The Kings Mountain Herald
‘Wednesday, February 4, 2009
‘Opinions
What i is this fiscal crisis and why isn’t the media telling us every thing!
I’m always more comfortable
writing about what I know at least
a little about. I can still be (and
certainly sometimes am) wrong,
but at least the odds of being cor-
rect are in my favor. That means
keeping my musings local and
personal.
Our nation’s economy cond the
state of national media companies
are both things that fall outside
that “zone of comfort”. But Julie
Fanter of First National Bank did
a good job last Thursday of ex-
plaining to Rotarians just how we
are all affected by the mortgage
crisis that is getting a lot of the
blame for our economic woes.
She explained how good mort-
gages from good folks with good
jobs...probably you and your
neighbors...were packaged with
some that probably should never
have been made and sold as
sound securities. After a lot of
shuffling of paper it got to be a
big mess.
Did you know you can buy a
single year of -someone’s mort-
gage? I didn’t. But it seems an in-
vestor can actually buy year 12 of
your 20-year mortgage. Or year 2
or year 19.
Imagine how carved up these
mortgages/securities get to be
after being bought, shuffled, sold
then shuffled some more and sold
again, and again. Kinda like takin’
a hog shoulder and turning it into
North Carolina chopped barbe-
When money is tight, free
cue.
Julie’s chart had more arrows
going in more directions than
came from the Indians Custer was
staring at at Little Big Horn.
In short, what we envisioned
as a simple transaction between
lender and borrower, well, isn’t.
I don’t want to put words in
Julie’s mouth, because she didn’t
say this, but I'm sitting there
thinking “looks like more than a
little deception going on here”. In
fact, I'm wondering why some
people on Wall Street aren’t in
jail. But I am understanding a lit-
tle better why there’s no money to
lend.
Julie also told us she didn’t ap-
preciate “the media’s” handling
of news about the mortgage crisis.
I’m going to have to agree with
her. I'm hoping no one is sur-
prised by that. Even though we
are newspaper publishers, our
newspapers are as different from
national media as a local home-
owned bank or credit union is
from Chase or Wells Fargo or
Morgan Stanley. If a speaker
asked those in “the media” to
stand during a meeting, it proba-
bly wouldn’t occur to me to rise.
Those differences between
“local” and “national” are what
make local banks and local media
both strong voices in their com-
munities.
But “the media” reinforced, at
least with me, over the weekend
FORUM
The best thoughts pass between friends on a front porch
why I suspect them of not han-
dling this issue correctly. If we
widen the scope a little and look
at the economic stimulus package
(I keep hearing the mortgage cri-
sis and our overall economic pic-
ture are related) I heard some
statements that just don’t add up
on my calculator.
First; I heard a reporter state
that we are all waiting to see how
Congress wilk spend the stimulus
money. What money? There isn’t
any. If money can be conjured by
some mystical means then Penn
and Teller, David Copperfield and
the little guy that runs the magic
shop in downtown Gatlinburg
would all be filthy rich. Okay, bad
example. Some of them probably
are, but you get my point.
Congress cannot make money
appear. Government has not and
cannot create wealth; it can only
redistrib-
ute it.
If our
govern-
mie nit
doesn’t
redistrib-
ute the
wealth
(assuming
there is
By Ron ishell = any left)
Managing Editor in a man-
ner that
- will allow
our pri-
vate economy to grow, then
where is the benefit to any except
those few who get the first check?
The other thing I heard that
disturbed me was a reference to
the auto industry, specifically the
US “Big Three” as being in big-
time trouble. While that statement
is on its face at least somewhat
true, it’s not the whole story, and
that reporter did not do his job in
either learning more or in choos-
ing to ignore facts that we need to
know.
First, the “Big Three” are not
in financial trouble in same way.
One has cash in the bank the other
two appear to be short of. One is
rebounding from a breakup with
a European partner. Another is
saddled with a whole lot of ex-
penses related to our society more
than their cars...health care and
promises made to employees
when it was a different world.
And those foreign car manu-
facturers ain’t doin’ so hot either.
Toyota seems to have forgotten
it’s recipe for making money, and
it isn’t saddled with GM’s huge
commitment to retirees or an out-
dated compensation package.
What I’m saying is that there
is.a whole lot more to the auto in-
dustry’s woes than the feeling that
American car companies can’t °
compete with Japanese compa-
nies.
We’ve got to fix health care.
We’ve got to stop bleeding jobs.
We’ve got to make government
responsible to the right peo-
ple...and in my book that’s proba-
bly not going to be big money
investors who’ve already had
their shot at it and blew it.
If we use that stimulus debt
(God help me if I ever call it stim-
ulus money) to create and save
jobs in shops and factories and
mills across America, those peo-
ple will go to their local banks
and credit unions and buy houses
and cars.
If we give that stimulus debt to
big corporations they’ll buy jets
and pay out huge bonuses.
They’ ve proven that.
I know this rambled more than
a little bit, but the mess we’re in is
a rambling mess. And, like Julie,
I want our “media” to tell us
what’s going on, and I want Con-
gress to pay attention.
treasures offered at library
By SHARON STACK
Library Director
Librarians often repeat
Anne Herbert's great
quote about public li-
braries:
“Libraries- will get you
through times of no money
better than money will get
you through times of no li-
braries.”
