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| And, don't tell me about your dog's eating habits! |
Sorry, but its required reading - absolutely mandatory - whether or not you're headed for The Four Seasons and "The Meeting of the Minds" next month.
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| Hush! Read it! |
These are 5 of the "Top 40" who will definitely be at The Four Seasons in November. These five league presidents are highly influential "thought leaders" among the group of 38 league CEOs who currently control 25% of the votes on the CUNA Board. Their opinion is important.
These 5 folks, as you will read,
do not want to give credit unions
- nor you - a choice.
Take a few moments to read why their opinion....
"Join Us: Let's Get Serious About The Future!"
... "trumps" your opinion!
[... and the majority of credit unions they represent.]
15 comments:
Although I regularly follow Jim Blaine’s blog for its Appalachian-style humor and uncanny ability to ferret-out otherwise-unattainable information about the credit union industry, I rarely agree with his left-leaning point of view. Despite my own libertarian-leaning skew, I must admit that Mr. Blaine has hit upon a “Bambi-in-the-headlights” insight (see Callahan’s Credit Union Report Volume 22 No. 7 July 2008) concerning “A Vision for Advocacy Everywhere” that attempts to justify the anachronistic CUNA-League network.
The Advocacy Everywhere manifesto fundamentally rests upon the key element of interdependence across the U.S. credit union system that nearly toppled the industry in 2008. It calls upon the industry to embrace the anti-free enterprise false narrative that the “…cooperative model sits between the excesses of capitalism and government” and that “…interdependence is essential for optimum success.” It also offers up flawed global design choices.
I sometimes wonder why Mr. Blaine spends so much time on the subject of the CUNA-league network. He might as well ponder when NAFCU will change its name officially to the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions. But that is Mr. Blaine’s business decision. If he wants to blog endlessly about the CUNA-league network that is likely to meet the same fate as did the savings and loan trade associations, then I say – “blog on.”
Well, if Marv and I are on the same side, then one of us is in trouble... and one of us is probably wrong!
But Marv, the reason I keep pushing on this issue is that what was, in the past once very important to you, is still very important to me... the credit union movement... and all the members who can't afford to have us fail... remember?
BTW, for those who don't know Marv's history...
Long ago, in a galaxy far away... he was a savvy, capable leader at CUNA and with several leagues!
He now most often works for the dark side... kind of a "Marvth Vader" type persona, if you know what I mean.
Jim – I have nothing but praise for credit unions, but the “movement” is a fiction that died off years ago with the advent of federal deposit insurance. The federal government will inevitably turn credit unions into banks. I encourage you to forget about the NCUA, and instead follow the U.S. Treasury, the Financial Stability Oversight Council, and the federal Office of Financial Research. They have big plans to homogenize the financial services industry. It is not a matter of if, but when.
Marv,
Still believe that if credit unions were really what we were set up to be, that "the people" (very libertarian, hey!)) would take care of the "government problem".
Wouldn't be a problem now if credit unions were "on purpose"!
Wouldn't you at least agree that when the "government" (CUNA/leagues) no longer will listen to the "people" (credit unions/members) and start adopting "let them eat cake" (at the Four Seasons!) "policies" (our choice or no choice!) that it might be time to "fight".
Jim- If I might borrow your Zen topical approach, allow me to quote a few lines that might apply to the CUNA-league network.
“Our pasts become prisons from which we cannot escape.”
“It’s a bad time to be in buggy whips!”
“No way out! No way out!” (Gene Wilder in The Producers)
“Never believe in something so much that you stop thinking.”
As a strategic analyst, I would suggest to the CUNA-league network execs that they need to take a serious look at their potential future business model, if not their contingency exit strategies, or “living wills:” if you prefer the term. But they, like the NCUA Board have been ignoring my very wise counsel for decades.
Not all of Marv's "counsel" is wise...
This perhaps is.
Jim, that joint document was a complete waste of our league presidents' time. Putting your head in the sand and using graphs and flowcharts to justify our leagues' unsustainable business model is pure silliness. However, I can think of one suggestion that would make their flowcharts become more effective: put NAFCU in a box at the top of them. We should merge CUNA into NAFCU and in turn get strong board and management leadership at the federal level. And of course keep our leagues for state advocacy and local networking of which they are great at. A win-win for the system and credit unions.
As you continuously point out, the current system is not working. There's no real leadership at CUNA nor at most of our leagues. The quickest catalyst to force change is for CUNA Mutual Group to stop giving money to them. Instant impact.
It was entertaining to read the excerpts from the Jim & Marv show. Both gentlemen make good points and it was nice to see Marv able to keep his comments under six pages. But gentlemen we all know that the results of ant CUNA meeting is a forgone conclusion. The open forum is like an NCUA Board Meeting. The second vote is told what to do even before the meeting has begun. Like NCUA, the CUNA boys and ladies have had more conversations over the phone and at private cocktail gatherings than they will at any meeting. No one is about to change anything that provides you an enormous salary, great fringe benefits and a lofty retirement plan. You don't bite the hand that feeds you. Gentlemen, you are waging the good fight. You are speaking up for the credit unions out there. The problem is that the CEO's of those credit unions are also a part of the cabal and no one is listening.
Babe Ruth did not hit a homerun every time at bat! Whether counsel is wise usually is a matter of extreme prejudice.
The observation about the movement's death is on the money!
Got to take off. As it happens, going to a retirement dinner for a a "wonderful little lady" (truly about 4'10" in heels!) who has led a very successful - important to the community - "small CU" for almost 40 years.
Over all the years she has fought the good fight for her members primarily against inept NCUA examiners, who never had the IQ , professional training, or business acumen - which she had in spades! - to leave well enough alone (18% net worth, while doing miracles with few resources, etc - you know the story... it's happening all across the Country as we speak!).
Do we have that kind of grit, commitment, and dedication to a "cause" today?
Yes, but apparently not at the helm of several crucial CU touch points ...
She is a dying breed! How long before NCUA merges the credit union?
The choice is simple. Run your CU like Jim runs his or keep wasting your money on "advocacy". Make loans , get paid back, hire and keep the best, zero tolerance for knuckleheads and your members will do the advocating for you. And for the record, Diana Dykstra is a wonderful lady and a expert chicken farmer. I may not agree with her on this score, but I esteem her greatly.
The Langoliers, or perhaps I should say technology, is at our doorstep. As an old practicing warrior on the road to the inevitable destruction of the community financial institution, a lynch pin of our social values and success for nearly two centuries, I as Jim, lament its impending demise.
If the leagues and the national trades ever got together and attempted to figure out how technology can be used to reach the vast number of Americans with limited access to reasonably priced financial services, the destruction of the community financial institution may not be as imminent as predicted.
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