#mortgages

The New York law firm Steven J. Baum P.C., which specialized in mortgage foreclosures, announced that it would close today, less than a month after the New York Times published photos of its employees dressed as homeless people for Halloween, in a twist too absurd for 30 Rock. "Disrupting the livelihoods of so many dedicated and hardworking people is extremely painful, but the loss of so much business left us no choice but to file these notices," said Baum in a statement. Last week, following Times columnist Joe Nocera's publication of the offensive pictures from the company's Halloween party last year, Nocera received an angry e-mail from Baum: "Mr. Nocera — You have destroyed everything and everyone related to Steven J. Baum PC. It took 40 years to build this firm and three weeks to tear down." Our sympathy receptors must be broken today.

"In 1999, former Senator Phil Gramm (who is, incidentally, Senator John McCain's economic adviser and cochairs his presidential campaign) set out to completely gut the Glass-Steagall Act, and did so successfully,"

"When you rent, most people mistakenly assume the decision is made out of necessity, not rationality. But there is a very good reason to rent in today's bubble-stricken market: median incomes do not support median home prices."