phishtaper

for those of us who have actually had family members die a terribly painful and inhumane death due to cancer, we dont necessarily need to always be reminded of that. sometimes levity isn't all that wrong.

ok fowl, for the sake of discussion, let's accept your premise that the private banking sector is bad. i'm certain we all understand your point quite clearly now. no sense in beating this dead horse further. let's move on. again, I ask, what do you propose we do about it? 1) how will you get rid of it and more importantly 2) what should replace the lending service that it provides the economy. surely you are not suggesting that private banks be restricted to lending only the value of their assets (which should be noted are actually our assets). by your estimate, this would reduce the total amount of lending ten-fold. should therefore there be ten times the number of banks, each lending only their value in assets? or, are you suggesting that some other entity begin lending? or, perhaps nobody should ever be allowed to borrow? identifying a problem is only the first (and arguably, easiest) step. now, you must provide us with a possible solution.

totally with you on this one!!

this would be a great slogan

im going to assume that the requirement to contemplate carefully applies only to Tom, and just jump in and ask my naive questions, Fowl. ok, so the private banking sector is wrong. let's get rid of it. but, 1) how? and 2) what should replace the service that it does provide?

oh no. really?

altfestivaltease!

as repulsive as making out with whoopie goldberg?

epidural anyone?

you had books? lucky. we had to share blood stained parchment.

dont assume it was because of this. could just be a daily self-reflection.

i repeat ... FAWK!!!

isn't George Clooney gay?

fwiw, Lake Geneva is the Muskoka of Chicago. it's the home of the original Playboy mansion / resort - now called the Grand Geneva Resort. it's a stunning place - designed by students of Frank Lloyd Wright (based on his drawings). we went to a wedding there a few years ago. i never played D&D.

another dreadful drive into work today. ok, which one of you has pissed off god?!

is this true? or, have I just eagerly eaten up a big plate of gullible?

hey, there seem to be a lot of scots here. (perhaps we could unite and take over.) my mom also served boiled lima beans when i was a kiddie - sadly, they were my exotic. friday nights were burger nights. 52 weeks a year. i quite liked fridays, specially in the summer. wasnt there some deal about eating meat on friday because of some religion or something? or, eating fish on fridays?

hmmmmmm, wont that dramatically lower the average cool quotient?

what makes you green-thinking, jaimoe. im genuinely curious. have you signed on to bullfrog (although, for the life of me, I still have no idea how they get frogs to stay on those little spinning treadmills)? do you drive an electric car? replaced all lightbulbs with flourescent (or, is that even "green")? only wash in cold water? eschewed styro containers and always carry your own coffee mug? etc. i dont intend this as a critique of you personally, im just curious about the common mindset that you are implying here that unless something is 110% green, it's simply not good enough.

Gateaux, your avatar always makes me laugh!

ok, who's up for a little camping?

no insight here either, but i'd like to inject a brief musical interlude ... Let me tell you how it will be There's one for you, nineteen for me Cos I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

i must admit, ive never heard anyone claim baklava as jewish next you'll be telling me that borscht is chinese lol

informative post, Tom. and interesting posts from everyone else too. i must admit that although I work with a lot of (Health) Economists, Ive never understood the stuff.

sad