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Sunday, September 18, 2016

The Writer's Life 9/18 - Money Talks

I always read the newspaper from back to front, gradually working my way to the most distressing articles, such as the bombs that went off in Manhattan and at the Jersey shore yesterday, the multiple stabbing in Minnesota, and the never-ending Clinton scandals. Two items were particularly interesting, both well before the midpoint. Phil Mushnick continues to take the sports media to task, particularly its silence on the reprehensible on-field behavior of athletes, and the NCAA's hypocrisy. He cites Duke University, which in 2012 did not renew its contract with Chick-fil-A because of the owner's support of traditional marriage. A year later Duke was invited to play in the Chick-fil-a Bowl. It participated, bringing four million to the conference's (ACC) till... Jonathon Trugman calls out an economic guru who owns 470 million shares of Wells Fargo. The bank recently paid $185 million penalty to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau because of contemptible practices. Its employees used credit card information, without the consent of customers, to open two million accounts. 5300 have been fired, none of them executives. Warren Buffett, who has a 9.5% stake in the company, has been silent on the issue. WF has further diminished the reputation of banks and given legitimacy to the Occupy Wall Street philosophy. I'm no financial expert, but the penalty WF paid seems picayune. The violation seems more egregious than anything done during the mortgage meltdown, when banks, who were forced by the government to give loans to the unqualified, acted to try to save themselves. Why is WF still in business? Shouldn't it have been at least forced to break up or been sold to another bank? Maybe politicians want to keep the campaign contributions flowing. What a disgrace.    

Here are three amusing, self-explanatory headlines from Yahoo's Odd News: Olive oil helps free man stuck in jetty while fetching phone... Robbery suspect, handcuffed behind back, steals police car... Woman hid pot in girl's lunchbox during traffic stop.

It was a quiet day at the floating book shop. My thanks to the elderly woman who purchased Nora Roberts' Blue Dahlia.

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