NYTimes economic reporter's big credit crisis

[Gumby]

Hard to have any sympathy for these two.

 

[friar1610]

Sounds like it might be fun to experience this!

I heard this guy interviewed on NPR yesterday afternoon as I was Happy Hour bound. IMO, a jerk all the way. I like upper middle class people who have some class. This Dude is a whiner and a weenie. The interviewer (can't remember his name, a guy with an annoying patronizing voice) seemed to buy his line all the way. He was in love..... I've been in love. Other than leading me to get married I don't remember that is made me stupid.

Hello, if they are in love all they need is a baby sitter and a strong bedstead and some eats in the fridge. Oh yeah, and some chicharrones and Pace Picante sauce in case the UncleM stops by.

I heard the same interview - although it was today; we're a little behind in VT. I was on my may to a doctor appointment. Fortunately, it was my opthamologist, so I didn't have to get my blood pressure measured. It would have been higher than normal.

I read about half the NYT article in bed last night before I fell asleep and was really turned off. Then the joker turned up on "Today" this morning.

I lived in Silver Spring, MD for a number of years in a house that looks a bit like his. But a couple of differences between us:
- I could afford my mortgage when I bought the house.
- When I got transferred out of the area, I rented it for 5 years and returned to it. I felt I "deserved" a bigger/better house by then, but stayed in the same house because I knew it was time to save for kids' college costs and by then the mortgage was relatively cheap (due to passage of time and increasing income.)

 

[Zoocat]

I heard him on NPR, he was insufferable. He must have said "the love of my life" 5 times. I bet his kids want to hear that. Total jerk with huge sense of entitlement.

That's interesting. Sounds like a guy who has something to prove to someone (himself?). Anyway I agree with the last sentence above.

 

[A854321]

Saw him briefly on CNBC last night. He was a weasel (no disrespect to our animal bretheren). He really did not seem to have any real insight or guilt about what he did. They mentioned he had also been on the Today show. So he is evidently out promoting his book.

I hope his editors decide they don't want exposure to anyone with such credibility or ethics issues.

He seems like a douchebag ( am I allowed to say that on this forum?(

 

[haha]

He seems like a douchebag ( am I allowed to say that on this forum?(

Absolutely not. One of our moderators will be stopping by to wash your mouth out with soap.

Ha

 

[Sarah in SC]

Not if the moderator agrees with you, LOL!

What an @$$hat--I heard about half of that NPR story on my story of the day podcast and actually could not make myself finish listening to it. When he said it wasnt' his fault that they gave him a loan, I about hurled.

To join the chorus...cry me a river. Sickening and arrogant. If he was some schmo in a trailer park somewhere who got hoodwinked by a fast talking broker, then I could see it, but this guy? Ugh!

 

[citrine]

He is a major idiot and I have to wonder about the credibility of the NYT to hire such a moron and let him write on financial matters!

 

[friar1610]

He is a major idiot and I have to wonder about the credibility of the NYT to hire such a moron and let him write on financial matters!

The same thought crossed my mind. We buy the NYT every Sunday and I generally enjoy the biz section (although I can't recall ever having read anything by this guy.) But if he represents the quality of their business/economics staff, I'm not impressed.

 

[Bimmerbill]

How long did he live high on the hog?
Do you think he felt stressed while living high on the hog?
Will he get off repaying little?

Just wondering... I may give that lifestyle a try.

 

[Lusitan]

He is a major idiot and I have to wonder about the credibility of the NYT to hire such a moron and let him write on financial matters!

New York Times? Credibility?

 

[unclemick]

I don't actually use Pace Picante Sauce - you can get Tiger Sauce in Kansas City.

New Orleans - and here I thought it was Baton Rouge.

Man ya gotta read the fine print on everything nowadays.

.

heh heh heh -

 

[freebird5825]

I don't actually use Pace Picante Sauce - you can get Tiger Sauce in Kansas City.

New Orleans - and here I thought it was Baton Rouge.

Man ya gotta read the fine print on everything nowadays.

