My golf buddy “FXS” is a real pinchpenny. He drives a Toyota Prius which gets about fifty miles per gallon. But his recent offers to drive us to our golf destinations have been regularly and resolutely denied. So we have been traveling regularly in over-consumption-style in Del’s Cadillac.
As we barreled down Florida’s Route 1 toward our early morning tee time in Bunnell, Del, a “good ole boy” who hails from Atlanta, Georgia began.
As we barreled down Florida’s Route 1 toward our early morning tee time in Bunnell, Del, a “good ole boy” who hails from Atlanta, Georgia began.
“Say Frankie, you get them brakes on that 'ere Toyota fixed yet? That 'ere model of yourn was “re-called”, he added, drawling out the “re” and “called” way longer than I thought necessary.
“Uhh-- no not yet,” responded Frankie absently staring out the window at the passing Florida scene. His nose twitched a bit, in a nervous response he had when he was forced to deal with an unpleasant problem on a "golf day".
“You’re jest crazy ta keep rollin’ round in that ‘ere tin buggy!” persisted Del, shooting a glance over his shoulder. He paused to grip the fat Panatella from his nicotine browned teeth and roll the driver side window down a crack. The air whooshed by loudly as he tapped his cigar tip close to the edge to suck ashes out of the window.
He rolled the window up and began his final assault on Frankie, with: “I don’t care how cheap it is per mile!”
“Yeaah!" "If'n you cain’t be sure if’n that little bug’ll stop!” added Terry who comes from Jacksonville. “I wouldn't travel a coon's mile in it!” he added, with finality.
I wondered what a "coon's mile" was. I figured it was a probably a southerner's way to say a short distance.
“Aint that the main thing....Stoppin'!" laughed Del rolling up his window to the top so the whoohsing sound died down. "Stoppin's real important!" he repeated, as he stubbed out his thick cigar in the big ash tray he had "special built" into the dash.
Terry jumped back into the fray. “Aint you skeered? Ain’t you heerd about that fambly in Californ-i-ay. They all died ‘cause their Toyota ran ‘em right through a busy intersection,” he added excitedly.
Frankie remained glumly silent in face of the overwhelming golf-buddy opinion that driving a Toyota without "fixin' the brake problem" was "jest dumb". Golf buddy opinion ranks high among most older men in Florida.
We were all convinced of the danger of driving Frankie’s auto in the face of the seeming real potential for disaster. I dont know for sure, Frankie may have been bullied into doing it, or perhaps he was convinced of his error, but for whatever reason the next week after our trip to Bunnel he attended to those brakes. But he lost a whole day of golfing waiting for his Toota to be repaired.
But with our financial institutions it’s another story.
Our present banking system is still rolling along at 100 miles an hour toward a busy intersection but we have not bothered to fix the brakes.
After the Great Depression in 1933 President Roosevelt signed into law the Glass-Steagall Act which among other things established the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) which insured depositor’s accounts up to $100,000.00. It also put banking reforms into effect which were designed to control speculation. It categorized firms based on their business. Investment firms, (securities industry) which were involved in making profit by taking on greater risk, were separated from banks (savings and commercial banks) where cash deposits were expected to be protected from excessive risk. Prior to the Great Depression, bankers and brokers were indistinguishable. Unscrupulous bankers and brokers used other people’s money to fund risky investments. Fraud and conflict of interest were rife. After the Great Depression Congress held hearings which revealed these weaknesses and the Banking Act of 1933 (Glass-Steagall) was the result.
Congressional hearings at the time established that there were inherent risks of conflict of interest in the granting of credit (lending) and the use of credit (investment) by a single institution. These conflicts led in large part to the Great Depression. Furthermore, depository institutions have enormous clout since they have the use of other people’s money. This power to invest must be made available via loans or investments on a competitive basis…not used only in-house by the same firm. Finally, deposit based firms should be managed to limit risk and protect the investments of their depositors. Security based firms make profit by taking risk. These latter investments may sometimes lead to enormous losses which without regulation, could impact the integrity of savings deposits. Since the government insures these deposits (FDIC) these losses would have to be borne by the taxpayers.
