As Wells Fargo (a bank that I have an account with) joined the other financial institutions in holding out their hands to accept some of my and your hard earned money, they figured it was time for a trip to Vegas and where else to stay but at the TOP, the Wynn. After the news broke they ended up canceling the rooms, but it begs the bigger question: When will the opulence stop? (that’s rhetorical)

Capitalism, socialism, whatever floats your boat, the disconnect going on in America today is on the magnitude of one of its finer geographical formations, the Grand Canyon. There are many interesting stories out there to pick from, but one that intrigued me most this past week was the Wells Fargo fiasco. Wells, like most offered, took the Federal Reserve handout to the tune of $25 billion+ with more to follow no doubt. This money comes directly from present and future tax payers no matter which printing press is used. When a whistle blower (read previous employee who enjoyed such junkets her entire tenure) pointed out the obvious, something not hidden or masked in anyway, that Wells was planning a typical annual junket at the most expensive hotels in the lower 48 (Steve Wynn’s latest properties in Vegas), it got the Washington folks thinking just a bit, which can be a miracle within itself at times.

If most tax payers, i.e. even successful entrepreneurs, would never consider $400 per night for a hotel room, particularly in a town where many acceptable rooms can be had for less than $100 per night….why should a company needing government subsidization plan a junket (with all the fixins) at such a hotel? I speak for many small business owners who have always pondered who could possibly justify such travel expenses in their business P&L statement. It is one thing to see some heiress or oil sheik peruse the Wynn lobby, but 1000 bank employees?

This is where we have landed in the land of excess, opulence and irresponsibility. I for one am betting on Wells to easily make it through this period, if for one simple fact….I trust Uncle Sam simply can’t and won’t let this behemoth fall. Wells has yet to write down its California portfolio accurately, smartly waiting out the demise of Bank of America and other competitors as they fight for shareholder survival. Every time a competitor stumbles, Wells picks up pure gold: depositors. This is a game in that the last man standing will reap the benefits of its fallen brethren. So the fact that Wells thought they could simply go ahead with such a junket after taking a 25 billion dollar handout comes as no surprise. Let’s face it, the press is not very savvy in reporting this stuff anymore. If only the infamous and sarcastic Hunter Thompson had his typewriter plugged in today.

Instead, exposure of how the “haves” are sticking it to the “have nots” is being exposed by ex-employees (of which there are a growing number), who are playing out their jealous rages as they are now tossed in with the rest of us booking our rooms at the Holiday Inn Express.

Guidelines

• Politics, sports, anything but racial or sexist bumper stickers are fair game.
• It doesn’t have to be your bumper sticker
• You have to take the photo – please resize to 500 pixels wide (not required, but spares me editing time)
• Send photos to kendall(nospace)card AT gmail D0t com
• Aug 3 is the deadline.

Winner gets?

The winner will get some cool gear from me. (I’ve got a DNA hoodie, a sleeve of Nike golf balls and a brand new Backcountry.com organic cotton tee shirt up for grabs so far. I’m making this up as I go so bear with me – trust me, if anyone can round up some free gear I’m the man!)

Here’s my entry which I’ll start things off with.

All entries will be posted to my Flickr Bumper Sticker Contest set of photos

Mr. Bush should fly a few bloggers around in one of these things. I’ll volunteer to be first!

Flown out from Washington DC over two days (stopping off at Omaha) this Marine One helicopter was MASSIVE. When I say massive I mean massive. It had 7 blades on the main rotor with each blade around 2 1/2 feet wide at the apex and what looked to be around 30′ long.

Equally as impressive was the inside which had a sign above the rear cargo door that said, “Vehicles exiting must turn left”.

While there were a few Marines in bullet proof vests carrying assault shotguns and other weapons, most of the flight crew was mulling around in jump suits as nearly 60-70 lookers on like myself oohed and awed.

Unless Mr. Bush, and likely Mr. Obama is into letting a few A list bloggers like myself (hah!) replace the stuffy Washington Post staff writers to take a lift in Marine One, I can easily say that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

(figures I would leave my camera home this one day – photos are from my lousy cell phone. I know what you’re thinking – “Some ‘A’ list blogger you are!”)

I can’t really poke any wholes in this. The comments on YouTube are interesting as well.

I’d love to see this argument be the foundation for a debate among the presidential candidates.

–Thanks Dow

Of the candidates I’m most interested in learning more about Obama and exactly where he stands and additionally I want to know more about Mitt Romney. Of the later, my mother-in-law sent the following to me in an e-mail:

On June 2, 2006, Romney sent a letter to each member of the U.S. Senate urging them to vote in favor of the Marriage Protection Amendment.^[31] In the letter, Romney stated that the debate over same-sex unions is not a discussion about “tolerance”, but rather a “debate about the purpose of the institution of marriage”. Romney wrote, “Attaching the word marriage to the association of same-sex individuals mistakenly presumes that marriage is principally a matter of adult benefits and adult rights. In fact, marriage is principally about the nurturing and development of children. And the successful development of children is critical to the preservation and success of our nation.”

What impresses me most about this quote is Mitt’s ability to see through the political fog to the real issue at hand, in this case the point that gay and lesbian unions are not at the root about tolerance but about the purpose of marriage. Marriage serves the adult participants in many ways but at the root of it marriage between a man and woman provides the ideal situation for children, our future, to be raised and nurtured in a way that will provide society and humanity with the best possible future.

I’m looking forward to posting some of the things I learn and extrapolate from the next year and a half until the election in November of 2008.