Credit Unions and the financial meltdown

At a time when many banks are failing, and the one's that aren't can be blamed for many of the economic problems facing our country, there's one bright spot: Credit Unions.

In testimony yesterday (March 24) before the Senate Banking Committee, Credit Union National Association (CUNA) CEO and President Dan Mica said that Credit Unions stand ready to loan as much as $10 billion to small businesses who have lost their lines of credit due to banks' hunkering down. The problem is that bankers years ago pushed for unrealistically small limits on how much money Credit Unions can loan out to businesses.

Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) asked bank representatives why the cap on business lending should not be lifted, even temporarily. The bankers were unable to give a reasonable answer. The truth, which could never be stated aloud, is that bankers fear competition from Credit Unions, and will do absolutely anything they can to limit their influence.

You can be a part of the solution! Look around for a local Credit Union and join. You'll meet good people, who make sound investments in people of your community. They have money to loan, and at rates which give bankers bad dreams. If you're depositing, you'll find better rates too. Why? Because unlike banks, Credit Unions are not-for-profit, run by volunteer boards, with dividends paid out to the members. Their costs are lower.

If you "live, work, worship, volunteer or attend school in Riley, Pottawatomie or Geary County" Kansas, an excellent choice would be the K-State Federal Credit Union. Check them out here.

Also, read the whole story of Mr. Mica's testimony here.

The more things change ...

An interesting story today on the BBC about "banksters", a word which combines "banker" and "gangster".

In 1928, Professor William Z. Ripley of Harvard condemned the practices of Wall Street at that time. He called them "prestidigitation, double-shuffling, honey-fugling, hornswoggling and skullduggery".

He tried to warn then-President Coolidge, but the President was an insider on Wall Street, making money using some of the very practices Ripley was citing. The result was the crash of 1929 and a decade of depression. A depression, by the way, made much worse and much longer by the Socialistic programs of Franklin Roosevelt.

Alas, the situation is remarkably similar today. And we now have a President who will take a slim victory in the polls as a "mandate" to do things far above and beyond what Roosevelt ever dreamed of. I hope you have comfortable shoes. You'll need them when you're standing next to me in the soup line.

Read the BBC story here. There's an interesting twist at the end.