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SEPTEMBER 2007
POTPOURRI by W H James, Jr., CMC, Board
Chairman-Residential Bancorp,
Canton,
Ohio. August 8, 2007.
IN
THE GAME OF LIFE
chronologically speaking, I figure I just hit my drive on #16 and it looks
like I'm playing FIRESTONE south course!
(Real golfers will understand). I was born in 1940 and really have my
heart set on living to 80, so each hole represents about 4 ½ years.
The first 2 holes saw most of my generation living in a female
dominated environment. The men
were fighting a world war in the Pacific and Europe.
We lived in a disciplined family and country.
It was impressed on every child: Make bad decisions and you reaped
unpleasant consequences.
Corporal punishment was delivered when called for,
AND
all your aunts, uncles, teachers, and older cousins were issued
007 (license to spank) licenses.
The 3rd and 4th holes were as good as it gets.
My Dad returning from war (years later I learned he had served well,
earning numerous medals, a couple of which were among the highest Awards the
Air Force gave including the “Distinguished Flying Cross”).
All those boys who went to war came back real men.
Growing up in the 50s has been correctly labeled . . .
THE HAPPY DAYS.
Parents parented, teachers taught, police policed, and our leaders
led! Holes #5 through about the
3rd shot on #9 proved (in my case) that just about anyone could
succeed in the business world.
Things were still being run with at least a modicum of reason and
intelligence though as I was putting out on #9, common sense seemed to be
teetering. Walking off the green on #9 the S&L debacle showed our leadership
quality was heading for the sewer and the ugly head of greed had fully
emerged. Bunker shot on #11
allowed time to look ahead and the view was not good.
Those 18 and 19 year olds who fought and won WW II and had gone on to
be our leaders in government and industry were stepping aside for a new
generation of leaders. Coming
home were veterans (victims) of a horrible war engineered by 2 mindless
Presidents and a terrible defense secretary (Johnson, Nixon and McNamara).
These incredible young men & women served under conditions that were
unthinkable. And when they came home much of our nation blamed them for the
debacle brought about by a FEW LEADERS! A nation of “LAWS” had come under
management of greedy and corrupt individuals and groups.
There was a majority of good and dedicated people/leaders, but it
only takes about 3 bad guys out of a group of 10 people to control business
and politics. . . The bad seem to be more dedicated and effective in their
ugly quest. Lobbyists became
policy and law makers. Starting
on #12 all hell seemed to break loose . . . Duck hooks, shanks, whiffs and
many bad reads (sub prime) became pervasive.
On #15 it started to get scary.
The irresponsible business programs, the use of the word leadership
in conjunction with the word government became the ultimate
OXYMORON!
Back somewhere on #14 a bunch of us elected a President who has
proven to be a dangerous, shallow, and egotistical presence/power.
Our course needs new management, new greens keeper, new rules that
are not selectively enforced and “golfers” that will respect management and
follow the rules.
After
hearing
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke announce for about the 24th
time . . . “The real danger facing our country is inflation!” I wondered if
anyone had updated him on:
-
The
war in IRAQ
– Killing around 60 of our kids a month and is a drain of nearly ½ a
trillion dollars so far.
-
A
Federal deficit that probably never can be paid off . . . and IT’s
increasing by the minute.
-
An
education system in shambles
-
A
supposed nation of laws who seem incapable of enforcing them, and then
only selectively, depending on the whims of “paid for congressmen” as
directed by their real employers
LOBBYISTS!
-
Our
dollar in grave danger of being replaced as the world reserve currency.
-
We could
go on and on.
The
clincher came when Bennie and his 12 stooges announced that future monetary
policy would depend on inflation . . . and they decided that the
ideal inflation percentage
they would seek would be an
annualized rate of 1.5%!
This took me by surprise, so I went back a quarter century (25
years) and it seems like our mental midgets of the Fed (and others)
haven’t bothered to check something . . .
The annualized rate of inflation
in the last 25 years has never been as
low as 1.5%!
Never! even if you use the government fairy tale “CORE” number it has rarely seen that figure.
Be afraid, be very afraid . . .
Shortly after
the first of the year (2007) I was a little surprised when our Treasury
Secretary (Paulson) and other economic and political gurus were
acknowledging there was a growing problem in the increasing number of
mortgage defaults. Secretary
Paulson stated, “The problem is of concern but we can handle it with no
problem.” A reporter asked if it could be as bad as the S&L disaster . . .
with an “all knowing” smirk, he chuckled “not even close!”
Well now we are seeing the whole picture.
Many of the Co-Perpetrators
(Mortgage Lenders and Investment Bankers/Stock Brokers) have gone down the
tubes or are in the drain whirlpool.
I started keeping track of the lenders closing their doors and filing
bankruptcy . . . after about 20 I stopped counting.
The news sources tell me the number now surpass 60 . . . and
counting. The mortgage industry
is in flux. .. Oh hell lets say it like it is . . . It’s in chaos and
getting worse. It is going to
take some time to get over the stupidity and mindless business practices we
experienced over the last couple of holes.
But, it will get better. .. We will return to intelligent and proven
business practices. There are
many, many, companies who only lightly participated in the insanity.
Companies like Countrywide, Indy Mac, ING, a new and resurrected FNMA
and FHLMC, to name a few.
Companies like these and others (there are many other companies who deserve
credit. I did not mention
companies with whom Residential Bancorp does business) will lead us back to
prosperity. New ones will pop up
to replace the deserved dead.
JUST
GOT THE WORD…Our
missing QB Brady Quinn has signed, after missing a substantial and very
important 15 days of practice…my final prediction:
Browns go 5-11. You just
can’t play in the NFL with no clear team leader.
The Browns have no team leader, no coaching leader, no management
leader, and no direction from ownership… Maybe we should just follow
Lerner’s ENGLISH FOOTBALL (Soccer) team.
As I said before soccer is a perfect fit, you can’t THROW OR CATCH
THE BALL IN SOCCER!
AND
MOST
important…our “39” year old OAMB Executive Vice President has become a
grandmother of note. 2nd
grandchild, Mason James Frazee weighed in
August 9th, 2007 at 9 lbs.
This is Mary Ellen’s daughter, Amanda’s, second child…all is well.
Mary Ellen is handling it as a normal Grandmother, OBNOXIOUS!
Your comments wanted - email
billj@bancorp.com
Bill James
is Board Chairman of Residential Bancorp in Canton, Ohio
and can be reached @ 330-495-6041.
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