MeFi comment:
"Debt isn't the problem per se . . .
Interest never sleeps nor sickens nor dies; it never goes to the hospital; it works on Sundays and holidays; it never takes a vacation; it never visits nor travels; it takes no pleasure; it is never laid off..." [
more]
favorited 6 times, recently by korpios, dejah420, sparkletone, retronic, inqb8tr, jamstigator
2 months ago
MeFi comment:
"If you're going to call the banks greedy, you should really call the mortgage customers greedy too
and that's where you go wrong in your thinking. People go to financial institutions expecting they have fiduciary responsibilities, even if these..." [
more]
favorited 10 times, recently by jlbartosa, Mr. Gunn, unixrat, shinynewnick, ShawnStruck, Rock Steady, [expletive deleted], HeroZero, glycolized, TorontoSandy
2 months ago
Ask comment:
"The way I see it, we've got 3 possible courses of events up ahead:
1) The Great Depression course: economic implosion over 10+ years leading to global dislocations, double-dip recessions amidst weak domestic economic vitality, massive credit..." [
more]
favorited 19 times, recently by shesaysgo, jgee, rongorongo, yoga, Chris4d, QueSeraSera, elisynn, allkindsoftime, Plinko, epersonae, roomwithaview, notchristopher, Brandon Blatcher, lhall, kwaller, exlotuseater, the dief, milarepa, cocoagirl
4 months ago
MeFi comment:
"What evidence is there to a faithful Christian that God doesn't exist?
Faith is a filter of doubt and that is the core of the issue.
Scientologists, Mormons, JWs, Wiccans, that overwhelmingly demonstrate that people are willing to "put..." [
more]
favorited 1 time, recently by Nattie
4 months ago
Ask comment:
"^ addedum, make sure the tech you do master isn't something a tech grad can pull out of an O'Reilly book in a week or two. To thrive in tech with two billion asians wanting your job, you've got to be the guy able to WRITE the O'Reilly book, and/or be..." [
more]
favorited 1 time, recently by QueSeraSera
4 months ago
Ask comment:
"historically speaking, we live in a very peaceful, safe, non-eventful time.
which sees us charging our standard of living on the national credit cards while outsourcing our wealth-creation human capital to Mexico and China, plus being on the wrong..." [
more]
favorited 1 time, recently by lalochezia
4 months ago
MeFi comment:
">Some people here have a real contempt for democracy.
frustration, gsb, frustration. There's a lot of idiots running around in this country, doing a lot of stupid things.
American Democracy isn't the problem, we is. Libertopians dreaming of..." [
more]
favorited 2 times, recently by tehloki, Miko
4 months ago
MeFi comment:
"The MOST CERTAIN WAY to drive Independents over to Nader is to resurrect the urban myth that he secured the election for Bush.
Nader didn't do shit. It was Nader voters voting for him in NH and FL that bear their proportional share of..." [
more]
favorited 3 times, recently by tehloki, nickyskye, kittens for breakfast
4 months ago
Ask comment:
"or a warm jacket and sneakers?
Dude, that's not enough in August. And climbing from "the bottom" adds about 10x the effort, and time, required, since the popular trailheads are only 2~3 miles from the summit (as the crow flies, the..." [
more]
favorited 1 time, recently by mdonley
5 months ago
MeFi comment:
"^Do you guys who are blaming Nader for everything the Bush administration did
We have the government we collectively deserve, yes.
This is NOT a structural defect of the political system as laid out in the Constitution; parliamentary systems..." [
more]
favorited 1 time, recently by tkchrist
5 months ago
MeTa comment:
"All, even most, believers are not like Fred Phelps or the teevee brigade, at all.
Analysis of the polling I've seen disagrees with that assertion. Modern-day megachurch political rather extreme polarization toward the Republican Party and its..." [
more]
favorited 1 time, recently by Kadin2048
5 months ago
MeFi comment:
"Because anti-war people who turned out to be right about Iraq like to rub pro-war peoples' faces in it
If I could interrupt the resident rightists' pity party going on here, I think the issue goes a little deeper than that. There are a group of..." [
more]
favorited 19 times, recently by five fresh fish, Mayor West, Sys Rq, swift, Dasein, East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94, JohnYaYa, dopeypanda, bpt, peppito, Ickster, AsYouKnow Bob, BrotherCaine, notyou, Avenger, Afroblanco, [expletive deleted], Kato, regicide is good for you
5 months ago
MeTa comment:
"LOLXTIANS
for the the stupid things they believe, the stupid things these beliefs make them do, and how they force their unfounded, irrational beliefs onto our society as a whole.
