And they still deny the term "recession."

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DIY 3 gallon DWC bubbler tutorial - Diggitydank's 2nd DWC grow

To name a few companies...

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Wow, that picture brings up memories... the same one was going around after the Enron deal.

Yeah, but if you'd invested that money in $1000 worth of pot, you'd now be out *and* you'd also be down $2000 worth of munchies. Like Monty Python said, "Always look on the bright side of life..."

pls try to cover up your excitment over the hardship our families are enduring.

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u shouldn't disrespect these good ppl by saying they're happy

Uhhh, Big P, it was your jolly good friends, The Republicans, that caused this debacle, I'm not saying the dems weren't a bit complicit, but in general it was the repuke no regulation bimbos that caused it.

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No, it was faulty Regulations that caused it.

Mandating "Affordable" Housing.

Hey, Med, if you didn't have a house right now, could you afford to purchase a house, even at a low 5.24% rate, or a 5.74% rate?

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Libertas inaestimabilis res est - Liberty is a thing beyond all price. | Sic Semper Tyrannis

They didn't mandate giving mortgages to those who couldn't afford it though. That was the banks' call there. They did it because they could simply package the mortgage into securities so complex you MIGHT be able to understand them with a PhD in pure math (but probably not), then sold them to sucke...er, investors.

So, the banks thought they could not lose, no matter WHO they gave mortgages to, because they only kept the mortgages a very short period of time, then foisted them off on others, who didn't really comprehend what they were buying, or its value.

The reason for the massive collapse though, was over-leveraging combined with a down market. High leverage levels are GREAT when the market goes up, but totally devastating when the markets take a dump. Very high-risk to allow the amount of leveraging that we allowed.

You know whose banks are doing pretty well? Canada's! That's because they had tight regulations in place to prevent banks from over-leveraging themselves. Their conservatives were just about to relax those regulations and allow greater leveraging...and then the markets tanked. I bet they're thanking their lucky stars right about now that they didn't let the conservatives in their government relax their regulations, or they'd now be as fucked as we are. If you're looking for a safe bank to stash some money, look north.

Actually the banks I'm worried about are the one and only National City (its experience in corrupt CEOs stretches back to the Great Depression, and if it wouldn't be such a pain in the ass, I'd probably terminate my business with it.)

and WesternBank Puerto Rico, in which I have a $1,000 dollar stake which has been chopped down to being less than $500 (I think it might be lower than $400 now.)

By WHI's problem is more a matter of one really bad loan (Inyx) than being entangled in the Sub Prime crisis.

I just wish it would hurry up and finish restating its books, because this is getting old, but its still paying a decent dividend, so ... I'm content to watch and see.

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Libertas inaestimabilis res est - Liberty is a thing beyond all price. | Sic Semper Tyrannis