Sunday Funnies 2010-02-07: Lighter Side of the News

Washington Post:

Mortgage bankers group sells D.C. offices to Bethesda company

The Mortgage Bankers Association, its membership expert in real estate, sold its $90 million headquarters in downtown Washington on Friday for $41 million.

The industry lobbying group has struggled financially in recent years, as the market collapsed and lending dried up, with members dropping out as they lost their jobs. Its membership fell to 2,500 from 3,000, officials said in 2008

"It's a little bit of irony that in the middle of the mortgage crisis brought on by the bad lending practices of many members of the Mortgage Bankers Association that they got caught up in the same problem," said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a liberal research group.

Grand Rapids News:

Saugatuck Township asks voters to approve new tax to fight lawsuits seeking lower property taxes.

Township Board Trustee Jim Hanson said lawsuits by developers and people who try to get property taxes reduced are draining the township's budget.

Amazingly the city of Saugatuck, Michigan is asking voters to approve a tax hike to fight those seeking tax reductions.

Telegraph:

Labour invents 33 new crimes every month

Thanks to Labour, it is now illegal to swim in the wreck of the Titanic or to sell game birds killed on a Sunday or Christmas Day – eventualities overlooked by previous governments.

Labour has made 4,289 activities illegal since the 1997 election, at a rate of about one a day – twice the speed with which the previous Conservative government created crimes.

Gordon Brown was the worst offender, with his government inventing 33 new crimes a month. Tony Blair's administration made 27 new offences each month.

Some of the more inventive crimes dreamt up by Labour include "disturbing a pack of eggs when directed not to by an authorised officer" and reporting the door of a merchant ship to be closed and locked when it isn't.

Liberal Democrat home office spokesman Chris Huhne, who brought the figures to light, will criticise the government's administrative binge in a speech tonight.He will say Labour has spent 12 years "suffering from the most acute and prolonged bout of legislative diarrhoea".

A Look At Prius



The above by explicit permission.
I will try and have a new one every Sunday.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List