.

heh heh heh -

Aha - it took me some digging online, but the secret is out.
The real source of Pace Picante Sauce is CSC, aka the Campbell Soup Company, 1 Campbell Place Camden, NJ
NEW JERSEY!!!!!
My sense of reality has been shattered.

 

[audreyh1]

Aha - it took me some digging online, but the secret is out.
The real source of Pace Picante Sauce is CSC, aka the Campbell Soup Company, 1 Campbell Place Camden, NJ
NEW JERSEY!!!!!
My sense of reality has been shattered.

Yeah. Pace used to be a Texas company. Then it was bought by a company from New Jersey - LOL!

Audrey

 

[REWahoo]

Get a rope...

Which is exactly what the Pace family and employees wanted to do to the guy who sold it back in 1994 for a tidy sum of $1.1B. This might give you a hint as to why:

Pace family members (there are 15 living by our count) didn't get a dime of the proceeds--Goldsbury pocketed all of it.

 

[Texas Proud]

opppsss... never mind...

 

[LOL!]

The Road to Bankruptcy - Megan McArdle

as posted on bogleheads: There is more to Andrews' book/story than was revealed ... until now.

 

[haha]

The Road to Bankruptcy - Megan McArdle

as posted on bogleheads: There is more to Andrews' book/story than was revealed ... until now.

Great find. This guy married a credit cheat, perhaps to gain some knowledge of how to best game the system. Then he reverses the situation: Andrews and wife are victims, not grifters, and writes what may become a really big book. Can anyone still believe what writers write? Nonfiction non technical writing is almost all BS, shaped to whatever POV the writers and his/her editors think will sell. Facts are a very elastic concept.

I like this comment from the linked article:

"Andrews' desire to shield his wife is understandable--hell, laudable.
Except that wasn't all he was doing -- he was protecting the coherence and relevance of his narrative and, therefore, the commercial viability of his book. "Family on the brink of financial disaster due to ridiculously lax mortgage lending" matches the zeitgeist and does have a bit of the 'everyman' quality.
But "family driven to bankruptcy by the chronic irresponsibility of spendthrift second wife" doesn't work the same way. Although it does make you wonder if there are any new regulatory opportunities for our ambitious, paternalistic new masters in Washington.
We're apparently going to have new regulations to protect college students from credit cards -- should we also consider new regulations to protect middle-aged men from ill-advised divorces and remarriages? After all, a middle-aged man can get himself in one hell of a lot more life-destroying trouble with child-support, alimony, and a second family than a college student with a Visa card."

That idea for a law to protect middle aged men from second marriages sounds timely. My Irish grandmother used to say, "There's no fool like an old fool." And she definitely was not talking about old women.

Ha

 

[Red_y]

Now he's been given time on The Newshour, fer cryin' out loud.
For One Reporter, a Personal Journey Through the Mortgage Meltdown | Online NewsHour | May 21, 2009 | PBS

And Paul Solman, erratic as ever, let him off easy. The NYT guy is gleefully, giddily lusting after other people's hard-earned disposable dollars to bail him out of his self-inflicted predicament. Don't give him a cent!

 

[clifp]

After seeing how completely unrepentant he was on the NewsHour and then reading the Atlantic business, I am truly disgusted with this guy. I am sorry they eliminated debtors prison because quite frankly that is where and his wife belong.

Since he wasn't required to document anything, he may not have committed perjury but in my mind he is action is almost criminal. I was so disgusted that I wrote this comment to Paul Solman, on the NewsHour website.

Dear Mr Solman

You are normally one of my favorite reporters, not just on the News Hour, but period. You do a great job in explaining economic issues.

I think you did a great disservice to the public, in giving a scam artist like Ed Andrews and his serial dead beat wife a platform to hawk his book.

A bit of Googling would have revealed that his wife Patty has declared bankruptcy twice in the last decade. A remarkable feat as clearly demonstrated in this Atlantic article The Road to Bankruptcy - Megan McArdle.

There are many real victims in this crisis, auto workers and dealers, people who were wiped out due to illness etc.

Ed and Patty aren't victims. Despite incomes in the top 10-20% of all households, the chose to live beyond their means. Knowing full well if their "gamble" failed that we the taxpayers and responsible members of society would suffer the consequences.

