Few days ago, I received an e-mail message from one of my long time correspondents, a Russian gentleman who was born in Russia but left the country with his parents soon after the sad events of 1917. He never visited Russia and the only opinion he can make is based on what other people say.

The above mentioned letter came with a PDF file attached. This file contained three “opuses” by Madame Kunin, which were published on-line:
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/SpecialReport.aspx?id=512665

I was so emotionally distressed by Madame Kunin’s negativism that decided to answer her “opuses” almost sentence by sentence. I did not address her negative attitude towards current U.S. administration but focused entirely on her dirty bragging about the Soviet Union. If to put it short, Madame Kunin has a very bad breath which is caused not by gingivitis but by one feeling which dominates her soul: HATE.

I am extremely hesitant calling this person “Russian” immigrant. The one who hates everything related to his/her home country does not deserve to be called Russian. There was not a single positive word in this river of dirt that came from the mouth of this person, only criticism for the sake of criticism ‐ and there were many things in this river of dirt that were twisted or deliberately misrepresented, to put it mild. Not to mention that the writing style of Madame Kunin is very poor and I wonder who is the editor responsible for publication of this ridiculously low quality bragging which resembles the time of a witch hunting.

Here are just some examples:
1. Yes, we did sing the song about Lenin ‐ but who would blame the British kids for singing “God save the Queen”? I wouldn’t!
2. Yes, we did learn about the “beauty of socialism”, but it was the American teacher who first told my son that Americans won WWII, and called him after the class to whisper that she knows the truth and it was Russians, but they are told to teach this way.
3. Being a biologist, I cannot comprehend this comparison with the way wolves are “treated” (sic!) in the wilderness.
4. Life in the USSR did not model the “socialist ideal” ‐ simply because it was built on different from ideal concepts.
5. Far from every factory worker was making 30‐50% more than the “intellectual labor” individual. Also, everyone was free to choose whether to go to the university or to the factory. Nobody was forced to become a doctor or a teacher. The same is here, in the U.S.: I am teaching at the university and getting a 9‐month salary while I could have been working for an industry and make twice as much (I was getting such offers) ‐ and it was my choice to do the job I love and not to go for some bigger money.
6. Madame Kunin is a liar: there were a handful of mechanisms to improve the person’s life.
7. According to Madame Kunin, all Soviet professionals were alcoholics. One of my grandmothers was a M.D., chief pediatrician of the Astrakhan Region; she served as a Major of Medical Service during WWII. Her husband, my grandfather, was a 1st Rank Navy Engineer (equivalent of Captain in the U.S. Navy); he served as the Chief Mechanic of the Caspian Sea Fleet until retired. My father was an engineer-metallurgist and Chief Metallurgist at the Metallurgical Factory, and my mother was a Chief Architect. The grandmother from my mother’s side was an economist and her husband, my grandfather was a radio‐engineer before WWII, lost his left leg during the war, and was still professionally active until retired. Not a single member of my family was an alcoholic. None of our neighbors and friends were alcoholics.
8. It is difficult to raise children ‐ everywhere. However, I wonder why this bad-breath Madame Kunin is saying nothing about the nurseries, kindergartens, pre-schools etc. which were available for the children in the Soviet Union? Why is she “forgetting” about the enormously‐long (compare to the “evil world of capitalism”) PAID maternity leave? World is not the same (forgive my cliche!). For instance, every Belgian family is getting substantial monetary support from the government ‐ for each kid, and if there are 4+ kids in the family, they are getting a person to help them with the kids (free of charge!). Now, we don’t have it in the U.S. of A. ‐ so does it mean that the American system is “evil”?! Let us hold this angry Madame Kunin from racing any further!
9. Yes, there was a right for abortion ‐ and one can argue whether it is good or bad, but how it relates to the story about the “evil USSR”?!
10. Now, this is the thing that is really killing me: “comparative historical reality”?! What kind of terminology is that?!smile
11. The “Socialist Revolution” was NOT a “march for the worker’s paradise” ‐ it was an act of terror organized and orchestrated by the small group of Jewish extremists, paid by German and American intelligent services and industrialists. PERIOD.
