W.C. Varones receives WSJ mention

Our "Greenspan's Body Count" feature was mentioned in the front-page article His Legacy Tarnished, Greenspan Goes on Defensive of the Wall Street Journal today:

Anti-Greenspan sentiment has cropped up on blogs such as The Mess That Greenspan Made and Greenspan's Body Count, the latter a tally of deaths purportedly linked to the real-estate bust. Hedge-fund manager William Fleckenstein's book "Greenspan's Bubbles: The Age of Ignorance at the Federal Reserve," released in January, is now in its fourth printing.

... and linked in this online interview:

BLAMING GREENSPAN

While Alan Greenspan's memoir, "The Age of Turbulence," has sold one million copies, anti-Greenspan sentiment is also cropping up in bookstores and on blogs. See some recent examples:

• "The mess that Greenspan made" by blogger Tim Iacono. With posts dated since 2005, if follows daily news about the credit crisis underlying where Mr. Greenspan's policies are mentioned.
(http://themessthatgreenspanmade.blogspot.com/)

• "Greenspan's body count" is a recurring feature of W.C. Varones' blog that tracks "mortgage-related" suicides. (http://wcvarones.blogspot.com/)

Welcome, Wall Street Journal readers. Please come back often for news of finance, housing, politics, the odd, and of course, further updates to Greenspan's Body Count.

Analogies

Bush : Obama :: Greenspan : Bernanke

1) Both Bush and Greenspan left disasters for their successors to clean up (war, entitlements, systemic corruption, and deficits on Bush's part, and the greatest financial bubble in the history of the world on Greenspan's part).

2) Both Bush and Greenspan set horrible precedents that their successors carried to extremes (Bush with the TARP bank bailout and temporary GM bailout, and Greenspan with the "Greenspan put" that promised the Fed would always bail out the market).

3) Instead of correcting the excesses, both Obama and Bernanke responded to the crises with more (MUCH more!) of the same policies that caused the problems in the first place (Obama's monstrous deficits, endless bailouts, and government expansion, and Bernanke's infinite money-printing, zero-percent interest, and monetization of the debt). Obama is Bush on steroids, and Bernanke is Greenspan on steroids. Bush can only drool with envy at Obama's trillion-dollar deficits as far as the eye can see, and Greenspan feels like a chump when he sees how Bernanke doubled the Fed's balance sheet and printed a trillion dollars to buy assets including illegal toxic waste.

4) Bush was the worst President in recent memory. Greenspan was the worst Fed chairman in history. Both look certain to lose those titles to their successors.

Greenspan's Body Count: Tom Brisch

In today's episode of Greenspan's Body Count, Sherry Brisch returned home to a gruesome sight:

Brisch and her husband Tom had been together for 27 years, married for 20, had a lovely home in Wauwatosa and two great kids. They called themselves the Wally World family.

“You know go to Disney every year, just have two kids, a boy and a girl, and a retarded golden retriever, and we're just a regular family,” she said.

But things changed in 2008. In February Sherry lost her job as a radio ad sales executive, and Tom was struggling too. He sold Fords, and with gas over $4 a gallon, cars weren't moving.

“He was a commission-only salesperson, so the economic picture with a kid going to college, another one starting high school ... it was pretty grim and we were struggling,” Birsch said.

Then one morning she returned home from coffee with a friend and found Tom's car still in the driveway. She combed the house, and found Tom hanging by a dog leash from the attic trap door. The family was devastated and dumbstruck.

“The kids had no idea. We have two beautiful children, I had no idea, we had been on a camping trip the weekend before it happened,” Birsch said. “He seemed pretty normal.”

The medical examiner's report outlines details still too raw for Sherry to talk about. Tom left a suicide note in his shirt pocket. In it, he asked for forgiveness and wrote that he could not get it together to provide for them. He wrote to his children that they were wonderful and to his wife he wrote I love you. He told the family in the letter not to blame yourself for this.

Alan Greenspan, you destroyed another family, you sick bastard.

This case comes to light only because the courageous Sherry Brisch came forward to accuse Greenspan. Untold hundreds or thousands of Greenspan victims go unnamed because the details of their deaths are not made public. As the Milwaukee TV stationo reported,

WISN 12 News reviewed the medical examiner’s records for every suicide this year in Milwaukee County.

There have been 108. That's nearly 20 percent more than the number in each of the last three years.

While most who died had histories of depression or mental illness, at least a quarter of those who took their lives this year were struggling financially.

There were 32,000 suicides in 2005. If we extrapolate Milwaukee's 20% increase (certainly a conservative extrapolation as Milwaukee was not a big Greenspan bubble region), that's an additional 6400 suicides a year due to Greenspan's Body Count. That would make Alan Greenspan the greatest mass murderer of the 21st century.

