lost highway

Is that the person Jules was referring to? Tweedling, you're right that the personal focus detracts from the real interest of the conversation. I confess I know of no other way to respond to use of personal anecdote. Argument A: Some people make good money and shouldn't complain about contributions to the safety net. Response B: I know someone who makes X and it's not enough for their growing children and family needs. At this point you can be polite and not say anything, because it would be somewhat personal. Or you can kind of wonder the choices someone has made with six figures that

I'd like to talk to them about their financial strategies. Have them give me a call.

I think you would need to be a lot more educated on the topic than ANYONE in this thread to make a conclusive, data-backed statement about just how many people are abusing it these days. It is funny to go from talking about how little 100k is to talking about how people are pimping their life on welfare.

And if she were laid off the government would help provide food for her family. That's the safety net. That's the communal obligation. As for Texas I understand the businesses bare the brunt of your fiscal needs.

Well, wealthy is kind of a subjective judgement. If you have a million dollars it's easy to say that you aren't wealthy as you look at a 5 million dollar lifestyle. There seems to be some mechanism that makes people feel like the words 'wealthy', 'upper class', or even 'upper middle class' are some kind of slurs. I find that weird. The point is perspective. At this particular moment in my life, my salary puts me almost dead center for median individual income. With that knowledge comes the fact that if you're at the center peak of a bell curve you have millions of people sloping down

I could- of course- be mistaken, but I thought in an earlier economic discussion you had complained about the government commandeering six figures of your yearly income. Either way, median income is around $43k. If you make more than that, then by definition you make more than most people. Yes, it's a narrow majority, but as you look into the $100k area you have to understand that you live in a country, nay, a world populated by people who don't make that much. It's not a judgement on your quality, just your relative singularity.

From you.

So, you make more money than most people. You are paying for someone else's grandfolks, same as someone paid for yours. Welcome to America, a social democracy.

There is no history of a major nation taking austerity measures and seeing economic benefits as a result. Also if you don't believe in social security then you don't believe in one of the forces behind middle class stability in the last 7 decades. It also means you don't believe in socioeconomic class.

Obama's new budget proposal cuts social security by $100 billion. I don't like it.

It reminds me of Smashmouth. I know that's a bit strong- and underneath I hear the scrappy soul pop tune it is at its core. Nonetheless the production made it sound like it was on the soundtrack for an Adam Sandler movie that flopped.

Mavis is going to kill it on that tune.

There is a lot of compression on the mix. That is the audio term for the tool, not necessarily what the word would imply in general. It doesn't always mean it sounds pinched, or totally distorted. More like there is less space between the notes, and less dynamics. It's consistently loud all of the time.

Colorado Denver An established close-knit grassroots community of artists, musicians, and business owners are thriving with new contributions and a growing economy. Cool museums, restaurants, tons of music, professional sports (every kind), great record stores. Our mass transit was lagging, but our light rail system has been growing faster than just about anywhere in the country. A distinctly Mexican twist in the local culture, with a generous helping of Vietnamese, Russian, Ethiopian, and all of the other exceptions to our Anglo-caucasain reputation. Boulder *or* Ft. Collins College li

Indeed.

Lucero is a poor man's Uncle Tupelo. Mumford and Sons are a vanilla Flogging Molly is a younger man's Pogues. Sparta is a poor man's At the Drive In. Gaslight Anthem is a poor man's Kill Creek.

Not that it was the crux of the perfect argument on firearms- BUT, It seems almost everyone missed what I believe Biden was implying: a randomly fired shotgun will produce a horrifically loud noise and scare off intruders. I don't think marksmanship was the intended goal.

This is my favorite Low record since "The Great Destroyer". I like that they're having Mimi sing lead more. I love the way it sounds. Great, warm, lush sounds but minimal layers.

Talk about spending: It looks like while spending has more or less been even (not going up), it has been a lower % of the GDP, as the GDP has started to go up a bit.

Damn it.

The big news there: an Argentinian pope. Too bad he's another bigot.

If you always play music as a group, it usually makes the most sense to record it as a group. I usually make exceptions for finicky details that you want more choices on: guitar solos, vocal takes.

The obsession with Chinese owned U.S. debt is a weird use of true information with the exclusion of the context. There is a narrative that seems to obsess over China, but not acknowledge the rest of the facts. In short: about half of the U.S. debt is public, the rest is split between several countries. China has a larger chunk, but Germany's chunk is almost the same size. The rest is split between the U.K., Canada, Taiwan, Brazil, South Korea and about a dozen other countries/ oil exporters. In the end China owns about 8% of U.S. debt. Likewise, the Greece analogy doesn't work particul

Is that the only difference?

David Mitchell