lawyer’s hat” on: “The flaw in this piece is that courts have long been authorized to apply principles of equity, as opposed to law, to cases brought before it. This means that we do not want to create unjust enrichment for either wrongdoers or other bad outcomes. We have two bad actors here: The homeowner who is in default, and the banks/securitizes who failed to do the document creation and title management correctly. Most judges do not want to see, in civil cases, an absurd outcome. Rewarding the homeowner (free house!) or the lenders (No penalty for massive screw-ups!), a total victory would offend those principles. An example of a possible outcome in a full-blown litigation might be for the court to order the mortgage modified to the current equity value of the home, so that it punishes the lenders who failed to do their proper legal work on the documents, but does not give a home to a defaulted homeowner free. Courts of “equity” (meaning fairness, not ownership) apply these principles to avoid ridiculous outcomes.”


A senior bank executive with extensive mortgage experience also responded. WP wrote: “There are technical errors made by the writer, but much of it is accurate.”


JR replied: “David, how are you, my mother fwd this to me as I am in the business. Is it safe to assume that the bank foreclosures will be taken off the market, which would then decrease the amount of homes that are listed dramatically (over 70%) in some markets. The market has been saturated with foreclosure listings. Over the past 2 years, it has been very easy to get a foreclosure sale, where individuals were able to buy a home for 76 cents on the dollar, in essence bringing the values down on sales-cost comparisons (appraisals). What impact will we see to the market? I’m thinking that with the foreclosures no longer as easy to get as a McDonalds happy meal, the remaining properties that are listed will now sell at or above market value, because the “value foreclosure meal” will be no longer available to the buyer. What will this do to the short sale market, being that short sales were the bank alternative to foreclosure?”


Another lawyer weighed in. Mr. B wrote: “In this case, I must quibble. I believe that the mortgagor cannot go scot-free. While enforcing the mortgage is by far the more convenient route, the claimant standing in the shoes of the mortgagee/note owner could claim against the home “owner” for unjust enrichment outside the mortgage enforcement procedure. Evidence of the existence of the claim can be adduced from related documentation. The “home owner” could be required to prove the source of funds for buying the house…, which of course he could not. All very inconvenient, time consuming and expensive. But look on the bright side. It’s employment for lawyers.”


And another lawyer. Jay wrote: “Despite what your friend says, just because the chain of ownership of the note is broken does NOT mean a borrower is relieved of his debt. Observers have speculated for a long time about what would happen if a judge demanded that only the right owner could foreclose, and that particular chicken has come home to roost. It may take awhile, but sooner or later the banks will find the original note and the proper successor in interest will be found and the defaulting borrower will have to make a deal or be foreclosed out. Meanwhile, all the shenanigans are true and they will result in big delays and huge costs as lenders have to go back and do things right. Some homeowners who were improperly evicted will have claims and they will get some relief but they won’t get their houses back. This is indeed a mess and the lenders deserve everything they are getting – particularly Bank of America, which bought one of the worst offenders, Countrywide.


In addition, another lawyer named Howard said: “While it is true that some may take advantage of the mortgage mess, the process will always win. You do not make good law for the bad cases. You cannot have people lying and fraudulently fixing chain of title due to the inconvenience. I once had a mortgage foreclosure that XXXXXX handled. It took years, and at the end he had made a theoretical mistake and was forced to start over or seek judicial help in fixing the error. While the client was furious, the process was righteous.


Michael G. added to the debate: “We’re talking about estimates of $20bn or more in losses (from put-backs, etc.). I agree that you do not make good law from bad cases. And I know that shortcuts were taken when loans were securitized. I was not suggesting a solution, only the gravity of the problem. The halting of foreclosures is one more factor that will prevent the housing market from finding equilibrium and weigh on the health of American banks. Stagnant economic growth, a financial system under heavy stress, and plenty of landmines to side-step… but hey, at least NBER says that the recession ended!”


Kathy is a skilled observer of our system. She wrote “Suggesting the dissolution of civil society is fear mongering/hyperbole. I believe the US is in for a long uncertain meandering period as housing unravels, but I don’t think we’re going back to keeping cash and guns under the mattress.”


A senior partner in a major accounting firm liked the original piece. JB replied: “Whoever wrote it explained this situation as clearly as the Big Short explained the base mess. Please pass on my thanks for a job well done.”


CG chimed in from Hawaii: “The whole purpose of MBSs was for Wall Street to “Madoff the World.”


MS is a skilled lawyer and former judge. He wrote: “First paragraph starts off wrong. The note does not permit foreclosure. Suing on the note gives plaintiff a judgment. It is the mortgage which makes the property security for the note. No mortgage, no foreclosure. So I stopped reading.”


Highly tech-savvy businessperson GC wrote: “While it is popular to try and pin all the blame on Fannie and Freddie (and they certainly deserve as much opprobrium as we have energy left to give), in fact the ownership of MERS is a good indictment of all the players in the game. See this link: http://www.mersinc.org/about/shareholders.aspx . ”


