Impressive comparision

This will be brief because it is late. But thanks to the Incidental Economist blog I would like to share this table from the Tax Policy Center.

Check out number three at $88 billion. The entire budget of HUD in 2010 is only about $50 billion which includes something like $10 billion in mandatory programs. I'm not entirely sure how indirect things like the FHA insurance programs are counted in budget costs. (And of course this doesn't count Fannie and Freddie which are a significant costs lately.)

But my overall point holds: We spend more government money on supporting housing through the mortgage interest deduction (a regressive approach with much greater benefits at higher incomes if I've ever seen one) than we do on any kind of housing assistance for people who need help finding a place to live.

I don't think this is justifiable. If we want to support housing let's actually spend the money on people who need help rather than hiding it in the tax code and applying it regressively. Neither is #1, the exclusion of employer health insurance contributions. For scale, the state and federal spending on Medicaid is in excess of $360 billion according to KFF.

Goodnight! Don't have tax nightmare from this.

What winter looks like in DC

I will start with this picture:

That sure looks like ice or snow doesn't it? But surprise! No it isn't. The street is actually white with salt. This was on February 12, the day after the latest storm warning fire drill. They clearly were really excited about salting things in preparation for the forecasted storm.

Here's what the actual snow accumulation looked like.

Yep. That was about all the snow we got. I think people get way too excited about it. They should just prepare to stay home for an hour or two if it is icy in the morning. We had salt dust (I think it is usually magnesium chloride rather than sodium chloride, isn't it?) blowing around the streets for three or four days. We finally got some rain to clean it up but that makes me wonder about the impact of those chemicals on the water treatment system and ultimately on the river.

In more cheerful news, here's a picture of the flowering plums in front of the Hirshorn.

That was on February 11.

Here's the Washington Monument too.

I don't know why it is on it's side! I can't seem to fix it either. Argh. Oh well. I guess you will have to look at it sideways.

Corn waffles for President's Day

Yay vacation! It is rather nice to have these federal holidays now and then. *grin*!! I celebrated by sleeping in and then making sourdough cornmeal waffles. They were so good that I am going to share the recipe. The cornmeal gives them an extra-crispy crust, even compared to the regular excellent crispyness of sourdough. So here's the recipe:

Sourdough Cornmeal Waffles
Make regular sourdough except use 3/4 cornmeal (a whole-grain type is best, these usually don't have even grain size but are a little variable) and only 1/4 flour. It could be white or whole wheat flour--I've been making more sourdough with whole wheat lately and liking it. Add enough water to make a medium-thick batter. Set overnight in a warm place, you know, the usual. In the morning heat your waffle iron and mix up the following batter.

Beat together with spoon or whisk (I like a nice stiff whisk)
1 c cornmeal sourdough (nice and sour and active)
1 egg
2-3 T powdered milk (you don't think I actually measure do you?)
2 T oil
1/2 t salt
1-2 t sugar (or honey or whatever you please, I'll try honey next time)
Once that is mixed up well, blend in 1/2 t baking soda
That's all. Now make your waffles. The batter is fairly runny which helps to make light waffles. This amount should be enough for 1 to 2 people. I admit that I ate the entire batch but I didn't need to so take that however you please.

 

Here's a picture. The one on the left is the extra-crispy version. The one on the right is relatively pale. It's still good but not as amazing.

In other culinary news I am sadly out of good cocoa powder. :-( Boo hoo. I am going to have to keep looking for a source around here because it is pretty silly to be importing it from Oregon! I don't know why it is so hard to find a source for bulk cocoa powder but it does seem to be.

Flowers!

I went for a jog on the Mall this evening and noticed the plum trees in front of the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden are actually blooming! I know plums are earlier than cherries, but February 10th seems a little ridiculous. I'm meeting Kori tomorrow at the American Indian Museum for "The Power of Chocolate" special event. If I remember I might walk down and take a picture of the trees for you. Of course we are supposed to have a 100% chance of rain or snow tomorrow so I don't know if it will be very nice outside.

I've seen some of the small snow crocuses and Tete-a-tete daffodils blooming around the neighborhood too but somehow that doesn't seem quite as ridiculous as a flowering tree.

Since I don't have a picture of the current flower I'll put up this one that I took at Arlington with Laura in December.

Yes that is a cherry tree and yes it was blooming in Arlington in December up on the hill by Robert E. Lee's house. I think it was just totally confused.

Here's a more Christmas-y looking picture from the same day.

Interestingly a some big parts of Arlington are not all tidy perfectly white marble headstones like this but the standard mix that you often see in cemeteries. I was actually kind of disappointed to learn that!

But I'll send you away with a classic Arlington shot. There are plenty of those too.

It's raining so I have to bake

At least that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. I am currently roasting some beets and carrots and I just put some chicken-cheese biscuits in the oven. What is that you ask? Well if it is as tasty baked as the dough was I'll give you the recipe shortly. Basically it is a batch of biscuits made with chicken fat (left over from making soup last week while I was sick) and some cheddar cheese mixed in.

It's cold and rainy today. It was fairly nice earlier in the week though. I got some good biking in over the weekend. Actually I got some baking in too. I helped Megan make cookies for her party Saturday morning and then I had to make some cookies for my coworkers on Sunday. Here's the respective pictures:

Megan's black and white cookies

Cranberry cookies that I took to work

At work I finished my second underwriting review today. This was what we call an (a)(7) for the section of the act that authorizes HUD-insured refinancing of properties that are already HUD-insured. Since it is already in the portfolio we already know more about the property and the insurance fund is already at risk for their mortgage. So it is supposed to be a shorter and simpler review. I seem to keep getting complicated ones that take longer though! But they are good learning opportunities I suppose.

We also had to pack up and move the office today. They are renovating the air and ventilation systems in the HUD building and the section I am in is the next area of work. So we are all moving down the hall, luckily they managed to find us space in the main building and we don't have to shift to the infamous Capitol View swing building. I suppose the fact that the 6th floor office is relatively small made it easier to squeeze us in too. So hopefully my computer will be hooked up and working tomorrow... The tech people are supposed to be handling it.

On a cheerful note, here's my antidote to the rain:

Cheese biscuits

Roast beets, yellow beets, carrots

The biscuits are very tasty. I tried one Mimi-style with strawberry jam on a cheese biscuit. I bet apple butter would be really good too.

Here's the biscuit recipe I used:
Cut together:
1/2 cup white flour
1/2 cup ww pastry flour
1.5 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
4 T rendered chicken fat
Toss in some finely chopped cheddar cheese (how much? some, whatever looks good)
Add 6 T cold milk and stir until just blended.
Drop by tablespoonful onto cookie sheet.
Bake 10 minutes at 450 degrees F.

If you use low protein flour it is too sticky to roll so just drop it in blobs. The cheese stuck to the sheet. I think parchment paper would be helpful.