I am sorry they aren't in jail. I see little difference between a guy who robs a Best Buy of a big screen TV and these two who borrow money with no intention of paying it back.

I hope you do a follow up on this story, with the additional information that was uncovered, either on air or on the website.

 

[LOL!]

For better or worse Ed Andrews is one of their own as far as journalists and media types are concerned. This helps him get favorable press on media outlets for awhile. Now that another cat is out of the bag, he will probably learn that even bad press is beneficial to him.

 

[Martha]

He should go on Oprah. She would chew him up and spit him out.

 

[HFWR]

If one must eat picante sauce from a jar, try this:

 

[LOL!]

clifp, Solman's piece was produced before McArdle's piece appeared, so Google would not have helped him. But now Andrews can write a sequel to his book and maybe other journalists can start pointing fingers at each other.

It is all rather amusing to me. Probably a movie will be in the works as well.

 

[clifp]

clifp, Solman's piece was produced before McArdle's piece appeared, so Google would not have helped him. But now Andrews can write a sequel to his book and maybe other journalists can start pointing fingers at each other.

It is all rather amusing to me. Probably a movie will be in the works as well.

To the credit of Paul Solman/Newshour they did have a follow up with Andrews about the bankruptcy and posted it on the website and even flagged the update on tonight's program. Precisely what I asked them to do. So journalism ethics isn't completely dead.

I found Mr. Andrews response to be predictably evasive and misleading.

These bankruptcies did occur, but they had nothing to do with our mortgage woes. They were both tied to old debts from before we were married or bought a house. They had nothing to do with my ability to get a mortgage; nor did they have anything to do with our subsequent financial problems....

The first bankruptcy in 1998, five years before Patty and I got together. It occurred because Patty's former husband, a producer of TV commercials in Los Angeles, didn't file income tax returns for five years. Patty, who was a stay-at-home mom and wasn't earning money, was blindsided. She had been signing returns, but he hadn't actually been filing them.
/

Since back taxes are not discharged during bankruptcy. It is clear there were other debts involved and not being ableto ditch the payment of taxes, forced them to ditch their other debts. Once again showing the Patty and/or ex-husband is living beyond her means.

Patty's second bankruptcy stemmed from a loan she received from her sister, while Patty was still living in Los Angeles. At the time, she was caring for four children, working for very modest pay, and receiving almost no child support from her ex-husband. (Despite multiple court orders, he remains chronically delinquent on untold thousands of dollars.)

This begs the question of what kind of person borrows money from her sister and than pisses her off enough that she follows them across country to sue them,and than rather than paying back the sister declare bankruptcy.

I and I'm sure everybody on this board, and most everybody in America knows that lenders were criminally irresponsible in their lending practices. But this case reinforces my belief that for every financially ignorant person tricked in taking a mortgage they didn't understand, there were numerous people who lack any morals and shameless exploited the system.

Ed Andrews and Patty redifine chutzpah in my mind. These people aren't victim, if anyone has been victimized it is Patty's sister and we the American taxpayer.

My SWAG (Scientific Wild Ass Guess) is that this couple cost most people on this board about $.05 in increased debt/taxes. Now a nickel is no big deal but if there are million people like this couple that is $5,000 per board member which is real money in my book.

We can pass a zillion new laws, hire an army of regulators and overseers, get outraged about every greedy CEO and AIG financial product employee and crucify every mortgage broker.

However, if the American public doesn't look at Ed and Patty and yell for shame, and treat them with contempt they deserve we are doomed to repeat the last few years.

 

[Amethyst]

Mr. Ha, you provocateur. I am very nearly riled. If there'd been such a law 23 years ago, my husband would not have been able to marry his Amethyst, and he swears he would've stayed alone.

And why slap at the woman for being a "second wife"; she's his wife, period. She's a shameless jerk, all right, but not because she came along too late to marry him first.

>>But "family driven to bankruptcy by the chronic irresponsibility of spendthrift second wife" doesn't work the same way.

>>That idea for a law to protect middle aged men from second marriages sounds timely. My Irish grandmother used to say, "There's no fool like an old fool." And she definitely was not talking about old women.

Ha