I think it's an interesting commentary on the state of food quality, and world economics that I can buy 4 Arby's melts for 6 dollars, while other people in other places starve. Not that I expect superb quality of food from anywhere "fast food" but it's just something interesting I noticed.
This is not me and my friends, but for some reason it bares a resemblance that canot be ignored :(
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Nathan
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Wednesday 04 March 2009 - 13:31:41
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Thursday 26 February 2009
NADER: How Credit Unions Survived the Crash
While the reckless giant banks are shattering like an over-heated glacier day by day, the nation?s credit unions are a relative island of calm largely apart from the vortex of casino capitalism.
Eighty five million Americans belong to credit unions which are not-for-profit cooperatives owned by their members who are depositors and borrowers. Your neighborhood or workplace credit union did not invest in these notorious speculative derivatives nor did they offer people ?teaser rates? to sign on for a home mortgage they could not afford.
Ninety one percent of the 8,000 credit unions are reporting greater overall growth in mortgage lending than any other kinds of consumer loans they are extending. They are federally insured by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) for up to $250,000 per account, such as the FDIC does for depositors in commercial banks.
They are well-capitalized because of regulation and because they do not have an incentive to go for high-risk, highly leveraged speculation to increase stock values and the value of the bosses? stock options as do the commercial banks.
Credit Unions have no shareholders nor stock nor stock options; they are responsible to their owner-members who are their customers.
There are even some special low-income credit unions?thought not nearly enough?to stimulate economic activities in these communities and to provide ?banking? services in areas where poor people can?t afford or are not provided services by commercial banks.
According to Mike Schenk, an economist with the Credit Union National Association, there is another reason why credit unions avoided the mortgage debacle that is consuming the big banks.
Credit Unions, Schenk says, are ?portfolio lenders. That means they hold in their portfolios most of the loans they originate instead of selling them to investors, so they care about the financial performance of those loans.?
Mr. Schenk allowed that with the deepening recession, credit unions are not making as much surplus and ?their asset quality has deteriorated a bit. But that?s the beauty of the credit union model. Credit unions can live with those conditions without suffering dire consequences,? he asserted.
His use of the word ?model? is instructive. In recent decades, credit unions sometimes leaned toward commercial bank practices instead of strict cooperative principles. They developed a penchant for mergers into larger and larger credit unions. Some even toyed with converting out of the cooperative model into the shareholder model the way insurance and bank mutuals have done.
The cooperative model?whether in finance, food, housing or any other sector of the economy?does best when the owner-cooperators are active in the general operations and directions of their co-op. Passive owners allow managers to stray or contemplate straying from cooperative practices.
The one area that is now spelling some trouble for retail cooperatives comes from the so-called ?corporate credit unions??a terrible nomenclature?which were established to provide liquidity for the retail credit unions. These large wholesale credit unions are not exactly infused with the cooperative philosophy. Some of them gravitate toward the corporate banking model. They invested in those risky mortgage securities with the money from the retail credit unions. These ?toxic assets? have fallen $14 billion among the 28 corporate credit unions involved.
So the National Credit Union Administration is expanding its lending programs to these corporate credit unions to a maximum capacity of $41.5 billion. NCUA also wants to have retail credit unions qualified for the TARP rescue program just to provide a level playing field with the commercial banks.
Becoming more like investment banks the wholesale credit unions wanted to attract, with ever higher riskier yields, more of the retail credit union deposits. This set the stage for the one major blemish of imprudence on the credit union subeconomy.
There are very contemporary lessons to be learned from the successes of the credit union model such as being responsive to consumer loan needs and down to earth with their portfolios. Yet in all the massive media coverage of the Wall Street barons and their lethal financial escapades, crimes and frauds, little is being written about how the regulation, philosophy and behavior of the credit unions largely escaped this catastrophe.