That's not religious criticism, that's criticizing religious..." [
more]
favorited 2 times, recently by tkchrist, Pope Guilty
5 months ago
MeTa comment:
"Different Christian denominations simply cannot be conflated into one.
Thing is, you can certainly tranche them.
Looking at the dynamic, growing denominations you will find great commonality in political polarization toward the erstwhile..." [
more]
favorited 1 time, recently by Crabby Appleton
5 months ago
MeFi comment:
"How about "I make 50,000$ a year, and I'm buying a 600,000$ house." Is that not supposed to arouse some kind of basic, primitive, financial alarm bell?
The most rational players, eg. if *I* had decided to play the game in 2004-2005, if I..." [
more]
favorited 1 time, recently by Monochrome
5 months ago
MeTa comment:
"It is not the responsibility of all people whose faith falls within the enormous category of "Christian" to either defend or justify the specific and narrow beliefs konolia espouses.
I certainly agree with this, but I think you are..." [
more]
favorited 2 times, recently by Pope Guilty, the dief
5 months ago
MeFi comment:
"They knew (or should've known) that the needed financing would only be available if their houses had significantly appreciated.
This is incorrect. People roll debt (at favorable terms) over all the time, even if the underlying asset doesn't..." [
more]
favorited 1 time, recently by mrgrimm
5 months ago
MeFi comment:
"Kosovo will exist as an independent country only as long as the U.S. and NATO are willing to defend it.
This is, I agree, how the world works, until history brings its weight to bear and the balance of power and tradition changes in that region of..." [
more]
favorited 1 time, recently by kittyprecious
5 months ago
MeFi comment:
"Is the "mortgage broker" lying to the bank somehow about the buyer's poor credit?
Ayup. Wells Fargo stopped taking loans from the brokers earlier this decade, and everyone else has essentially closed down their lines to brokers.
How..." [
more]
favorited 1 time, recently by JHarris
5 months ago
MeFi comment:
"My family of five -of FIVE-spent way less than that for food and toothpaste, etc for years and years and stinking years.
we r talking 2007 and not the 1950s here...." [
more]
favorited 1 time, recently by limeonaire
5 months ago
MeFi comment:
"But don't you insinuate for one moment that I didn't work my ass off to get to where I am today.
"Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men." -- E. B. White
"Luck? I don't know anything about luck...." [
more]
favorited 3 times, recently by adamdschneider, wires, Afroblanco
5 months ago
MeFi comment:
"Now imagine a citizen of your new country telling you that they don't think police protection is a right, because rights don't obligate anybody to do anything for you. Wouldn't you just boggle at them in disbelief?
My favorite anti-Libertarian..." [
more]
favorited 2 times, recently by Blazecock Pileon, BrotherCaine
5 months ago
Ask comment:
"license plates, eg. where in the current sequence numbers are being assigned.
phases of the moon, how its lit hemisphere faces where the sun is relative to the horizon, and its differing location in the sky each day/night.
birds, especially..." [
more]
favorited 1 time, recently by andifsohow
5 months ago
MeFi comment:
"MUST be more efficient, effective, and responsive to individual wants and needs than a collection of firms competing to offer a variety of choices at the best prices
The free market is splendid at providing for our wants. Needs, on the other hand,..." [
more]
favorited 1 time, recently by Gary
5 months ago
MeFi comment:
"I'd love to stop paying a significant percentage of my income into programs that I'll never see a dime from
ah the sentiments of a free market fundie, God bless you.
I hit the FICA cap every year and would even gladly pay the unlimted 3%..." [
more]
favorited 3 times, recently by BrotherCaine, Blazecock Pileon, jtron
5 months ago
Ask comment:
"but it hurts my feelings
you need to grow up and start making allowances for people being people, ie. idiots." [
more]
favorited 1 time, recently by lalochezia
5 months ago
MeFi comment:
"most people just want to sit on their ass and get drunk
picture's a bit more complex than that. It really helps to have goals, available capital -- fiscal and social -- to utilize, a roadmap to follow, etc.
I can understand why people in BFE..." [
more]
favorited 2 times, recently by nickyskye, dabitch
5 months ago
MeFi comment:
"Kidding aside, I found these charts from the St Louis Fed to be interesting reading.
Specifically, US GDP, Total US Savings Deposits, Federal Receipts, 1890-.
