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| Big Benn ! |
Great Britain lost a famous labor leader last year - Tony Benn (1925-2014). Don't know for sure, but suspect that Mr. Benn might have been a big fan of a member-owned, not-for-profit, democratically-controlled cooperative - a credit union.
Mr. Benn had this to say about power, governance, democracies:
"If you meet a powerful person, ask them these five questions:"
"1. What power have you?
2. Where did you get it from?
3. In whose interests do you exercise it?
4. To whom are you accountable?
5. And, how can we get rid of you?"
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| Practice "good riddance"! |
"If you can not get rid of the people who govern you, you do not live in a democratic system."
ARE OUR TRADE ASSOCIATIONS PREPARED TO ASK THE HARD QUESTIONS IN COMING WEEKS?
At least be strong enough not "to applaud" and take credit for the withdrawal of idiotic rules which should never have been issued. "Strong" is a good bit more than posturing and press releases!
24 comments:
Great Swami, you ask the question will they be strong enough to really voice what should be said? And yet you already know the answer.Everyone know that be it the regulator or the regulated when push comes to shove they are both wishy-washy.We must wait and see if there is any among us who will tell it like it is.
Actually, I have high hopes for both NAFCU and CUNA, especially with new leaders, a fresh set of eyes.
Believe the problem will lie more with credit unions (guess that's you and me) not demanding that CUs be given the respect and discretion we've earned during the financial crash.
CUs were not part of the dishonesty and, perhaps, are "the answer", the shining example for fair, ethical financial practices. When you earn a positive reputation, when you do look after the consumer, you should not be treated as a criminal or a problem about to happen. NCUA is actually creating safety and soundness issues, especially for small and middle size CUs. Creating risk, creating greater potential for CU failures.
And, if you don't believe it, just consider what the senior NCUA staff proposed last year in the RBC rule ... a clear formula for disaster and a very public display of lack of financial understanding. Even NCUA's friends are embarrassed that the senior staff and NCUA Board so clearly failed in their due diligence... and fiduciary responsibility. And as you are painfully aware it was a tremendous fight just to get the NCUA Board to listen to something as simple and simple as a second comment period.
NCUA wrote that RBC rule all by its narrow-minded self... no way to shuffle responsibility for that one to CUs or Congress. Royal screw-up - all of NCUA's own making.
NCUA - not Congress - has unilaterally attempted to impose - without legal authority - unreasonable restrictions on credit unions - which is not proper, nor called for by CUs record of fair dealing..
Question is are we willing to fight against that. The response to the original RBC would indicate that there is tremendous national support to stop this madness at NCUA, that there is tremendous national support for the CU cooperative approach.
Legislation has its risks but it is far less than what you saw perpetrated under the guise of RBC last year.
The trades can not go it alone, they act on your behalf... or are you too comfortable, too afraid to walk across that bridge...?
Guess we'll all find out next week if there has been a change of heart at the NCUA... not taking any bets on a renaissance in thinking, are you?
Jim! While I almost all the time or at least greater than 50% of the time agree with you and your beliefs concerning the status of credit unions, I just don't get the same warm fuzzes about the ability or the willingness of the trades to effectively represent credit union member's interests. They were virtually silent on RBC one and have had little if no input into the second coming of Dumb!
I also question your assertion that all credit unions are paragons of ethical financial practices! There are plenty of bad actors in the industry. Most credit union member have no clue concerning who directs and controls their credit union. Suspect few actually care? Tremendous internal control weakness. The lack of accountability of credit union officials is a time bomb ticking. Like the man who jumped from the roof of the Empire State Building was heard saying as he passed the 64th floor: "So far, so good!"
The myth of a member owned and controlled credit union died years ago. The latest round of Dumb and Dumber (RBC Part 2) is NCUA misguided attempt to protect the NCUSIF from this internal control weakness.
You have to understand the not on my watch mentality of the regulator. Their only concern is job security. Higher reserves are the drug they use to attempt to prevent a disaster on their watch. Their interests are not aligned with your interest to serve the interests of members. The regulator lives gladly in quiet desperation and their primary concern is not getting tossed from the gravy train.
Again, the trades are the credit unions. The trades will do what their members want. Might suggest a very open, very transparent poll by each trade of how their members want them to confront the new RBC...after it is published... rule, legislation, or rollover!
Yep always some bad apples, but I like the CU barrel better than the other guys. Members do care about their credit union, they do know the value of having a fair alternative.