There is, moreover, a lesson for retail credit unions. Beware and avoid the seepage or supremacy of the corporate financial model which, in its present degraded overly complex and abstract form, has become what one prosecutor called ?lying, cheating and stealing? in fancy clothing.
Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate and three-time presidential candidate.
Posted by
Nathan
on
Thursday 26 February 2009 - 08:19:57
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Tuesday 24 February 2009
Star Wars: As told by someone who has never seen it
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Nathan
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Tuesday 24 February 2009 - 23:42:20
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Sunday 08 February 2009
Western Youth Caucus
And this weekend my journies bring me to Winnipeg. Winnipeg is similar in latitude to Regina, with Regina being 50° 26' N and Winnipeg being 49° 54' N. Anyway, I think this may be the explanation of my feelings towards both places. The water tastes like blood (yummy, oxidized iron!). It's cold. The area here that I have seen is comprible to a demiliterized zone. The hostil is like a prison barracks. And the wireless internet sucks.
I have encountered several MLAs here, and a MP. I am looking forward to our departure today.
The other night after exiting a nearby lisenced establishment, I ran in to an old friend I went to school with. We then took the bus to their place and hung out. While on the Bus, completely random, out of the blue, I feel a slight tapping on my back. I turn around and this guy says “Excuse me, were you in ACIC?”. As it turns out, him and I were in the same section while we were stationed in Penhold. It was kind of neat. Like what are the odds? Anyway, I gave him my card, and perhaps him and I will keep in touch.
Posted by
Nathan
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Sunday 08 February 2009 - 09:14:33
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Tuesday 27 January 2009
This post brought to you by the Country Inn and Suites.
My journey brings me to Regina for the rest of the week. I have some corporate training to undergo, and so the boss man is footing the bill for my executive suite in this hotel. I swear, the suite is larger than my home. When I entered, the nice lady at the desk..I think her name was Marry, told me the benefits of their fine establishment (free breakfast, free paper, free coffee, Free Willy [well I just threw that on there to maintain continuity, but they have Free DVD “rentals”])...also free 24/7 cookie service.
The trip down was uneventful. Rocked out to my iPod.
For supper I went to the Tim Horton’s whose sign glows from my bedroom window. There I met some girl whose name was “in training”. I doubt that was her name, but I addressed her as such. She laughed and gave me a free donut with my BLT and soup.
Now I have “rented” Zohan and intend to watch it.
And my finger is hurting. A week ago I cut it off while doing dishes.
Posted by
Nathan
on
Tuesday 27 January 2009 - 20:50:58
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Wednesday 07 January 2009
Worth a watch - Sarah Palin on The Hour
This is certainly worth watching with an open mind. Its interesting, as she comes off somewhate differently than I figured she would have, especially in the second part of the interview:
Posted by
Nathan
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Wednesday 07 January 2009 - 23:48:33
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Friday 26 December 2008
These things happen
So I just heard sirens. Fire..ambulance...police. The with living on 22nd St is you wait and hear them terminate abruptly, or if they carry on in to the distance. These terminated close. I opened the rear window. Seeing flashing lights makes me nervous, since the accident in February and the ensuing battle with insurance to pay fair cost of the damage nothing more and nothing less.
It was my lucky day, this had nothing to do with me.
I ran over to the scene. I guess there were 3 vehicles involved. One west bound, two east bound. there was a car with front end damage east bound, an SUV with front end damage sitting on the median. A third, smaller car, was laying upside down in the centre lane of 22nd St east bound. I said it then, and I'll say it now "these things happen".
It appeared as though no one was seriously hurt, which is a bonus. There's a hive of cops running around now, redirecting traffic, closing 22nd St, a very sharp reminder of last February.
--
On a more positive note, I got Allan Blakeney's new book for Xmas. Here's the inside cover:
Posted by
Nathan
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Friday 26 December 2008 - 14:45:56
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Friday 19 December 2008
Gilbert Gottfried
With the unfortunate passing of Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, LCARS, the computer from star trek, is without a voice. We, the undersigned, petition Paramount to cast the well known and renowned actor, Gilbert Gottfried as the new voice of LCARS and boldly go where no man has gone before.