Greenspan's (named) Body Count now stands at sixty-six:

Tom Brisch
Alex Widmer
Brian Pugh
Marilyn Lewis
Sid Agrawal
Kirk Stephenson
Barry Fox
Dallas Dwayne Carter
David Hetzel
Sharron Hetzel
Cliff Kendall
Pamela Ross
Roland Gore
Mrs. Gore
Wanda Dunn
Karthik Rajaram
Subasri Rajaram
Krishna Rajaram
Ganesha Rajaram
Arjuna Rajaram
Indra Ramasesham
Joe X
Isabelle Jarka
Robert Wagner
Lt. Michael Howe
John Roberts
Palmer C. White
Dianne Pittman White
Ed Boesen
Edwin F. Rachleff
Carlene Balderrama
Troy VanderStelt
Scott M. Coles
Dawn E. Armstrong
Thomas Lizotte
Jonathon Calvin "40-Cal" Jacques
Salvador X
Lupe X
Jade X
Little Boy X
Little Girl X
Kashmir Billon
Bill McMurtry
Lisa McMurtry
James Hahn
Raymond Donaca
Deanna Donaca
[redacted]
[redacted]
Michel Veillette
Nadya Ferrari-Veillette
Marguerite Veillette
Vincent Veillette
Mia Veillette
Jacob Veillette
Maurice Pereira
Natasha Pereira
Mark Achilli
Raed Al-Farah
Andrew Kissel
Rufus Shaw Jr.
Lynn Flint Shaw
Mr. Pierce
Walter Buczynksi
Marci Buczynski
Jason Washington

Herman Cain candidacy implodes as he endorses bubble-blower Alan Greenspan as model Fed Chairman

You may have noticed that I haven't had a kind word to say about Herman Cain even as he's risen in the Republican polls. He seemed an empty suit in his first debate appearance, and his thin resume is not a selling point in a country just burned by electing a community organizer.

Well, tonight's endorsement of Father of the Economic Collapse Alan Greenspan should be the final nail in the coffin of Herman Cain's electoral prospects.

Moderator: Which Fed Chairman has been most effective.

Cain: Greenspan [would serve as model] for Federal Reserve chairman. We should not eliminate the Fed, but fix the Fed.

Paul: Greenspan was a disaster. [Applause]. Greenspan kept interest rates too low to long. Paul Volcker was the best chair because he tried to address inflation. Bernanke compounds the problem started by Greenspan.

Cain was previously Chairman of the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, which I'm led to believe is some sort of ceremonial position for business leaders who have absolutely no idea what the f the Fed does. Which is the charitable interpretation: he's an idiot, not a conspirator.

Cain doesn't have the excuse that he was unprepared or shouldn't have known. He worked for the Fed during the Greenspan bubble-blowing years, and he has seen the financial and economic collapse in Greenspan's wake. This man is not qualified to be dogcatcher.

HT: Sarah

Greenspan's Body Count: Gregory and Randolph Graham

Body Count's in the house!

Alan Greenspan made you wait a whole month, but he's still killing.

Today's episode of Greenspan's Body Count is the tale of two brothers who owned an auto dealership. With the bursting of Greenspan's bubble, they hit hard times:

Gregory, 61, went out to the dealership lot in the middle of the night last month, set fire to some of his vehicles and died of a heart attack next to the burning wreckage. Then, over the weekend, Randolph, 51, was found dead, slumped over the wheel of his car in what may have been a suicide.

In this western Pennsylvania town of 1,700, residents say the Grahams were victims of the economy, crushed by tight credit, plunging sales and more than $1 million in state and federal tax liens against the business.

Doesn't really matter if the arson was for insurance fraud or just vandalism to vent his rage. Either way, this is a case of Greenspan's Body Count.

Greenspan's Body Count hits eighty-six.

Greenspan's Body Count now stands at eighty-six:

Gregory Graham
Randolph Graham
David Kelley
Ramona woman
Del Mar man
Wayne "Mike" Anderson
Jeffrey M. Pearson
Ervin Antonio Lupoe
Ana Lupoe
Brittney Lupoe
Jaszmin Lupoe
Jassely Lupoe
Benjamin Lupoe
Christian Lupoe
Steven L. Good
Adolf Merckle
Mike Upham
Randy Motts
Kristy Hunt
Joseph Nesheiwat
Tom Brisch
Alex Widmer
Brian Pugh
Marilyn Lewis
Sid Agrawal
Kirk Stephenson
Barry Fox
Dallas Dwayne Carter
David Hetzel
Sharron Hetzel
Cliff Kendall
Pamela Ross
Roland Gore
Mrs. Gore
Wanda Dunn
Karthik Rajaram
Subasri Rajaram
Krishna Rajaram
Ganesha Rajaram
Arjuna Rajaram
Indra Ramasesham
Joe X
Isabelle Jarka
Robert Wagner
Lt. Michael Howe
John Roberts
Palmer C. White
Dianne Pittman White
Ed Boesen
Edwin F. Rachleff
Carlene Balderrama
Troy VanderStelt
Scott M. Coles
Dawn E. Armstrong
Thomas Lizotte
Jonathon Calvin "40-Cal" Jacques
Salvador X
Lupe X
Jade X
Little Boy X
Little Girl X
Kashmir Billon
Bill McMurtry
Lisa McMurtry
James Hahn
Raymond Donaca
Deanna Donaca
[redacted]
[redacted]
Michel Veillette
Nadya Ferrari-Veillette
Marguerite Veillette
Vincent Veillette
Mia Veillette
Jacob Veillette
Maurice Pereira
Natasha Pereira
Mark Achilli
Raed Al-Farah
Andrew Kissel
Rufus Shaw Jr.
Lynn Flint Shaw
Mr. Pierce
Walter Buczynksi
Marci Buczynski
Jason Washington

