Good Things About the Economic Crisis

11. It brings out all the David Letterman wannabees. (with the twist of counting up rather than down.) Not too shabby, Jim. I most liked 4 & 8.

12. You don't need to take out a small loan to fill your gas tank.

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7. I never gave up my love for mac 'n' cheese. =P
8. LOL - Ew!
10. Why go to college? It's not like there would be a job waiting for you, anyway. And with no job, how do you pay off those college loans?

HI Jim - guess I'm on a roll.....

I made some stupid mistakes with my money - I was panicing over all the news and switching banks. I lost money pulling CD's out, before they were mature. Anyway, I learned my lesson well. DON'T LISTEN TO EVERYTHING THEY TELL YOU ON THE TUBE - I SHOULD HAVE WAITED UNTIL THE ELEVENTH HOUR BEFORE I ACTED. GRANDMOTHER IN WAITING FOR MY BAILOUT!!!

PS - I CALLED FDIC AND ALTHOUGH THEY WERE VERY NICE, THEY COULDN'T TELL ME A DARN THING! MY NEW MOTTO IS NEVER BE TOO PREPARED FOR ANYTHING!!!

Jim,
Please don't take this the wrong way - why did you leave channel 4 as weekend anchor? I really enjoyed watching the weekend news. You may have a better job now, and I've been out of the loop for awhile, so maybe you answered this question already.

We both like the Mets - grew up in Queens - live in Westchester now.....

jim,

1.Financial industry layoffs mean less air pollution from the pj's taking off from Teterboro. an environmental boost -- as I'm SURE those folks will all ride their bikes now, no?

2. Less Paris Hilton. Don't diss the Donald, he actually said some very nice things about you on your own newscast a while back.

3. We don't need our own Depression, and our parents should stop talking like that. We got our own 9/11 thank you very much. And you won't hear me tell my kids they should "live through one of their own" before they know what life's all about. The lesson our parents want us to learn from the Depression is "spend less." All well and good. But the lesson we learned from 9/11 was "love more. And hold each other tight." I can live with that lesson.

4. Puts the end of The Sopranos into perspective. Maybe.

5. Watching really rich people lose their money is KIND OF entertaining? Hell, it's the Superbowl of Shadenfreude. (I just made that one up special for you)

6. Don't have to face that agonizing decision of where to lie about where you've been on vacation -- don't have to keep up with the Joneses nearly as much.

7. Able to reconnect with childhood love of watching Gilligan's Island on TV -- movies too expensive.

8. Turns out reusing tight jeans from before pregnancy is the not as gross as I thought -- I'm rocking the muffin-top look.

9. Finally have an answer for the husband about why I still have clothes from the Bush administration -- the George HERBERT Walker Bush Administration (some Depression-like hoarding!)

10. OKay kids, I know you're only in kindergarten, but let's have a serious talk about college scholarships NOW.

ok, this is a bit insensitive. There are a lot of hardworking New Yorkers out of a job. Where's our silver lining? YAY I get to take my degree and use it as toilet paper...or I get to explain to my kids that we aren't going to take them on vacation this year because mommy had to decide between that and braces.
I guess since you're an anchor its easy to make fun little lists like this....you should be ashamed of yourself.

Although we don't need our own depression time, it does show what a really bad time means for people now a day, instead of just learning the 30's from history books (and pictures of tons of people getting in line for food). People can know that America is not really an almighty nation as they like to think.
"5. Admit it: watching really rich people lose their money is kind of entertaining."
Although I am not a communist, I got to admit I love this also (except the part which an American and the German took their own lives. someone died for whatever reason is never funny), especially seeing Madoff finally got caught for his Ponzi scheme, involving billions of dollars from businesses and non-profit. I don't know why the court still let him to be house arrest instead of lock him up. He absolutely doesn't deserve to stay in his home. The bright side out of this one is, whoever claims he can always get a 30% return from investments is probably too good to be true.

For a really practical bright side of this financial meltdown, it is time to end the crazy consumer culture (at least for now) - spend, spend spend, spend what you don't have, and end up having tens of thousands of dollars in debit plus interest and fees. It is about time to stop abusing credit cards (it is NOT free money, you need to pay the bill) and start saving.

geez, Jen.. take it easy.. If we can't laugh a little, we're never gonna get through this thing.

