Irrational exuberence.

Yeah. I'm just surprised that maybe 99% in the real estate/mortgage/financial businesses succumbed to it.

It all reminds me of the dotcom bust and all the articles postulating that it was a new and unprecented economy which would never come down.

Yeah, I remember all that. It seems as if the media was just in the business of telling people what they wanted to hear. (Dow 36,000?)

Yeah. I'm just surprised that maybe 99% in the real estate/mortgage/financial businesses succumbed to it.

But, they made a lot of money in the short term. Same for the law firms that have gone under in SF. The ones that went down were the ones raking it in on the short term economic climate, and then got hammered when the winds shifted.

So the motive is the same as it ever was: profit.

Or as erika will tell ya, crime greed makes you stupid.

wondering how they work and maybe embarrass him by doing that.

If you gaze at them with a look of deep interest, then politely ask him "Do you have a cable system or something based on electronics?", you may be able to have matter-of-fact discussion of how it all works. He may think they're as cool as you do. The gushing "Oh, it's so wonderful you have something to replace your hands!" thing treads a little close to icky.

So the motive is the same as it ever was: profit.

I remember last year when someone called in for help with our program, and he said, "It's been a damned slow year, we need a hurricane, I only got into this contractor thing because my brother-in-law said we could make a killing off Katrina."

Yeah, that's somebody who's concerned about his quality of work.

"It's been a damned slow year, we need a hurricane, I only got into this contractor thing because my brother-in-law said we could make a killing off Katrina."

Reminds me of this Onion article: Cranberry Juice Industry Hoping 2009 A Big Year For Urinary Tract Infections

Hey, look, the Onion's right there for us.

$700 Bailout Celebrated with Lavish $800 Billion Executive Party

Save oxygen. Kill yourself. Which seems to be what a self-respecting disabled Nazi might do anyway...nobody has any respect for tradition anymore.

Since I haven't said it in a while -- I loves me some erika.

Hey Teppy - I haven't been following Bitches these days - how are you doing?

Hey Teppy - I haven't been following Bitches these days - how are you doing?

Panic attacks seem to be under control, but on the heels of that, I *seriously* injured my back 2 weeks ago. It was so bad this past weekend that I had to go to the ER to get a shot of dilaudid for the pain. I have no words for how much pain I was in. It was far worse, actually, than the pain I had before my back surgery.

But the dilaudid broke the pain and got it back to a manageable level (not gone, though), and since the weekend, my back has been slowly improving. It's by no means back to normal -- there's still some discomfort, but it's much better.

Thanks, Tep. Love you back. I think everybody was hoping they'd get theirs before the bottom fell out.