SCREAMING EAGLE-66

--You (in the financial industry) just said what I have been saying..... removing all those controls etc. is the reason we are in this financial mess.... Thank You. After that greed from financial institutions and idiots taking those loans caused the problems. ..... none of which would have happened if Congress hadn't done what they did in the past 10 years. ---You are blaming the customer which is true --- but many in the public just aren't that bright when it comes to financial things. Mathematics of Finance is one of the courses I teach... it is amazing how little some really understand about it.... even some of my students who work for banks etc.

--Unfortunately the bad economic times that he left us aren't in the past. Personally I would like to ignor that too..... but that gorilla is still in the corner of the room and the person that helped put him there will be discussed.

---Not going to disagree... but one of the reasons it happened is that there were too many cases of school personel overdoing it and abusing the situation. It wasn't commonly done but a few bad apples messed it all up.... That and the fact that some parents think their kids are angels and should never be held accountable for their actions. ---As for parents, I have talked to too many of them that were so blind that could not see their kid was a total jerk and they then caused the school problems when the school tried to do anything about it. My personal best story on that was a Mom who kept telling me (and others) what a fine Christian boy she had and that we were just picking on him..... less than two years later he was locked up..... for vandalizing a church.. LOL.... He has made several more trips since. I wonder if she if remembered all those discussions with us and what we were telling her...

---Again you making things up.... I detest calling any of our leaders Marxists or even the opposite-- Facists. I just mentioned that to indicate business can't not be trusted to do what is best for everyone. ...of the same is true of government as well. ---I repeat this as well... countries that have the least government tend to be very corrupt and not anywhere most of us would want to live because of the extremes in wealth and poverty. Do not twist that to mean I want a USSR either where government controls everything... They are not a lot different that an absolute monarchy either.. one or a few run everything. ---Bush: Was the economy this bad when he took office..?? Even the Dow was several thousand better and the rate of unemployment was better as well. Just face the reality of the situation. I swear some would defend the fact their house burning down was would be a good thing... after they have less stuff to take care of. ...Crazy..

A few words... Enron... World-Com.... Madoff.... and Banks and financial institutions that made insane loans that required to be bailed out. Government is not all good but to completely trust business to take care of you and treat you fairly is even more insane. The lack of government controls contributed to this mess and even more so the crash of 1929. How was things during the later part of the 1800's when the robber-barons were in control of industry and railroads. We have so many government regulations because of what they did. The rich was super rich and those who worked for them worked in extremely unsafe conditions and often for terrible saleries.... I am sure you had to take some history to graduate. If we did what the conservations of their time wanted, slavery would still exist, you would have to be a land-owner to vote, be 21 to vote, women could not vote or hold office etc. Look at the countries with weak governments and you you see weak, corrupt countries with extreme wealth and poverty. . None in our government should be considered Marxist or Facist.... which are exact opposites. I hate to see people claim we are either. That is what listening to the extremes make some people into. Prior to all this talk radio etc. people were a lot more unified that now.... People of opposite parties were once friends but disgreed on some issues and were not so hateful....This was even true in the 60's and 70's.... which I lived through as an adult. Things were not even this bitter when Watergate appeared. Things began to change in the 80's when 24 hours news appeared as well as excessive talk radio/TV. ..........largely because of communication satilites became available.... put up by the greatest nation on earth... USA.. Rick please stop this this Marxist talk... you can disagree... but don't go that far... I love America.... and things will change.. it always has. I came from a home as a kid with no electricity, no gas, (thus no refridgerator, water heater, or radio), no indoor plumbing and TV didn't really exist or interstates (a governemnt project) , no free lunches for kids (they just went hungry, I was aware of some teachers buying some of them lunch) ---but despite what I said we were not exactly poor (owned farm/ranchland) .... we lived outside of town an those things just did not exist for us... the world and things change.... How has the world changed for me.. I will be in Europe and also Alaska before fall.... something that kid (me) never thought possible. I teach college classes. I doubt you were any of those things and have no idea what it is like to be there.... Just knock off calling any American politician a Marxist or Facist (Fascist governmets tend to be in partnerhsip with industry as Germany was in 1930's) ... You talk like someone who has never been in foreign countries or understand how different many of them are.... and some of them have a very good lifestyle..not just us...but some are very terrible and which ones are very obvious.... those are the ones wanting to come here. I have noticed we don't have an illegal alien problem from Germany, France, England, Holland, Sweden etc. and very few legal aliens from those countries other than ones sent here by their employers. Think about it.

---The Banks sure don't own him.... They are irate that he wants to get the "tax money back" that was used to bail them out.... instead of paying their execs large bonuses. --Sounds to me like he is trying to do the right thing. Banks and their lending practices are largely responsible for this mess anyway.

--You are pretty much right... don't expect ten cents from an Islamic country. We do more but we also we hear more about us because we are in America. The International Red Cross is based in Switzerland (note reversed flag). Many European ones will do a lot also, just not as much since they are smaller countries, and we will not hear much about it since we hear mostly our news. Because are so close, we will be the first people in. We also have more family connections to Haiti than they do.