Good news is that at least the public is still surprised by internal misfeasance, not sure there is any element of surprise left on what the blinks will get caught doing next...
If the Trades do what the members want, you are in a difficult position. Unless you rejoined the league?
Can't remember and significant league defense of the members right to transparency concerning the State CAMEL rating?
Two national trade associations, a league in almost every state and for what? A campaign, by one or the other every year, to keep the tax exception, which is not going away, unless credit unions continue to be wanted to be treated like banks.A feeble annual meeting where the league president sings a version of how great we are? It's good to see you have high hopes Jim. Let's hope there not just high in the sky apple pie hopes.
First, really like the phrase "second coming of Dumb"...great wordsmithing!!
Interesting "dissing" of the trades! Still believe they reflect the wishes of their members. But, perhaps like CU members, credit unions haven't been fully engaged of late...but perhaps RBC will be the proverbial "final straw" that turns the tide and gets CUs back involved in their trades.
The odds favor the direct representation model of NAFCU and the shrinking # of CUs assures the high risk, high cost survival dilemma confronting CUNA.
Watch closely how both react after 1/15... one may not survive the heat...
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It is not the shrinking number of credit unions that makes survivability of the CUNA model questionable. It is the lack of real purpose. In most states the state charter only gives a federally insured state chartered credit union two masters with the loss of individual state insurance funds.
If the National Association of Federal Credit Unions had any real strategic thinkers, and any true commitment to credit union members, they would amend their charter and represent Federally insured credit unions. The league structure would collapse because the cost no longer makes sense. A direct focus on what is best for Federally Insured credit union with a leader that actually cared about credit union members could bring about the effective representation that members really need and deserve!
Not sure I understand why you think CUNA doesn't work????
I understand why NAFCU does work even at a higher cost. Wouldn't NAFCU be crazy to change its model to try to inherit CUNA's "problems"???
Why can't CUNA lead? It has the status, membership, resources, history, talent??/
CUNA was developed on a model that is no longer necessary. You had multiple state laws and state insurance programs that had no real Federal tie. The states have done away with their insurance programs. NCUA rides heard on the state regulators and state credit unions have submit to the Fed as the final authority.
CUNA is now a blotted bureaucracy servicing no one but the needs of the bureaucracy. It is expensive and lacks focus, leadership, and can't point to any success for almost 20 years!
Much the same can be said about modern NAFCU except less expensive. The Trades, NCUA and Congress are all a part of the same Leviathan that is sucking the life out of the cooperative financial services industry.
If CUNA was leading, you would not have to ask the question.
So why do folks keep paying dues?
Most must still find value..
Not sure the people that pay dues are asking the right questions, or have done a proper due diligence study on the value of their association with the Trades. Did not know SECU rejoined? Larry Kelly of Apple said it best when he left the League and NAFCU questioning what have they done for credit unions lately? If credit unions leaders did proper due diligence or stopped and questioned anything beyond their provincial interests they would rapidly conclude that their long held relationships no longer make sense. Most people affiliate as a part of good citizenship and not good sense.
Let's try it another way...even if the structure is no longer appropriate, the cost is too high, and the effectiveness in question... the value of CUs "talking" among themselves about common problems and common goals is a good thing - right?
"Networking"... just knowing each other also has tremendous value. In times of danger, external threats its helpful to be able to call for help from people of like mind, like interests - right?
So, if what we have is not what we need... that doesn't mean we don't need something... what would that "something" look like?
So if I understand the status of the blog discussion on this point is that there is some level of agreement that: there is a structural problem, the costs are too high (why pay to much for a product, see due diligence comment above), and their effectiveness is questioned (I would suggest that they are feckless but for PC sake I will concur that their effectiveness is questioned).
So you leave us with talk as the only value at this moment. "Talk is CHEAP!" Talk or networking is hardly the acme reason for a voluntary associations.
Credit union members deserve statesmen and women who understand precisely the goals of credit unions and effectively pursue that interest. What you have now is a group of impotent appeasers whose only goal is a fat paycheck and a place at the table! Can not remember the last time a Trade association leader took a stand based on credit union core values? To paraphrase Winston Churchill, your Trade Associations are feeding you to the crocodile in hopes that they are eaten last.
Not sure that agreement on anything is possible within the CU movement at this point... that's why January 15 (RBC Groundhog Day) scares me a good bit.