Lastly, Elliot S. wrote and linked websites. He did this in response to John Mauldin who ran the original piece in his newsletter. “They are wrong with regards to the Note and chain of title. Actually, they couldn’t more wrong. The Note is just the IOU and gives the lender the right to collect any money lost. MERS has nothing to do with Notes only with mortgages. The mortgage is the controlling document that is used for the foreclosure and the ONLY document. The mortgage gets assigned from one lender to another and often the assignments didn’t get recorded and the last lender, who actually owned the mortgage, didn’t have the right to foreclosure. Therefore, they created MERS, which is a registration of the mortgage but not to a bank, but to MERS. MERS is the mortgage holder and the loans are assigned via registration number. Therefore, if XYZ sells a mortgage to ABC, MERS is notified that the lender’s MERS ID is changed from XYZ to ABC and there is no need for a recorded assignment and that alleviated a huge problem for unrecorded or lost assignment. The foreclosure is actually performed in the name of MERS. So I am not sure what the heck this guy is talking about. The issue with GMAC and other lenders has NOTHING to do with this. The issue is what they are calling “Robo-signers” which are individuals who signed affidavits stating that they had “personal knowledge” of the facts in a foreclosure case, when in fact they did not. http://www.forextv.com/forex-news-story/forex-why-did-the-mortgage-servicers-use-robo-signers Read this actual and in the paragraph that starts with Second, they will provide the support for my claims. Here are additional articles I searched for on the web. http://www.fiercefinance.com/story/robo-signer-wells-fargo-no-foreclosure-halt-yet/2010-10-14 and http://www.housingwire.com/2010/10/15/robo-signers-are-a-drop-in-the-bucket-to-mortgage-industrys-problems I hate people that have no idea what they are talking about and mislead people. They don’t even know what a Note and Mortgage are or what they are used for, holy cows. And MERS doesn’t slice or dice mortgages they are just a repository. Must of the slicing and dicing is done in CDOs, which if needed I will explain why. CDO unlike MBS or RBMS continually slice and dice the junior pieces or Mezz into new CDO whereby they take the more riskier debt make them look like AAA.”


I will stop and add just add a few personal observations. No writer mentioned the role of real estate taxes so we discussed this with NE, a highly skilled, community development real estate professional. He described how a well-informed tax-sale certificate buyer could jump ahead of the other lien holders and get a house on the cheap. In addition, an occupant could keep the tax payments current, delay the mortgage payment while the mess is in the courts, and remain in the house for quite a while. He noted how many mortgage servicers do not collect the real estate taxes and are therefore exposed.


Also, state law prevails on mortgages. That means 50 jurisdictions with 50 different sets of rules. The securities are mostly through NY trusts, noted Josh Rosner. The trust will determine how the securitizations are unwound, not the rules under which the foreclosures will occur. Many of our diverse legal opinions are coming to us because the lawyers involved are citing their own local jurisdictions.


We thank the many, many readers for their thoughtful comments. We do not normally pass on a piece and keep the writer anonymous. Had he written without rudeness and expletives the outcome might have been different. It is too bad he had to resort to abusive language. The original text, despite the technical errors, was provocative and captured the gist of the mess.


Many have asked about the identity of the original writer, LG sent this email: “David Kotok: A simple Google search would have revealed to you who wrote the following. I doubt he is need of you providing him 15 minutes of fame, but who knows…http://gonzalolira.blogspot.com/2010/10/second-leg-down-of-americas-death.html .” Thank you, LG.


BTW, there is an investment implication in our view. We believe the banking system will weather this mess and the weakness in the sector will evolve into a buying opportunity as a result. The new Fed policy of additional QE implies more liquidity to offset the economic weakness of the foreclosure mess and more subsidies for banks.




MOVIES

Nevada Smith: Steve McQueen plays novelist Harold Robbins' character at a younger age in this 1966 Western that sends the title character on a mission of vengeance after his father is murdered by three men in a dispute over gold — and nothing and no one will stand in his way. The strong supporting cast includes Karl Malden, Brian Keith and Suzanne Pleshette (2:30 p.m. TCM). 


The Lovely Bones: Director Peter Jackson's 2009 adaptation of Alice Sebold's bestseller stars Stanley Tucci as a neighbor of a murdered youngster (Saoirse Ronan). Her survivors, including her parents (Rachel Weisz, Mark Wahlberg), are seen through her eyes as her spirit witnesses the aftermath of the tragedy from above (8 p.m. HBO). 


SPORTS


College football: Boston College at Florida State (9 a.m. ESPN); Arkansas at Auburn (12:30 p.m. CBS); Texas at Nebraska (12:30 p.m. ABC); Iowa at Michigan (12:30 p.m. ESPN); California at USC (12:30 p.m. FS Prime); South Carolina at Kentucky (3 p.m. ESPN2); Ohio State at Wisconsin (4 p.m. ESPN); Iowa State at Oklahoma (4 p.m. FS Prime); Arizona at Washington State (4:30 p.m. VS); Mississippi at Alabama (6 p.m. ESPN2); Oregon State at Washington (7:15 p.m. ESPN).


Baseball: Playoffs: The New York Yankees visit the Texas Rangers (1 p.m. TBS); the San Francisco Giants visit the Philadelphia Phillies (4:30 p.m. Fox). 


Exhibition basketball: The Denver Nuggets visit the Lakers (7:30 p.m. FSN).


Photo: Justin Stephens / Cartoon Network



autosport.com - F1 <b>News</b>: Tweaks to be made to Korean track

Korean Grand Prix organisers are making minor modifications to the new Formula 1 track on Friday night following complaints from drivers about potential trouble spots on the new Yeongam circuit.

Is Fox <b>News</b> more tolerant than NPR? « Hot Air

The right-wing intolerants of Fox News' audience didn't complain as much about an explicitly liberal commentator on Fox as the tolerant, diverse audience at NPR did? Barone has to be joking, right? Not according to NPR, where omsbud ...

Fashion, sports and magic: Moscow expats talk <b>news</b> over booze - RT

New Moscow Mayor, Russian Fashion Week and the Spartak – Chelsea match were among the most heavily discussed news items this week among Moscow expats.


eric seiger eric seiger


http://hotmiamireo.com miami beach foreclosures by hotmiamireo