Federal Government's Return on Investment, Google

The FDIC sold $1 billion of troubled loans from 22 banks that failed in the last 2 years to the highest bidder for $90.5 million. The portfolio are commercial real estate loans that are 70% delinquent. That means 30% are not late. Seems like a great deal for the buyer.

Paul Volker, the fed chairman in the 1980s who pulled us through a high inflationary time said that Wall Street i.e. banks, had 40% of all the profits in the country and its contribution to the welfare of the country doe not approach that. Today, the president said he is going to tax the banks billions of dollars. Remember these banks are profit motivated so this tax will be passed on to us, who use these banks.

Google's founders appear to have put integrity as a priority over profits since they are threatening to pull out of China in defense of free speech and its users' privacy rights, after hackers from China tried to get into activists email accounts. China said Google must abide by China's laws. It will be interesting to see if Google follows through or China changes its policy.

Another interesting statistic is that 1 in 45 households received a foreclosure notice in 2009; 2.8 million homeowners. With that ratio, I'm sure we all know someone who has or had this challenge on their path.