Interesting Things Around the Internet

Quoting from a Financial Times story on how investment banks “are inventing schemes to reduce the capital cost of risky assets on banks’ balance sheets, in the latest sign that financial market innovation is far from dead,” John Cole asks:

Am I the only one who gets a pit in my stomach when I see the words “innovation” and “financial market” used in the same sentence?

No, John. You are not.

The New York Times covers a sad phenomenon: Families holding onto their housing until the school year finishes, then becoming homeless.

The reasons are varied but simple. Landlords who are reluctant to evict during winter are less hesitant when it is warmer. Parents like the Maldonados, who have endured poor housing conditions to spare their children agitation and humiliation at school, finally pack up and leave. And relatives who have taken in families in cramped apartments lose patience when children are suddenly underfoot all day long.

Daily Kos diarist Downtowner tells an incredible story in How I lost my health insurance at the hairstylist’s.

And another Daily Kos diary, by D Wreck, contains Notes from the reception honoring Senator Franken (and not just notes, but pictures from the reception at the Hart Senate Office Building).