A New Meaning to Special Drawing Rights?
Most people think that “special drawing rights” have something to do with the IMF and don’t affect anyone below the top levels of the banking industry and heads of state if they have ever even heard of them. We here in the Whiskey Bar not only know what SDR are but we keep a leery eye on banksters and pranksters in general.
Some of us advised long ago pulling a big hunk of cash out of the bank every Friday afternoon just in case yours is “it” in the next round of “Friday Surprise.” No harm done, you can always redeposit on Monday if the doors are open, and interest paid on checking and savings accounts is so close to infinitesimal that withdrawals make a very sensible and economical insurance policy. Mind, we are regarded as a little paranoid, and sometimes we get superior smiles when we point out that the suggestion has been made that SWAT teams be put in banks to insure orderly withdrawals…and then they doubled the amount covered by the perilously near insolvent FDIC…and today there was confirmation of a twist on other “precautions,” although short of a bank “holiday.”
What if someone refined SDR on the personal level to mean “the ability to cash a check at your local bank?”
John Carney reports in Business Insider:
“Effective April 1, 2010, we reserve the right to require (7) days advance notice before permitting a withdrawal from all checking accounts. While we do not currently exercise this right and have not exercised it in the past, we are required by law to notify you of this change,” Citigroup said on statements received by customers all over the country.”
Some of us are cynical enough to suppose that means “seven business days,” which is actually nine days for almost all banking institutions. And that Citi wouldn’t disclose this information if it were not required to do so. And that this means that when a Citi customer walks up to an ATM during such a ban on withdrawals it isn’t going to disgorge money upon swiping a debit card and entering a PIN number, either. Gee…it may well mean that Citi will not honor checks written to the electric company, your mortgage company, your country club, or your gym, either. You will notice that their bland statement does NOT say that you will not merely be denied the right to write a check for cash. It uses the inclusive “withdrawal from all checking accounts.” That “ALL” in there may not be a bank holiday but it is certainly more than a lost weekend if you are unable to access your funds.
Before continuing I’m going to put in a plug for my favorite bank, First Convenience. They actually mean it! I have my choice of two locations nearby, inside WalMart and in the Kroger’s grocery store we frequent, and at least one other farther away. (BoA has one in the twin cities. Wells has one.) FC is open from seven a.m. until seven p.m.–six days a week! The slackers are only open from noon until four on Sunday. THIS is real convenience for a night owl, being open hours I’m in town in locations most of us visit anyway.
Their hours and locations are not the only reason I cherish First Convenience. I don’t think they are likely to go under, and I really like being on close personal terms with my bank manager who is available between those vital hours of normal closing time Friday and possible opening hours on Mondays following at traditional banking institutions. I always stop and pass time with Kenny and the girls, even when I have no business. Perhaps at that level they won’t know anything interesting before those who are watching the monetary situation do…but perhaps they will. I am informed that there are rules and matters bank managers and brokers are forbidden to tell clients, but I think I’m empathic enough to recognize a shattered bank manager or that if he said on Saturday, “Mrs. T! You didn’t make your usual Friday withdrawal!” when we both knew I had, that I’d “get” it, no rules broken. As Robert Heinlein observed, “Sure, the game is rigged, but you can’t win if you don’t play.”
This is banking as I knew it 50 years ago; I called Kenny a couple of weeks ago to be sure he had enough spare cash to pay for the bulldozer we bought before I sent the former owner over with my idea of a pretty big check. Storefront banks don’t always have big piles of bills in their small vaults and they appreciate a little advanced notice to accomodate customers. He did, big smiles all around. If YOU can’t get your bank manager on the ‘phone immediately, try First Convenience. (No, I don’t own stock in FC.)
Here is another interesting aspect: “‘The seven day notice policy only applies to customers in Texas,’ Ira Stoll reports at The Future of Capitalism. ‘It was accidentally included on customer statements nationwide.”