But since the Clinton and Bush II administrations these wise regulations controls were tossed into the waste bin and now President Obama and his bank-friendly associates seem to have no stomach to put the brakes back on the Toyota..so to speak.
So though Frankie is back with a hard brake pedal and car full of golf-confederates confident in his stopping power…the country he lives in is still careening along like an out of control Toyota!
Get the picture?
RJK
“Uhh-- no not yet,” responded Frankie absently staring out the window at the passing Florida scene. His nose twitched a bit, in a nervous response he had when he was forced to deal with an unpleasant problem on a "golf day".
“You’re jest crazy ta keep rollin’ round in that ‘ere tin buggy!” persisted Del, shooting a glance over his shoulder. He paused to grip the fat Panatella from his nicotine browned teeth and roll the driver side window down a crack. The air whooshed by loudly as he tapped his cigar tip close to the edge to suck ashes out of the window.
He rolled the window up and began his final assault on Frankie, with: “I don’t care how cheap it is per mile!”
“Yeaah!" "If'n you cain’t be sure if’n that little bug’ll stop!” added Terry who comes from Jacksonville. “I wouldn't travel a coon's mile in it!” he added, with finality.
I wondered what a "coon's mile" was. I figured it was a probably a southerner's way to say a short distance.
“Aint that the main thing....Stoppin'!" laughed Del rolling up his window to the top so the whoohsing sound died down. "Stoppin's real important!" he repeated, as he stubbed out his thick cigar in the big ash tray he had "special built" into the dash.
Terry jumped back into the fray. “Aint you skeered? Ain’t you heerd about that fambly in Californ-i-ay. They all died ‘cause their Toyota ran ‘em right through a busy intersection,” he added excitedly.
Frankie remained glumly silent in face of the overwhelming golf-buddy opinion that driving a Toyota without "fixin' the brake problem" was "jest dumb". Golf buddy opinion ranks high among most older men in Florida.
We were all convinced of the danger of driving Frankie’s auto in the face of the seeming real potential for disaster. I dont know for sure, Frankie may have been bullied into doing it, or perhaps he was convinced of his error, but for whatever reason the next week after our trip to Bunnel he attended to those brakes. But he lost a whole day of golfing waiting for his Toota to be repaired.
But with our financial institutions it’s another story.
Our present banking system is still rolling along at 100 miles an hour toward a busy intersection but we have not bothered to fix the brakes.
After the Great Depression in 1933 President Roosevelt signed into law the Glass-Steagall Act which among other things established the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) which insured depositor’s accounts up to $100,000.00. It also put banking reforms into effect which were designed to control speculation. It categorized firms based on their business. Investment firms, (securities industry) which were involved in making profit by taking on greater risk, were separated from banks (savings and commercial banks) where cash deposits were expected to be protected from excessive risk. Prior to the Great Depression, bankers and brokers were indistinguishable. Unscrupulous bankers and brokers used other people’s money to fund risky investments. Fraud and conflict of interest were rife. After the Great Depression Congress held hearings which revealed these weaknesses and the Banking Act of 1933 (Glass-Steagall) was the result.
Congressional hearings at the time established that there were inherent risks of conflict of interest in the granting of credit (lending) and the use of credit (investment) by a single institution. These conflicts led in large part to the Great Depression. Furthermore, depository institutions have enormous clout since they have the use of other people’s money. This power to invest must be made available via loans or investments on a competitive basis…not used only in-house by the same firm. Finally, deposit based firms should be managed to limit risk and protect the investments of their depositors. Security based firms make profit by taking risk. These latter investments may sometimes lead to enormous losses which without regulation, could impact the integrity of savings deposits. Since the government insures these deposits (FDIC) these losses would have to be borne by the taxpayers.
But since the Clinton and Bush II administrations these wise regulations controls were tossed into the waste bin and now President Obama and his bank-friendly associates seem to have no stomach to put the brakes back on the Toyota..so to speak.
So though Frankie is back with a hard brake pedal and car full of golf-confederates confident in his stopping power…the country he lives in is still careening along like an out of control Toyota!
Get the picture?
RJK
No comments:
Post a Comment