And on a lighter note, I think I found a Christmas present for my brother, who is even more conservative than I am:

http://us.st12.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.c...s_2022_6653055

I agree!

Margret Thatcher put a STOP to all the gov't bailing out nonsense in England 30 years ago, and let the private sector dictate. If you're broke, someone is rich enough to come and buy you up at a fair market price. I believe england is still benifiting from her "reign" of power.

I am a libertarian, and you are right, we have not gotten a big enough hold, but like aliadam, I feel as though I am wasting a vote...

__________________
married 8 years to a crazy Brit, mommy to a banana, she is 4 and a pineapple who is 1 year, mommy to 3 ~angel~ babies

LOVE the mug!! I know some people that would get a kick out of that too!!

__________________

Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending - New York Times

copy and paste that link...it links you to an article written in 1999 for the NY Times...I think it clearly lays the blame at the responsible party's feet

Interesting article. Thanks.

I think we are all to blame in some respect.......bigger houses, cars, you name it. Keep up with the Joneses.

Legislatively, this all started during the Carter Admin and then Clinton deregulated a lot. Many people have seen the writing on the wall for decades! Bush even tried to pass some regulation, but the Dems stopped it. Check out the facts. There are many YouTube videos that you can watch.

I appreciate these newsletters and forums where people can learn to be frugal and live within there means. More doesn't necessarily mean better!

God gives us everything we need.

The blame is VERY multifactorial! It is very easy to blame it on bush....if that is the case...I would start the blame back in the Clinton administration. Honestly I blame many of the Wallstreet folks in big positions that have lied and have been very greedy. I also blame many average citizens for spending more than they could afford....lets face it ...WE should know what we can afford! Our government can take part of the blame...but really hind sight is 20/20 and were and are in a time of war!!!! the safety of our country was Bush's priority. Now that said....I am honestly not sticking up for Bush but I am sure as Americans we really only know what the media tells us so we only have 1/2 the picture most of the time. Saying Bush is responsible is just too easy and simplistic and simply is not true! That would be like saying Cliniton was responsible for the great economy of his term...he lucked out with the internet boom as well as the free credit that started this whole turmoil....things were good back then...no real fear of getting terrorized....lots of speading of money we didn't have! No regulation on Wallstreet! Hense the big economic boom....Hense our situation we are in today! It is soooo complex...no one person of entity can be to blame....BUT I can say this....we all are going to be effected in some way or another! WE really have to look at who we vote for in this election carefully....remembering that our congress is just as important. WE as people need to write more letters to our congress and let them know what we want...businesses are great about that! Ok....I am done!

Many have done more than Mr Keith(Mr Hope springs to mind). It's great that he's going over there to entertain them since he cheerleaded to put them there to begin with and did his best to stifle any discussion from those who didn't think Iraq was a good idea. I also believe that "support" doesn't necessarily have to mean going over there to entertain but can mean working here to get them home.


It's great that he admits that he may have been mistaken and who knows how Iraq will turn out NOW. It would have been better if he had supported the American tradition of allowing discussion and dissent which is what soldiers put thier lives on the line to begin with(and yes, I wore a uniform for 12 years so I speak from experience).

OMG...each candidate should have this cup during a debate!

__________________
Make someone's heart smile today.

I don't think this is governments fault. In my opinion the financial melt-down is a market problem, both with the consumers and the lenders.

People were buying bigger, more expensive houses than they could afford and then walking away from them when they couldn't pay their mortgages.

Originating banks were purposely deteriorating their underwriting standards to make money off of mortgage-backed securities.

Investment banks were purposely defauding investors by rating these mortgage-backed securities higer than they were (giving them triple-A ratings even when the investment banks and others in the financial world knew something was wrong).

Greedy people put us in this mess, not government. Greedy people who wanted more than they could afford and greedy financiers who wanted to make lots and lots and lots of quick money.