12. Hmmm.. “everyone is poor except for those who are in charge of redistribution”… in other words, except for the people with power.. but.. wait.. isn’t it the same here, in the land of paradise, the U.S. of A.? The person is leaving the White House and “accidentally” taking with him a lot of things which don’t belong to him ‐ we call it STEALING and prosecute such person to the whole severity of the LAW, but.. not the one who has some real power and comes from “certain circles”… Madame Kunin is either blind or deliberately refuses to see the truth: people are the same everywhere, and the only difference is in the way they behave: it is more civilized in the U.S. and more barbaric in the USSR, but the nature of the people’s behavior is the same!
13. I can tell a lot about “unsanitary” and “low‐tech” medical care ‐ both in the Soviet Union and in the nowadays America. But of course, Madame Kunin pretends not to see it.
14. Once again I rest my case: “government‐controlled health care destroyed human dignity”??!!! What kind of sick‐mind demagogic full of crap person will write something like that and what kind of a similar professional qualities individual will publish something like that?…
15. Freedoms of America… let us not to forget about genocide of the Native Americans, slavery of the Chinese workers, concentration camps filled with Japanese Americans, years of witch hunt and propaganda… yeah….
16. What kind of “average immigrant” Madame Kunin is talking about? The one that lives in Brooklyn, the one who used to be involved in dirty black market economy in the Soviet Union, the one who is bragging about being a victim of political system while being just a simple criminal? These are the many of ex‐Soviet Brooklyn. They don’t work ‐ officially. So, they spend our many, the taxpayers’ money, while working all their lives for cash. They live in apartments provided by the government on our, tax‐payers’ money. Are these the people she is talking about?
17. I am not going to elaborate on the “bankruptcy of socialism”. It didn’t bankrupt. It was destroyed by ex‐KGB, with heavy support from the Western intelligent services ‐ for the sake of keeping the majority of the country’s money and gold in the hands of KGB connected and related individuals.
18. “Only the ruling class of communist leaders had access to special stores…” Well, I do know for fact that pretty similar “system of distribution” exists in the world of capitalism.
19. Here is another pearl: “The egalitarian utopia of equality, achieved by the sacrifice of individual self‐interest for the collective good, led to corruption, black markets, anger and envy.” Now, I wonder what led to “corruption, black markets, anger and envy” in the world of capitalism? And, please, don’t say that we don’t have it!
20. Madame Kunin says: “USSR, 1959: I am a “young pioneer” in school.” I don’t recall any “old pioneers”.
21. She continues by saying that “History classes remind us that there is a higher authority than their
parents and teachers: the leaders of the Communist Party.” Well, I am pretty sure that the U.S. President is also the higher authority than grandpa John Smith.
22. Madame Kunin is bragging further: “From the first year in school, all of us are made aware of our
ethnicity (ethnic Russian, Jewish, Asian, etc.) and class (proletariat, intelligentsia), around which society is structured. This inherent divisiveness makes it easy for the government to stir ethnic and class tension and in this way distract from economic failure.” I am not sure about “all of us” but my parents were told by my head teacher that at the age of 9 I didn’t know about ethnicities. Also, “intelligentsia” was never determined as a class – I doubt Madame Kunin had good grades at school.
23. Madame Kunin complains that “All workers are unionized — another way the state controls the citizens.” I am not sure about the whole country – however, I was told that I MUST join the union – not in the Soviet Union but here, in the U.S.
24. Madame Kunin purposelessly postulates that “All medical care and schools are state entities.” I cannot comment on this matter.
25. Madame Kunin is crying: “Religious symbols are forbidden in schools or on state property.” If I am not mistaken, in the U.S. church is separated from the state. However, what makes my skin itching is a huge number of Masonic symbols on each and every road, next to the official traffic signs here, in the U.S. I wonder why do we have so many of them?
26. Madame Kunin continues with her complaint about the state having “strict control over our ability to travel abroad.” Now, I wonder if every American can freely visit Cuba – with no consequences.