Greenspan's Body Count: Attorney Thomas J. Fuchs, sons Sean and Kyle Fuchs

Alan Greenspan has been on a rampage in San Diego recently.

Today's killing happened in the suburb of Bonita near Chula Vista.

Police believe that a man shot and killed his two teenage sons and then set their Chula Vista home on fire Tuesday morning before turning a gun on himself.

Suicide notes at the home indicated that the father planned the deaths, the region’s fourth murder suicide since January and the third invovling children since last month, Chula Vista police Lt. Lon Turner said.

[...]

Neighbor Pat Valdivia described the man and his sons who lived at the home as the “perfect dad and sons.” He said the boys were always outside playing basketball and football and that they frequently had friends over.

Other neighbors had similar comments about the family. What could drive a loving and devoted family man to such horrors? Regular readers of Greenspan's Body Count already know the answer: debt and Greenspan's economic collapse.

The house at 3641 Bonita Verde Drive is listed as the residence and business address of Thomas J. Fuchs, a lawyer-turned-business-coach. The house, which Fuchs bought in 1994 for $275,000, and which had risen to nearly $1 million in Greenspan's bubble, is now worth about $450,000. There are indications that Fuchs was behind on payments, and he likely sucked out enough equity to hang himself. But even if he hadn't gotten in trouble with the Home ATM, it looks like Fuchs got suckered in by the higher education bubble. He claims a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from little-known Alliant University, which requires 150 units at $1010 per unit! $150,000 of student loans for a no-name degree so you can become a business coach?

May the boys rest in peace, and may Alan Greenspan ponder every day the economic and personal devastation he caused America.

Greenspan's Body Count stands at 176.

Greenspan's Body Count

In today's episode of Greenspan's Body Count, wealthy real estate fraudster Andrew Kissel was found bound and stabbed to death in his home, shortly before he was to plead guilty to fraud. Police suspect suicide-for-hire in order to let his children cash in on a $15 million life insurance policy:

A chauffeur to a multi-millionaire has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder in a case where police believe he may have been hired by his employer to kill him.

Driver Carlos Trujillo, 47, was arrested last week along with his cousin and charged over the death of Andrew Kissel, a wealthy property developer found tied up and stabbed to death in his mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut, in April 2006.

At the time of his death, Kissel was had been charged with real estate fraud and grand larceny for allegedly stealing nearly $4 million from a Manhattan apartment company.

Among the murder theories investigated, Greenwich Police chief David Ridberg said, was that Kissel’s death was a “suicide-for-hire”, in which the 46-year-old arranged for his own death so that relatives could benefit from his life insurance.

It looks like another kill for Alan Greenspan: another overleveraged speculator in Greenspan's property bubble for whom death was the easiest way out. Congratulations, Alan Greenspan.

Greenspan's known body count now stands at seven:

Andrew Kissel
Rufus Shaw Jr.
Lynn Flint Shaw
Mr. Pierce
Walter Buczynksi
Marci Buczynski
Jason Washington

We are probably drastically understating the body count as many suicides do not hit the mainstream press -- and what media reports there are may not mention the mortgage troubles that were at the root of the suicides. If you are aware of other Greenspan kills, please let us know so that we can add them to the Body Count.

Greenspan's Body Count: Premeditated Murder

Today's episode of Greenspan's Body Count does not contain the story of another victim. Instead, it relates to the motive and mindset of the man behind the killing spree.

In this weekend's Barron's, reporters find a rare copy of Alan Greenspan's Ph.D. thesis. The thesis discusses housing bubbles and their effect on consumer spending.

Greenspan's Body Count now appears not the result of negligence or incompetence on the part of the Maestro, but of malice. Years before he created the bubble with unprecedented easy credit, and years before he urged borrowers to buy overpriced homes with adjustable-rate mortgages, Greenspan knew what the outcome would be:

...the work's introduction includes a discussion of soaring housing prices and their effect on consumer spending; it even anticipates a bursting housing bubble. Writes Greenspan: "There is no perpetual motion machine which generates an ever-rising path for the prices of homes."

