<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/690dc60d-84e2-42fa-b088-ae45e2dd58cf/FC39BDEC-3888-4BFB-96E5-72C6DA1E4949/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.nytimes.com/external/gigaom/2008/12/31/31gigaom-with-2008-lets-say-good-bye-to-mediocrity-34283.html" href="http://www.nytimes.com/external/gigaom/2008/12/31/31gigaom-with-2008-lets-say-good-bye-to-mediocrity-34283.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.nytimes.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nytimes.com/external/gigaom/2008/12/31/31gigaom-with-2008-lets-say-good-bye-to-mediocrity-34283.html"><P>Whether or not the bailouts were needed remains up for debate. I will let others scream and holler in outrage about the immorality of the actions taken by our completely biased politicians. I will let those who are suffering tell their tragic stories on national media. All I am going to say is this: <STRONG>In 2008, U.S. society — from the very top (our political leaders) to the very bottom (our bankers) — came to embrace mediocrity</STRONG>.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nytimes.com/external/gigaom/2008/12/31/31gigaom-with-2008-lets-say-good-bye-to-mediocrity-34283.html">Think of it this way: If a waiter spilled hot soup and scalded you, you would have him fired. A cab driver who had the nerve to take a longer route wouldn’t get his tip. <STRONG>And yet the bankers who turned out to buffoons are being paid to save institutions that in a free market should be left to die.</STRONG></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nytimes.com/external/gigaom/2008/12/31/31gigaom-with-2008-lets-say-good-bye-to-mediocrity-34283.html">We spent tens of billions of dollars to save a car company (Chrysler) that not only makes cars that are of questionable quality but also is owned by <STRONG>Cerberus, a vulture fund that has proven itself to be bad at its job</STRONG> </blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/FC39BDEC-3888-4BFB-96E5-72C6DA1E4949/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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