From the second article:

"In addition, the banks in the UK are prohibited from paying dividends as long as they have public capital. This makes sense not only as a punitive measure, but it will also help them to build up the capital they need to stay in business."

What? Punitive measure? Can someone explain this to me?

Family Guy is just pissed that they will always be 2nd to South Park.

I love Family Guy

I dunno if that implied that all McCain/Palin supporters are Nazis...but maybe it could have implied that all Nazis are McCain/Palin supporters.

Good point, 356UIK!

Actually, the Nazis were part of a socialist regime, which would likely find them as Barack Obama supporters.

I suppose the race of Barack Obama would preclude them in this instance, though.

I will say that most of my experiances with obama supporters once they find out I have even conservative tendancies would definatly make them the nazi's... as I generally am shouted at, lectured, mocked ect for my own political beliefs...

i love family...and its only second in some peoples eyes. Stewie will always have my heart..

anyway i wouldnt look into it too much...its family guy...really.

I also like the Family Guy stab at Weapons of Mass Destruction and esk4 I can find just as many Repubs that would do the same to a Democrat....the US is just very polarized when it comes to politics right now I think.

mom- i love your avatar!

I don't really like Family Guy, but that clip was mildly amusing.

Oh, and way to stir the homophobia pot, Townhall.

I love family guy and I think that animated shoes like this are a good place to poke fun of society. HOWEVER I dont think they are a good place for its creators to be snarky.

South Park does an awesome job at being equally as offensive to everyone.

I would say anyone who doesn't think critically about their political affiliation and automatically reacts with vitriol to opposing beliefs is Fascist. By my definition, there are Democrats as well as Republicans who fall into that category.

Anyone have any thoughts on my first comment? I was shocked ot read this, and it does not make sense to me at all. I thought maybe someone on here could offer some explanation, though I do understnad it's the UK bailout, so maybe no one knows.

Family Guy has its moments. I still think the Simpsons is a superior show. Jude--I'm with you on the for Townhall.

Clearly money is being both redistributed both upwards and downwards in this country.

Maybe we should start with should the government be an engine for redistributing people's earned money.

It's incredibly silly to argue about whether people's money will either trickle down to them from the rich or trickle up to them from the poor. Both are inefficient.

Organic - was that a response to me?

I know that the second article isn't as catchy as the first, but I am seriously disturbed... seems like this kind of measure would actually CAUSE banks to fail.

That is soooo stupid it's funny!

No it wasn't. But, in response to what you said! The punitive measure certainly effects the stockholders of the bank, which I suppose would have taken a bigger hit had they not been bailed out.

Unfortunately, the punitive measure should have been the stockholders losing all value in the company. But, a slap on the wrist, I suppose, is good enough in happy-faced socialism.

I own several stocks which don't pay dividends, but usually they're of the more volatile variety. So, while these bank stocks are so volatile, I should think people won't be worried about getting a decent dividend, because they're not long term holds yet.

Organic - thanks! I got the stockholder bit.

I'm about to sign off, but maybe you can help me with this one though. I get dividends from my credit union (different tham a traditional bank, so maybe I'm being ignorant). The divdidends are one of the reasons why I have our savings there (hello capital gains tax, and Obama doesn't even consider my husband and I wealthy ). If the dividends were to disappear, I would promptly move our money into another place. WTF?

Also - secret confession: you are one of my favorite posters. Keep it up!

I'm nervous to see the long-term effects of the bailout, and how those effects will affect the global economy in the next decade. This is a pretty radical restructuring.

You and me both Jude.

'Night everyone!

I think it's a question of interest vs. dividends.

Though they're both interest-vehicles, I believe that the dividends are more likely to refer to the payments made from a corporation to their share holder.

It's interesting that your credit union calls their yield rate a dividend, though.

Jude: I'm not a Family Guy fan but once in a while, I crack up when it's on. They're simply outrageous.

If Brandon's watching it, I'll laugh at the jokes, but for some reason I just don't like the way it looks.

Also, Stewie creeps me out! I'm terrified of babies as it is without that one haunting my nightmares.

I loved the episode when Stewie beats up Brian and smashes his head with the toilet seat. HILARIOUS!

My sister loves Family Guy. It irks me sometimes.

I laughed when I saw that McCain-Palin pin...I dunno why.

By the way, somebody said that the Nazis were socialists and that they would vote for Obama if it wasn't for him being black. I'm pretty sure that although the Nazi party used the word "socialist" in the official title, it was in fact a fascist regime. Although the two may have some similarities, I believe that the consolidation of central and executive power is one of the main ways that Fascism differentiates itself from socialism, and in that respect, the Nazi party would have identified with the Bush administration, and probably in a begrudging way, the McCain-Palin ticket.

If you don't recall, the congress handed over war-rights to President Bush. The nationalization of industry has suddenly become a bipartisan affair, so in that effect, you are correct. But the Nazis also believed in surpressing gun ownership rights, national healthcare, and class warfare.

The Nazis or National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) were not socialist by any traditional definition of the term. They were national socialists, which is something totally different, emphasis on the nationalists.

Furthermore, Nazis in Germany under Hilter imprisoned and executed Marxists and Communists and what we would call socialists.