Greenspan's Body Count remains at seventeen:

Michel Veillette
Nadya Ferrari-Veillette
Marguerite Veillette
Vincent Veillette
Mia Veillette
Jacob Veillette
Maurice Pereira
Natasha Pereira
Mark Achilli
Raed Al-Farah
Andrew Kissel
Rufus Shaw Jr.
Lynn Flint Shaw
Mr. Pierce
Walter Buczynksi
Marci Buczynski
Jason Washington

Greenspan's Body Count: Manuel Lopez, Christina Garcia, Christian Garcia

Greenspan's Body Count is usually the story of someone driven to murder and/or suicide by despair resulting from the effects of Greenspan's easy money policies.

Today's story is a little different. This family of three died by fire, living in squalor in an abandoned foreclosure in the wreckage of Greenspan's bubble.

Among [subprime lender Accredited Home Lenders' loans] was a balloon mortgage for $384,000 in November 2005 to one Domingo Cedano, who used the money to buy a three-family building at 2321 Prospect Avenue in the Bronx. The mortgage carried an interest rate of 7 3/8 and monthly payments of $2,491. Mr. Cedano put none of his own money into the purchase.

By this week, Mr. Cedano had long since stopped making payments. The property was in foreclosure. Accredited Home Lenders itself had gone bankrupt.

On Monday morning, when a fire in the building killed three people who lived on the top floor, it was a warren of rooms nested inside rooms. As the stairway roared with flames, illegally built walls blocked access to the fire escape for Manuel Lopez and Christina Garcia and their 12-year-old son, Christian Garcia.

Where Greenspan is going, he'll get to know how Manuel, Christina, and Christian felt in those last terrifying moments.

HT: Naked Capitalism.

Greenspan's Body Count stands at 162.

Greenspan's Body Count: Tuesday Double Feature

The first part of today's double feature of Greenspan's Body Count was caught by the sharp eyes and steel-trap mind of Negocios Loucos: Phoenix area mortgage executive Scott M. Coles appears to have offed himself. He was young and apparently healthy, with a wife and three children.

Scott M. Coles, the Chairman and CEO of Mortgages Ltd., was found dead Monday in his Phoenix home. Coles was 48 years old.

Coles died after an apparent suicide, but the autopsy will determine the full cause of death.

Mortgages Ltd. will hold a conference call on June 10 at 11am to determine where they move forward with the company after Coles' death.

What a tragedy. And all because Alan Greenspan thought he could prevent business cycles with no consequences. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Coles family, and may God have mercy on Greenspan's soul.

The second part of today's double feature is a murder-suicide from the not-so-great state of Massachusetts:

The bodies of Dawn E. Armstrong, 37, and Thomas Lizotte, 42, were found yesterday morning by police after one of Ms. Armstrong’s co-workers at McIntyre Loam in Hopkinton called them to request a well-being check when Ms. Armstrong did not report for work Saturday and again yesterday morning. [...]

"While the investigation is in the preliminary stages, this appears to be the result of a murder-suicide with Thomas Lizotte acting as the aggressor," Mr. Early said, adding that the community should not worry about an unknown attacker. [...]

"She told me she was working three jobs just to pay the mortgage," [neighbor Dave] Mackin said, while sitting in his yard last night with his family.

It's well-documented that financial problems are some of the biggest stresses in relationships. And trying to keep up with a Greenspan-bubble-sized mortgage on a sinking house is about the worst financial problem most folks will ever have. Sure, it's possible that the argument was over infidelity or excessive flatulence, but it's a pretty safe bet that the financial stresses were what pushed it to the point of stabbing.

Greenspan's Body Count now stands at thirty-four:

Scott M. Coles
Dawn E. Armstrong
Thomas Lizotte
Jonathon Calvin "40-Cal" Jacques
Salvador X
Lupe X
Jade X
Little Boy X
Little Girl X
Kashmir Billon
Bill McMurtry
Lisa McMurtry
James Hahn
Raymond Donaca
Deanna Donaca
[redacted]
[redacted]
Michel Veillette
Nadya Ferrari-Veillette
Marguerite Veillette
Vincent Veillette
Mia Veillette
Jacob Veillette
Maurice Pereira
Natasha Pereira
Mark Achilli
Raed Al-Farah
Andrew Kissel
Rufus Shaw Jr.
Lynn Flint Shaw
Mr. Pierce
Walter Buczynksi
Marci Buczynski
Jason Washington

Jim Grant on Alan Greenspan, father of the financial disaster

HT: BusinessInsider via Barry Ritholz, who points out the highlights:

* 0:15 Greenspan needs to be liked, “He’s just a guy in a business suit”
* 1:03 Greenspan might say he is against central planning, but he actually loves it via setting interest rates
* 3:00 Greenspan seen as a savior via his rate, encouraged risk
* 3:50 Greenspan came in as Ayn Rand’s acolyte, left as a panderer to power
* 6:25 The way Greenspan thinks is as a theoretical economist, and he disdains those financial thinkers who believe they were right

Greenspan's Body Count

Recently in San Diego we had very scary situation with a serial rapist on the loose. It turns out it was a struggling homeowner who had followed Greenspan's advice and taken an adjustable-rate mortgage:

No one close to Washington seemed to think he would snap, but they knew he was struggling.

