Good grief!

Go away for awhile and come back and there are no stupid arguments?

Someone needs to go find Wilmac.

He's busy giving Madman a reach around

Hey... Good to see you posting on the board Moby.

Regarding the argument threads.... I don't know. They just stopped.

Maybe it is safe to assume that everyone knows that the country is now going to hell in a hand-basket much faster than anyone could have ever anticipated. It's probably too depressing of a topic to even discuss anymore.

I don't know what happened to Wilmac. He disappeared. The last I heard.... he was working as a stand-in and body double for Joy Behar on "The View".

You might as well just sit back and enjoy MTV's new season of "Jersey Shore". That seems to be the best America has to offer these days.

Anyway.... Good to see you around Moby.

""Jersey Shore". That seems to be the best America has to offer these days."

Of everything you've posted here over the years, that's probably the lowest blow ever.

Between Jersey Shore and Bad Girls.. TV has jumped the shark and if that is entertainment then we really are doomed..

C'mon... I'm really likin' Warehouse 13, Eureka, and Fringe (even though fringe is on Hiatus). You can't tell me that's not beter than that puke "Jersey Shore"!

Jeff!

I've been watching Warehouse 13 as well. Even if it sucked, there's always Claudia to look at.

I think the reason that we do not have any "entertaining" forum wars any more is b/c we are just broke, tired, brow beat with the way this country is falling apart that we do not care anymore.

TELEVISION:
I really can not stand what regular TV (ABC, NBC & CBS) have turned into. About the only thing that I watch regularly on these networks is the local news.

I have been watching 'White Collar' & 'Burn Notice' for the entertainment.

But I have started watching 'Rubicon' on AMC and really enjoy the hell out of it.

currently, The Good Guys is keeping my attention, like the combo of ol school and new age cops with complete disregard for any ones safety! looking forward to the return of Fringe and Chuck.

I'm at a bit of a loss as to why you would say that.

This country .... on it's current track.... will have little to offer anymore. I used to be quite the optimist about America, but that is fading quite rapidly.

We have a political class that is ruling the country who show with an ever increasing veracity that they couldn't give a damn about the wishes, well being, and prosperity of those they have been entrusted to rule.

We have a media in this country that is activist and in bed with the ruling political class. They also no longer give a damn about the people with whom they have been given a constitutionally protected right to protect from an elitist governmental ruling class.

Our own government is now far more tyrannical than any of our founding fathers could have ever imagined King George's government was toward the American colonies. The American revolution occurred because of far less governmental tyranny.

We have a pop culture today that is basically straight out of an un-flushed and well used toilet. Television is loaded with shows that glorify the absolute worst people of our society. Low class people and rudeness are now major American entertainment exports.

I used to see signs at one time that said "The Revolution Will be Televised" Well, ..... there was no revolution that was televised.

You know what is being televised? The decline of the American civilization is being televised. It is being televised in vivid color and in high definition.

"Jersey Shore" (and the culture that enables it) is most definitely an example of the decline of the American civilization. But... compared to our political class, media class, and overall societal degradation..... it is far from the worst aspect of the decline of our civilization. It is a symptom. It is not the disease.

Ray of sunshine today aren't we Madman..

Maybe because it's Tuesday.

We all know what Tuesday means....

LOL

Its possible to read too much into things.

The media covers what it thinks people want to read about/see...and if there's nothing good, they'll just take a vapid issue, and imbue it with importance...so people will THINK its important....and so forth.

The do not have a political agenda other than catching anyone they can to have a story, and running with whatever BS they think will sell.

Politicians have been, well, politicians since they were invented however many millennium ago...so, they are simply fodder for the system.

The country was in the toilet years ago...we wasted resources on projects, like Iraq, etc...and ignored warning signs that clearly indicated to the rest of the world that we were acting like idiots.

So, now, we have inherited the disaster brought upon us by the prior administrations...and are digging out.

Things are getting better, not worse, and what's on TV has nothing to do with it.

You can get around 1000 channels, but, what's ON?

They are STARVED for content...good content at least.

So, just about ANYONE who throws up a POS show to try out is going to get a shot...and, there we have the Reality Show craze that started a decade or so ago...back when the stock market looked pretty good, etc.

So they keep trying new reality based shows...except reality is boring, so they CALL them reality shows, but there's writers, and producers, and the actors get paid, and get scripts, and "suggestions" as to what to say, etc.

So its a cheap way to have a show...not a sign of the apocalypse per se...but of the general lack of content, and the obvious signs of it in the offerings.

This situation started years ago, when commissions on sub-prime notes became more lucrative than std ROI practices...so it became about SELLING them, not about HAVING them...so...

..If you do not care if the loan is EVER paid back, because YOU will only have the note for a day before you sell it off..YOU will allow any scumbag with a pen to borrow any amount he wants to, even if you have to convince him he can afford it, etc...just get the note and sell it, rinse/repeat.

When the scumbags realized they were in over their heads, and the foreclosures started...the HOLDERS of those crappy notes lost their shirts.

And the next thing you know, as these notes were so popular as investments, almost EVERYONE had them...so almost every one lost THEIR shirts....rinse/repeat.

And then the economy toppled like a house of cards.

I have a business that I STARTED in 2008, AFTER the crash.

It was VERY SCARY...the timing was - lets say, really bad.

I scratched my way through it though, and the business is still growing.

I made 3x as much in 2009 as in 2008, and so far, it looks like I'll make at least 3x 2009's earnings in 2010.

In 2011, I'm looking to train/hire more people to keep up with the growth.

My CLIENTS were broke in 2008 and 2009...but 2010 has pent up savings being loosened up as they see the rainy day is over...its still cloudy, but we don't need to build that ark anymore.

Hear ye! Hear ye! TJ for president in 2012!

Obviously, all the issues are complex. BUT, that being said, you're right in a simple way. My wife works in real estate and they specialize in foreclosures. They have been VERY busy to say the least. What's more, the first wave of foreclosures is almost over. Her broker just went to a seminar and found out that now that most of the first wave of foreclosures are sold/getting sold (literally for pennies on the dollar in some cases), the people that bought them, tried to do what they needed to, are now going broke because they thought the value would go up and didn't, are now losing them all over again. So get ready for the next wave. They expect to see just as many foreclosures during this wave as the last one.

The ray of sunshine here is that from the predictions of the housing market, it appears that things will start turning the corner in the spring of 2012.

Personally, living in Michigan, one of the states worst hit economically, I can see things turning the corner now. There's new industry, expanding industry and generally a better feel to things. Are we over the hump yet? Certainly not. And everyone knows that. But from my perspective, things are getting better. Ever so slowly, but better.

-G

Wilmac? What about Shahram?

Pregnant and 16 anyone?