As Mr Burns said "we don't call it a meltdown, it's a unrequested fission surplus".

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

As I remember, Bart Simpson said, "Rub-a-dub-dub thanks for the grub"
sigh and Smithers tried to seduce Mr. Burns, not Homer.
Get your Simpson's info straight you idiots!


I think he also said "we paid for this, so thanks for nothing" (paraphrased). It was in the episode where Burns runs for governor.

Anyway, Bart was right

As I remember, Bart Simpson said, "Rub-a-dub-dub thanks for the grub"

*sigh* and Smithers tried to seduce Mr. Burns, not Homer.

Get your Simpson's info straight you idiots!

He's as ancient and out of touch as Mr.Burns.

You can look at it any way you want. I'm considered "middle-class" by all terms. I have super cheap rent in one of the most expensive places in the US, that is of my own accord. But I sure as hell can't afford anything. I take public transit, ride my bike, I still eat the best organics in the nation and have the best friends I could have ever met.

I've had many jobs where I've done the work of the higher-ups and seen what they do while making 5X the amount of money I do. I know they know they're lucky, but, I've also seen how they choose to make financial decisions for their own gain - one of those being getting others to do their work for them. Corrupt fucks.

One of my main influences for being more "socially" inclined was my father. A CEO, he wasn't a scumbag or anything - at least not to my knowledge (he did help build prisons) but just the thought of people putting profit before their own lives & family is sickening.

To his credit, he grew up in Philly with a mother who lost her husband (an olympic athelete) early on. She grew up during the depression and only had a 4th grade education. She was one of those cuties that saved huge tin foil balls. I know my father worked hard and felt obligated to but I think and will always think he cared too much about making profit.

He still touts that. Now that I am nearly an old man he admitted while we sipped on some bourbon and smoked a cigar that, "All I ever wanted was to make money." My reply was "yeah." I looked him in his empty eyes and saw a robot. Sure he has a super nice house on a lake system, an amazing wife, nice cars, a speed boat, a golf course... hardly any friends, kids that don't appreciate him... but he has shitloads of money. Good for him! That's amazing. Money really informs people what life is truly about, keeps people focused on what is really important. Paying your taxes, keeping your yard and hair well groomed, going to stiff social events and working. Man, that is just not a life worth living in my opinion.

On the opposite side of the spectrum their are jobs where everyone is paid nearly the same, they buy into their businesses and co-own their businesses and everyone comes out a winner with 30k+ bonuses at the end of the year. The only people that may not think they're winners are people that are greedy fucks that require too much. But, at the same time these people are able to live regular lives that promote interaction, activity & family. Not that I believe in having a family, but when you do not have to take your bullshit job home with you or work many many extra hours the better it is for everyone.

>> ^quantumushroom:

You fellows are buying into something you don't seem to have thought all the way through. If you spread all wealth equally across the board, in a month things would look about the same as they do now, as foolhardy choices were made and the inexperienced gambled their "profits" away.
Communism attempted to eliminate the profit motive. It's been a disaster everywhere it's been tried.
Socialist countries are not only less competitive than capitalist ones, many of them across Europe are now in serious trouble.
You do know most of the American "poor" are well fed, own their own homes, have two vehicles, 3 TVs, cable, computers, appliances, etc?
One other thing. I do not believe for one second that if any of you "revolutionaries" won the lottery, you wouldn't immediately put together a legal team to rival Mr. Burns' on The Simpsons and proceed to exploit every tax shelter and loophole possible.

You fellows are buying into something you don't seem to have thought all the way through. If you spread all wealth equally across the board, in a month things would look about the same as they do now, as foolhardy choices were made and the inexperienced gambled their "profits" away.

Communism attempted to eliminate the profit motive. It's been a disaster everywhere it's been tried.

Socialist countries are not only less competitive than capitalist ones, many of them across Europe are now in serious trouble.

You do know most of the American "poor" are well fed, own their own homes, have two vehicles, 3 TVs, cable, computers, appliances, etc?

