Typical. A call for uncle government to bail out the idiots who bought houses they couldn;t afford, and financed them with mortages they didn't understand. Of course, this will be paid for with taxes on the people who used moderation in their housing choices, and read contracts they are presented with. Is that supposed to be fair, or is it just another naked grab for cash? It sure looks like the government is going to punish people for being responsible.

Added Bonus: Next time around, even more people are going to borrow in an irresponsible way.

Absolutely no. The mortgage companies are all RIGHTLY going out of business. The debt rating agencies are facing a huge legal liability, and will hopefully soon pay the price for their part. The con men, and paperwork cheats all deserve financial loss and/or jail.

The S&L debacle is exactly what I am against. Government bailouts only tell the remaining players that risk isn't really risky. The free market only works if the government keeps out of the risk/reward ratio.

Banks should fail, and CDO holders should lose money. Then the inside players will demand honest accounting and a reform of lending.

That is an awesome display of reality! GM paranoia is trumped by hunger.

Is it real mexican food? I don't care. I'm just hungry for something good.

My question is "Is it real food?" The "beef" at taco bell is less than 50% animal product. That means that the "beef" is more than 50% "other"

Is it real cheap? Yes! Adjusted for inflation, the average fast food meal costs 1/3 of what it cost in 1987. Remember spending about $5 on a fast food meal 20 years ago? You still can.

20 years ago the Taco Bell was staffed by literate employees. 20 years ago, the beef was made of cow. 20 years ago it did taste better.

Pot meet kettle.

That was the funniest comic in these pages all year. Great work!

While I do agree with much of what you say, I don't think early adoptors of technology are morons. It takes a bold and forward looking person to spend $600 on a new and untested piece of electronics. They understand that there is risk associated with that, and future price drops are a part of that risk.

What Apple has done is to buy additional loyalty from they early adoptors for the price of $100. It is a great move, and it will pay dividends far beyond Apple's cost on that store credit.

Sexual fantasy like this is an attempt by a traumatized jewish society to exert control over their collective memories. Just as the idiot women's studies broads say that rape is about power not sex, this form of porn is about power. Getting an orgasm from the viewing of this form of porn is all about power over your prior tormentors. I'm surprised that none of you get that.

There do seem to be some conspirational aspects to this. Craig is accused of a victimless crime, with no evidence, and the only witness is the arresting officer. He agreed to a plea in order to keep the "incident" out of the public eye, and then they double-crossed him and outed him anyway. It seems awfully convenient that this enemy of the bush administartion would be brought down this way.

On a side note however, I did an informal poll in my office, and the consensus among men is that touching another man in a public restroom means you are gay.

I laugh when I hear you describe a Mercedes 180 is a rich people's car. It is worth about $5k. My maid drives one of those.

Meanwhile, hip-hop videos portray a normal life as a Bentley, a mansion, AND two Ferraris. Things that are out of reach to most people who employ maids.

Reality is run buy a Bush hating peacemonger.

The free market only works its magic if the government stays out of it. The problem comes when the politicians think that there are votes/contributions in a bailout.

If you just leave this housing issue alone, it will fix itself. Home"owners" who can't afford their homes will lose them to foreclosures. Mortgage companies who wrote our no-doc loans will go out of business. Holders of CDO's will lose money when their collateral get's foreclosed and sold at auction for 50 cents on the dollar. Then the lawsuits will fly, and the bond rating agencies will get their collective @sses sued off. Everybody would get exactly what they deserve for ignoring risk.

However, if a bailout occurs, then the taxpayers will pay the price for risk taking by others. That would be incredibly unfair, and would spur on even more mindless risk taking in the next cycle.

Please folks, it isn't Democrat or Republican to believe that the free market works. It is a fact. The market works best when politicians stay entirely out of it.

A government bailout removes the downside risk from an investment. By removing risk, all future investments decisions are made with the risk side of the equation discounted by the perceived probability of a bailout. Therefore, if you bailout today, risk will increase in the future.

In your hypothetical scenario, it is fine to let either of those business go under. The underlying need for water and rail transport will result in a new firm rising up to provide the services. These new firms will also likely price higher, and engage in other actions that protect them from the risk of failure. These new firms will provide rail services and water in a sustainable way. If you bailed out the old failing firms, you would prevent the new firms from doing a better job.

With each new round of liquidity injection by the fed. With each new dollar of deficit spending. We are debasing our currency. Oil is priced in dollars, and oil sellers need more dollars to get the same price in real money terms.