How very interesting. Only Texas is being targeted? Accidentally included? Does all their billing come out of one location, such as Dallas? Unlikely. Posssible, of course.
“Whatever the explanation, it doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in Citi,” Stoll writes. “But it’s hard to believe a bank would be sending out a notice like that on its statements.” No kidding. Are we to suppose that the preponderance of Citi’s funds are in checking accounts in Texas?! Well, Texans certainly brag about how rich (other) Texans are, and we have more than our fair share of millionaires and a billionaire or three, but I can’t see that sequestering local funds for up to nine days would solve a bank-shaking event. It would, of course, buy a considerable hunk of time.
This “mistake,” if such it is, does allow Citi to take the policy nationwide at any time. “You were informed,” they can say loftily.
Let’s go back to that intriguing, “While we do not currently exercise this right and have not exercised it in the past…” Hmmm. Passing lightly over the fact that few of us would entrust our capital to banks unwilling to hand them over on demand…For years banks have put holds of up to two weeks on deposits (a length of time that may have made sense when such things were handled by snail mail instead of electronically), which can be justified by the supposition that not all bank drafts will be honored by the fiduciary institutions upon which they are drawn. (Remember to tell your kids to cash local checks at the bank upon which they are drawn; sometimes you have to settle for cashier’s checks instead of cash if the amount is large, but your bank should accept that at face value since a CC guarantees the funds. Amazing what our children don’t know and might need to. I learned recently how very easy it is to change where your Social Security check goes–at least if you do it the way I did, which was to waltz into Kenny’s office and tell him what I wanted. One ‘phone call from him, done while I waited, was all it took. Confirmed, checks now going to FC.)
We have been tracking the problems of Citi–as well as BoA, Wells, and others–and marveled over a giant bank that made a “profit” only because of the bailout and used half of those profits for bonuses.
I consulted a friend in the industry and got this back: “No light…I imagine it is just precautionary should a bank run happen for whatever reason. Have bonus figures been released? If not, this may be the concern. Texas is a strong market for Citi. Citi is also very smart with holding money to maximize interest. For example, Citi chooses to do 401K matches annually in one allotment vs matching each paycheck deposit.” Hey, a few dollars here, a few dollars there, if you’ve got enough employees you’re talking real money.
If you can keep the float on all deposits even once for “seven days” that ought to pay the champagne bills, at least.
Still…”only in Texas.” There is something very odd going on, and perhaps it is “nothing” more than Citi being ahead of the curve and others will follow. Perhaps the regulation which obliges Citi to inform customers that it may or may not hand over their funds on demand stipulates a particular warning period.
Curioser and curioser…what forces a course like this, one which seems sure to cause a slump in share value and a rash of account closings?
Big banks make me nervous these days. At present I’m using small, local chains of fewer than a dozen banks that do not make loans on strip malls or MacMansions, and a military credit union that doesn’t do so, either. At the very least I think we should all scan this month’s statements from all banks carefully. If your bank has the gall to tell you that it has the authority to decide, capriciously, not to disgorge your funds on demand, I’d find another bank.
Citi may be in bigger trouble than we have deduced or they may be first with an idea intended to be a boon to bankers that bodes ill for our ability to conduct business as usual. Or, just possibly, this has something to do with the Fed’s decision (see my archived “They’re Going to Kill the Fed”) to stop purchasing treasury bonds on 30 March, 2010.
Gold, silver, and energy still look like the best places to stash our simoleons, but a hefty deposit under your mattress might be very comforting any time after April 1st if you’re still a Citi customer by then.
Regards,
Linda Brady Traynham
February 25, 2010
P.S.: We have always suspected that the fall of the dollar could be set off by some slight event; usually I put that as “China turning loose the butterfly.” The only way I can account for Citi’s announcement on what I know (other than the article referenced above) is so absurd I hesitate to “pen” it. I am really a very modest lady, for all my eccentric, colorful ways, and moving and shaking in my life usually means letting the fast-growing goat girls in to be fed and shaking up a gallon of calves’ milk replacer if we’re out of goat juice, or a little belly-dancing practice.
