The good, the bad, and the just plain odd...

The Perot Museum of Science and Nature opened this weekend in downtown Dallas.  We didn't go see it on opening weekend because of the expected crowd.  While most will go to see the exhibits inside, I'll be content to just sit outside and admire the structure...

We'll have to let the crowds thin out some before we trek down there.

I think this is so cool looking.  I wonder if the builder asked the architect half way through the project, "Where's the escalator?", and he replied, "Gee, I dunno.....just strap it there to the outside somewhere."  Haha!

Most of the couple hundred million dollar price tag was covered by Ross Perot's kids, the museum being a tribute to their dad.  (They probably brown-bagged it for a week and donated their lunch money.)  That's Daddy Ross third from the left.

He's never been photographed wearing anything besides a dark suit, white dress shirt and tie.  For once I'd love to see him wear something else, like maybe a Hawaiian print shirt or some sweats.

The museum will fit in well with some of Dallas' other "unusual" architectural features....

As someone who appreciates eclectic architecture there is one other building that has always intrigued me that I wish was here....

The "Twisted Torso" in Malmo, Sweden.  I wonder which came first, this or the Rubik's Cube?

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I saw in the news this morning that more banks are agreeing to pay fines to the Gubment for their wrongdoing and more bankers are under investigation for various illegal acts, too.  But here's what gets me:  Instead of being banished to some far-off place in disgrace, these crooks just leave the firm where they were caught and move down the street to another bank and given an even better position and more money.  These banks just play musical chairs with their top felons.  Whoever said "crime doesn't pay" obviously wasn't a banker.

Another Monday.  Let the games begin.  ;)

S

I'm not sure I fully understand the difference between liberal and conservative stances on some issues.  In particular, consumer protection issues.  How is trying to force banks (and lenders in general) to say clearly, right up front and in plain English, what their terms are and what they're going to charge, anything but a good idea?  How is that partisan?  Unless you're a banker or lender intent on snookering the public into thinking they're getting a good deal when in fact you're charging them 28% interest or something like that, how could you not be in favor of such laws?  Where's the down side, unless you're a banker?  


The one thing I've learned from the financial crisis of '08 is that big business can't be trusted to do what's "right".  It's become so bad that as far as I'm concerned the burden of proof is on them to show me they're playing nice.  And to be fair there are a lot who do pass my smell test by honoring their warranties without resorting to loopholes and vague language that to a layman says one thing but legally means another, producing a clearly superior product, etc.   (Examples?....Amazon, REI, LL Bean, Zappos, to name a few.)  I consult Consumer Report regularly, and although I've never tried it, I've heard good things about Angie's List.  I just think it's a shame things have come to this.  Caveat Emptor...."buyer beware"....has never been more true.


What prompted this post was an article I read that told of one insurance company that was suing a bank for misrepresenting a financial instrument the insurance company was covering against default.  Sure enough things fell apart, the insurance company refused to pay up, and both are pointing fingers at each other saying the other side is a crook.  Hahaha....talk about the pot calling the kettle black!  I say a pox on them all.

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On a more pleasant note, tonight it's my turn to pick our date night restaurant, and I'm choosing Anamia's.  We've only been there once before, but it left a grand impression on me.  I can taste it now....yum!  If I can remember to take pictures of our meal before I dive into it I will. 

Happy Friday!

S 

Remember when bankers were honorable people?

What's my bitch with the banks?  The banks have a choke hold on this country.  The world, even. They sneeze, we get a cold.  They devise a new way to squeeze a few more bucks out of us, they drop a few $$$ on the right congressional committee chair, and the rules are changed.  The regulators go blind.  


Banks have never directly screwed me.  When the economy went down the toilet in '08 I only had a couple of lots financed and I was able to get out from under those.  All the contract homes I've built since 9/11 have been financed with the loans in the customer's name, not mine.  I won't sign a (business) loan agreement with a bank because they're 100% loaded in the banks favor.  For example, they have the right to call the note due, at any time, for any reason, even if I'm current with all provisions of the loan.  Doesn't matter.  And yes, I know people they've pulled the rug out from under.  "He who has the gold makes the rules."  Personally I deal only with member-owned USAA for all my banking and insurance needs.  My credit record is spotless.


Indirectly the banks have screwed all of us. Beginning roughly 20 years ago they legally rigged "the system", enabling them to do whatever they wanted.  "Financial engineering" it's called.  All the unregulated "derivatives" and "credit default swaps" that made the news when the world went over the edge....those were HUGE profit makers for the banks (to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars), yet they added nothing of value to the economy.   When the dust settled they still had their money, and individually they still had their hundreds of millions in bonuses, while we were left with the bail-out tab.  Yet I know very well-off people (doctors) who today still find it difficult to secure financing to build a new home.  As a builder that hurts me and my family.


And it gets worse.  On paper the banks were broke in '09, so the Treasury "loaned" them billions of dollars, supposedly to "prime the pump" and get lending to businesses and hiring going again.  But that's not what the banks did with the money.  Instead they took the 0% interest "loans" (free money) and bought Treasury bonds paying 3%.*  It was simply a money transfer from the taxpayers to the banks.  Our government was either in bed with the bankers, or stupid.  Think you or I could get a deal like that?  HA!  Never heard of that, did you?  It was just a scam to re-capitalize the banks at taxpayer expense, without the taxpayers knowing it.  All we were told was "the deficit grew".  


