Cheech Tremendous

There might be a few nice guys there, but Kenny Williams, Ozzie Guillen and AJ are also featured prominently. Therefore, I can't stand them. I don't care if it's petty. Also, sorry for your luck Joe Mauer, but that may have cost you the MVP.

Would it be too much to ask for the Rays to beat these fucks to a pulp?

Parker's a bright kid (I mean who drops references to the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act?), but he's still only 17 years old. I hate to use that as a negative against him, but this might be one of those cases where a college education and real world experiences might be necessary. If I didn't have a degree in Economics and a job in finance, I don't know I'd make sense out of any of this. I can't imagine how the general public feels.

AL MVP 1- Dustin Pedroia 2- Joe Mauer 3- Grady Sizemore 4- Josh Hamilton 5- Kevin Youkilis 6- Alex Rodriguez 7- Cliff Lee 8- Justin Morneau 9- Carlos Quentin 10- Carlos Pena AL Cy 1- Cliff Lee 2- Roy Halladay 3- Jon Lester AL ROY 1- Evan Longoria 2- Mike Aviles 3- Alexei Ramirez Manager of the Year 1- Joe Maddon 2- Mike Sciosca 3- Ron Gardenhire NL MVP 1- Albert Pujols 2- Lance Berkman 3- Hanley Ramirez 4- David Wright 5- Carlos Beltran 6- Chipper Jones 7- Chase Utley 8- Matt Holliday 9- Jose Reyes 10- Nate McClouth NL Cy 1- Tim Lincecum 2- Johan Santana 3- CC Sabathia NL ROY 1- Geovany Soto 2- Jair Jurrjens 3- Joey Votto NL Manager of the Year 1- Cecil Cooper 2- Fredi Gonzalez 3- Lou Piniella

No one will be able to get credit ever again, you will all lose your homes, jobs, families, and pets, the United States will be reduced to a third-world country, and we will enter into a second Dark Ages. Yes, Parker, that is exactly what we are saying. Fire and brimstone, cats and dogs living together, all that jazz. Jeez. Have a little perspective. The problem won't go away by pretending it doesn't exist. Perhaps there is a degree of hyperbole being employed here, but that is a reflection of some us trying to show that we are mired in a dire financial situation.

Cashman could have had a sweet thing with Seattle. Ownership that is willing to spend money, good scouting department, low expectations and committed fans. Maybe they'll grow some balls and hire Kim Ng. It's a good thing that he will stay and finish what he started in New York, though. As a Sox fan, I really wanted him to leave and for Hank to install a puppet GM. Oh well.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?i...e=ESPNHeadlines

But 909, someone has to own the apartments. Someone has to build the townhouses. Money has to come from somewhere; it doesn't appear out of thin air. The people who invest in the commercial sector require credit as well. That's the point I'm trying to push here.

Anyone suggesting Shaun Alexander obviously didn't see him play last year. The run one yard and fall down play was the extent of his offensive repertoire. At least with Cedric Benson you can talk yourself into some offensive upside. Shaun and the gigantic fork in his back have none.

What's wrong with renting or living within your means? People don't NEED gigantic houses. Well, unless you have 6 or 7 kids. America has become an entitlement society. Here are everyone's rights nowadays. Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, a washer, dryer, dishwasher, two cars, a timeshare, cable television, gardener, dog and cat, video game system, college for the kids, and, oh wait, multiple credit lines. Who's supposed to pay for all this shit? When my parents grew up, they didn't get to go to college and did quite well for themselves. It's not like everyone went to college back then. Things were going well then, spirits were high, life was good. The average American has four credit cards. Why? The people who did this fucked it up for everyone. I understand that we need to get something done so that businesses can operate and use credit, but the American people? Well, I don't think so. It's time to live within your paycheck and do what you can, save when you must. Not charge here here here and here, pay for it if you can, but maybe not at all. Look, 909, you're a good guy and I've always liked you, but you seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding of our how our economy works and where money and economic growth come from. Complaining about people misspending is a far cry from massive credit freezes at the institutional level. This goes beyond little Billy and his video game system, and to the level of your employer being able to cut you a paycheck or the local grocery store having the ability to stock food for you to eat.

I'm also a little confused by the new pressure to raise the limits of FDIC insurance from $100,000 to $250,000. I guess that's a nice bit of reassurance for consumers, but how exactly does that solve any problem whatsoever? Am I just missing something?

I've only seen one of those games, so I am hardly qualified to pick one. The '78 playoff, however, is sometimes called one of the greatest games ever played. I have to think it would be the one. Hell, someone even wrote a book about it .

People can't pay back the money they borrow in the first place, so yeah, it's a good thing they won't be able to get it and further drag our economy into the depths. So it'll be better for our economy that the only people able to buy houses are those that can save several hundred thousand dollars first? How does that make any sense? No need to send our kids to college... they can save up the $50,000 a year they need first. Let's teach those kids fiscal responsibility. Businesses grow? Nah. Who needs capital improvements, anyways? A stagnant economy for all! Our entire economy functions on the availability of credit, 909. Yes, people who can't afford to pay it back shouldn't get a dime. But under the current duress, no one can get any money, even those who are fully capable of paying it back.

A Campaign 2008 thread is fine, but the one that exists currently is crazy. You do realize that this thread has been around since 2005, right? 2005! McCain and Obama were barely even on the radar at the time. What relevancy does any of that have on today? Sure a catch-all for miscellaneous comments and youtubes is fine, but we can't have a separate thread for the conventions? The debates? There wasn't even a separate thread for the economy until I bothered to make one. All I am saying is that things could be spread out a little more evenly. We've got about 20 fucking mods floating around this place and we can't get one of them to separate out relevant discussion into their own topics? You know what I do when I'm gone for a few days and want to check one of those big threads... I just click to read the last post. I'm sure many others do the same. Finally, on the subject on new threads - why are people so scared of new threads? New threads is certainly one problem TSM does not have.

If the Twins win today, I'm voting Mauer. Otherwise it's Pedroia. Can't figure out any other way to separate the two.

Cliff Lee and Brad Lidge win Comeback Player of the Year awards. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?i...e=ESPNHeadlines

Do we get an AL thread too or are we all victims of TSM's National League bias?

My prediction of the final standings were off, but if you read my comments the thinking process was right on. At least I got the following right: - Angels would run away from the worst division in baseball - Rays would play meaningful games in September - AL East would produce four the six best teams in the AL - Cubs and Brewers would be title contenders - Detroit would disappoint

Looks like oil prices are starting to tick back up as well with news from Washington that the bailout might get done some time this week. Prices are still down about 20% over the last week, though. Ouch.

Not going to rehash my statements on Kiffin again, but the Raiders should be 3-1 right now. Looks like Tom Cable (?) is going to be the one taking over. Whatever.

Seems like a lot of people are missing this point.

The same reason no one mentioned that the S&P dropped like 9%, which is one of the largest in history. The general (uninformed) public reacts to point drops in the stock market. Yesterday's drop in the Dow was merely a reaction to what is happening in the credit markets. Corrections in the stock market are hardly even the beginning of our current economic turmoil. However, reactions to losing $1.2 trillion might help people realize that this bailout talk is no joke.

Anyways, in other news the Dow is back up today, but it's somewhat hollow because nothing has been done about the worsening credit problem. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/business...amp;oref=slogin While it is certainly ridiculous to claim that we are entering a new Great Depression, it is equally as stupid to proclaim that things are fine. We still need intervention in some way to remove the toxic mortgages that are binding up our financial system.

[sarcasm]Yes, everything is fine guys.[/sarcasm]

I hear that Cedric Benson isn't doing much.