[geeks] [rescue] E250 temperatures

[Mike Meredith]

On Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:56:26 -0500 (CDT), Lionel Peterson wrote:
> >I am amazed that for all the supposed "recession" we are in, that
> >the mall parking lot is always so full, even on say, Wednesday at
> >1:30PM.

It isn't unknown for people to wander around malls just looking.

> >Either Lancaster, PA is some special case, or things are not quite
> >as bad as al-Reuters would have us believe.

It's in the media's interest to make things sound worse than they are.
A run on a bank (the Northern Rock) is far more news-worthy than a bank
who relies on intra-bank loans for the liquidity to provide mortgages.
Without that media-fueled run, NR would have merely found it difficult
to fund new mortgages; existing ones would have been ok. Depositors
would have been ok.

> I am *constantly* amazed when you see poorly educated, blue-collar
> workers on the news complaining how they are losing their home - a

The key there is 'poorly educated' and of course the media won't
interview the ones who don't make a big noise about their situation. 

Mind you the banks deserve a fair chunk of the blame for taking on such
high-risk loans. 

> Everybody does *not* deserve a house - everyone deserves the chance
> to own a house anywhere they like, assuming they can *afford* it.

Except that if a society can't house families it's a pretty piss-poor
kind of society. Not give them a home they own; just a roof over their
heads. 

> Back to the original topic, if you ask most people, you find that
> *they* are doing OK, but they are concerned about *everyone else*,
> based on what they see on the news/read in the paper.

Even the banks (globally) aren't doing too badly. Most of the troubles
are simply down to lack of confidence and thus not providing each other
with a source of credit. 


-- 
Mike Meredith (http://zonky.org/)
  A: Because top quoting results in an unnatural ordering of text.
  Q: Why is top quoting (adding your reply at the top) bad ?