And nothing has changed.  All the "banking reforms" that have been legislated recently to "correct past wrongs" are a farce.  They were gutted by the bank's lobbyists before what was left ever became law.  A little hand slap here and there, but always with a wink, too.   The number of banksters prosecuted for committing fraud?  You can count them on one hand.  Obama's recently announced effort to go after those responsible and bring them to justice?....I'll believe it when I see it!  And why did it take him 3 years to decide to go after the crooks?  Could the upcoming elections have anything to do with his newly discovered indignation?  "It plays good in Peoria." Again, I'll believe it when I see it.


We need to reign the bankers back in.  While I generally don't like excessive regulation in our lives, the banks have proven without a shadow of a doubt that left alone and without regulations (with teeth), they will act like drunken sailors on shore leave.  Trust a banker**?  I'd rather trust a crack whore with my bank account and PIN number.


S


*  Suggest you read Confidence Men:  Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President by WSJ writer Ron Suskind.  He names names, lists dates, places, directly quotes conversations....very informative.


** I'm talking about the Ivory Tower bankers at the BIG institutions, NOT the little loan officer or teller at the corner branch bank.

Ahh....the smell of tear gas in the air

I read a very interesting article by financial columnist Scott Burns in The Dallas Morning News yesterday.  In a previous piece he told of a scary scenario he called the "American Spring", complete with angry protesters and "tear gas in the air".  That's how disgusted Americans are with their present government and our abysmal economy.


He brought up the soon-to-be-broke Social Security system and how it came to be that way.  He reminded us that back in 1983 Congress initiated Social Security "reforms" allowing them to rob "appropriate" $2.6 TRILLION dollars from the Social Security Trust Fund and spend it on other "stuff" in order to please their respective special interests, replacing cash with IOU's.  Soon Social Security will need to start redeeming those IOU's to pay retirees, and guess what?   The government doesn't have it. They're backpedaling as fast as possible, throwing up excuses why there should be "means testing" for retirees, no cost-of-living increases, maybe reduced benefits, etc.  


Here's the point of his column:  There are 23 members of Congress still serving who voted back in '83 to pull this 'ol switcheroo, 14 Democrats and 9 Republicans.  THEY NEED TO BE SENT HOME!  PERMANENTLY!  They are:

Dan Burton (R-IN)

Max Baucus (D-MT)

Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)

Thad Cochran (R-MS)

Norm Dicks (D-WA)

John Dingell (D-MI)

Dick Durban (D-IL)

Chuck Grassley (R-IA)

Tom Harkin (D-IA)

Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)

Patrick Leahy (D-VT)

Carl Levin (D-MI)

Sander Levin (D-MI)

Richard Lugar (R-IN)

John McCain (R-AZ)

Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)

George Miller (D-CA)

Tom Petri (R-WI)

Charles Rangel (D-NY)

Hal Rogers (R-KY)

Richard Shelby (R-AL)

Pete Stark (D-CA)

Bill Young (R-FL)

 IMHO, they ALL need to be defeated at their next election.  And don't tell me, "Yes, but you don't know all the good stuff they've done."  A good guy robs a bank, and guess what?  He's no longer a good guy.  HE'S A BANK ROBBER!  Zero tolerance.

This could get interesting.  I've never smelled tear gas before.

S

I stay away for a few days and THIS is what I come back to...

Whew!  This has been a busy but productive week.  I've been at work early every day doing a time-sensitive remodel for a customer.  Fortunately all my guys have shown up on time and worked hard, and my customers say they have been awesomely impressed.  Today will actually be relaxed as all I have to do is sit and wait for the various inspectors to visit and give me their blessing.


I did manage to spend a long lunch hour on Wednesday with two of my daughters and three of my grandsons.  I left with a serious twitch and a grotesquely stretched-out shirt due to all the boys pulling on it wanting me to watch/play with them.  But I love 'em.  *blink...twitch...jerk*


I see the world's economies are imploding....AGAIN.  And of course we can trace it all back to the scheming bankers and their sleaze lawyers who have them just barely inside "legal", never mind "ethical".  This time it seems it's in Europe (whose bankers must be about 3 years better than ours at covering their feces).  When will we get smart and just round them all up, confiscate all their ill-gotten wealth, and banish them to some razor-wire-ringed desolate island?  


Hope you're all dodging the Wall Street bullet.  Enjoy your upcoming weekend.  :)


S

The Silver Lining

So the crooks in Washington are locked in a Death Battle, each side wanting to "fix" things on the backs of someone else.  One party wants to preserve their special interest's privileged position while the other party is unwilling to give on programs their special interests "depend on".  And the clock ticks toward midnight.  The experts predict "catastrophe". 


Last night on the news they did people-on-the-street interviews, and coast-to-coast the attitude was disgust with Washington.


Do I dare hope for a 10-million-man march on Washington, and every state capital, and every party headquarter, and every congressional and senatorial office in every district?  Marchers with torches in their hands and snarls on their faces, demanding all the crooks abdicate office before things turn nasty.  Marchers demanding a new Constitutional Convention to update our beloved Founding Father's brilliant document that could never have foreseen how the subsequent centuries would play out.   Marchers wanting to return sanity to government and remove all the graft and greed that pervades it today.  


Do I dare hope?  *To be continued*


S