"Message to Regulators: Bank Fix Needed Quickly": reminds me of the Yogi Berra quote: "If you don't know where you are going, you should be careful cause you may not know whether you get there."

Congress is silly

Congress has spent a week arguing about $100 billion in the president's stimulus package while the fed has dumped over 2 trillion thru its unconventional loan program into the economy without Congress letting out a whimper. The 2 trillion has not even made a dent in freeing up the credit markets. No wonder must economists think it would take over a trillion the get the economy moving again. Do they, Congress, really have any idea about what is going on?

Changing the banking system

Before the recent fad of encouraging a small number of large banks, we had a large number of small banks. To enjoy the economies of scale The number of banks declined during the 90's and continued in this century. We have now re-discovered the problems with large scale banking. If they make a mistake, they can bring down the whole economy. As the result of the large scale failures of banks in the thirties we created a system of smaller financial institutions of various sorts and limited banks to specific activities, Glass-Segal that separated lending functions from investment functions. Earlier home lending was done by savings and loan associations that further divided the lending business. In the 80's savings and loans were allowed to make more than home loans. This resulted in a massive failure of S & L's. This lead to more concentration of lending functions in a smaller group of banks. At about the same time several states eliminated prohibitions on interstate banking further concentrating the business. Then the concept of the bank "too big to fail rule" was developed that gave the large banks a huge advantage over small banks. It also created a moral hazard. Large banks could behave in a reckless manner knowing if they made a mistake they would not pay the price of the market place, dissolution. The time has come to reign in the large banks. There is an advantage of having a large number small players in an economic area. It is less likely that an unexpected event will affect all of them equally.

No Workers Compensation Insurance

Texas does not require employers to carry workers compensation insurance. This does not mean that they are not responsible for injuries to their employees. They are responsible and in many cases can made to respond financially to their employee's claims. They may claim the employees are independent contractors (and have signed contract to prove it). These claims by the employer are usually easily defeated at lease in cases where the damages are sufficient to make the effort worthwhile.

Election nite with Brian Nov. 2008

You can see all the photos by clicking here. You can show your appreciation by posting something on the blog, by sending a thing of value or by praying for me to the diety of your choice.

Craig Smith, Judge of the Year

To view the pictures at Craig's Judge of the Year party click here.

Charla's Big Day

Only four pictures can be posted to the blog.

To see all the pictures of Charla's Lawyer of the year presentation click here