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AJ's point is pretty valid..........

So what magically happens to a legal immigrant the day he or she naturalizes, that would tell these so-called "well trained professionals" (the po-po) that he is now an American and not an alien?
Does his diсk grow an inch?

You are required to identify yourself, but not carry identification.

So, what you're saying is that you're a savvy market timer who was able -twice- to duck out of the way before the sh!t hit the fan. Congratulations. Unfortunately, most of us are not that good at timing the markets and I put myself in that category. Most of us either directly or indirectly (through pension funds or college savings plans etc.) are passively long in the equity markets and passively long in the housing market. Also, all of us, even you, as taxpayers, have a vested interest in not allowing the nefarious shysters to break the system so that we (via our taxes) are required to provide the ultimate backstop. That hurts, and it's really not fun.
So regardless of your own ability to duck out of the way, surely you see the logic of preventing the worst excesses of bubbles from accumulating. To Steven's question - if the incentives for malfeasance are strong (bonuses out of whack with performance) we're just looking for these excesses to occur again. It's just human nature. I don't really fault people for looking out for themselves, that's only natural. What we need are safeguards to ensure that the system can't be sunk entirely because of such incentives. We need to ensure that the prosperity of the communal (love that communism!!) isn't sacrificed to prosperity of the individual. Certainly the Magnetar situation makes one think that the incentive/reward structure was all wrong.
As to Goldman - if what they did was within the letter and spirit of the law, I agree with you and have no problem with what they did. But if they deliberately and materially misrepresented the structure and composition and risk of the CDOs they sold - then shame on them, and they should get burned. The trial will hing on that - was it deliberate and material misrepresentation.

Q: Why did New Jersey end up with the most toxic waste dumps per capita in the US, while California ended up with the most lawyers per capita?
A: New Jersey had first choice.

In my first year as a high school teacher, FB wasn't popular yet. Filipinos were at Friendster. My students would add me to their list of friends. I forgot to delete a photo showing me bare from waist up. They were talking about that photo the next day. I removed it. I was glad the principal or administrators didn't hear about that.

My sister-in-law and her family are living in Secaucus. I'm sure her two-year-old daughter is way smarter than you are. You always make overgeneralizations.

I am not a Fox style revisionist. But the events of autumn 2001 remain seared in my memory, as they should be for all of us.
I did not vote for Bush in either 2000 or 2004. I think his Administration was a very poor one in most areas of domestic and foreign policy. I am by no means a fan.
But I do think he was 100% correct to have given the Taliban (at that time the de facto government of Afghanistan) an ultimatum to hand over al Quaida or face the consequences. They did not. We took the fight to them, entirely justifiably. From that moment, and even previously when they allowed al Quaida to train and plan and conspire to launch the Sept 11 attacks, they made it crystal clear that they were allied with the terrorists and in fact were indistinguishable from the al Quaida terrorists.
I think Bush's war in Iraq, in hindsight, was a tragic mistake. I do not think that at all regarding the war in Afghanistan.

Aussies are the most clueless group ever to walk the earth.

Have you guys heard the video's released today? He sounds an awful lot like a handful of anti government people you here speak today.

Indeed. Finish the bastards off and show them no mercy.

GFY, Kathy.

I don't have problems with Filipinos being hired in Filipino supermarkets. I used to detest using Filipino, our national language, when I was in the PH [i love my native tongue Cebuano-Visayan] but whenever my husband and I go to Seafood City, I speak to the service crew in Filipino and it feels positively different. Moreover, Filipinos are more familiar with Philippine goods and products. For example, I may not find tamarind for my sinigang. It can be easier to ask a fellow Filipino for a tamarind substitute rather than face a clueless "white" who hasn't even known what sinigang is.

It's not even just about gays/lesbians! What about heterosexual life partners who choose not to marry for whatever reason? Do these people really prefer to have hospital policies tell them who they can see? Is it really just that they hate the gheys THAT much? Because otherwise I can't see why anyone would be against this.

Why is that an issue at all? It's not like gays and lesbians come from outer space.

Agree 87% 323647
Disagree 13% 50118
I mean really?
Who in the hell is against loved ones being able to have hospital visitation for someone who is ill or had surgery.
That's quite pathetic.

GFY, Kathy.

CNN's Rick Sanchez Bullying a Scientist and asking what 9 meters "in English" is

It is a reference to Bugs Bunny.

You miss my point, and the point in the OP.
The US economy is the largest in the world. To take this economy from -6.4% growth in Q1 to +5.9% growth in Q4 is astounding. Regardless of the levers and incentives (or smoke and mirrors) the policy wonks used to engineer the result. The mere fact that the US economy is vibrant and dynamic enough, despite its vast size, to go through such a wide swing so quickly is a testament to the culture of American business and industry and labor -- irrespective of our government.

You must live in small town America and came from Sydney. More restaurant choices in larger cities.

In your narrowly defined religious view it is.

yup, buying a used mattress is disgusting and filthy

:\ someone gave a plus for my previous post?

I just peeked at trulia for my old FL zipcode. single family homes for 1000 + sq feet resale homes (no new construction) yeilded 6 pages. Foreclosures for the same permeters yeilded 14 pages.