my week at the movies: ‘Taken,’ ‘The Uninvited,’ ‘The International,’ ‘New in Town’

"The very people who sank the companies"? Oh, come on, MaryAnn, it *has* to be obvious even to lefties that the crisis is due to an anonymous flaw in the system. Were it not for those people who allegedly "sank the companies", it would have been so much worse, really.

As a well regarded German economist pointed out: In 1929 the Jews were the scapegoats for the financial crisis, now it's the managers.

Now, where can I get my pitchfork?

Is that post a joke? If there's a flaw in the system and nobody's sorted it out, then someone has to be to blame for not sorting it out. That's how it works in every other business in the world, it should be even more of a priority for businesses which the rest of us rely on to fucking live.

Still, thank you for telling me that the persecution of bank managers now is entirely analagous to the historical persecution of Jews. I'm sure we all remember the anti-bank-manager pogroms of the late 90s and early 00s, where bank managers were chased through the streets by politicians hellbent on dissolving all anti-corruption legislation and giving them a knighthood.

Unfortunately, it is not a joke that a German economist made such a statement (he made it in conjunction with the "anonymous flaw" statement), and unfortunately, it is not a joke that he is well regarded (or at least, was before he made the comparison and probably will be soon again).

Don't know how good your German is, but here is the link to the interview where he made those absurd claims.

I had thought that the pitchfork comment made my disagreement with these statements clear. I hope it is now.

Would you prefer MaryAnn blame blacks and Hispanics? That seems to be the other common trend I've noticed in regard to this crisis and frankly, it's disgusting. I've met my share of irresponsible home owners in my life and surprise, surprise, not all of them are non-white.

Besides, you don't have to be Karl Marx to be a little disgusted at what has been done with the bailout money thus far. I'm much more conservative than MaryAnn on many issues yet even I am disgusted.

Damn it, trying to build an obvious strawman these days can be frustrating, when people assume you're being in earnest.

I prefer blaming those in power who sank the whole financial world instead of any ethnic or gender groups (there was an article not long ago in Germany which blamed the men for the crash).

If it makes you feel any better, Ma$ch, my face is pretty red now. Chalk it up to one part the skill of your parodists' ear to one part the increasing ridiculousness of free-market advocates.