Washington was selling his Sandalwood Drive home because his mortgage had an adjustable rate that was ballooning, and the home was no longer worth what he owed.

It's terrible that he committed a rape and an attempted rape (and possibly more as yet unknown assaults) before offing himself. That's indicative of the utter devastation that Greenspan's policies inflicted on borrowers' lives and psyches.

Greenspan's known body count to date is four:

Mr. Pierce
Walter Buczynksi
Marci Buczynski
Jason Washington

Greenspan's Body Count will be a recurring feature of this blog. I am certain there have been other mortgage-related suicides that have not come to my attention. If you know of others, please let me know so that we can properly memorialize all of the victims of Alan Greenspan.

The strange case of the Ucar family

Earlier this week, we mentioned that we'd be following the apparent mass suicide, or murder-suicide, of the Ucar family in San Clemente, for possible inclusion in Greenspan's Body Count.

Why did we suspect Greenspan in the killings? There simply aren't that many things that are likely to cause a nice, upper-middle class family to do something like this. At the top of the short list: irreparable financial devastation from the bursting of Greenspan's bubble.

Lo and behold, today's news brings evidence that tends to confirm our suspicions. Margrit Ucar was a real estate speculator:

Steve Jackson, who worked with the family on two business transactions involving land in the Sea Pointe Estates, said both Manas and his wife were always hospitable and welcoming. "I recall that Margrit was my contact point for the real estate transactions," said Jackson, who noted that the family had planned well for the future, especially when it came to planning for the girls’ education. "Manas would kindly invite me into the home, ask if I needed anything like water and offer me a seat at the dining room table where I would wait for Margrit. [He] would then excuse himself and go back to his office while I completed any paperwork, or real estate discussions with Margrit."

I'm beginning to get the picture: a tight-knit, insular familar. Dad had part-time gigs as an expert witness, but the family's real money was in extracting equity from the $1.7 million home, and Mom's occasional flipping of houses and land. It paid for the twins' college education. It all worked so well, as long as Greenspan's bubble kept inflating and Margrit could keep extracting more free money from real estate. But then things changed. With the real estate market in shambles, the Ucars debts far exceeded the value of their properties. The introverted family couldn't deal with the shame of eviction and sending Grannie off to a state home. Suicide seemed the most honorable way out. The twins probably went willingly, being shy girls with far closer ties to their parents than to any peers.

This is still all speculation at this point. We're not crediting Alan Greenspan with these kills yet. But stay tuned. The evidence is mounting, and it's beginning to smell like Greenspan's Body Count.

Greenspan's Body Count

Sometimes we're a little flippant about Greenspan's victims. Many of them don't inspire much sympathy. But we should remember that Greenspan has set in place a chain of events that causes truly horrible things to befall truly innocent victims, too.

In today's episode of Greenspan's Body Count, we learn about the Veillette family, where father Michel Veillette killed himself in jail while facing the death penalty in the murder of his wife and four children:

The investigation records do not identify a possible motive for the killings but shed light on financial troubles that investigators said the family faced. [...]

Veillette also told police that his wife had recently spent $10,000 to take their daughter Marguerite to California for modeling and that she had purchased a new car he said they couldn't afford.

Blowing $10,000 you don't have on modeling lessons for your kid... not exactly something people did under Volcker's Fed, is it?

They had not made their mortgage payments for two months, according to the records.

Doesn't sound like a 30-year fixed at 3x debt-to-income, huh?

Veillette said that if he ever were released from jail, he would have to declare bankruptcy.

"I got nothing. I had everything a year ago, went down so, so quick," Veillette said, according to one report.

May God have mercy on Greenspan's soul.

Greenspan's Body Count now stands at seventeen:

Michel Veillette
Nadya Ferrari-Veillette
Marguerite Veillette
Vincent Veillette
Mia Veillette
Jacob Veillette
Maurice Pereira
Natasha Pereira
Mark Achilli
Raed Al-Farah
Andrew Kissel
Rufus Shaw Jr.
Lynn Flint Shaw
Mr. Pierce
Walter Buczynksi
Marci Buczynski
Jason Washington

Greenspan's Body Count

Today's episode of Greenspan's Body Count begins in the Oregon town of West Linn:

More details are emerging in a relationship that ended with the husband killing his wife and then himself in a police department parking lot, officers said. [...]

