A story about a 1% banker........

I can't be the only thirty something (alright almost forty something) on this board who grew up idolizing Alex P Keaton and his capitalist ways. Any others?

No, I just thought he was dishy. My parents would've whooped my butt if I came home with a Richard Nixon lunchbox.

Woebeit for me if I were to defend the financial peeps, but the genesis for this whole mess was the "too big to fail" financial institutions in cahoots with the Federal government, including but not limited to the regulators, the office of the President, and especially Congress for setting it all up.

So, ridiculing the financial types is casting too small a net. Plus, no need to make up fake stuff, there's plenty of facts to hang them with already.

The genesis of the mess was Wall Streets LACK of cahoots with the Federal government. The finance sector used Pauson, Geithner etc to keep regulatory oversight out of wall street, and then gambled all our money away on derivatives. There is nothing wrong with derivatives per se, the problems is the complete lack of transparency on derivative trading which meant that once all the banks were interconnected to the point that one failure could bring them all down, no one knew about it except the banks themselves. How can you make educated investing decisions when you don't even know what they are doing with your money?!

This is the one thing that scares me about voting for a guy like Ron Paul...even though I agree with a lot of his philosophies, I completely disagree with doing away with regulatory oversight of the financial sector, the environment etc. Those scum bags have shown what they will do with a long leash, and it wasn't pretty.

As for the bailouts...its a tough call. In the long term it probably would have been better to let them fail. The worst part is nothing changed about the way the financial sector is operating, which is frightening. However not bailing them out would have made it a very tough few years for a lot of americans while everything adjusted.

[Robin Garr]

However not bailing them out would have made it a very tough few years for a lot of americans while everything adjusted.

And - not meant as snark - one's position on this alternative pretty much marks the difference between liberals (try to minimize harm to the people) and conservatives (let the invisible hand of the market sort it out).

Plus, no need to make up fake stuff, there's plenty of facts to hang them with already.

Exactly my point on the fake restaurant tip deal!

By making stuff up, one is hurting the cause (regardless of whether the cause is liberal, conservative, or just plain nutso).

Before I cast aspersions on the banking sector or the federal bureaucracy I need to know if this was a chain or independent restaurant, their policy on children, and do they use "local" ingredients.

Before I cast aspersions on the banking sector or the federal bureaucracy I need to know if this was a chain or independent restaurant, their policy on children, and do they use "local" ingredients.

"Four legs good, two legs bad."

Before I cast aspersions on the banking sector or the federal bureaucracy I need to know if this was a chain or independent restaurant, their policy on children, and do they use "local" ingredients.

And craft beer. Did they serve local, artisan ales?

Before I cast aspersions on the banking sector or the federal bureaucracy I need to know if this was a chain or independent restaurant, their policy on children, and do they use "local" ingredients.

And craft beer. Did they serve local, artisan ales?