2010 March 30 | FrontBurner

Articles for March 30th, 2010

Author: Blame Wall Street, Not D.C., for Meltdown

Like Tim hinted, the ridiculously talented author/journalist Michael Lewis doesn’t blame the financial meltdown on Washington’s rules pushing homeownership, as many conservatives (ahem) have been inclined to do. At a luncheon in Dallas today Lewis (pictured) called that explanation a red herring, saying what D.C. didn’t do about subprime mortgage loans was more to blame.

“The brief for [Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac] was expanded, but there’s a lot of telling numbers that suggest it wasn’t the explanation for the crisis. In fact, [Fannie and Freddie's] percentage of the market went down between 2003 and ‘06,” said Lewis, author of a new book about the meltdown called The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. “Private capital markets were so hungry for raw material, they replicated synthetically the worst” of the subprime loans to make more loans–and more money.

If you’re going to fault Washington, he added, fault it for not looking closely enough at credit default swaps–and for allowing the credit-rating agencies to run amok. “The [financial] machine had a life of its own,” Lewis said, “apart from Washington.”

(more…)

Robert Wilonsky Owns the Erykah Badu Naked Video Story

Earlier today, someone from NPR’s All Things Considered called me, seeking an interview about Erykah Badu’s controversial new video for her song “Window Seat.” I said sure, and we talked for about 10 minutes or so — about the video, about her standing in Dallas, about community reaction to it. Et cetera and so on. He told me he had to go talk to his editor and he would call me back to let me know when it was going to run. He did call back, except it was to tell me that his editor had been seeking comment on his own, he’d found someone else, and they were going with that. No big deal.

There were options as to who that mysterious someone could be: Hunter Hauk of Quick, since he nabbed an exclusive interview with Badu; Pete Freedman, since he’s the music editor of the Dallas Observer and, I believe, was one of the first to post the video; and Robert Wilonsky, also of the Observer, since he’s Robert and always seems to be the guy tabbed for things like this. If you asked me to put money on it, I would have said it would end up being Wilonsky, though they might call Pete first. (I had discounted what would be the most likely source in other major cities, Dallas Morning News music critic Mario Tarradell, since he still uses words like “groove-alicious.”)

And I was right:

Peep NPR’s All Things Considered today for Wilonsky talking Badu’s “Window Seat.” WHICH WAS MY INTERVIEW THAT HE TOTALLY STOLE. Half-joking.

Pay me my imaginary money.

Mayor Tom Leppert “Moving Toward Going Forward” On Second Term

At least that’s what he told Gromer Jeffers, after telling Tim he’d take him to the woodshed on a basketball court. “Moving toward going forward” is the most confirmation he’s given thus far, if you can call that kind of non-answer answer confirmation. Say he actually does run again, should Dallasites vote him back into office? Let’s look at the pros and cons of his first term.

PROS: Does what he says he’s going to do, generally, even if it isn’t the greatest idea in the world (moving forward with the Trinity road, convention center hotel); brought the pinstripe, 1930s gangster suit back into fashion; given us an endless stream of jokes relating to his enormous paws

CONS: Does what he says he’s going to do, generally, even if it isn’t the greatest idea in the world (moving forward with the Trinity road, convention center hotel); brought the pinstripe, 1930s gangster suit back into fashion; isn’t me

What say you?

Mussolini Reincarnation, Continued…It’s HOA Day on Dallas Dirt

Yes, every buyer should have received — and READ — a copy of the homeowner association rules on David Bagwell’s five Colleyville communities and know who the heck was on the architectural control committee crafting the look of their new home. But what really scares me is that under Texas law, HOA’s can foreclose on a home for failure to pay HOA dues… and more.

Notes on the Michael Lewis Luncheon

As mentioned below, I availed myself of a last-minute invite to attend the World Affairs Council of Dallas luncheon with Michael Lewis, author of Liar’s Poker, Moneyball, The Blind Side, and, most recently, The Big Short, which is about the economic collapse. D CEO was a co-sponsor of the event, so I’m sure Glenn will be along in a few minutes with a more complete recap, but I’ll offer this amuse bouche while you wait.