It would be interesting to know when the statements were printed, because no matter how ludicrous it sounds (and it really does), the fact remains that I wrote an article on the Republic of Texas for W&G and in less than a week my “count” on Google has more than tripled, and now Citibank has declared that slightly over a month from now it may or may not let Texans have money out of their checking accounts!
I guess it COULD be that the “right” person read the case for reclaiming Texas independence and decided the “right” to freeze all accounts for a week might be useful sometime. That is about as likely as me writing the economic equivalent of the Harry Potter series, but strange things happen in this world. Or it could be that Sherlocke Holmes is always right. If we can eliminate everything else, what remains, no matter how unlikely, is the truth. My money’s on devaluation of the dollar being right around the corner, but it is always possible that we’ll sing Judas’ song from Jesus Christ Superstar: “The world’s in ruins around us, and all because of you.”
I don’t think this is an April Fool’s joke. In all likelihood the analysis was right in the article on declaring the Fed–a private corporation–bankrupt in the near future. Too big to fail? Nonsense. It already has. ROFL…either way, maybe we’ll get a Nobel in Economics. LBT
Linda Brady Traynham
Linda Brady Traynham is a former editor and analytical project report writer and is now a Whiskey & Gunpowder field correspondent on a ranch in the Republic of Texas. She studied Counseling at Boston University and got her Masters degree in Philosophy from the University of Hawaii.
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I don’t know enough about the inner workings of banks, but I wonder if they could also be pulling regional tricks. In otherwords shoring up their reserves in key North Eastern areas and pulling it out of other areas. I think at this point it’s obvious the banks want to keep the game at the big swamp going for as long as they can the rest of the country be damned.
Thanks for the heads up.
Actually, that was the first thing that ocurred to me (your premise in your PS) when I read the part about Texas. Remember, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean people aren’t out to get you!
Update: Citibank
has now released the following statement by way of explanation: “When Citibank moved to unlimited FDIC coverage in 2009, we had to reclassify many checking accounts to allow for immediate withdrawals in order to ensure all customers qualified for the additional coverage. When we moved back to standard FDIC coverage with most major banks in 2010, Citibank decided to reclassify those accounts back to make them eligible again for promotional incentives. To do so, Federal Reserve Reg D requires these accounts, called NOW accounts, to reserve the right to require a 7-day notice of withdrawal. We recently communicated this technical requirement to our customers. However, we have never exercised this right and have no plans to do so in the future
LInda:
Good piece of work. Citi, BoA, Morgan are basically bankrupt. My opinion for what it’s worth is bank with your local institutions. Looking at a comptroller of the currency report the mentioned banks are still trading derivatives at the approximately the same dollars as before the crash.
Regarding the federal reserve there is nothing federal about it and no reserve. A bunch of crooks in nice suits and expensive shoes. What I call the legalized mafia.
Well enough for now.
PS: the spam filter doesn’t want my response on your education piece to get through.
