The MasterCard Bailout

TARP: $700 billion
Stimulus package: $787 billion
Guarantees to AIG and Citibank: $420 billion
Reserved funding for health care. $634 billion
Money set aside for more bailouts: $750 billion

Feeling that we're actually fixing something, and getting something for our money: Priceless.

Actually fixing something, and getting something for our money: Clueless.

If AIG executives don't return their bonuses and the law doesn't allow our government to force them to do so, Obama should personally announce the names of all the executives on TV and disgrace them for their cowardice, insensitivity and lack of dignity in front of the whole nation and the world.

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Profit margin on display

Do you think it would be fair game to require companies to label along with the price of a product the profit margin they make out of it? I wonder how such practice would alter shopping behavior and in turn pricing of products. For example, would you consider not buying a favorite product because you thought the profit margin the company makes is too high compared to what others make even though you have no problem with the price? By the same token, would you consider buying the most expensive product in the shelf if it had the lowest profit margin thinking the company is honest in reporting the true cost of making it?

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How weird shocking and absurd can art be?

Artists make all sorts of shocking things they call art in which no one can see the purpose of it or the fun of it. I don't know what purpose this crazy thought would serve but I found it amusing when it flashed in my mind so I am sharing it here.

I imagined an artist who creates paintings that display properly only if you are looking at them upside-down. The gallery that will house them will use hanging ropes in which visitors will be tied and hang upside down. Visualize bungee jumping and you get the idea. Visitors move from one painting to the next via pulling trolleys using a remote control which they hold in their hands. Totally absurd, right?

Then I thought, not many people would be able to hang like that for long and look into paintings. So not many would do it. But the idea that something like that exists and some crazy enough people do it will shock people who will visit the art gallery refusing to be hung upside down. If the purpose of the artist would be to shock and surprise, it's certainly one way to do it.

Imagine walking in the gallery and seeing people hanging upside down looking at the paintings.

Wouldn't it feel odd, weird and shocking?

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The value of a thought

Hi everyone, I'm a new member. I enjoy reading what gets posted here but I have an observation to make. If your thoughts have values and are worth some money, does that mean that if I steal all the money from your thoughts your thoughts have no value any more? Huh? In my view, if you want to value thoughts with money, starting with this one (!) that's not such a bad idea. To think, however, that a thought has value because it has money, to me, that is absolutely aloo-dicrous idea :-)

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louis vuitton trash bags??

if you look closely at the bag, it's not the real lv logo but it looks a lot like it. it's a knockoff. what will lv sell next to survive the recession...toilet paper?? maybe the people who use it want to make a statement that their garbage is a luxury they can no longer afford so they throw it away. if you buy two packs of the trash bags, do you get lv toilet paper for free? worse, do people who use them put the trash in a normal bag first and then cover it with the lv bag so that lv doesn't get spoiled from the inside?? that seems a more appropriate, pretentious use of an expensive designer trash bag. how tacky! lol

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more efficient use of toilet paper

every time we leave the task of rolling toilet paper to manual, we use more than we need. an automatic toilet paper dispenser that locks in the amount of paper to be rolled and cut would be a good product idea for savings on the paper's use by adults and children alike. each family member inputs in memory the desired length of toilet paper that they think is right/optimal for them. the gadget should be designed and marketed for use by everyone and not be seen as an aid for disabled folks only.

http://www.thinkaloo.com

breast milk shops

this is shocking new business idea. i read breastfeeding bring health benefit to mother and child for many years (increased intelligence, reduced risk of breast cancer and more...) a business with many shops in town for lactating women who sit and offer their breast for milk feeding to adults. the milk will be more expensive than buy at supermarket and women can make money. people who did not breastfeed enough when little can breastfeed now and also drink very healthy fresh milk. it's crazy but good idea. someone must try, only need capital for shop and advertisement to recruit women on voluntary basis. why not? yo think it

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