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“Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics” and the Truth about the CFPA
“Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics” and the Truth about the CFPA My fellow Missourian Mark Twain made the following observations about lies: “There are lies, damned lies and statistics.” “A lie can...
Standing Like a Rock
Standing Like a Rock Thomas Jefferson once said, “In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.” ICBA has long had the reputation of standing on principle...
Setting the Tone in Washington
Setting the Tone in Washington For decades Wall Street mega firms and their Washington, D.C. trade group allies have set the financial policy tone in the nation’s capitol. But beginning in early...
Who's on First?
Who's on First? In just a 12-hour period on Monday, March 1, at least four proposals for where to house the consumer-protection function of the larger financial-reform bill were floated on Capitol...
Mr. Lockhart, Old Stories and Shakespeare
Mr. Lockhart, Old Stories and Shakespeare After I read the transcript and viewed the video clip of Mr. Lockhart's remarks on CNBC’s "Squawk Box" in which he said, and I quote: "What we need is...
Is that a light at the end of the tunnel?
Is that a light at the end of the tunnel? The light you see at the end of the tunnel may or may not be a train. We will know shortly. Last evening Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) began circulating a...
Social Agenda???
Social Agenda??? “Once Congress changes the base to an asset test, what is to stop them from thinking up other kinds of incentives that meet whatever social agenda they might have?" [emphasis...
Naked What?—Cover your Eyes
Naked What?—Cover your Eyes As if bankers and politicians don’t have enough to worry about when it comes to public opinion and financial reform, the Senate has been debating whether or not to...
High Roads and Low Roads
High Roads and Low Roads There is no doubt that passions are running high in regard to the financial reform debate. There are many sides engaged in this generational issue. And all sides hold...
The Devil is in the Details
The Devil is in the Details Congress is working to wrap up the financial regulatory reform bill in the next few weeks. Community bankers know better than anyone how important it is to make sure...
Beware Those Unintended Consequences
Beware Those Unintended Consequences With a financial system as sophisticated, complicated and interconnected as ours, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that there are no easy fixes. We didn’t...
Friday Night Lights Out
Friday Night Lights Out Last Friday night, the lights went out for four “too-small-to-save” banks. They faced the ultimate in resolution authority. I knew the bank presidents of two of the four...
A Central Bank With No Center? A Lesson From the Falcon and the Falconer
A Central Bank With No Center? A Lesson From the Falcon and the Falconer A central bank without a central role in the American banking and financial sector? Crazy, right? Absurd, you say? Not so...
The Elephant in the Room
The Elephant in the Room “When elephants stampede; it is the grass that gets trampled.” Thai Army proverb...
The Voices of Main Street
The Voices of Main Street “Only connect,” the novelist E.M. Forster urged people, almost a century ago. And nowhere are connections more important than here in Washington. Thanks to social media...
The Status Quo—Great for Wall Street, Fatal to Main Street
The Status Quo—Great for Wall Street, Fatal to Main Street Today two forces are facing off over financial reform—those who want real reform of Wall Street's greed and damaging practices and those...
Singing Out of the Wall Street Hymnal
Singing Out of the Wall Street Hymnal Just 20 banks of 8,000 now control over three quarters of our nation's assets and over 60 percent of its deposits. Community banks are at a 0.40 to 0.60...
Bailouts, big lies and moral bankruptcy
Bailouts, big lies and moral bankruptcy Evidently we’re not the only ones who are growing dizzy from all the spinning Wall Street is doing as it desperately tries to trick the American public into...
Yes, But is it Right?
Yes, But is it Right? “The problem for Tourre—and Wall Street—is that they're so intent on proving that what they did was legal that they can't see that what they did was wrong.” “With Financial...
Focused
Focused Focus! The singular mission of ICBA is to enhance and protect the community bank charter—period. Never was the benefit of that focus more apparent than last Thursday when the Senate voted...