Dear Kevin:
Thanks for a great response. I’m not a banker, either, and if I were I wouldn’t be able to write articles like this for obvious reasons like wanting to keep my job and regulations. Hmmm…I wonder how we could test your hypothesis, which has a ring of authenticity to it. It sounds like JUST what banks would do! One of life’s bitter lessons is that banks are not our friends. Gurgle of laughter. When we can notice things like this on the macro-economic level, I think we can be certain that there are far more maggots on the carcass. The “game” is enrichment at top levels, never mind the share holders, far less the customers…I LOVE my reader mail! Together we think things out and make economic “nail soup,” and in this case your phrase “key North Eastern areas” slammed into my South’n mind harder than just knowing that is the stronghold of the banking industry. Excellent, useful, and I missed it. Thanks again, Linda
TN Thompson? Are you not “my” TN James? I don’t think I have delusions of grandeur but as Captain Chris would say, “Always assume that your opponent is bigger, stronger, faster, smarter, meaner, and better informed than you are.” Banks have lots of people to keep up with what the lunatic fringe is writing, and I can see a minion reporting that there is a faint chance Texas might break away quietly and successfully, and the top dogs saying, “Okay, send out the notice. It might be time.” Silly banks! The RoT movement is not some banana republic wannabee. Done tole yuh our plan is a 15% tax on foreign corporations–because we will want corporations headquartered here for a 10% bite instead. This is the deal of the century. In the olden days people sought diplomatic alliances, and while those are still good (and we have them!) business is where it’s at now. Gosh, TN guy…THANKS, and I really mean that. Like Kevin, before you (comment didn’t post when I hit submit) you triggered a great thought I had never had before…in four years. BIG hug and a hospitality chit good if you ever wander over our way. Linda .
Hi, Kenny, good to see you again. In reverse order, the SPAM filter latched on to my replies to Kevin and TN Thompson, but maybe we’ll get lucky this time. Spang on with “nothing federal and no reserve!” That’s great, right up there with “Neither holy, Roman, nor empire.” FDIC is a sham like the mythical Social Security fund. As noted, go for those small, local banks where the President knows all his borrowers personally. We use (plug, plug) the First State Bank, Central Texas, where everyone in the bank recognizes us when we walk in and typical loans are to farmers and ranchers and secured by LAND. Again, I have the greatest readers in the world and I appreciate that you’re a very real part of the process, here. Your (singular and plural) comments give me new perspectives besides making what I do so joyously “real” to me. Happy sigh. Some days I can’t believe they let me have this much fun! Hugs, Linda
Clarification: the First State Bank, Central texas, has about eight locations, mostly in towns of three to five thousand, and a billion dollars in capital. Somewhere in your area is probably a similar institution that is cautious, conservative, not hassled to make loans on insufficient income, and very, very careful about how it lends money. One of the beauties of small towns is–as I always say–that everything is in very nearly perfect balance. A bank in Marble Falls isn’t likely to be badgered to make bad housing loans because there aren’t many houses for sale and there aren’t many people who demand loans they aren’t qualified for. Sometimes slipping through the cracks is a good thing. Such banks are probably pretty impervious to hot shot liberal ideas.
Hi Linda,
Thank you for this, your latest article. Regarding the withdrawal of dollars from your bank, I have heard the same from Mr. Gerald Celente whom I also follow and respect. He mentioned after 9/11 he couldn’t cash-out his CD’s as Wallstreet was closed and that CD’s were financial instruments that could only be redeemed when markets were open. Although I can appreciate having cash on hand, the Federal Reserve Note is a piece of paper that Mr. Bernanke has sworn to keep in circulation even if they have to be dropped from a helicopter. I doubt the Fed would allow the situation you envision especially since they can print dollars until they run out of trees. In fact, I think it would be prudent for central banks to have large reserves of cash in case of a run on the banks; 1930 style. Last very last thing the Fed wants is for America run out of greenbacks.
Then we have MISH, Dr. Faber, Bill Bonner, Peter Schiff, Jim Rogers, etc. They have differing views on how things will play out but all agree the current course the Fed has chosen is unsustainable. As far as I can see, with deflation, we don’t have a worry; our money will be safe because there will be relatively little of it in circulation. But the Fed wants inflation… they have made that crystal clear. Personally, I don’t know what will trigger it, but I think there will come a day of reckoning, and when that day comes the USD will be worthless. I don’t know how or when but when this happens, you better have your savings in commodities. Physical assets, i.e. farmland, pigs, potash, diesel, flour, gold, AK-47’s.
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”
In my humble opinion you are correct in that FDIC is nothing but a sham. The question: What bank would you put your “money” in if there was not “insurance”. Or would you put money in a bank at all.