One other thing. I do not believe for one second that if any of you "revolutionaries" won the lottery, you wouldn't immediately put together a legal team to rival Mr. Burns' on The Simpsons and proceed to exploit every tax shelter and loophole possible.

>> ^Stingray:

dead


Fixed and thanks.

Wait...that was MR BURNS? HE LOOKS TOTALLY DIFFERENT!

Your video, Mr. Burns uses a fool-proof disguise to recover lost money, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

>> ^Spoon_Gouge:

It sounds more like Mr. Burns from the Simpsons...


Actually, it sounded like a cross between Mr. Burns and Ahnold.

It sounds more like Mr. Burns from the Simpsons...

>> ^dag:
I've often thought that the custom of men letting a woman go first was just a chance to look at her ass.


I actually heard a great theory on why you open the door and let women go first through them:

It goes back to medieval or even pre-medieval eras when women were worth less than men and more expendable as you could go and get another one (marriage is a new thing and so is marriage for love, arranged marriages were the norm). The way it works is that you let the female exit first and if someone is waiting outside of the house for the master of the house they would instead kill the female and the male can get his weapons and get revenge. Houses, and people, were smaller back then so it would not be uncommon for people to stand on the roof over the door and simply stab the first person going out and then the male in the house could stab them back through the roof... Revenge has been served.

Another fine, alleged, custom in the old norse countries were to block the doors, at night, of the house with the people you want to kill/get revenge on and simply set the house on fire and if the residents could not get out and fight you, i.e. die in battle as you have armour and weapons and they don't, they were refused entrance to Valhalla... smoke poisoning and third degree burns make you a much better fighter... ahh, the good old chivalrous days

Also think about booby traps... they trigger them... you have a greater chance of survival... eeeexcellent as Mr.Burns would say

Fixed and thanks.

In reply to this comment by ReverendTed:
Fox'd!

Fox'd!

Why do you reject government interference in the marketplace yet accept the market distorting charter of preferential protections to corporations, particularly with regard to political influence?

Companies are not elected officials and have no moral imperative to behave as stewards of the public good. Politicians are elected by constituents with the specific charge to be responsible for protecting the public and therefore they bear the greater onus. There is also a thing called the First Ammendment which allows everyone (paupers to bazillionaires) the right to petition. You do not make a compelling case to regulate company lobbyists. However, you DO make a good case for putting unbreakable, strangling limits on what GOVERNMENT is and isn't allowed to do.

They control you at every turn, through lobbying, wages, and market manipulation. Don't kid yourself.

No - they don't. I'm an individual who is in charge of my own destiny. Going around life with the attitude that happiness/future/destiny is not in your own direct control is to live in fetters of your own forging. Such an attitude is one of the most poisonous products of left-wing ideology. It blames all your problems on someone else and never even tries to grasp at human potential. It is loathesome.

You'd be able to afford it if you weren't getting gouged on the interest payments for the debt you needed to accumulate during hard times.

There is never a time you 'need' credit card debt. If the terms of a loan are unacceptable then do not borrow the money. Credit statistics in the US prove conclusively that the vast majority of debt purchases in the US are on luxuries (cars, major appliances, entertainment, fast food). it is not "needed debt during the hard times". It is "excess debt during the GOOD times". Stupid debt spending inevitably results in bringing the 'hard times' on yourself eventually.

The FDIC should hire her to enforce the Truth in Lending laws.

I've discussed this above. The law could force all loan officers to wear Devil costumes and talk in "Mr. Burns" voices... Laws could make loan papers have Biohazard, Nuclear, Viral, and Poison symbols in huge flashing neon on every page.... Laws could force you to sign with a pen covered with used hypordermic needles, wasps, scorpions, and flaming dog poo. Laws could require the Lost In Space robot to dash into the room, scratching a chalkboard, blasting a hockey horn, yelling "Warning! Warning! Debt is dangerous! Do not do it! Think of the children!"

It wouldn't matter diddly-squat. This is not a question of ignorance. No one goes into debt 'not knowing' they will have interest or that they will have fees & charges if they fall arrears.