Wry & Dry

Last words 

"..the bank's failure to pick up on the market and political necessity of the speculated bank levy will be a demonstration of how completely hopeless the market, social and due diligence processes they have in place."

-  Mark Textor, political analyst and former researcher for the Australian Bankers' Association.

Ouch.  Unarguably the best one-sentence analysis of the banks' head-in-the-sand arrogance.    

First Samuel client events and reports calendar

Some lightly salted absurdities from all over...

At the extreme left-hand end of the bell-curve...

"Oh, come on!" implored an exasperated Chief Justice Roberts (US Supreme Court) in April when the Justice Department lawyer explained at oral argument that, indeed, a naturalized citizen could have his citizenship retroactively canceled just for breaking a single law, however minor--even if there was never an arrest for it.

Appearing incredulous, Roberts hypothesized that if "I drove 60 miles an hour in a 55-mile-an-hour zone," but was not caught, and then became a naturalized citizen and years later, the government "can knock on my door and say, 'Guess what? You're not an American citizen after all'?"

The government lawyer said, "yes." 

(New York Times)

The Supreme Court decision on the law's constitutionality is expected in June.

Nothing to see here.  Oops, yes there is.

A private plane crashed on take-off on April 15th 150 feet from the runway at Williston, Florida Municipal Airport, killing all four on board.

But despite more than a dozen planes having flown out of the same airport later that day, no one noticed the crash site until it caught the eye of a pilot the next afternoon.

(Gainesville Sun)

From the W&D archives: It's about banks

John Barrier of Spokane, Washington went into Old National Bank (a US local state-based bank) to cash a $100 cheque. Then he asked to have his 60-cent parking ticket validated. The teller refused, saying that merely cashing a cheque didn't entitle him to free parking.

Barrier had a manager called, who also refused to validate the ticket. Barrier suspected that they were refusing because he was dressed in shabby clothes like he had just gotten off a construction job.

So he withdrew the entire $2 million he had deposited there and took his money to another bank, Seafirst Bank of Spokane.

(Detroit Free Press)

Voting with his feet, so to speak. This event was in 1989.  The $2m would now be worth some $5m. 

Have a wry and dry weekend

Anthony