Hope Is Not A Plan

Atrios:

Nobody Could Have Predicted...That this would be a flawed business model.

Wachovia has been among the banks hardest hit by the ongoing crisis in the mortgage market. Its current problems stem largely from its acquisition of mortgage lender Golden West Financial Corp. in 2006 for roughly $25 billion at the height of the nation's housing boom. With that purchase, Wachovia inherited a deteriorating $122 billion portfolio of Pick-A-Payment loans, Golden West's specialty, which let borrowers skip some payments...

Just like nobody could have predicted that decades of refusing to upgrade and harden Houston's power grid infrastructure would lead to disasterous power failures during hurricane season.

Or allowing every-damn-body to connect to the grid without a recovery plan.

I'm talking to you, Centerpoint.
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Hurricane Ike

We were lucky and blessed, The Red Queen and I. Let me say that first.

We prepared for the storm, and I still didn't do enough. When they tell you to fill your bathtubs with water, don't ignore that, or else you won't be able to flush or wash when there's no power or water pressure.

We had food, and water to last us a week, but with Centerpoint claiming that it would take a month for power to be restored to the city, we were worried. We live in a pretty dense area, however and our power was restored on Sunday.

The storm itself? You've never seen anything like it - I wasn't brave or smart enough to take pictures during the storm, but judging by the freight-train-like sounds and the obvious aftermath, that's probably just as well.

I will make a personal appeal, however. Many businesses are shut down for the duration and we have no further personal resources, so hit the tip jar if you feel you can help - thanks.

More later.