Haha... good list Jim, and agreed on everyone's comments. It's a sad thing that's happened but we've got to be optimistic... panic never did anyone good. Plus, what goes down must eventually come up, right? It's always darkest before the dawn, and whatever cliched saying that's out there.

And Jen, it's okay. My diploma's still sitting here atop my scanner on my desk. Granted it's only been a year, but the layer of dust is rather thick and the only use I've ever had for it was for killing a horsefly! (True story, I kid you not!)

Have you stopped to think, cows don't worry about our financial situation. Maybe we should be more like the cows! Just mosey along through each day and be thankful that we made it. We have more than people in most countries in the world and we don't seem to be happy with it. Happy is as happy does!

Jen, way harsh! The economic crisis and horrible and frightening, but that's why more than ever we need to find humor in things. Otherwise the world is way too bleak.

It reminds of a 1941 Preston Sturges film called "Sullivan's Travels." Sullivan is a director who decides he wants to make a film about the downtrodden. So he dresses in rags and goes out into the world with only a dime to his name and experiences real life, which of course is a complete shock to him. But one of the main points of the film was that he discovers the downtrodden didn't want to see a movie about poverty or depression. They wanted escapism, like we all do. The scene I love is when Sullivan and a bunch of prisoners watch a Mickey Mouse clip. Sullivan can't believe that these prisoners could laugh at something so juvenile and simple, but soon he finds himself joining in because he realizes that sometimes people need to have something to take their minds off of their own sad situation.

Sorry for the long comment. Basically, if it comes down to laughing or crying, I'll choose laughing 10 to 1 every time.

JIM,

Well, if you follow whats on CNN and the other "informative" channels, it can blur your brain, as it did mine. I have to take a back seat to losing money, because that's not all life has to offer. It could be worse, like losing your health. My girlfried lost half a million and she's an accountant! Oh sorry, it was closer to $300,000. I never made money my priority, my kids come first, and you know what you have to laugh at your mistakes, because, actually, it makes you a smarter person in the long run. My sister got on the computer to stick in her Mets thing - a die hard fan - of course, I am sports illiterate, however, I grew up near Shea Stadium and was conditioned to love the METS. My grandsons had a YANKEE Christmas...LEE

Hey, Jim, you forgot one:

11. Now you can actually afford to buy shares in Microsoft, Google, Apple, etc. and sit on them and wait for the inevitable rally in stock prices. Then you can sell out and have lunch with The Donald, smoke fat cigars and mock "the little people".

OK, maybe not that last bit.

This may sound awful, but I mix up Kaity Tong and the other anchor with a similar name.

My nephew graduated top of his Manhattanville College class and now he works for California Pizza. Did he really need an education for that? I agree with Jen, the diploma is only a piece of paper that can be put up on a wall, if you have a wall. Toilet paper is not as thick as a diploma, however, it can be used in a similiar fashion as such....Lee

PS: This reminds of George Costanza *aka Jason Alexander from Seinfeld. My references to Seinfeld are always in a loving way. He talked about toilet paper a a lot. Just had to throw that in.

My cousin-in-law, lost his job, his house, and now probably his wife, due to these terrible economic times. She went a little crazy and I can certainly understand why. It's bad out there. I am lucky, because, my work keeps me home, and working, and my hubbyloveya, has a secure job. Thank you God!!!!! LEE

I suppose as a TV anchor, you must get a contract. When your contract is up, either you, or the network decides your fate. I remember an old article I read about you when you did the Channel 4 news. I think you must be good at what you do, because, you throw yourself into your work. You seem to be having more fun on Channel 11. You always seem to look like the guy who is having a great time. I think I am right - do you? Kaity and you have a good thing going. Hope they don't switch anything, cause, it's never boring. Lee again

I would be a heck of a lot thinner, if I didn't think about food so much. The mac and chesse thing aways throws me over the edge. The grandsons love it too, especially the little guy who is almost in obesity city.