Yes, I am a former Soviet scientist who is currently working in the U.S. Yes, some of my family were repressed and killed by the Communist regime ‐ just because they were from the other side of the barricade. I left my home country in 1990 at the age of 30 while holding a position of a Senior Researcher, to conduct a two year study in The Netherlands ‐ just before Gorby, The Devil, received his 30 silver coins for destroying the Empire. I did not come back ‐ not because of any political motives but because nobody needed scientists in the “new” Russia, and science and teaching are the only things I know how to do well. And, I have a family to support ‐ as simple as that. While disagreeing with many things from my past, while having negative opinion on many political matters in the USSR and modern Russia, I would never say a single dirty word about my Motherland ‐ that is because I HAVE a Motherland, while Madame Kunin does not have one.

Warm regards,
Mike,
The Russian, scientist, educator, non-alcoholic.
P.S. I am pretty sure that the editor in charge of Madame Kunin’s pearls is a smart individual. the question remains: WHY s/he decided to publish it? What was the goal, the purpose? What exactly this person was trying to achieve?…

Do you think Governor Palin will lend her voice to the chorus soon?

Got to get the conservative voice out and spread as far as we can – right?!

Great info from a conservative blog!

http://dirtyrottenscoundrels.wordpress.com/2009/06/30/interesting-chart/

http://www.banker-info.com
http://www.wallstreet-content.com

Clinton, the democrats and the lobbyists like Acorn (Obama’s employer) excorciated the mortgagors for not allowing them to get mortgages. After many years of little or no success because banks were unwilling to take the great risks of no money down with no financial data provided, they solved the problem by creating a new security, Mortgage Backed Securities. Now that these have almost brought down our entire financial system, these same people are now excoriating the mortgagors for giving out the exact mortgages they demanded a few years ago.

Best regards, Ben

It is to be understood that although there are no monthly payments, a reverse mortgage is a loan with interest that must eventually be paid back.

However there are a couple errors or misunderstanding of facts if your article. You say that interest rates on a reverse mortgage “the interest is much higher.” This is actually typically untrue. The HECM, which is the FHA-insured loan, rates have been much much LOWER than traditional HELOCs. Reverse mortgage rates on the HECM (which is about 90% of all reverse mortgages) have been hovering between 3-4% over the last year. There are no conventional or HELOC loans with that low of rates these days. In some cases in fact if the appreciation of your home outpaces your interest rate on your reverse, you still gain equity in the home (granted at a much slower pace).

And for clarity one of the reasons the upfront fees are high is because of the 2% FHA insurance required on the loan and the 2% origination fee which is quite typical for HECMs. The fees for a jumbo tend to be far less because they don’t require the 2% insurance and often the origination is lower than 2%. The other fees are typical closing costs for all mortgages.

Also you make mention of having to pay Home Owners Insurance and taxes. This is true of all mortgage programs, it comes with home ownership. You retaining ownership of your home is a benefit of the reverse mortgage. We don’t take the house. You also make mention of foreclosure as a warning sign. The number of foreclosures on reverse mortgages is nearly zero. The lender makes every effort to make sure you remain in your house because after all that was the point of the reverse in the first place.

Reverse mortgages are getting a bad rap due to a few bad apple insurance agents and financial advisors selling investment products after the fact and the public must understand that reverse mortgages and financial products are not interconnected and are completely independent of each other.

I like your alternative campaign slogan: Obama! BS we can believe in!

Keep up the good work.
The Prospector

You might want to save a copy of the PDF file. It will probably be revised when word gets out.