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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bill who wrote (1200)	7/19/1999 5:28:00 PM
From: j g cordes	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

If I rob a bank, and I don't get caught, did I rob the bank? Gee Bill, what do you think? Lets say for agrument's sake.. technically no, because its never on your record, there's no evidence that you took anything and after a time even you forgot it happened that way... in fact you come to believe you earned it. Eventually you confess your dark secret to a Priest who absolves you of your sin after contributing a portion to the confessional fund. Lets say for argument, yes. You know in your heart you took money that belonged to the bank and feel guilty to your last breath, even though you use the money to produce a lifetime of good deeds including discovering a cure for the cancer which afflicts your daughter and a thousand other children who would have died. In the end you find the money you stole was itself stolen from the poorest citizens in your town whose property was squeezed by the bank which you then restored to the proper owners. Was the bank robbed? Or perhaps the bank was an outstanding member of the community and you were the slickest of the slickest financial tricksters who ever lived. You cause the bank to suffer a huge loss through a cram down which the bank either accepts or goes out of business over. You've robbed the bank just as much as any gunman at the window, but you ride out of town free to live in Beverly Hills as the town goes bankrupt from its losses. Was the bank robbed? Or perhaps its the heyday of the resolution trust bailout.. you, in the cause of extreme greed have recklessly lent money to friends real estate projects that failed. You knew the projects were no good but rationalized every step with perfect legal and political safety, even the President of the country was a golfing buddy. The US tax payer eventually bailed out your bank, you get a raise and while celebrating with champaign a poor desperate family man with a Jerry Falwell T-shirt bursts in and steals your wallet. Was the bank robbed?