Social Security is nothing more than a flat income tax. If I recall correctly, in the early 40′s the New York Supremen court said the tax was unconstitutional. They were “asked by the feds to revisit their opinion.
You may know this, but at one time TX teachers had the option of dropping out of the SS system.
Good book to read is the social security swindle by Irwin Schiff. Might make a good piece for one of your articles.
The Best,
Kenny
No luck with the filter. So I will take the liberty to answer your question here. Attended 7th-most of my junior year in ND. Courses: english, literature, world history, US history, civics, western democracy, international relations, math, bus math, algebra, geomentry, trig, calc, biology, chemistry, earth science, physics, pe ( indoor pool swimming required, had to pass a test)foregin languages: french, spanish, german, russian, latin, bus law, bookkeeping, office machines, music, art, shop,sex ed, drivers ed, public speeking. weakness not much career counseling. Finished HS in Sarasota, FL. We had pranks, no violence or sex in halls and no social promotions. 15 hours was standard load in college. Reading the classics has been more beneficial than I would of thought. All the courses that were required have been important to my career except for algebra.
Kenny, what great hard questions you ask. And, it’s about doubling the amount covered by FDIC last year. Bright, innocent smile. Does that mean the money is only worth half as much, or that they’re twice as worried we’ll take our money out, or both?
FDR told them he would appoint Supreme Court justices until he got the answer he liked and the Soups at the time decided the prefered to be nine rather than nineteen. Thanks for the suggestion! LBT
Hi Linda,
Thank you for this, your latest writings.
I tried posting this earlier in the week but it didn’t make it to your site. Maybe your spam filter ate it. BTW, what prompts it?
I don’t share your concern to get dollars out of your atm. It has been made abundantly clear that helicopter Ben will do whatever is necessary to insure an endless supply of greenbacks. In fact, I suspect the Fed central banks are packed to the gunnels with US currency in case of a run on the banks, 1930 style.
The folks I follow, Jim Rogers, Marc Faber, Bill Bonner, Eric King and many more are sure the current policies of Washington can’t last. Mish is firmly in the deflation camp and from what I understand deflation is great if you have money. But to the Fed deflation is a deadly sin and current policies are to spend until deflation is not an issue. The question is how all of this is going to play out? I mean, if Dr. Bernanke drops money out of a helicopter I think people will come to understand that the dollar is worthless. People & nations will no longer trade it. I think that is what will eventually happen; hyperinflation.
So, it is best to be in commodities. Corn, gold, cotton, oil, chickens, farm land, copper, gin, Jaguars?. Things that real people can use for fuel, burn for warmth, eat or use for trade for other goods. As I am in my virtual bunker far away from my homeland and there is little room for livestock or other goods, I choose to hold gold. For 5000 years it has been accepted as money and I can only hope it will continue to hold its appeal. I would of course prefer some of the former as gold has no real use, but holding other goods is just not practical. I think we should all have a stock of food. In our glorious country this should not be hard to acquire. Dry & canned goods keep for months if not years and are relatively inexpensive. 100 lbs of dry beans costs little and help you hold out for several weeks; maybe more. If you store what you like to eat, some can be conserved by rotating your stock &/or donations to food banks as the expiry date draws near.