Although neighbor Dusty Calliham said there was no indication Bill McMurtrey would turn violent, she said he was behind on his mortgage, was having trouble getting construction work and had recently begun drinking again.

Trouble paying the mortgage? No construction work? Common symptoms of the aftermath of Greenspan's housing bubble.

Alan Greenspan, these kills are yours.

And then in the Bay Area city of San Ramon, a realtor / mortgage broker fell on hard times and ended up allegedly having his business partner killed:

Reginald James Robinson had fallen on some hard times in recent years.

The 31-year-old El Sobrante man defaulted on his home three weeks ago, records show. Creditors had filed a pair of civil suits against him looking to collect money, and his real estate license had been revoked after he tried to open a phony bank account, which was connected to a messy divorce, according to state records.

Despite those stresses, an associate expressed shock that Robinson would be in jail on suspicion of arranging to have his business partner, Kashmir Billon, shot dead in the middle of an empty business park.

Robinson was arrested Monday on suspicion of soliciting the murder of the 42-year-old Billon.

I'd like to think Billon would be alive today if Robinson had gotten an honest, steady job instead of trying to get rich as a realtor in Greenspan's bubble.

Greenspan's Body Count now stands at twenty-five:

Kashmir Billon
Bill McMurtry
Lisa McMurtry
James Hahn
Raymond Donaca
Deanna Donaca
[redacted]
[redacted]
Michel Veillette
Nadya Ferrari-Veillette
Marguerite Veillette
Vincent Veillette
Mia Veillette
Jacob Veillette
Maurice Pereira
Natasha Pereira
Mark Achilli
Raed Al-Farah
Andrew Kissel
Rufus Shaw Jr.
Lynn Flint Shaw
Mr. Pierce
Walter Buczynksi
Marci Buczynski
Jason Washington

The pot calling the kettle whore-y

Alan Greenspan, father of the greatest asset bubble in the history of the world and promoter of the toxic adjustable-rate mortgages that are destroying families and the American consumer, has the gall to criticize Republicans for fiscal recklessness:

In a withering critique of his fellow Republicans, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan says in his memoir that the party to which he has belonged all his life deserved to lose power last year for forsaking its small-government principles.

In "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World," published by Penguin Press, Mr. Greenspan criticizes both congressional Republicans and President George W. Bush for abandoning fiscal discipline.

The book is scheduled for public release Monday. The Wall Street Journal bought a copy at a bookstore in the New York area.

Mr. Greenspan, who calls himself a "lifelong libertarian Republican," writes that he advised the White House to veto some bills to curb "out-of-control" spending while the Republicans controlled Congress. He says President Bush's failure to do so "was a major mistake." Republicans in Congress, he writes, "swapped principle for power. They ended up with neither. They deserved to lose."

Yes, the Republicans were stupid and destructively reckless. But Greenspan, supposedly a brilliant man, was still destructively reckless. And the fallout from Greenspan's easy-credit policies will likely be far more severe than the damage caused by Republican spending.

Greenspan's Body Count: Otis Beckford, victim of Orlando shooter Jason S. Rodriguez

It's been overshadowed by the Islamic terrorist attack on Fort Hood, but there was another shooting spree today, this one in Orlando.

And surprise, surprise -- it's another guy who was pushed over the edge by Greenspan's debt bubble:

The suspect in Friday's shooting of six people in a downtown high-rise is a 40-year-old "man with economic woes that include a recent bankruptcy filing, federal records show.

In his filing last May for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, under which he sought to have his assets liquidated and his debts discharged, Jason S. Rodriguez listed his assets at $4,675 and his liabilities at $89,873.31.

His 2002 Nissan XTerra with 110,000 miles represented $4,000 of those assets. His personal property filing described the vehicle as having body damage on the right side, an air conditioner that did not work and a transmission that was slipping.

He said his monthly income as a "sandwich artist" at a Subway Restaurant in Orlando, where he had worked for nine months, was $890.67, and he listed his monthly expenses at $815.

Excuse me? What kind of sick society extends enough credit for a "sandwich artist" to find himself in $90,000 of debt?

And, kiddies, didn't I tell you not to take on massive debt for a useless college education? Jason didn't get the memo:

The largest debts were for student loans -- $8,500 to Wachovia, $28,912 to Sallie Mae.

How did that education help your sandwich artistry, Jason? Spread the mayo with a little more flourish?

Thanks to Jr. Deputy Accountant for finding Alan Greenspan's DNA spewed enthusiastically all over the crime scene.

Greenspan victim Otis Beckford was apparently a nice young man just starting a family. Yet despite the tragedy, Ben Bernanke vows to carry on Alan Greenspan's bubble-blowing ways.

