PayThink

A Wall Street Journal article today describes the growing anxiety among mortgage investors that the Obama administration´s new foreclosure prevention plan would make it impossible for them to sue servicers over loan modifications. Meanwhile, servicers cite their own worries about investor lawsuits as a reason for not going ahead with more loan mods. To both groups, a simple message: Get on with it!

For months, network news outfits have doggedly tried to follow the financial crisis and cover it as best they can within their limits of length and depth. But lately the crisis has seeped into features and comedy shows; this past weekend was particularly rich. CBS, Fox and NBC each took the pulse of a different angle of the meltdown.

There Will Be Blood.

I was recently interviewed by Kevin Jepson for the article in the Jan. 19, 2009 edition titled, "What Does 2009 Hold For IT? A Look At One Group's Forecast"

Now I'm really scared!

Years ago, I was the CEO of the Delchamps Credit Union, a CU that served the needs of the employees and family members of a regional grocery chain. At one point, our sponsor company asked that the credit union take over and run a 23 ATM in-store program, which a local S&L was abandoning as unprofitable. This is the short version, but in the end we were running 110 ATMs for the sponsor; our members had surcharge-free access to their money; and it was minimally profitable to Delchamps.

For the record, let me be perfectly clear: we have the absolute best CEO in Dan Mica that money can buy. Now it is both sad and unfortunate CUNA is in a rectal bleed-out of some $8 million. I am convinced that Dan's million-dollar salary plus benefits and various other perks has absolutely nothing to do with the pathetic plight at CUNA. We should all take comfort that Dan was able to throw six people under the bus to maintain his standard of living. It sure does beat the hell out of taking a pay cut. Will our industry ever return to the basics of "feeding the needy and not the greedy?" Dan, instead of placing a freeze on those filthy stinking executive salaries-why not let them thaw? Finally Dan, please discontinue your reliance on the corporate credit unions for financial investment advice-see what good it did them.

What if Credit Union Journal just didn't report some of the "bad" news? The corporate stuff. The NCUA proposals. The branch closures. Would you as a reader and CU decision-maker be better off if you just didn't "know?"

Washington will hear from all of its financial services darlings one way or another this week. Conferences will bring together powerful Hill voices and cabinet officials. Meanwhile, the bankruptcy bill the House of Representatives passed this week will begin to brew in the Senate. There´s no vote scheduled on it, but the unofficial goal is to get it done in the next two weeks. Also watch for movement on new legislation introduced by Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, that would increase the amount of money the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. could borrow from the Treasury Department.

Warren Buffett came up with some bailout terms for Goldman Sachs to which folks at the Treasury Department should have paid closer attention. As the Financial Times reports today, top Goldman executives are prohibited by the Buffett deal from selling their company shares until October, 2011, or until all of Buffett´s preferred shares have been bought back. This poses a problem for Jon Winkleried, one of Goldman´s two co-presidents, who is leaving the bank at the end of the month. Winkleried will be stuck with his Goldman shares until the bank has enough money to buy out Buffett.