Posted by
Nathan
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Tuesday 09 December 2008 - 08:34:49
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Saturday 29 November 2008
Dwain Lingenfelter is not a “stinky pirate” - but I'm still not supporting him
Here I am delaying the inevitable studying for C14. Anyway, I have proof that Dwain Lingenfelter is not a “stinky pirate”. Yesterday I went to see him at Browsers. He was a presentable man who appears to maintain a high standard of personal hygiene. He smelled very pleasing, so anyone who thought that he may stink, you are wrong.
As for him being a pirate, I do not think he is. At least not one on the high seas, as he flew in from Calgary to meet with us, and I don’t think there’s any piracy in the air. Perhaps he’s a music or software pirate..considering the massive amounts of money he has access to, I would doubt that he’d compromise his legitimacy by doing that.
Anyway, all that out of the way, I have decided I cannot support him as he does not line up with my views. For starters, the discussion on energy came up. He was saying that the only way Saskatchewan can mine uranium is if we support nuclear power. He also said that it’s important for Saskatchewan to consider taking up other roles in the nuclear industry. I cannot agree with that. Likewise, his model of the situation was over simplified. He basically said if you do not support nuclear energy production, you have to support the dirty coal industry. He used, as typical when you only present to choices, the extremes of each case, indicating we can have the clean air as nuclear powered France does, or we can have the choice of dirty air, such as in coal fuelled Beijing. When presented with the notion of renewable energy, he shoved it off and said it was not feasible in any large scale production.
When the topic came to education, he was more interested in loaning out more money to students than he was addressing the affordability issue. As anyone can agree, the criteria in which student loans are provided are entirely unrealistic and the process is very confusing and time consuming. However, the fundamental issue is not how much money one wants to put him or herself in debt, but how much it costs altogether. He completely ignored the issues such as housing (not affordability of housing, but the AVAILIBILITY of housing), the importance to child care to students who are also doubling up as parents, and the fact the prices of life’s necessities are increasing while wages remain fixed. His solution to lend more money and increase the availability of money would not work, as it does not address the fundamental issues in the equation.
Then I inquired about labour legislation. He informed me that the essential services legislation and trade union act amendments would not be rescinded, should be eventually become premier. He told me he would change them to be “more workable”. I asked what that means, but he couldn’t provide an answer. I asked about the discussion of lowering the age of employment to 14, and he didn’t say no to that either. He said, like politicians do, that it’s a complex issue and we would have to look at the various concerns, not ruling out allowing 14 year olds to take up jobs at the sacrifice of their education.
Now isn’t that more thought out than an ad hominem attack on someone?
Posted by
Nathan
on
Saturday 29 November 2008 - 12:12:23
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Wednesday 19 November 2008
It snowed today...like kind of dumped on the city, in some sort of white, wet, wrath known only as horrifying. Drive carefully (as in, I enjoy the somewhat relaxed pace in which I do my job, don't disrupt that)
In honour of today:
Posted by
Nathan
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Wednesday 19 November 2008 - 19:37:30
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Sunday 16 November 2008
The Story of stuff
Posted by
Nathan
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Sunday 16 November 2008 - 20:24:13
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Sunday 09 November 2008
i laughed..
Posted by
Nathan
on
Sunday 09 November 2008 - 12:43:46
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The coolest pic
The coolest 26 megapixel pic of a bunch of galaxies you'll see today.
Posted by
Nathan
on
Sunday 09 November 2008 - 12:41:41
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Wednesday 05 November 2008
kitteh pics
Posted by
Nathan
on
Wednesday 05 November 2008 - 18:22:16
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Tuesday 04 November 2008
Felis catus
So...for the benefit of whose actually reading, my fence is completed. It was impressive. It puts the old fence to shame...and if you have a fence it probably puts yours to shame too because it's awesome. It's even more awesome than a 12 foot high robot zombie jesus with chainsaws for arms and a thirst for the sweat of republicans.