Greenspan's Body Count stands at 113.

Otis Beckford
Carol Kennedy
Diane Ward
Edith Moreno
Diana Moreno
Scott Peters
Tom Blackmore
Kevin Daniel O'Connell
Julie Fay
Wallis Fay
Siu Fong Ng
Ernest Scherer Jr.
Charlene Abendroth
J.D. Wood
Cynthia Wood
Aubrey Wood
Dillon Wood
Betty J. Lipply
Dwight Deely
Linda Patrick
David Kellerman
Christopher Wood
Francie Billotti-Wood
Chandler Wood
Gavin Wood
Fiona Wood
Gil Weber
Gregory Graham
Randolph Graham
David Kelley
Ramona woman
Del Mar man
Wayne "Mike" Anderson
Jeffrey M. Pearson
Ervin Antonio Lupoe
Ana Lupoe
Brittney Lupoe
Jaszmin Lupoe
Jassely Lupoe
Benjamin Lupoe
Christian Lupoe
Steven L. Good
Adolf Merckle
Mike Upham
Randy Motts
Kristy Hunt
Joseph Nesheiwat
Tom Brisch
Alex Widmer
Brian Pugh
Marilyn Lewis
Sid Agrawal
Kirk Stephenson
Barry Fox
Dallas Dwayne Carter
David Hetzel
Sharron Hetzel
Cliff Kendall
Pamela Ross
Roland Gore
Mrs. Gore
Wanda Dunn
Karthik Rajaram
Subasri Rajaram
Krishna Rajaram
Ganesha Rajaram
Arjuna Rajaram
Indra Ramasesham
Joe X
Isabelle Jarka
Robert Wagner
Lt. Michael Howe
John Roberts
Palmer C. White
Dianne Pittman White
Ed Boesen
Edwin F. Rachleff
Carlene Balderrama
Troy VanderStelt
Scott M. Coles
Dawn E. Armstrong
Thomas Lizotte
Jonathon Calvin "40-Cal" Jacques
Salvador X
Lupe X
Jade X
Little Boy X
Little Girl X
Kashmir Billon
Bill McMurtry
Lisa McMurtry
James Hahn
Raymond Donaca
Deanna Donaca
[redacted]
[redacted]
Michel Veillette
Nadya Ferrari-Veillette
Marguerite Veillette
Vincent Veillette
Mia Veillette
Jacob Veillette
Maurice Pereira
Natasha Pereira
Mark Achilli
Raed Al-Farah
Andrew Kissel
Rufus Shaw Jr.
Lynn Flint Shaw
Mr. Pierce
Walter Buczynksi
Marci Buczynski
Jason Washington

Greenspan's Body Count: Revenge of the Geezer

I know it's been almost three weeks since we had a Body Count update. Never fear: Greenspan is still killing. In today's episode of Greenspan's Body Count, an old man who bought at the peak of Greenspan's bubble regretted his purchase so much that he killed his realtor:

"We believe this was a planned-out execution-style murder of the real estate agent," the prosecutor said.

Tague told WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids that [dissatisfied home buyer Robert Arnold] Johnson believed that [Troy] VanderStelt took advantage of him in a real estate deal. Johnson bought a house through him in 2005, then recently decided to sell it and went to a different real estate agent. The second agent told Johnson that, because of the slumping housing market, the home was not worth what he had paid for it.

This one is a real tragedy, as Troy VanderStelt was a young husband and father and beloved community member. Alan Greenspan, you are a cruel, vicious, sick bastard.

Greenspan's Body Count now stands at thirty-five:

Troy VanderStelt
Scott M. Coles
Dawn E. Armstrong
Thomas Lizotte
Jonathon Calvin "40-Cal" Jacques
Salvador X
Lupe X
Jade X
Little Boy X
Little Girl X
Kashmir Billon
Bill McMurtry
Lisa McMurtry
James Hahn
Raymond Donaca
Deanna Donaca
[redacted]
[redacted]
Michel Veillette
Nadya Ferrari-Veillette
Marguerite Veillette
Vincent Veillette
Mia Veillette
Jacob Veillette
Maurice Pereira
Natasha Pereira
Mark Achilli
Raed Al-Farah
Andrew Kissel
Rufus Shaw Jr.
Lynn Flint Shaw
Mr. Pierce
Walter Buczynksi
Marci Buczynski
Jason Washington

Greenspan's Body Count: Tuan Dao and children

It's all the same
Only the names have changed
Everyday, it seems Greenspan's killin' away
Another place where the bodies are so cold
Another family that will never grow old

Loyal readers of Greenspan's Body Count already know the story. Only the details differ. A man gets in over his head in debt lured by Greenspan's easy money. The ensuing financial ruin leads to despair and murder. Today's tale comes from the Portland suburb of Vancouver, Washington.

