Why I prefer plumbers

Sippican reminds me once again that bedrock knowledge is practical knowledge about how to do things, make things, repair things and generally make life livable for the rest of us.  The older I get the more I appreciate the practical wisdom of working men and women.

The End in the Middle or how to move heavy things.

If I told you you had to move that 439 pound box down a flight of stairs, could you do it? Here's what's at your disposal: A thirteen year old boy, his mom, and whatever you have laying around. Easy. By the way; you're in a hurry, because the item is made from cast iron, and it's going to rain. And you can't drop it -- it's precision machinery.

In my mind knowing how to make, install and repair plumbing is far more important to the human race than finding new ways to package and sell sub prime mortgage loans made to people who couldn't or wouldn't pay them back.

Plumbers, after all, know how to segregate waste and send it away to be treated so we don't ever have to touch it.    Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, under the CRA regulations,  required every bank Issuing mortgages to take on bad credit risks in the name of 'fairness'.  I learned as a girl "One bad apple spoils the bunch".      I could use more vivid metaphors but this one works too.

After Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac made sure that bad apples were in every mortgage portfolio, shaky mortgages from every they promised that the good faith and credit of the U.S. government was guarantee every loan.  That's why the federal government had to come in and take over and why taxpayers have to pay for all the bad apples.  The crisis and insolvency Alan Greenspan warned about has come to pass. 

Who is responsible?

I want to see Fannie and Freddie examined for fraud. 

Plumbers would never have gotten us into this mess.