Saffire

No this is fantastic, I love explaining economics. To understand this recession, you've got to understand the boom that preceded it. Why do we have booms and busts in an economy? The answer that's usually taught to students is that people (investors) become mad with greed and borrow a lot of money to buy stocks or build a billion new Starbucks. This isn't true. Greed is always present in an economy (it's why people bother starting businesses or buying stocks in the first place). So to blame greed for the economy's downfall is like blaming gravity for a plane crashing. If you want to really get to the root of all this, you can trace it back to the actions of the Federal Reserve. What does the Fed do? They manipulate interest rates. What's an interest rate? Interest rates are the "cost of money". It's how much you pay to borrow money... to buy a house, buy stocks, hire new people, etc. In a healthy economy, interest rates reflect the "savings pool" - how much money people have saved in their bank. The more money people save, the bigger the "savings pool" is, and as a result the more money is available for banks to lend. That lowers interest rates naturally. Obviously the converse is true - when the savings pool is small (people aren't saving, they're just living paycheck to paycheck), the interest rate naturally goes higher (because there's less money available to borrow). A higher interest rate at your bank gives you (and all people who have bank accounts) an incentive to save more money! Think of money as being a scarce resource and it all makes sense. The Federal Reserve's existence destroys this idea of money as a scarce resource. With the ability to print money, the Fed can literally create credit out of thin air... and that forces interest rates down to levels lower than they SHOULD be. The result is that it's easier to borrow money. In fact, even idiots who don't pay their bills can borrow lots of money. They can use it to start stupid unprofitable businesses (think of the Dot Com boom of the late 1990's) or to build massive mansions that they can't actually afford (like in our most recent boom). Banks can even borrow money at lower rates from the Fed than they could if they were force to borrow it from each other! All this easy money sends the economy the wrong signal - it punishes people who save money, and rewards people who SPEND money. Eventually the bubble bursts, because money isn't real value. It's only a measurement of value... a way to keep score. When the scoreboard is broken, you can't play the game.

Well there are lunatics everywhere, it just happened in Alabama recently also. Do German schools have police officers who guard them? Maybe the teachers should be allowed to have guns. Of course any time there is a gun, it should be locked in a combination-safe. That boy's parents learned it the hard way... and to be honest I don't think they cared much about their son's mental health. Most of the blame lies with them.

This is why you watch what executives are doing with their own company's stock. When you see heavy buying after a tumble, you know something's up and it's probably safe to go in the water.

Bad parenting. Also, the idiot father should have locked his guns up. Things like this can make us sad and mad, but we have to remember that new laws won't stop it, only education.

Sounds like it'll be great... I can't wait!

lol You go Nick! It sounds like the situation at that party my brother was at - the cops there were visibly upset because they couldn't find a trace of marijuana anywhere. Reckless driving eh? Whenever I'm impatient I tend to drive a bit more aggressively. The other day I had a guy nearly collide head-on with me because he was trying to pass a bus in front of him and he used my lane. He had to slam on the breaks and fall behind the bus again, it was pretty scary.

Actually a war with the Chinese would really help secure Obama's place in history as one of the greatest presidents America has ever had!

Cobalt, meet me behind the old oak tree behind Farmer Levi's barn tonight at 2:00AM. You'll see a green light, that's me... further instructions will follow.

Me and Nick are probably on there somewhere.

Agreed. According to the girls in this thread, only creepy weirdos ever get them! That's scientific evidence!

Luke Wilson

Well that's foreign policy stuff, and the EU is primarily about domestic policy (except when it comes to trade and stuff). But yeah, Turkey helped out the US and Britain during our invasion of Iraq by acting as a base and offering their airspace for flyover. Turkey shouldn't have done this. Turkey should be like Switzerland. In fact, all countries should be like Switzerland and just mind their own damn business (assuming we need silly things like imaginary lines called "borders"... it's so childish).

Europe's economy sucks. Turkey should enjoy its independence, nothing good comes from joining the EU. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Well I meant winning them by the truckload like hip hop artists do. But wait... now grammys are a GOOD thing? Oh dear! ;)

Ahem, "Art Rock"? :laugh3: Look, Radiohead have a few nice songs, but most of it sounds like a meowing cat running through some trash cans to me. Of course, Radiohead fans probably take it as a point of pride that they enjoy music that other people consider strange. I suspect Radiohead themselves dread the day they begin to actually win Grammy awards - it would be their death knell.

Watchmen was a disaster. Parts of it were entertaining, but I've never seen a movie glorify violence like this one. Before you roll your eyes at me, let me explain: Here are the lessons you learn: 1. Rape is OK, as long as the result is a baby who grows up to be a pretty woman. 2. Nuking a few major cities is fine, as long as the result is temporary world "peace". 3. Dressing up in a costume and making your own crazy brand of "justice" is a great way to entertain yourself. 4. Governments (USA and USSR) are misunderstood and benevolent. They have our best interests at heart - all it takes is a common enemy to unite them!

Of course. I don't know why they would WANT to be in the EU, though, lol. You give up a lot of your sovereignty when you join.

I just disagree with it, is all. I would encourage your brother to not become a cop (or work for the government) if I could talk to him. Lawmakers' "laws" (aka whims) would be meaningless without the strongmen they hire to enforce them. The same is true with the military - which is why they invented the draft.

God I love this song... :P

*shakes hand* Welcome to the State of Nature! It's beautiful over here.

How can he want to enforce laws that are obviously unjust? Like arresting (ie kidnapping) people who can't pay their taxes. Or people who commit non-violent crimes like doing drugs? Or people who just want to get a job so they can send money to their family, but they don't have a social security number because they're an "illegal immigrant"?

I'll post a link to the story once Drudge does, but I thought this was funny:

http://www.spike.com/blog/miley-cyrus-got/74656 I'm not sure how accurate that final quote by Miley is, but this is a perfect example of why a lot of people can't stand Radiohead. Look, I'm no fan of Miley Cyrus. But what has she ever done to deserve that kind of treatment? Radiohead are too image-conscious.

Radiohead fans are like Africanized bees, and they swarm when you criticize their band ;) But to be honest... if you're going to criticize a band, do it on the merits of their music. For instance, what are your favorite bands? List your favorite songs by them. And if you like Radiohead (like Briggins), then I'd be very interested to know your favorite Radiohead songs. I'd bet they're not the same as mine. People just go through phases, where they like different bands more than others. Recently I've been more into techno, and during high school I loved Radiohead. I recently heard "Fake Plastic Trees" playing on TV and I fell in love with that song again.

I confess that I hate cops. All of them. I don't think someone becomes a cop if they have a good heart.