My blog got off my original course and CU Insight changed
their policies regarding anonymous posts.
I liked being able to speak out and tell the truth. I don’t mind people knowing who I am, but I’m
not interested in my views reflecting on my credit union.
Therefore, I’m taking down this blog. If I start bloging again, it will be under my own name.
With regards to WesCorp... Most people saw through that ruse
and didn’t recapitalize them. Now they have arrogant Texan’s to deal with. Your choice: back office shenanigans or
in-your-face arrogance. I hope the
failure also reflected a rejection of that mode of business and the individuals
who perpetuated the actions. I still
blame NCUA for the lack of oversight and the failure to bring any substantial
punishment to those involved. REALLY –
Banning a retired person? You might as
well disallow a vegan from eating the choice of the day at Chris’s Steak House! I feel they should have held the board to a
higher level of responsibility as well.
These were, remember, the best and brightest the industry had to
offer. NCUA allowed them to walk away
with no culpability. I don’t get
that… In my conversations with the then
Board Chair, he stated that each and every investment came in front of the
board for approval. You’re telling me no
one saw a trend here of excessive risk, or concentration levels that their own
credit union wouldn’t have choked on? I
understand they had extended authority, however, they had no authority to play
Russian Roulette with your members monies.
And make no mistake, that’s exactly what they did. Their charge was to provide a safe harbor for
liquid funds. What part of that includes
doubling down on the monies held in safekeeping on the riskiest investments
ever conceived by mankind (short of a straight-up Ponzi scheme)?
My error was in not running a similar scam that profited me
greatly and cost the industry $Millions or $Trillions. After all, crime (or criminal neglect of
fiduciary duties) does pay, and handsomely at that, in CU-Land.
These folks were allowed to benefit from the upside of their
greed and you have the privilege of continually paying for their errors. Yet, no one else is saying anything. Are you all willing to let them get a free
ride because you have your own little secrets you don’t want brought into the
sunlight? The Board members still have
their jobs, Siravo is still playing golf, and the staff has gone on to other
jobs outside the industry (even before they were “banned”). Dick Johnson is still wringing his hands that
it all went badly. I guess his military
bond is stronger than his moral outrage at the actions his military buddy
perpetuated. So, he will sail off into
the sunset of oblivion and irrelevance. Everyone
other the Todd Lane is unaffected in any way, shape, or form. Everyone, that is, except YOUR MEMBERS!
So what have we learned from this big, long, and expensive
exercise? Absolutely NOTHING (Say it
again!). We blindly go after MBL when
there are no restrictions or future guidelines on NCUA in how they will
“regulate us”. The Corporates are
already merging for greatness and larger size.
Some idiot in San Diego is touted as being a wiz for achieving 6%+ on
his investments when his call reports show a negative Mark-to-market that
approached 100% of capital. His
investments of choice? Privately Issued
Securities! Sound vaguely familiar? How soon we forget!!!!!!!
See you all at the next CU debacle!!!! It won't be long in the coming.