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”
Jeff
Thanks, Jeff, although I sort of write because I can’t help it, between that being how I get the results of my analysis out of my head and enjoy friends here. I don’t know what prompts the SPAM filter. Demonic possession?! You wrote “I don’t share your concern to get dollars out of your atm. It has been made abundantly clear that helicopter Ben will do whatever is necessary to insure an endless supply of greenbacks. In fact, I suspect the Fed central banks are packed to the gunnels with US currency in case of a run on the banks, 1930 style.” Very good point! I’m not “concerned” for myself; by the time the bank isn’t handing over money it won’t be worth anything. However, Citi SAID that effective a month from today it may or may not honor checks. You haven’t seen my latest about the recent T-bill auction! Deflation would be great (for some of us) but do we have to “prepare” for that? What if FRN’s have all the value of confetti “soon?” It would make for a suitable tickertape parade. Money falling out of the sky and not worth picking up. Hope for the best but prepare for the worst! More later, ducking SPAM tentacles. Linda
Jeff, dear: Yours is an interesting case, off in the Stans as you are. How long will you be there? I’m not prying, I’m trying to work out what a fellow with a footlocker full of gold would do if he returned to the states at the worst possible time. For that matter, some provisions and a Bug Out Bag might be very sensible where you are, even. It might be good to hedge your bets by buying some land in a secluded location, but what if (you’ve got me started on a whole new line of thought!) a concern were how to get IN to the USA safely and make it to your place of refuge. That would pretty much mean choosing Montana, Wyomaing, Idaho, or western Washington, all good if you can handle cold, because you might be able to work your way across Canada and down…Let me play with that idea.
IF it all goes bad there will be weeks, at least, when even gold won’t buy food. Gold is to preserve current value and for rebuilding afterwards. Hug, Linda
Spam Filters. Who would have thought! I spent 4 hours trying to get my DVD to work on Saturday. European connections, Western cables, FSU television. Wonders are if life is any better with these contraptions? Communications have certainly brought enlightenment, at least to me. I come from a working class family and never would have been subjected to the blatant level of corruption of our elected officials without the WWW. Seems obvious to you and me, but the complacency of the American people is shameful. Bread and Circus!
Citi Bank doesn’t worry me. I bought a motorcycle and Bank of America held my personal check for 3 weeks. Their excuse was to let it “clear” but the truth of the matter is checks clear instantly in this electronic age. Think there is a bit of paranoia on the part of all of us regarding the Citi announcement. Time will tell! BTW, my Suisse bank called me several months ago and told me to close my account. After this UBS witch hunt, they don’t want Americans for customers. They relented when I assured them I was resident in Kazakhstan with no plans to repatriate. Our freedoms are slowly but surely being eroded with the likes of Homeland Security and the war on drugs. I pay my taxes and obey the law but resent my personal life being examined like a virus on a Petri dish.
As for Kazakhstan, well, I will be here as long as I can get paid I suppose. Thru my wife (a Russian Kazakh), with the purchase of property here in Almaty, affords me a resident visa. Almaty is quite a nice city; climate & scenery much like Boulder, CO where I attended high school. Medical care probably not the best but I am not to the point where I need constant maintenance (Jaguars come to mind yet again!). I don’t like the cold, but could possibly end my days here. I can’t for the life of me think of a place in the USA to live. Nevada possibly but quite remote. Too cold up north where you recommend!
,
No one knows how this will play out. I don’t think It’ll come to growing ones own food. If we are reduced to that, I don’t care to participate. The best made plans can be changed with a small peice of hot lead from an AK-47. I am not Rambo (not anymore). I am however quite optimistic about the future. Albeit a harder life, it could/will be a better life. As long as the Arabs, Hugo Chavez, etc. will sell us oil, America will remain the breadbasket of the world. As long as our dollar is worth something. As long as we bring something to the table.
Best wishes,
Jeff
Spam Filters. Who would have thought! I spent 4 hours trying to get my DVD to work on Saturday. European connections, Western cables, FSU television. Wonders are if life is any better with these contraptions? Communications have certainly brought enlightenment, at least to me. I come from a working class family and never would have been subjected to the blatant level of corruption of our elected officials without the WWW. Seems obvious to you and me, but the complacency of the American people is shameful. Bread and Circus!
Citi Bank doesn’t worry me. I bought a motorcycle and Bank of America held my check for 3 weeks. Their excuse was to let it “clear” but the truth of the matter is checks clear instantly in this electronic age. Think there is a bit of paranoia on the part of all of us regarding the Citi announcement. Time will tell! BTW, my Suisse bank called me several months ago and told me to close my account. After this UBS witch hunt, they don’t want Americans for customers. They relented when I assured them I was resident in Kazakhstan with no plans to repatriate. Our freedoms are slowly but surely being eroded with the likes of Homeland Security and the war on drugs. I pay my taxes and obey the law but resent my personal life being examined like a virus on a Petri dish.
