In St. Thomas Real Estate News, a Virgin Islands realtor has run off with millions of dollars of other people's money. Apparently she cleared out escrow accounts and her office and disappeared in early February.

You can read earlier accounts here:

St Thomas Real Estate: The Shady Side of Realtors

Here are two t.v. shows are worth watching if you are grappling with the financial shakedown, even if you don't have a t.v. The Bill Moyers interview with Simon Johnson does a good job of focusing on the big bankers and how they work with our government.

The Frontline piece is an interesting film about how the events of the last 15 months unfolded, from Bear Stearns to TARP. Amazingly, it doesn't even attempt to figure out what CAUSED this to happen. The Moyers interview provides part of that gap.

We just went for a little walk in Downtown Alameda and I wound up being interviewed by the Channel 2 News. Apparently I will DEFINITELY be on the 6:00 news tonight discussing the budget crush and getting IOU's instead of tax refund checks. I don't have a television so could somebody please watch it and let me know how I do? Better yet... capture and youtube it? And Happy New Year!

update: Hopefully I will show up on the ktvu.com site as a Tom Vacar segment but so far... no dice. Anyone out there catch it? Does anyone watch t.v. news anymore? I sure don't.

We once again interrupt duckies and bunnies to remind you that it's official: you've been swindled in broad daylight!

From Bloomberg:

Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn't require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return.

It's bad, you know.

Today's congressional vote against George Bush's bailout plan for bankers was perhaps the most glorious thing to happen in grass roots politics since the 60's. Especially after the sudden crammage of the Patriot Act and that duct tape-induced madness leading up to the Iraq War, I was expecting dogs and ponies.

But instead, they in fact LISTENED to us!

Well I know the pigmen are persistent, so they'll be back with another plan soon.