If you are looking for
ways to save money, here
are some of the services
routinely offered by your
library. Remember that
your library card is free!
Popular reading mate-
rial—the library has the
latest in bestselling books
for everyone as well as
classics, Christian Fiction,
mysteries, westerns, ro-
mance, self help, true
crime and biography.
There are picture books
for children and award
winning titles for school
age children.
Yes, we have the entire
Twilight series. The li-
brary has over 60 maga-
zines ranging from the
preschool magazine “La-
dybug” to “Newsweek”.
We have daily editions of
the local newspapers as
well as the Wall Street
Journal, USAToday and
the weekend edition of the
New York Times.
Audio materials—our
library has a large collec-
tion of recorded books on
CD and tape that you can
listen to in your car or
while you are exercising.
We have a good selection
of “Playaways,” MP3
players with recorded
books on them. All are
free at your library.
Business and employ-
ment resources—the li-
brary has books on
personal finance, starting
and running a small busi-
ness, resume writing, job
search and interview
skills. Our computers offer
internet access and a world
of + resources = for job
searching, resume and let-
ter writing.
Computer and Internet
library has
free high speed access to
the Internet from comput-
ers as well as free Wi-Fi, if
access—the
700 E.
will run in the newspaper.
notes.
for $25 each.
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Videos and DVD’s—
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Over the Web:
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Our greatest resource
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Garden Club talks winter flowers
Ester Plonk welcomed
members of the Magnolia
Garden Club with warm
Ginger Bread and lime sher-
bet ice cream as they gath-
ered for the January 27,
2009 meeting.
After socializing for
awhile, Molly Savage, club
president thanked Ester for
hosting the meeting and wel-
comed the eleven members
and one guest, Lindsey
Bridges.
The club Collect was
read and the minutes from
the previous meeting were
approved. The new balance
News Briefs
Second suspect
arrested in
bank robbery
Kings Mountain Police
arrested a second suspect
Jan. 29 in the armed robbery
of BB&T on East King
Street Jan. 21.
Cpl. T. D. McDougal
said in a press release that
Thomas Lee Adams, 47, of
50 Lentz Harness Shop Rd,
KINGS MOUNTAIN
FIR Ua)
Mount Pleasant, was arrested in Winston-Salem where he
was picked up by Kings Mountain Police and returned to
Kings Mountain, booked and placed under a $150,000
bond at the Cleveland County Law Enforcement Center.
Adams is charged with one felony count of robbery with
a dangerous weapon and one felony count of conspiracy.
Police arrested Steven Scott Cline, 46, of 1923 Lancer
Court, Gastonia, on Jan,
23. He was jailed in Gaston
County Jail under a $600,000 bond, charged with robbery
with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy to commit rob-
bery.
Blanton to perform at University
Todd Blanton of Grover will be performing in Averett
University’s upcoming theatre production of *
Barefoot In
The Park. A freshman pursuing a bachelor’s degree in the-
atre, he will be playing the telephone man. The perform-
ances are at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 26-28 in Pritchett Auditorium
in Danville, V
Pony Express to be program topic
The Broad River Genealogical Society, Performing Arts
Area of the Neal Senior Center on H. 1
Shelby, will meet Sunday, Feb. 8, at 3 p.m..
will be the program topic. of Norman Crews.
press”
". Harris Drive in
The Pony Ex-
Monthly meetings are open to anyone interested in local
and family history in the surrounding area.
Town Council to meet Monday
Grover Town Council will meet Monday, Feb. 9, at 6
p.m. in the Grover Town Hall Council Chambers, 207 Mul-
berry Road.
in the treasury was $217.40.
Old business consisted of
a discussion of the birthday
party at the Life Enrichment
Center. Maxine Bennett
stated that she would check
to see if the date was in Feb-
ruary or March.
There was no new busi-
ness at this time.
The arrangements “Win-
ter Berries on Parade” by
Maxine Bennett and Geneva
Caveny were critiqued. The
arrangements were beauti-
fully done and all comments
were positive. Maxine said
that she read that putting
brown sugar in the water
would prolong the life of
berries in an arrangement.
Flower specimens for the
month consisted mainly of
berries—Nandinas and
Holly along with Mahonia,
Christmas cactus, pansy, and
Dusty Miller.
Teresa Rupp presented a
very informative program on
“Winter Flowers”. Teresa
commented that she missed
the beautiful flowers of sum-
mer and wanted to find out
what flowers would bloom
in our climate during the
winter. She commented that
the internet had a wealth of
information and blogs from
gardeners on the topic.
Some of the flowers that
are cold hardy and provide
beautiful blooms are: Helle-
borus—Lenten Rose and
Bear Paw, Witch Hazel,
Winter Iris that blooms from
mid February to April,
Heavenly Bamboo of the
Nandina family, Winter
Hearts, Sweet Box, Winter
Sweet, Daphne, Red Flame,
Gold Heart, Fetterbush, and
Firethorn.
After the program team
points were taken. Team I
had 18 while Team II had
15.
Kay Davis suggested that
we remind those’ members
who had the program and
arrangements for the next
meeting. All agreed.
The meeting adjourned at
11:25 am.
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