I think what you might be mistaking for socialism is "totalitarianism" or the "total state." This sort of regime decides everything for the citizen, it enters every part of private life. It does not, however, share any of the values or priorities of socialists.

organic you sound like my fiancee now LOL.

He's supporting McCain now though, after long time undecided (this election) and he's a democrat but he just doesn't believe in pro-socialist ideas.

Organic, we gotta be careful when throwing around terminology and not completely understanding or defining what we mean.

Obama is not a socialist, and neither were the Nazis.

Obama is not socialist. Obama is not socialist. Obama is not socialist. Many many multi-million dollar American "capitalists" support Obama. I don't see why any middle-class people wouldn't for fear of "pro-socialist ideas."

Sorry, don't mean to assume or imply that your fiance is middle class. I was speaking generally.

I used to be a part of a credit union that also called, what was essentially interest, a dividend. Never really thought about the semantics too much because it was pretty competitive with other interest bearing accounts at local banks.

Also, I'm not sure what the comment about "congress handing over war-rights to Bush" was all about, but I believe the Reichstag was responsible for handing over power to Hitler.

MSucre, if you're talking to me. I don't know how to classify my fiancee's class.
I believe he is in the middle class in Obama's plan since he's by no chance earning 250,000 a year.
He's blue-collar worker, part of our local union (who's very supportive of Obama--we received so many newsletter urging us to vote for Obama from our union), and if Obama turns president, he's actually one of the people who's going to benefit the most. Both of us are NOT rich or businesspeople. We earned WAY LESS than 250,000 combined but we have a comfortable life.

He dislikes the idea of 'redistribution of wealth,' or 'spreading the wealth,' --the latter, he listened to the exchange between Obama and 'Joe the Plumber'. Because in his opinion, it's more of a pro-socialist idea.
He just prefers the idea of having HIS own money (That he earned) going into his pocket rather than having more because some 'Joe' got more of his money cut by tax.
He also doesn't like the idea of nationalized healthcare because we get into headache from time to time when we had to deal with our local government agency.
All in all, he likes the original (the one he was raised in) 'American dream,' when you reap the benefit you sow, not you have to share the benefit you sow as the government sees fit.
In his defense, he's not a stingy man, if he is, I'd not even date him LOL. He's a good man who's generous with his money, but he just dislikes the thought of government having to tell him what to do or where to share his/other much richer people's money.

He's definitely not a republican as well. He's a democrat.
He definitely disagreed with the bail-out (because for him, it's completely paving the way to socialism, etc). I'm right now undecided but I've been paying closer to the election, and I kind of now who I want to vote.

Obama is a Democrat, not a Socialist. Whether Obama or McCain is elected president, we will have taxes, we will have some sort of government interfering and taking our money and deciding what to do with it. Democrats, like Obama, believe that the burden of taxes should be shared equally. He does not believe that richer Americans should be getting a tax break. He does not want to take the money from the rich "Joe" and give it to the poor. But considering that taxes are a reality that cant be avoided, he thinks the rich shouldn't be the exception to the rule.

Yes, Obama said a faux pas when talking to Joe the Plumber. But McCain is exploiting what he said for political reasons. Obama is not a socialist. We know what his economic plan is. One week Obama's a terrorist, the next he's a socialist. Come on! Don't you see the trend? McCain is just saying whatever he can to smear Obama! Don't buy into it.

Obama is not a risky socialist. He is a Democrat. If your husband doesn't think that the Democratic party platform is too socialist, then he shouldn't think Obama is either!

fiance* not husband. Sorry, I got ahead of myself there!

Wow, coming from a Jewish person, this cartoon sickens me, but even more so does the fact that people could laugh at it. Even if you don't support McCain/Palin, how could you compare him to Nazis, who killed thousands of innocent people?

thousands? isn't it millions?

It is disturbing how calling someone a Nazi has become so commonplace.

but the writing at Family Guy is not very good at all. Sooooo.... i guess they were grasping at straws?

It does kind of smack of "publicity stunt"

"Democrats, like Obama, believe that the burden of taxes should be shared equally. He does not believe that richer Americans should be getting a tax break. He does not want to take the money from the rich "Joe" and give it to the poor"

This is all incorrect. I think this class warfare idea has gotten to some people's heads. The fact of the matter is that the wealthiest people in this country pay most of the taxes. It is socialism when a candidate forcefully redistributes the wealth of the citizens.

I don't care if you want to call him a socialist or not, but everyone knows that it is, in fact, socialism. To deny it is just to play some silly little game of party-politics where you wage war on words.

Briefly, I would like to add that the very idea of a progressive tax is socialism, according to the New York Times. Ergo, to make it increasingly more progressive: even more socialistic.

Thank you for the input, Mscure. I'll definitely take your opinion into consideration and share it with my fiancee.

I'm a democrat too, but have been undecided and right now, is in a brink of HUGE confusion because of the matter of economic plan from both candidates. organic, thanks for your pov too, I like going to this forum especially to read up different pov.

HF!

I wouldn't put any stock in anything I say.

If Obama's a terrorist than let McCain/Palin be nazis...its all the same illogic.