Wednesday, February 29, 2012

HOT DOG !!!!......

"Mortgage-backed securities (MBS) were like packaging a hot dog ("all the way", no less) and selling it as filet mignon."
               Ginger Salt, First Community Bank, N.A.


(...and quite a lot was at steak!)


(... and many CU folks were unwitting "steakholders" in the Corporates!)


(... "steak tartare", I guess, 'cause it sure was a raw deal!)


Saturday, February 25, 2012

From The Field.....

"I'm very excited about getting this project roiling..."


(Okay.....!?!)

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Cold Comfort.....

Frost

Frozen by the night.
Daffodils bow in crumpled
Surprise to the dawn.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Heart Of The Matter.... For Fred and Jackie and Charlie...


Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast.
It is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered.
It keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.


(.... and for you.)

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

"The Noose Tightens..."



"NCUA specifically requested these two actions in a meeting with the NCCUD Administrator on December 5, 2011."
                   - Mr. David M. Marquis, Exec. Director, NCUA
                         Letter to N.C. Credit Unions, Feb. 10, 2012


Mr. Marquis had two shots at "specifically" getting his little message to the NCCUD Administrator "specifically" right on December 5, 2011.


First was with the in-person, verbal message which Mr. Marquis delivered in the company of  "Curly and Moe"; and the second was with the pre-written and hand-delivered letter dated December 6, 2011 which Mr. Marquis asked Mr. Yolles to give to the Administrator at the December 5, 2011 meeting.  


Pre-writing an administrative letter usually indicates that 1) you have already made up your mind before you arrived and 2) you have absolutely no excuse, with the advance drafting, for not getting your message "specifically" correct.


Well, guess what!  Here's a copy of that "specifically" infamous December 6, 2011 letter....

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

"....Pants On Fire !"

Mr. Dave Marquis, NCUA Exec. Director, delivered this ultimatum to all N.C. state-chartered credit unions on February 10, 2012.

Mr. Marquis' remarkable personable diplomacy and reasonableness have oft been noted as emblematic of the overall balance and fairness of the Agency he leads.  Most recently his style of leadership was highlighted and praised by Rep. Manzullo (R-Ill.) before the 2/01/2012 House Financial Services Committee:

But, pay particular attention to the following quote from Mr. Marquis' February 10, 2012 letter (paragraph 4/5):

"NCUA specifically requested these two actions in a meeting with the NCCUD Administrator on December 5, 2011."


Both a tape of the December 5, 2011 meeting (Mr. Marquis delivered "the message" with Mr. Yolles, and Chief Legal Counsel Mike McKenna in tow) mentioned in Mr. Marquis' letter and a copy of the pre-written letter dated December 6, 2011 which was hand-delivered at the December 5, 2011 meeting are in the public domain thanks to some sound public policy thinking by the N.C. Attorney General's Office - and by its' longstanding advocacy for fairness and transparency in government.


The two requests are not on the tape and not in the pre-written, hand-delivered letter!!!  In fact on the tape, Mr. Marquis specifically states he "doesn't want the Administrator to do anything".

As a famously frank New Yorker once said...

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Mama Said....



"Never wrestle with a pig, 'cause you'll both get dirty and the pig will like it..."


!!!!****



****Know what you're thinking.... but don't go there!!

Sunday, February 05, 2012

NCUA Advising The Susan G. Komen Foundation?



Word on the street has it that senior NCUA officials may have been providing strategic and tactical advice to the Board of Directors of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation over the last several months.


Using the same leadership skills which have proved so successful of late in N.C., before Congress, and all around the Country;   Senior Agency officials helped advise SGK specifically on how best to....

Saturday, February 04, 2012

Pearl...

"Knowledge can be communicated - wisdom cannot."
- Hermann Hesse

Friday, February 03, 2012

N.C. Sees Red....!!!

Word's out all across N.C. about the inappropriate and unjustified treatment of N.C. state-chartered CU's - and their 2.5 million members - by the NCUA.
A two-party State!
2008
North Carolinians are starting to rethink their view of the current leadership in D.C. whom the State supported by a margin of 50.8% to 49.2% in the 2008 election.

And Credit Union folks are definitely beginning to see red...

A clean sweep!
2012
 But, who cares...