As for Kazakhstan, well, I will be here as long as I can get paid I suppose. Thru my wife (a Russian Kazakh), with the purchase of property here in Almaty, affords me a resident visa; presently a yearly out of pocket expense of $20,000. And unlike the much of West, a great deal of mineral wealth remains yet to be exploited. Almaty is quite a nice city; climate & scenery much like Boulder, CO where I attended high school. Medical care probably not the best but I am not to the point where I need constant maintenance (Jaguars come to mind yet again!). I don’t like the cold, but could possibly end my days here. I can’t for the life of me think of a place in the USA to live. Nevada possibly but quite remote. Too cold up north where you recommend!
No one knows how this will play out. I don’t think It’ll come to growing ones own food. If we are reduced to that, I don’t care to participate. A small piece of hot lead from an AK-47 will change the best made plans (and I am not Rambo). I am quite however optimistic about the future. Albeit a harder life, it could/will be a better life. As long as the Arabs, Hugo Chavez, etc. will sell us oil, America will remain the breadbasket of the world. As long as our dollar is worth something. As long as America brings something to the table.
Best wishes,
Jeff
Jeff, dear…thank you for #15, telling us about your fantastic life. $20K for the privilage of living in Kazahkstan?! Those people are imaginative. If we ever repudiate the Greenies we won’t have so many oil and gas problems, will me? Maybe take back a couple of million acres that the GROWING Polar Bear population doesn’t need. Glad to hear you’re a Jaguar. Low maintenance cars with at least twice as many miles on them as ‘most anything else. Did you leave out a step, or is the local electricity 110? What’s the food situation in Almaty? Lots of imports, or mostly grown by local farmers? This year the tomato crop failed in Florida and the burger joints have to raise their prices. Dependence on foreign food is at least as bad as dependence on foreign fuel. Could we have pictures, sometime? Native costumes and pastimes? Glad to hear you have a wife and home life. I always envisioned you on a guarded compound somewhere being sniped at in your hard hat. Hugs, Linda
Kenny, thanks for details on your days in HS. How could I have forgotten the dreaded swimming requirement?! Even then I could probably have floated on my back from the coast to Alustralia if a shark didn’t bite me but actually managing to swim the length of the pool and back threatened to end my college career! “Algebra” IS actually quite useful IF we think of it in terms of word problems which do not actually require Algebra to solve. X hasn’t got a thing to do with when two trains will collide, and Y is not necessary to determine how old Socrates was or how many grams of three kinds of coffee are necessary to make one kilo that sells for $12.32. I’ve never found a use for geometry, yet, but it was so much fun, who cares?! You made me think (thank you)…what today’s kids have been cheated of is schooling they enjoyed and benefited from. Remember the thrill in our early days of, “Oh, I hope I don’t get Mrs. McCloud! I hear she’s really tough?” So much of what we learned in HS has been useful for 40 and 50 years. Linda
Jeff…why can’t you acquire a little land, at least in your wife’s name? Even a couple of dairy goats and a few chickens would be very comforting in times of food shortages. Jelly Bean and Faith produce about three gallons of rich milk a day around feeding a kid and hens lay an egg each every 26 hours. Get an equal amount of rice for every pot of beans you boil up; it takes both to make a complete protein. Besides that, goats would surely raise your social position! Or are you too far North? In many areas of the world a goat is regarded as real wealth. And so it is…companionship, entertainment, and dense food-producing capability in one sweet package with rectangular pupils. Cows are okay, chickens are stupid, but goats are much like dogs, other than that dogs aren’t bad about playing “King of the Jaguar.” If there is anything goats won’t try to climb I haven’t found it yet, other than very vertical trees. Linda