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Hotels That Serve Glorified Prison Food For Breakfast {Gadling}

Aug 18th 2012 5:46PM and I should have added to my previous post, that poor breakfasts are not nearly as annoying as "free wifi" that you can only get in the lobby!

(Of course, many snooty hotels **charge** for internet access. On the theory that folks only stay at those places, on other people's money... I.e., business travelers.)

Hotels That Serve Glorified Prison Food For Breakfast {Gadling}

Aug 18th 2012 5:42PM Well, I have very limited expectations from these "free breakfast" deals. And actually, they have gotten better. Many used to be only "continental breakfast," meaning nothing hot. Now many have something resembling scrambled eggs, something resembling sausage, and something resembling waffles. When the first hot breakfasts appeared, the scrambled eggs were really atrocious, resembling yellow oatmeal. The science is getting better, and they usually aren't too bad. I'm still not sure about the whitish gravylike substance. Perhaps a Southern delicacy?

Frontier Drops Signature Chocolate Chip Cookie {Gadling}

Apr 3rd 2012 10:06PM When Midwest Airlines existed, they were truly the "best care in the air." It used to be wonderful to smell the aroma of baking cookies wafting down the aisle, blanking out less-pleasant airplane smells. Now their last vestige is going away. Sigh....

Our last airline flight was on Midwest Airlines, shortly after it was acquired by Republic. Republic had already yanked out the wide seats, and canned all the MWA flight crews. We never flew with them, or any other airline, since then. So far, we don't miss it.

Citi scraps fee waivers; low-balance account holders will pay {WalletPop}

Nov 13th 2009 6:25PM Having a checking account with any of these large national banks is just asking to get hosed. You are generally much better off dealing with a small regional bank, a local bank, or a credit union.

Finger Length May Determine Whether or Not You're a Jerk {Lemondrop}

Nov 8th 2009 9:40PM On my right hand, the fourth finger is longer. On my left hand, the second finger is longer. I'm hopelessly confused!

Just how dangerous are stimulus-driven deficits in the long run? {Daily Finance}

Nov 8th 2009 12:47PM So? That quote was from long, long ago. Nikita is dead and his son is an American citizen, a college professor. The only truly Communist country left on the planet is North Korea, and I haven't heard anyone say that we should be like them.
For those asleep in history and civics class, Communism means government and communal ownership of almost everything. A few groups have tried that kind of living arrangement in America (for example, the Shakers or communes from the 1960s) but it gets old fast, and the groups eventually break up.
So what would constitute Communism in America, that has you worried?

Just how dangerous are stimulus-driven deficits in the long run? {Daily Finance}

Nov 8th 2009 12:40PM The only issue is, without some kind of health care reform, the problems you outline will happen anyway. Instead of taxes, you will have unaffordable premiums from private companies, who will discover that you have some pre-existing condition that renders you uninsurable (zits in high school?).

I am puzzled by your implication that the Government will prevent you from being able to get an appointment with your primary care physician. How, exactly? Doctors work for themselves, or for clinics or hospitals, not the Government.

Just how dangerous are stimulus-driven deficits in the long run? {Daily Finance}

Nov 8th 2009 12:34PM Uncle Dickie -
I'm **almost** as old as you, but not so pessimistic about the future. For one thing, older voters in this country are much more politically active than younger ones, so it is hard to see any draconian coverage reduction without a backlash at the polls.
I continue to be puzzled as to why you think the Government wants to do you in. On the contrary, as a reliable voter, they would want to make you happy.
Now, if the Government starts talking about taking voting rights away from seniors, then even I would worry ....

Just how dangerous are stimulus-driven deficits in the long run? {Daily Finance}

Nov 8th 2009 12:23PM Al -
What you are missing is that economic theory is very complicated, and the experts disagree. Professional economists create computerized simulations of our economy, and try to understand what happens when various things are tried or not tried. Cause and effect are hard to untangle. If you get really good at it, Goldman Sachs or some other Wall Street outfit will hire you at a huge salary! (Or maybe the Government will hire you at a modest salary)
To oversimplify the situation and "carry it to extreme", it by definition leads to absurd outcomes such as what you write. Your illustration, unfortunately, doesn't help us understand what happens when everyone **doesn't** work for the Government. But I'm glad you're at least thinking about the problem! - many of the other posters just like to give out insults.

Just how dangerous are stimulus-driven deficits in the long run? {Daily Finance}

Nov 8th 2009 12:09PM I know it's fashionable to call people names when you disagree with them, but I will respectfully decline to do that. I believe that one (or maybe "the") underlying question in play here is, what should the Federal Government do if the economy starts to go down the hopper? I take it that ckenlc believes that the Government should shut way down, and wait for things to blow over. (Is that your position?)
The difficulty with that approach is that the economy may literally grind to a halt. In the Great Depression, this happened in many parts of the US before New Deal policies were put in place. My late father-in-law used to tell many stories about how things were in Davenport Iowa then, and how bank closures forced an almost complete cessation of commerce.
The economist John Maynard Keynes asserted, and many would say that he proved, that Government has a role to play when the economy collapses, or seems heading for a collapse. The role is to ensure that economic activity does not collapse, even at the expense of deficits.
I would invite ckenlc or anyone else to point to historic examples where the Government "doing nothing" has clearly remedied an economic downturn.

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