Originally Posted by UnderDawgAl

I don't want to burst your bubble (ha!). The commission split along partisan lines, with the six-member majority getting to write the opinion. Those six members had one ideological view, in line with the decades-in-the-making statutory and regulatory framework advanced by the Community Reinvestment Act.

Of the four in the minority, three dissented from the majority. The final member, as you noted, wrote his own response. Of course, the truth is found from parts of all the responses -- government policies pushing for favored outcomes had a hand in it (i.e., the subprime lending requirements over the previous 2-3 decades), as did lax self-policing, as did individual consumer greed and panic, as did the CDOs, as did the search for higher investment returns from institutional and individual investors. It's a shame the majority focused only on the "evil" banking sector. It's always the fault of those evil capitalist corporations!

Anyway, why are road bikes so expensive? For a recreational rider like me with one moderate income and small kids at home, I think the smart money is on used bikes or a higher priced bike bought and ridden for a long time. This ensures financial security for the rest of my family without my hobbies putting us in any financial jeopardy. Family first!
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