Maybe that's the problem. We've embraced the message of greed so thoroughly that we've forgotten that all these electronic transactions represent financing for real companies and real projects that can move the ball forward for humanity.

It takes bonds to build bridges, and stocks to spread the risk of great ventures to a large base of investors who will be rewarded for their risk. Maybe if more Wall Street types thought in terms of providing the capital that makes the country go and less about derivative bets on obscure financial instruments that do nothing for actual productivity, we'd all be a lot better off right now.

"By the way what do we say to those families who now can't afford to live in their own homes in NYC?"

How about - try New Jersey?

Obama has done more good in the first few weks than Bush did in eight years.

Between a black Communist plant trained by the Russians and a Chinese brainwashed Manchurian candidate?

Don't blame me, I voted for the Stepford Husband from Massachusetts.

Right. Forget Chicago, forget the East Coast or Ohio or Florida or Texas or even linking LA to San Francisco.

I'm actually surprised Pelosi and Reid didn't get together on a SFO -> LV link.

I never understood why La Guardia didn't have a subway stop. I know the cabbies are part of it, but you think the city would take the chance on offending then cabbies in favor of making travel for all New Yorkers easier.

Yes, there's the bus you can take to the subway, but come on - the nation's biggest city should be able to extend the subway a little. Heck, Chicago did it in the 80's and it's been a boon to travellers there.

Is New York less capable than the Windy City? Hmmm...

A lobbyist recently pled guilty in the Abramoff scandal to giving all kinds of perks and bribes to a staffer of a Senator. That staffer is from Gregg's office.

Forget noble reasons, idealogical differences, or cunning plans. This guy withdrew because of a scandal in the making.

"This is old news." - the cry of a scoundrel caught. It's not old news by any stretch of the imagination.

Todd Boulanger just pled guilty two weeks ago, and I can guarantee the Feds are using him to move up the chain to bigger fish.

Gregg's cooked, and if he'd gone through the confirmation hearing, it would have been by microwave.

It needs 60 because of a point of order regarding deficit spending that requires 3/5 to suspend.

http://www.congressmatters.com/story/2009/2/7/161443/9275/436/583

It's David Sirota. Just look up his column about Obama and how outrageous it was that he called Paul Wellstone a Gadfly.

But put a clause in it that strips the White House of funding if the AG refuses to prosecute Contempt of Congress citations.

Congress has the tools with the power of the purse. The Executive executes the laws, but they do it on Congress's dime.

At what point if any, would that photo have become part of the public record? At trial?

Well...yeah. What didn't you understand about the role of a free and open media in a democracy. They're the Fourth Estate. Duh.

Did they properly describe "primates", or is it now illegal to transport your children across state lines?

AT&T's awful coverage in my area is one of the main reasons I haevn't bought an iPhone. Give me a chance to go with my cell phone carrier of choice and I'd have to work really hard at not buying one.

If there were 1/100th of bombings in America that have occurred in Iraq, you would have left Iraq years ago.

Hitler thought the aerial bombing of London would break the back of the English and cause them to sue for peace. Didn't happen. Bombings in the U.S. would end up the same way.

There better be some serious trust-busting by the Federales. If you're too big to fail, you're too big to exist.

At the end of this, either Steele is humiliated or Rush is marginalized.

Yeah, I can live with that. FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!

So now Steele is emasculated and Rush reigns supreme. Fantastic. Pin everything he's ever said and every pill he's ever taken on the Republicans since he is now, unquestionably, their supreme leader.

Shouldn't this column be in with the comics?

I sure hope we continue to waste column inches and broadcast air endlessly rehashing this relationship. It's so significant and vital to the nation.

I turned off one of the morning chatterbox shows today because they spent five minutes on this dreck and were moving on to talk about the defense for some woman who killed her kids. What a waste of time.

What's going to be left? FYE and Coconuts? Ugh.

But to say her Elizabeth Bennett was anything better than mediocre is a joke.

Greer Garson and Jenifer Ehle both did wonderfully in the role. Keira Knightley couldn't carry their quill pen and diaries.

That's a ridiculous statement. If their audience consisted of every single trader in the country who watched every minute of CNBC their ratings would be even a rounding error. There aren't that many traders out there.

Their audience is the investor, whether a big time pro or a retired pipefitter trying to figure out where to invest his savings so they last out his retirement. CNBC and the financial media in general clobbered these people with bad advice.

Nonsense! I kept hearing about how inflated home values were back in 2004. Greenspan had to address the question of whether it was a bubble in 2005 and was widely panned in skeptical circles for his Feb. 2004 recommendation that everyone get an ARM. There were housing bubble blogs as early at 2003!

To say that nobody thought housing was a bubble is ludicrous.

There's a lot of manufacturing potential in Vietnam and Indonesia. India, too.

http://tinyurl.com/djcyp4