You know who is awesome? Michael Lewis is awesome. Not only is he married to Tabitha Soren. Not only is he a fantastically successful writer. But he’s a gifted talker. He’s got this great New Orleans accent that sounds like cold syrup gurgling out of a bottle. I could listen to him talk all day. And he’s funny to boot. Talmage Boston did the honors as inquisitor. He asked a series of questions that went like: “Can’t we all agree that the responsibility of the financial collapse belongs at the feet of Barney Frank and the Clinton administration?” After about the fourth or fifth such salvo, Lewis paused and said, “I admire the objectivity of your questions.” It drew a huge laugh from the packed Fairmont ballroom. My recounting of it here doesn’t do the man justice. I fell in love.

He got some more laughs in describing how easy it was to get all these Wall Street types to talk to him for the book. Liar’s Poker was about Lewis’ own experience working on Wall Street. In it, he admitted he didn’t really know anything, but he made great money. Contrary to what he thought would happen, the book actually drew more people to Wall Street. As he put it: “People read the book and said, ‘Hey, I know nothing, too. And I’d like to make hundreds of thousands of dollars.” So a lot of these people on Wall Street were there because of Lewis (or they’d at least read the book). When he called them up, they were only too happy to talk to him. And those who hadn’t read the book had seen Blind Side. “Those folks,” Lewis said, “figured this book would get made into a movie, too. And they wanted to be part of that.”

Anyway, great luncheon. I bought The Big Short from Amazon on the walk back to the office.

Sessions Touts Replace and Repeal for Health Care

Rep. Pete Sessions spoke Monday night at a town hall meeting in Richardson, and one of the things he mentioned was an idea that was pretty much immediately brought up the minute health care reform passed – replace and repeal.

The premise sounds simple: Replace Democratic representatives with Republicans, gain back the majority in the House, and repeal what was just done. Then either leave everything the way it was, or push through a GOP-branded reform package.

But will it be that easy? Some polling suggests that while surveys show a majority of Americans do not favor the current reform law, they do not necessarily favor repeal, either. For instance, some of the very liberal left disliked the bill because they felt it didn’t do enough. But that doesn’t mean they’d be in favor of it being repealed, either.

So will replace and repeal work in November? It’ll be interesting to see.

Can Mayor Leppert Play Basketball?

Zac mentioned in Leading Off this morning that his 6-year-old son asked last night, while watching the Mavs drum the Nuggets, “Can the mayor play basketball?” I thought it was a great question and sent it along to the mayor’s chief of staff, who was less than helpful. (He replied: “It must be a slow news day.”)

Well, as luck would have it, I just ran into Mayor Leppert at the World Affairs Council luncheon, whereat Michael Lewis will speak shortly. So I asked the mayor myself.

He said he’s “pretty good.” I asked if he played in high school, college, what? He said no and that his job doesn’t allow him the time to play much at all these days.

I said, “So ‘pretty good’ is the official response?”

He said, “Let’s put it this way: I could take you one on one. I don’t see a problem there.” And he patted me on my hip — not quite a butt pat, but close — in a way that told me I would be stupid to challenge him to a game of one on one.

Guy in Inflatable Suit to Attack Downtown Dallas on Friday

On Friday at noon, at the corner of Akard and Pacific, something strange will happen. A performance artist by the name of Jimmy Kuehnle will don an inflatable suit and mess with people’s minds. According to Kuehnle, “The performances stride a thin line between spectacle and the absurd with the goal of breaking the public out of its repetitive daily cycle of thought patterns.” What’s that look like, exactly? Maybe something like the below video, from his website.

Jimmy Kuehnle: Trailer from Mark & Angela Walley on Vimeo.

Leading Off (3/30/10)

1. Erykah Badu’s Dealey Plaza-set video made it to CNN, and all the local newscasts. Say what you will about the video’s content (I’m in the “no big deal” camp), but you have to admit: from a publicity standpoint, it’s pure genius. Best $100 she’ll ever spend.

2. I see you Big German! Dirk Nowitzki recorded his second career triple double (34 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists) as the Dallas Mavericks strengthened their hold on the No. 2 spot in the Western Conference. The game brought up several interesting questions from my son, none more interesting than: “Can the Mayor play basketball?”

3. “While six-year old Aden dreams having a new heart — one strong enough that he can play baseball and football — machines by his bedside make sure he breathes while he sleeps at night.” You think that story gets happy? Well, it doesn’t, really.

Maybe I should have re-ordered those. Sorry.

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