I like the last one because it's the first time I've seen all the recessions of..." [
more]
favorited 1 time, recently by LooseFilter
5 months ago
MeFi comment:
"It's remarkable when you think about it
Every time I unwrap a Barbacoa burrito at Chipotle I marvel at the sum of labor required to produce this marvel of sustenance and how few lines of code I had to write to acquire it...." [
more]
favorited 3 times, recently by Uther Bentrazor, mikeh, afx114
5 months ago
MeFi comment:
"The main middle class squeeze has been the two-income trap that results in each of us spending 30-60% of our double incomes on housing costs.
Every dollar we all gain in productivity or what have you will, at the end of the day, end up in inflated..." [
more]
favorited 2 times, recently by tkchrist, jb
5 months ago
MeFi comment:
"Our air defense has only really been tested once in action -- on 9/11 -- and they did nothing at all!
hey man, don't knock the 2001-era USAF. They had a killer slogan...." [
more]
favorited 1 time, recently by Pope Guilty
5 months ago
MeFi comment:
"stammer: middle class is working for a living, but comfortable and reasonably self-sufficient.
lower class is degrees of helplessness and economic insecurity.
Upper class is living off of capital and not labor per se and great economic security...." [
more]
favorited 1 time, recently by nooneyouknow
5 months ago
Ask comment:
"$5000 is nothing, $50 to $100 in minimum monthly payments in a normal situation.
Credit counseling with the angle of establishing payment plans is the best.
The approach of targetting to pay off the smallest and/or highest-rate first, and then..." [
more]
favorited 1 time, recently by sondrialiac
5 months ago
MeFi comment:
"Malor: related to your last is the somewhat interesting term I discovered in Marx's corpus called "alienation of labor". While it's got the usual frou-frou Marxist baggage, I do like its implication and application to the millions of people..." [
more]
favorited 7 times, recently by Silly Ashles, Galen, MikeKD, maus, Mick, LooseFilter, Thorzdad
5 months ago
MeFi comment:
"sheer incompetence of their General Staff surely accounted for much of their collapse
like I said, the Germans were 3-5 years ahead in their game and made everyone look incompetent due to their increased tempo of operations . . . the Americans..." [
more]
favorited 4 times, recently by GuyZero, parallax7d, nasreddin, aerotive
5 months ago
MeFi comment:
"The correct answer to "Are people allegedly at risk of suicide normally left alone, naked in a cold cell and unmonitored, for six hours?" is NO
It's easier to just give them paper clothes and lock them in a safe room.
I'm sure in..." [
more]
favorited 2 times, recently by tehloki, loiseau
5 months ago
Ask comment:
"So America became the world's dominant superpower because Henry Ford made cars cheaply? That absolutely doesn't follow.
Actually if you knew your military history you'd might have a different opinion. The US of the first half of the 20th century..." [
more]
favorited 1 time, recently by MythMaker
5 months ago
MeTa comment:
"Answers to these queries would have materially changed the FPP's conclusion.
look who's being emotive, shrill, and conclusive in tone now!
but my queries, informed and well intentioned queries remain unaddressed
We all have questions. The..." [
more]
favorited 1 time, recently by jeanmari
5 months ago
Ask comment:
"This one is EASY!
Hakuhinkan toystore is in Ginza, close to Shimbashi. Just go to the main Ginza exit and ask the policeperson there "Hakuhinkan"? [hah-ku-heen-kahn]" (or take a taxi from Kayabacho, same thing).
hmmm, bookstore..." [
more]
favorited 1 time, recently by silusGROK
5 months ago
MeFi comment:
"But the FPP implies that CDOs and only CDOs are being submitted to The Fed. Please cite source.
The Fed lowered the standards of what it will take as collateral. Basic common sense would tell you banks visiting this new discount window will hand..." [
more]
favorited 1 time, recently by MikeKD
5 months ago
MeFi comment:
"Isn't the ex-CEO of Countrywide walking away with a half a billion dollar bonus
~$100M bonus for running Countrywide into the ground and contributing to the destabilization of the economy. He's already cashed out $300M since 2003 of his CFC stock..." [
more]
favorited 2 times, recently by MikeKD, Skygazer
5 months ago
MeFi comment:
"You'd be surprised whose proposed economic package this comes from
DO YOUR RESEARCH! ::eyeroll::" [
more]
favorited 1 time, recently by Mick
5 months ago
MeFi comment:
"My favorite (or, more likely, the best one I found until I gave up swimming in this apparently limitless tide of human stupidity)" [
more]
favorited 1 time, recently by Senor Cardgage
5 months ago
MeFi comment:
"vrakatar: everyone knows the best strategy in Monopoly is to Go To Jail, ie opt out of the economy and lay low, collecting rents from the poor slobs still stuck in the game...." [
more]
favorited 1 time, recently by dances_with_sneetches
5 months ago
