Say What?

Who-o-o said that ?

"A word to the wise ain't necessary -

it's the stupid ones that need the advice."

- Bill Cosby

Derivatives: Coming To A Head At NCUA.......

NCUA's new, "crack" 
Derivatives Team
documenting NCUA's first derivatives ... 

Overdrafts - Unite For Good ?

Better Check Bouncers!

Guess you caught the latest "Good News" story about credit unions in yesterday's  CUNA - News Now feature story.

 The article: "Overdraft Price Study: CU's Still the Best Deal" ( see www.cuna.org/newsnow  - 7/10/2013) touts the fact that a national study "shows credit unions again remain the best deal for consumers." 

Credit unions achieved this remarkable "best deal" rating by charging only $28 on average for a checking account overdraft, while those "big bad wolf" banks charged an average of $30!

Do you feel a draft?

CUNA, our national guardian of the philosophical flame, goes on to breathlessly proclaim that the $28 CU overdraft rate is... 

"considerably lower 

than what banks have charged the past five years."

As one of my astute, long-term co-workers commented about the CUNA article and this wonderful CU member advantage: "If you are going to be taken advantage of by your financial institution, we are proud to announce that credit unions will do it with a smaller screw and less often!"

Believe she was a bit too discreet in her hyperbole.  Think it would be more correct to say, that:

Of A Different Fabric...

Ed Callahan
... of a different fabric.

It's a bit difficult to explain to folks who never met him, what "a force of nature" Ed Callahan was as a person. (See post: 3/17/2011) He had an unusual instinct for listening to difficult issues, considering alternatives and options, and then "cutting to the chase"- clearly, decisively, on-point.


When leaving his position as NCUA Chair in 1984, he wrote a "Farewell Address" to President Regan about his view of the credit union movement. (See Coops4Change.org for the entire text).

For those looking for a defense against unnecessary taxation, a rebuke against inept and intrusive regulation, or a simple, concise statement of the hope and promise of "the credit union alternative", Ed Callahan's message still rings true:

"The only threat to credit unions is the bureaucratic tendency to treat them, for convenience sake, the same as banks and savings and loans.  This is a mistake, for they are made of a different fabric.  It is a fabric woven tightly by thousands of volunteers, sponsoring companies, credit union organizations and NCUA - all working together."

"Credit union boards of directors have made, and will continue to make, individual and collective decisions from their vantage point on the front lines of the marketplace."

"When left alone, they return to what they do best; providing basic financial services to their members on the most convenient and cost-effective terms possible."

Credit Unions: Woven From A Different Fabric.

NCUA Fiddles While Rome Burns...

Flaming out...

"As the Financial Times reported last week, Rome appears to have entered into interest rate swaps with investment banks in the mid 1990's. These flattered public finance figures through upfront cash payments from the counter parties, by stretching out the governments debt service over a longer period and by hedging against higher borrowing costs."

"It now appears derivatives worth $32 billion were restructured in the first half of 2012.  At current market prices, the restructuring may have cost the Italian Treasury about $8 billion. That is a big loss as a share of the derivative contracts' value...."

Think it is interesting to note that...

From The Field...

"I am very excited about getting this new project roiling..."

(The real truth about project management...)

Strategic Defense.... Asheville: Part II

Asheville, N.C.
 ... A Must See !

OK, so here we go.... When we left off on Wednesday, the hotel was crawling with police and security and the hotel receptionist were trying to act like everything was normal in Asheville .... 

Anyway, the hotel was hosting a convention of biotech firms which specialized in DNA coding, gene splicing, and particularly in the genetic modification of plants and animals. The thought of modified plants and animals had created a lot of concern among "the tattooed


 and pierced set" in Asheville - and they had gathered across the side street to make a fuss.  

Walked out to survey the standoff.  
The

"Tahrir Square",
Asheville, N.C. 

protesters were a colorful group - mainly outfitted in t-shirts & REI - with beards, bandanas, and braids prevalent.  They had chosen to rally at the historic home place of Thomas Wolfe,  North Carolina's most distinguished writer (Look 
Homeward Angel and all that...). 

They held the high ground in the confrontation with the sun at their backs, highlighting the flutter of banners and signs. Their chanting however was noticeably unpracticed and their "2-4-6-8, we'd prefer to irrigate" wasn't all that convincing. Thomas Wolfe would have come up with a more rhapsodic verb...

Asheville cool...

Across the street, backs to the hotel boundary were some of Asheville's finest also dressed out appropriately, for the "eyeball-to-eyeball", in black with designer-matched helmet and nightstick accessories.  Being Asheville, the uniforms were finely tailored in body-sculpting, black Corinthian leather, accented with faux-silver metal brads and studs. The dark glasses appeared to be YSL.

But, that's not the "strategic positioning", I wanted to tell you about. 

SERIOUSLY...

The "Only In Asheville" feature to all this was that dead in the middle of the street, in between the two opposing camps, were stationed a dozen bicycle policeman wearing short pants and those - also silly - pointy, yellow and orange, space cadet, plastic bike helmets. 

" PULL OVER,
YOU'RE UNDER ARREST..."

As you can imagine, it is very difficult to look formidable, standing in the middle of a  city street, behind your big-wheeled mountain bike, in pretty much short-shorts, while wearing a bike helmet which makes you closely resemble a duck! These guys were doing the best they could "to bulk-up" by crossing their arms and trying to look stern, but - much like the protesters' chanting - it was not overly convincing.

So, here are the strategic positioning questions:

The Courage To Object....

... to the way things are.

In hope of...

Strategic Defense...

Asheville, N.C. ... It's a WOW !!

Guess I ought to finish up with one other observation which arose on the way to "that less than spectacular" speaking engagement last month.  Although the CU chapter meeting was in Maggie Valley, stayed over for the night in Asheville, North Carolina.

If you haven't "Done Asheville?"... you should!  Now rated by just about everyone as one of America's most attractive cities, Asheville has got it all - natural beauty, thriving/diverse economy, cosmopolitan spirit - a great place 

Natural Neon !

to live with nice folks. And, in the Fall you get to see this... and of course there is the community "drum circle" on Friday nights !! (Sorry can't explain it, you just need to come see for yourself!) The Biltmore House, whitewater rafting, hiking, golf, vibrant Arts community, the Cherokee Nation, best roads for that Harley anywhere....

But, let's see, got a bit distracted there... the original idea was to tell you about an unusual strategic "positioning" I encountered in Asheville.  Checking into the hotel, there were lots of those guys "with dark glasses and antennas coming out of their ears" walking around, plus 2 or 3 dozen police cars in the parking lot.  Told the hotel clerk that I didn't feel that this level of security was necessary because the speech hadn't gone "quite that badly!!". He looked at me in a vacant sort of way while he tried to make some sense out of that comment...

Wall Street Welcomes NCUA Derivatives Guidance...

"We are so pleased the NCUA has recognized the benefits of bringing Wall Street to Main Street!
Thank you so much!"

- The Wall Street Dealers and Traders Association
"We'll take care of you!"