KevinStud99

Note -- I'm NOT asking "Does English have subjunctive mood" -- I know it does. But recently chatting with 4 British colleagues, the topic (somehow) came up, they were insisting that the construction "If I were x" was obviously using the wrong verb tense.

To my surprise I found I had to explain to them the subjunctive mood and and its effect on verbs. Not only had they not mastered the subjunctive (which I totally understand), but none of the 4 of them had ever heard of it, and they insisted it must be an Americanism and that people don't talk like that in UK.

OK British grammarians what's the deal here? You give up the subjunctive or what?

For you minimum-wage enthusiasts, if raising the min wage to $9 or $10 (whatever) is a good idea, why not just raise it to $1000 an hour so we're all rich?

Yes it's a facetious question, but I'm seriously wondering if there is a good rebuttal.

The link below is a WaPo story about the Feds cracking down on rich Americans who evade taxes by sheltering money in Swiss banks. I'm guessing most of these rich people are the same jerks who claim to support higher taxes and who vote Democrat -- for example, the story cites Beverly hills rich people, and they're all liberals except for the Clampetts. Am I right or what?

http://tinyurl.com/6q3wce

How will this recession affect the market for such common luxury goods as top hats, spats, butlers, and white-tipped canes? Are we looking at a lot of job losses there?

When famous bank robber Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, he said "Because that's where the money is."

Now that banks don't have any money and need to be bailed out, if Willie were alive today, what would he rob?

I like to call money "jack". Like, Man he must have a lot of of jack to be driving the Porsche. Should we make it official? So like the news anchorman will say "Congress approved $700 billion for the bailout, and that's a lot of jack!" Wouldn't that be cool?

Money is created by the process of bank lending. Seems every child should learn that in school, but few people do. And when they learn it they totally freak out and act like it's some kind of conspiracy-scandal and they start hoarding beans and batteries in their closet. Why is that?

Iceland was recently rated the best place on Earth to live. Because obviously, who WOULDN'T want to live on a tiny volcanic rock in the arctic circle where you have to marry your cousin because everyone's related.

But anyway, looks like it's getting hit worst of all in this crisis and they're on the brink of monetary system implosion. Probably because they use icicles for money. What will happen to 'em?

Short time to answer this one. I think Europe is on the precipice, meanwhile I hear tell of some weird premonitions of disaster on October 7th.

OK, will the near future look more like "Mad Max", "Terminator", or "Waterworld", or "Planet of the Apes"?

I was just thinking that it's probably no more than 1 - 2 million problem mortgages in this country that are at the root of this entire worldwide financial crisis. Who would've thought a few subprime American homebuyers could bring the world to its knees?

First the world, what next, the galaxy?

Was checking currencies and the Euro has pretty much been falling like a rock for nearly 3 months now against the dollar. Does this mean the European economy is doomed to the outhouse and the American economy is proving its mighty superiority?

Is he going to average 9 yards a carry in the NFL with Dallas like he did in college at Arkansas? Looks that way so far!

Howdy. It's a truism to many people that the economic growth of the past 10 or 20 years just made the rich richer, and did not benefit the working class and the poor. BUT, now with this mortgage mess, we've learned that lots of poor and lower-income people were enabled to buy houses with mortgages that they would have been denied a decade or two ago.

Well a house of one's own is a nice little economic benefit isn't it? So is it resolved that the poor DID benefit, and in fact they made out like bandits and totally screwed the rest of us in the process?

...she starts dancing at midnight, and I hear she does lap-dances. Or should I save it for Destiny or Amber?

Just curious if there's any hypocrites out there who own Savings Bonds, but complain about the national debt.

I see some people think the current problems will cause inflation or even make the dollar worthless. I think just the opposite is a more likely threat.

Thou?

Hey we're in the middle of this big huge crisis and Obama's missing in action. Where is he? Huddled in a closet somewhere?

When Franklin D. Roosevelt created Fannie Mae as a feel-good social project in 1938, did anyone object that 70 years later it would cause a worldwide economic collapse? Just curious if anyone brought it up...

I mean, now the bailout has been REEE-jected. What if the world's financial system does NOT collapse. Won't a lot of people look like hyperventilating fools?