Investigators said Wednesday they believe a Washington father who was sliding into financial ruin deliberately set a fire that blew up his home, killing himself and five of his children.

"The fire was intentionally set," said police spokeswoman Kim Kapp.

Tuan Dao is the only suspect identified.

The Columbian newspaper reported that Tuan Dao's mother answered the door briefly on Wednesday and broke down in tears.

"That was my son, you know?" she told the newspaper before closing the door.

The Columbian reported Dao's wife, Lori, and a 13-year-old daughter were away at the time of the fire.

Police said they believe based on evidence that those killed in Sunday's fire were 37-year-old Tuan Dao, 12-year-old Nolan, 9-year-olds Noah and Jacob, 8-year-old Samantha and 6-year-old Nathan. The names may be officially confirmed in a few days by the Clark County medical examiner's office, which is using dental records, Kapp said.

Tuan and Lori M. Dao filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on Sept. 21, 2010. The couple's bankruptcy filing depicts a family once on firm financial footing that began to crumble.

Together they earned $86,000 annually. He was an assistant manager at a FedEx store in Portland, a position he held for 14 years. Lori Dao had spent more than two years as a banker at a U.S. Bank branch in Vancouver.

They cited $158,000 in credit card debt and other debts. The paperwork also disclosed $2,000 in gambling losses. The couple also owed $262,000 on the house that burned, while the property was valued at $179,000.

Their checking accounts were nearly tapped — $50 in one checking account and $700 in another. They estimated an $8,000 refund on their 2010 taxes.

Their largest asset was a $51,165 retirement account.

They took out a second mortgage on the home that burned, but the bank that issued it, San Antonio-based USAA Federal Savings Bank, declined to say when.

Alan Greenspan, you sick bastard. Greenspan's Body Count stands at 159.

Greenspan's Body Count: Jing Hua Wu's workplace killing spree

The ink still isn't dry on the last episode of Greenspan's Body Count, and today brings yet three more deaths. The San Francisco Chronic relates the tale:

Jing Hua Wu, the engineer who police say fatally shot three executives at a Santa Clara startup company last week just hours after being fired, spent the last few years amassing a large portfolio of investment properties.

According to public records from eight counties in three states, Wu and his wife own at least 19 homes and vacant lots worth more than $2.4 million. One house in Arkansas, which is now being offered for rent by Wu, is in Hot Springs Village, the largest gated community in the nation. It has a screened porch with a golf course view.

But Wu, after his arrest in the Friday slayings of SiPort's chief executive, its human resources manager and its vice president of operations, told the Santa Clara County public defender's office that he could not afford a private attorney, officials said.

While refusing to discuss details, authorities said they are looking into whether Wu's financial situation had been affected by his foray into real estate before the nation's foreclosure crisis. A review of public records does not make clear how much equity the father of three from Mountain View has in the homes or how much debt he is carrying.

Authorities are "looking into" it. But Greenspan's Body Count readers already know the answer.

A tip to human resources people: before you fire somebody, make inquiries to find out if he got caught up in Greenspan's bubble. If so, have some extra security on hand. It may even be safer and less costly just to keep him on the payroll until he offs himself.

The three dead SiPort employees were identified as Brian Pugh, Marilyn Lewis, and Sid Agrawal.

Greenspan's Body Count now stands at sixty-four:

Brian Pugh
Marilyn Lewis
Sid Agrawal
Kirk Stephenson
Barry Fox
Dallas Dwayne Carter
David Hetzel
Sharron Hetzel
Cliff Kendall
Pamela Ross
Roland Gore
Mrs. Gore
Wanda Dunn
Karthik Rajaram
Subasri Rajaram
Krishna Rajaram
Ganesha Rajaram
Arjuna Rajaram
Indra Ramasesham
Joe X
Isabelle Jarka
Robert Wagner
Lt. Michael Howe
John Roberts
Palmer C. White
Dianne Pittman White
Ed Boesen
Edwin F. Rachleff
Carlene Balderrama
Troy VanderStelt
Scott M. Coles
Dawn E. Armstrong
Thomas Lizotte
Jonathon Calvin "40-Cal" Jacques
Salvador X
Lupe X
Jade X
Little Boy X
Little Girl X
Kashmir Billon
Bill McMurtry
Lisa McMurtry
James Hahn
Raymond Donaca
Deanna Donaca
[redacted]
[redacted]
Michel Veillette
Nadya Ferrari-Veillette
Marguerite Veillette
Vincent Veillette
Mia Veillette
Jacob Veillette
Maurice Pereira
Natasha Pereira
Mark Achilli
Raed Al-Farah
Andrew Kissel
Rufus Shaw Jr.
Lynn Flint Shaw
Mr. Pierce
Walter Buczynksi
Marci Buczynski
Jason Washington