--You are absolutely correct..... but we can't have it both ways... The last reduction in taxes was a large contributing factor in the debt doubling between 2000-2008. Meanwhile our expenses increased.... largely because we decided we 'Needed" to Invade Iraq and then rebuild their schools, hospitals, roads etc. plus our military expenses of just being there. What do you want... ?? Less taxes and more debt (which many complain about also ) ...or... we could cut expensives by leaving Iraq and Afghanistan immediately .... but even that would not be enough..... or raise taxes which which no one wants.. [Can't spend more than we take in forever].... Pick what you want to complain about..... The expenses including Iraq and the debt..... or the tax rate which is used to fund our military etc. .... they are related... ---A lot of our economic problems are due to the fact that people spent too much money...buying things they really could not afford... and banks making crazy loans to people who would be in trouble if the economy slipped some.... which is exactly what happened and always does to some extent... This time it was worse because so many people owed so much [especially real estate that they really did not need... vacation condos, huge homes, etc. ] largely due to crazy financial policies that was allowed after so many controls were taken off the financial community in recent years. These people are just trying to survive, pay debts down, and just are buying what they need now which hurts current sales. There are no easy answers to the stupid actions that occurred...individually or government-wise.. PS: How do you cut taxes and at the same time reduce the debt...?? Both now are a huge problem... As you said any extra money people have in their pocket due to a tax cut will just go to everyday expenses or pay debts or into savings .... and increase our government debt problem tdue to less money taken in. Unemployment greatly reduces what income tax will be paid and the 2008 drop in the DOW pretty much eliminates any income taxes from capitol gains as well (big contribitors to debt problem at the present) . This administration inherited a huge problem. ... good luck to them... we need to hope they have some success... to wish bad luck is wishing bad luck on America and just cutting off the nose to spite the face. Don't be just political... too much is at stake. Hope our government (and people) have learned.. when you have surpluses pay down debt...so when tough times come... things will not be so bad. Finally...good luck to Haiti... a poor ignorant country with even less luck.... hurricanes and an extremely high birth rate is bad enough and now this happens... Our situation is great compared to theirs.

----Collecting less taxes this way is a bad thing (we are not taking tax decreases, just decreased income) ...... it means people are making less money.... I would have thought you would have understood we are not talking about tax rate. ---You are right about a President not being a huge factor in improving or wrecking the economy but they are partially .... I was in person at a confernece last week and heard a Goldman Sachs VP mention that Congress taking off many of the controls (passed during during the 1930's) on the financial community and Wall Street was a big factor in the problems we now have....too many foolish loans and investments occured after that as a result. Which group was in power of Congress when they were taken off... you know. I would think he would know what he was talking out... a pretty reliable sourse. ---Additional.... You likely had your withholding adjusted up a bit this year.... It does not mean you had a tax increase but instead you are prepaying more of your tax bill ...so when settle up time come next April (2011) you will owe less or else get more back than you would have otherwise. [ similiar idea to a larger down payment on an item...you owe less later ] . During the last decade withholding was dropped at times but the end tax bill for most people wasn't ...despite what some thought had happened. Nice way to make people think they got a cut when they didn't.

--WOW and I am even known as Mr. T. ......gotta go.... however I had that name prior to the series starting... (My name is not a simple last name for students) I wonder if he will still be wearing all of the jewelry...

Nope... Everyone knows who was President when this economic mess started... It will be expensive to recover from it plus after the 5000+ DOW drop, the capitol gains are now nearly non-existant on tax forms which mean a lot less taxes will be collected as well... plus we have more un-employment expenses now as a result.... By collecting less taxes and having more expensives --- of course the debt will rise... We all know when this started...

--Give it up.... He had half-crazy Christian minister and you complained about that too. PS: The Puritans did not celebrate Christmas or Easter but some here keep about pounding keeping the traditions of our forefathers. They also burned people at the stake for not believing as they did. I am very much a Christian but what you think was true is often a myth. The Southern Christians had no problem with owning slaves either. Muslims hate airplanes ????? Seems like some of them love to use them as weapons.

---The Liberals (or the one you call Liberals) aren't as Liberal as you try to label them.... just as the Conservatives weren't that Conservative [note the debt doubled between 2000-08... that is not being conservtive ]

---It seems that we have played against a team in the championship game or have the defending Champion on our schedule every year. UT, OU, LSU Alabama, etc. ---About the only Champions we have missed in the past ten years is Florida and USC and even then we often had the team they played on our schedule. We must inspire them... -- Article in local (Midland) paper yesterday had several quotes by Todd Dodge about the game... He had played at UT and the Alabama QB was one of his from Southlake Carrol plus we had played Alabama this year and even UNT had played against many of the UT players.

--- Some coaches just don't get it... they rather keep the starters in and run up the score. Unfortunately it partially happens in colleges because the champion is decided mostly by a vote and "stomps" impress voters.... It is completely unforgivable in high schools an even the NFL since voting means nothing and the champion is entirely decided on the basis of wins... and not score. They (especially HS and colleges ) often pay for it in the case of injuries when the starters are no longer available also the following year with having only inexperienced players to play.. --- Some are pursuing record stats at the cost the future of their program......dumb. Just get the win by two-three touchdowns and walk away. also by doing this they are decreasing the risk of injuries or have their team just being beat up physically. --- Also unfortunately alums etc. get upset if their team doesn't meet the gambling line. That can get coaches fired at large programs if it happen too much... even if they are winning a great deal. .

