God bless good ole' Joe Biden. The vice president has opened his mouth and stated that the Obama administration "misread how bad the economy was." At the same time, the veep said that the administration stands by its stimulus package and believes that the plan will create more jobs. Biden made this statement on ABC television's This Week, claiming that the nation's 9.5% unemployment rate is "much too high."

Biden noted that the figures the group used in January were "the consensus figures and most of the blue chip indexes out there." Biden added, "We misread how bad the economy was, but we are now only about 120 days into the recovery package," he also claimed that more jobs will be created in coming months.

This post is part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst in Money 2008 feature.

Well, 2008 has come and gone. If you were looking to be entertained over the past 12 months, you had a lot of choices. From Batman's battle with the maniacal Joker to Hannah Montana singing her little heart out in 3-D, there was something for everyone. Let's look at five of the hottest properties that made their way into the heart of the cultural mindshare in '08.

Up first is The Dark Knight, the second iteration of director Christopher Nolan's new vision of the Caped Crusader. That movie killed at the box office, and Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) could not have been happier. Knight scored almost $1 billion at the global box office. More than half that number was captured in the domestic marketplace. There's no question that the movie mesmerized the collective intellect of the audience. There's also no question that Heath Ledger, who tragically passed away earlier in the year, impressed everyone with his portrayal of the chaotic and cruel Joker villain. I, however, do have a question. Is it just me, or was Knight not as awesome a film as the hype makes it out to be? I saw it, thought it was okay. I don't know, I'm just not sure that this new entry in the cinematic Batman mythos would have brought in as many bucks if the notoriety of Ledger's death wasn't attached to these particular reels of celluloid. To be honest, I didn't think Ledger did that unique of a job. And I thought The Joker's voice was annoying, almost sounding like Sam Raimi -- did anyone else happen to think that? Maybe it's just me. Nevertheless, I salute the success of Knight and respect the project for the impact it had on theaters 'round the world.

This charming pic-toon of moderation comes from one of my talented long time friends, Ron Overmyer, who has allowed me to share it with our readers. He does a weekly email blast and this is one of his tamer commentaries, one that might give us pause to consider what it means to be objective.

I thought I would take a moment to shout out to any moderates in the audience and say that I too have worried that some of my colleagues may have sacrificed their reputations for objectivity by writing some posts that could be viewed as borderline paid political announcements. Some readers have quipped that this should be included in the disclosure. However, on the occasion that this is true, it is usually so blatant that I would characterize such disclosure as redundant.

Several of my posts contain political commentary but I think our posts should be about investing, not swaying voter opinion. I especially avoid one-sided rationalizations that appear to have a specific agenda -- although I readily admit that on occasion the dividing line may be very fine indeed.

I still have not made up my mind about the upcoming election because I find some merit in the positions of each candidate. But to me the real question on our site remains: where do you put your money in the case of either candidate's success?

Caroline Baum over at Bloomberg wrote today that the Democratic candidates for major public office -- who have crossed Iowa recently with negative-speak about the world's largest retailer -- should shop there. Why? Because, Wal-Mart saves the average American family roughly $2,300 per year, according to Global Insight. In other words, Baum is saying that the Democratic politicians currently on a dragon-slaying mission against Wal-Mart should remove themselves from their perches and actually visit and shop there.

Regardless of your position, it's always a great idea to immerse yourself in whatever environment you current are lauding or despising, to ensure what your experience is matches with your pre-conceived notions and bias. We all have biases -- some just choose not to admit it. Politicians, as usual, love to stir up emotional issues to garner emotional votes, and the current war in progress, gasoline prices and retailing behemoths qualify as emotional lighting rods for these folks.

The fact is that workers choose to work at Wal-Mart, and larger companies (and any company) don't "owe" a certain wage or benefits to workers. It's a capitalistic choice to provide these things, unless America was a socialist country the last time I looked (not yet). While I don't agree with Wal-Mart's pay scale or benefits, which don't really provide the level of comfort needed for a family, the company is not handcuffing employees to the store, are they? I agree with Baum on this one.

Brian White has worked in various executive positions in technology and telecommunications and now focuses on editing and writing.