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To: ChanceIs who wrote (224723)	10/14/2009 9:22:24 AM
From: Reilly Diefenbach	Respond to of 306849

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER Two Different Versions! Two Different Morals! OLD VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold. MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself! MODERN VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving. CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so? Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.' Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, 'We shall overcome.' Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake. Nancy Pelosi & John Kerry exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share. Finally, Congress drafts and passes the Grasshopper Protection and Economic Equity Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government. The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it. The ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood. MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2010!

To: ChanceIs who wrote (224723)	10/14/2009 9:58:58 AM
From: Skeeter Bug	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

>>That is certainly true. And what a shame it is we only hear empty talk about reforms but no bankers being thrown in jail. It is clear in my mind that we can save a bank w/o saving its senior management.<< we can save america without saving the banks' gambling losses, too. the money given to government sachs basically went into 1Q's worth of bonuses. well, the above board money - who know how many trillions they got behind the scenes. >>As far as individuals taking out loans they can't afford, all I can say .... "is how many noses do I have to wipe?" Is there no individual responsibility anymore?? I am paying for public schools, are the students learning nothing??<< what about the bankers that knew these people couldn't afford the loan, made them anyway and then conspired to get their rating vastly inflated and sell them on the open market? i always wondered why they never taught personal finance in public school - the bankers get rich off of stupid consumers. >>This all reminds me of Jon Krakauer's book..."Into Thin Air" ... about climbing Mt Everest. He was an experienced climber. It had become fashionable for amateurs to get their kicks by being taken up the mountain, and profitable guides to take the couch potatoes to the top. It they don't make it... "summit" ... then the guide doesn't get a good reputation. So there Krakauer stands at base camp, and one of the newbies from a different group comes over to him with a box under his arm. Krakauer says, "What's in the box." The tourist says.."My new climbing boots." Krakauer says.."Ever worn em before." Tourist says.."No, opening the box for the first time." Krakauer thinks..."F&%k. We are leaving for the summit tomorrow. There will be a complete idiot and fool on the mountain and odds are greater than 50% that I am going to have to carry his sorry, half-dead ass down .... if he doesn't somehow manage to kill me in the process" I think he tried to get his group up the mountain before the idiot's group. There was some sort of weather delay and they ended going up the same day. A couple tourists died along with a few of the guides. Great book. If I didn't make my point, I have no desire to be on the mountain (in an economy) with a bunch of incompetent climbers with never broken in boots (ignorant beyond words homebuyers) so that they can get their summit trophy (McMansion) and the guides (banksters and politicians) can get rich helping the people kill themselves so I can get killed with them or carry the bodies down the hill (pay 80% of my income for the rest of my life in taxes).<< it's even worse - once you hit the summit the guides pull out their hunting knife and fillet you.