In Mexico, for instance, one buys nothing without checking the price first. We all learned that the hard way, and could still wind up taken advantage of.

One guy went into a barbershop, ordered a haircut. $4.00, big sign on the wall. He asked for a haircut, and in 10 minutes it was all done. They charged him $20, said he got his "styled".

A friend and I went into a restaurant for lunch, read the menu and started to leave. The maitre'd rushed up and asked us why. We told him that we didn't want to spend that much on lunch. The fellow assured us he could come up with something we'd like for much less, and we sat back down and enjoyed a great lunch of what seemed to be assorted appetizers.

The bill was much more than anything we'd considered on the menu. Our fault, we hadn't nailed him down.

This time it's AIG's. The next time AIG wants anything it's ours.

However, Conservatives believe this behavior is exactly what "free enterprise" is about.

Arf