Speaking of sweaty republicans...election day today. Thusfar...looks like Obama. Hurray for the "socialist" candidate...which is kind of funny, since Stephen Harper is more left wing than Obama.
I wrote C14 midterm. I think I dominated that. Now if only I can dominate that mouse problem of mine........hmm....if only I had some sort of predatory being to hunt mice while I was at work....
I kan haz a kitteh* 2dae! :D
* kitteh not actually as shown.
And that's the world according to nathan today.
Posted by
Nathan
on
Tuesday 04 November 2008 - 20:37:59
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IT appears Obama is winning. Countries of note would be Afghanistan. They appearently support Obama as well.
Posted by
Nathan
on
Wednesday 29 October 2008 - 23:55:19
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Monday 27 October 2008
Caught you
So I got back from SFL. I got back from NDP Council. Today I heard the little pitter patter of tiny feet. A mouse (or mice?) had decided to move in while I was in Regina. The damn thing ran across the floor this morning. I saw it, confirming my thoughts. I thought maybe it would go away. Jae was over and saw it run around. I informed him of this mouse issue. After his departure I went to work. While playing opera, Die Walkuere, I set traps. I saw the bastard a few more times. I cleaned out various places of my home where it could have hidden. I noticed it tore apart a bag of flour. The trap was set..... At the stroke of 10PM....SNAP echoed through my house. Game Over, Mouse.
Posted by
Nathan
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Monday 27 October 2008 - 00:23:36
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Friday 24 October 2008
SFL, light at the end of the tunnel
Today Buffy Sainte Marie came to speak. She is a strong woman, with many stories and great insight. She spoke passionately about the arts, peace and how people have to stick together and accomplish things. She spoke about her history, such as being black listed in the USA as she was an outspoken artist. She spoke of her childhood and how she “met” various musical instruments and how music can be used as a tool for communication, with or without words. She spoke of the need to support women’s issues and of the fundamental role they play in our society due to biological differences in how they think. It was very inspirational. This brings me to another guest we had at the convention. …After God had finished the rattlesnake, the toad, the vampire, He had some awful substance left with which he made Rob Norris. Norris is a two-legged animal with a cork-screw soul, a water-logged brain, a combination backbone of jelly and glue. Where others have hearts, he carries a tumor of rotten principles.
We invited Norris to the labor convention. We hoped he would offer something of substance..you know, a justification for the unbalanced legislation of bills 5 and 6. We hoped he’d answer questions. We were fair. He walked up to the podium- Began to speak. It was the routine “cut taxes, invest in roads, etc” that most politicians give. I mean, sure it’s what’s needed, but not on my priority for spending government money. Anyway, he then brought up the inevitable blow- the catalyst which provoked the need for action from labor. He said something along the lines of “we kept the government’s promise to balance labor legislation with bills 5 and 6”. Game over, Mr. Norris. The room, spontaneously assembled at the back of the hall, behind our striking steelworkers. They started singing Solidarity Forever. We chanted things in support of labor. We continued this until the end of his speech. It was time for questions. The lawyer from RWDSU went to the mic and asked about any further changes to labor legislation. He dodged the question. He started talking about some other unrelated thing…the crown demanded an answer, “Yes or No” we chanted. No answer, just words put together to resemble some sort of sentence. Every question we asked he answered in a similar answer, as though covered in slime and grease allowing him to slip through giving an answer. We gave him a chance to answer, he refused. Then on Global News, he commented about our actions, as though he wanted to open dialogue with us. If that’s what he wanted, I feel its too little, too late.
May 14th 2009 – Day of action, fellow workers.
Posted by
Nathan
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Friday 24 October 2008 - 19:59:15
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