--Craig James is such honorable person.... He has managed to contribute to the destruction of two college football programs... $$$

---Wow... what a hi-jack.... I suppose if you want to hear the truth about UT football absolutely listen to a radio station from Austin... they are absolutely neutral right..?? They will tell you all of the good things but somehow forget to mention the negatives.. and will trash their opponent.. You will not exactly get the WHOLE truth. The same is true with politics... but you are a UNT grad and intelligent so you know that.....right...? Always listen to different sourses if you realy want to know the truth. I believe conservative radio kept claiming how conservative our former President was....meanwhile he was doubling the national debt ..ie. outspending his budget more than the previous 42 presidents combined..... what was the truth there..?? (conservative??) .. No I am not a liberal as you think I am... I am very conservative... I hated his taking us into debt more than we already were and attacking Iraq with little or no justification...no other President had. I still haven't figured out what was conservative about him... being Christian doesn't mean that... liberals go to church too. I am liberal about that deal... go to any church you want to... you don't have to go to just mine ( but I just hope you go somewhere) .. PS: the prior President (42) of the "free-spending party" increased the debt by less than 2% per year. You need to read/listen to multiple sources to learn that. Feel free to check that info.. it is correct.

FUI was 3-10 with wins over such "powerhouses of Florida Memorial, Florida A&M, and North Carolina Central... We lost to them by 70-80.... matching their largest margin of victory this year...... awful.. Merry Christmas...

PI ....would be a good name instead of pie.... we tend to go round and round on some issues.

---Romo in the past four games has thrown 148 passes... completed 100... for 1262 yards (315 per game) ...0 ints... .... and 8 TDs.... and the last three were the Giants 17-24, San Diego 17-20, and New Orleans 24-17.... all pretty good teams. New Orleans must be awful... they lost to the lowly Cowboys.

---Those Tiers are a joke.... The think the main requirement is to be close to NYC, the media centre....[ and have employees from those places] Besides overall evaluations are odd anyway... There are departments at every school that are not all that great and a lot of schools have departments that are very recognized and sucessful. Our alums own more Grammies than any other college for example. The worst example I can think of is they once rated Princeton??? as having a highly ranked law school... the problem... they didn't have one at that time (they do now) .... they only had a good pre-law program.

-- Rush don't believe in the conservative idea of minding his own business but instead the liberal idea of he knows best and wants to run yours. ..LOL..

---I am all here.. and have been a long time.. and have seen a lot of things including being draft bait for Viet Nam. maybe you have not lived long enough to really understand how bad things are compared to the past. . --- No President since FDR has inherited anything close to a situation that Obama recieved from the Bush administration... You should know that and seem to ignor it. It will not be not easily corrected and will not be a lot better for quite some time... . Also the Gov. now collects less income tax because of the 2008 Dow drop(less capital gains in fact most are declaring losses), and unemployment (they don't pay taxesbut collect government benefits) but expenses have increased... How in the Hell did the Bush era double the national debt while he was claiming the economy was so good. ??? Face reality.. --Don't say Iraq ---which had no WMD as claimed or did any terrorist acts to us or Europe ... We started it (not connected to 9-11 , Bush admits it)....plus in in the past we fought a very expensive WWII. many times more expensive to what Iraq costs and the economy did not fail. . --I am you are all there but just don't understand how bad the situation is compared to the past. [ I won't insult you as you did me ] Unemployment is now the highest since 1984 (Reagan era) and when banks were failing left and right but still over-all things are worse now..... the stock market and economy in general was not as bad as Bush left us. **** some people still thinks a team that wins 1-2 games is great **** They refuse to face reality either.

---Lots of bad and incorrect info out there... Having said that they should go very slow and make sure anything passed makes sense or not pass anything. It will next to impossible to correct if passed. If most health insurance companies weren't such slime balls... this would not even be being discussed. They have been "asking for it". --To say all Dems support it is wrong... check your facts. If so it could have been passed months ago, they now control both houses, and the White because of what happened to our economy and SEVEN years of war the GOP left us. [WWII only lasted 4 years for the USA] The GOP would still be in office if they had done better and not doubled the national debt besides. Which group has been the financial liberals.??? Now increasing the debt is hard not to do... since there less income tax collected (less capital gains now because of the 5000 DOW drop in 2008) , more unemployment benefits etc., and more war expense in Afghanistan because the last group did not take care of business in the past eight years.. Plus we started the Iraq war..not Iraq. --No President since FDR has inherited a worse situation. It will not be corrected quickly.

---Kram you get it (also others) .... some here belong in the Puritan movement and are making irrational conclusions. . I did not know what you said about official waitress "behavior" changing but had noticed it is different than my first visit near Houston about 15 years ago. I had just suspected it was just the location. --- Knowing these "puritan" people exist..... makes her decision a poor one. [ They seem to think Hooters is a strip joint ]