But, was trying to see what our options might be to "organize"....
1) We can do nothing and just sit (wags say that's what we're doing now, except we're paying $$millions for the privilege of doing nothing!) Think Ben Franklin gave a good warning about "doing nothing" with his quote: "Either we hang together or we will surely hang separately."
2) Keep on keeping on with current trades ( or if there is a need for the appearance of action form a "working committee" to study the situation!). Appears the shrinking # of CUs takes this model down in the next few years regardless.
3) Start a new Trade. (OMG! OMG!! not one more!!!)
4) Organize locally (most often mentioned at state level.) Makes some sense since "all politics is local" and it has been shown that "grassroots" can be as important as "greenbacks" locally; and, equally clear, that grassroots never beats greenbacks at the national level. MACUMA may be good example in DC area.
5) Organize by size, common bond and/or purpose. Was much of this in the recent past such as Defense Council, Airline industry CUs, NatFed, educators, postal, etc. NAFCU of course has a principal unifying theme in the federal charter. The leaders of these type groups might become your "statesmen" empowered to broker compromises within the CU movement. The CUNA Board seems to have little unifying logic which may be part of the continuing concern.
6) My favorite one is that all the women CEOs withdraw from the trades and create their own trade. Women hold the majority of CEO positions and are pretty good at organizing... worked for the Greeks to end a war in 600 BC!!
Certain this was of great help... other suggestions?
So from what I gather from all that has been said is that both the regulator and the regulated cannot get their acts together. Both are run by individuals whose primary focus is keeping their jobs. And for both that is a pretty good idea. People complain about the salaries at NCUA.Really? When you look at CUNA and NAFCU and yes NASCUS too, the money they get for what they do is unconscionable.In addition,when you look what CEO's CFO's COO's and all the other O's in the industry are making in salary, bonuses and gifts, you have an industry that needs o perpetuate what they do because it is just too good to rock the boat too much. Now, that is not to say that there are not qualified, dedicated CU people out there who earn every penny they make. But we all know about the incompetent, lazy ones making a ton of money for far less than a forty hour week. But perhaps I protest too much. It is what it is. We cannot expect things to really get better. It's the culture and that will never change.
I support the concept of association to prevent individual hanging. However, it seems that Navy FCU and SECU the two largest credit unions left CUNA seemingly over local issues. CUNA response was to develop a committee to study the matter if memory serves me correctly. Navy has national representation through NAFCU. SECU members are not represented by a national association.
Not recommending a new Trade. Recommending reigning in the current trades and demanding that they actually effectually represent.
MACUMA is a pure networking educational and social organization. They don't not have an advocacy function either locally or nationally.
Not sure that the Lysistrata group would be a good idea, because of the you did not identify who the sex would be withheld from?
Definitely not withheld from WE who support them so faithfully!!!!
Might get a kick out of this Aristophanes quote:
"Youth ages, immaturity is outgrown, ignorance can be educated, and drunkenness sobered, but stupid lasts forever." (411 B.C.)
My how times change... sure "RBC #2" will add to that legacy next week!
So "You can't fix stupid" comes from Aristophanes!
And so until next week we can only look to Yogi Berra who said "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future".
Yep it was Aristophanes... who also said:
"You can't teach a crab to walk straight."
He probably stole that one from Yogi Berra... but its a pretty good prediction for next week's "RBC #2".
If we have a separate discussion about why there are so many "associations" in the credit union movement, a discussion we stick with until fully vetted, a discussion that includes the associations, the credit union staff and boards, vendors...we will get to spot where we see the issues of the credit union "movement" in, for many, a new and revealing light.
What industry has so many associations as credit unions "enjoy"?
I suspect zero.
Well, when every CU has its own personal CU trade association, the problem will be solved... we always agree with our own views!! Appears we're on our way there...
Think "having a discussion" sounds a lot like "forming a working committee"!
"Having a discussion like forming a working committee"?
Then why blog?
Agree, we are just about "there" with every cu seemingly enjoying their own "association":
Cuna Nafcu cues nacuso Macuma defense council postal police cu conferences leagues aerospace IBM....
And nothing against any of them individually. But collectively, these and all the others....why?
What drives this?
Hey nussle, I know you're reading, weigh in.
You to Berger.
Why do credit unions see a need to do go past you and your dues?
Hey cues, why?
And why are credit unions spending member capital this way?
Let's go...
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