After watching the testimony before the Deficit Reduction Committee I went from stuck in despair to hoping for repair. I now have faith in two plans: The “In God We Trust” plan, or “The modified Simpson-Bowles Commission Plan.” Here’s why.<< MORE >>

These stories are about homeowners in Washington’s Whatcom County who occupied courtrooms and picket lines in 2002. They protested predatory lending by Wall Street’s largest independent finance company, HFC Finance. HFC was forced to pay $486 million dollars nationwide in 2003 and over $50 million to Whatcom homeowners in 2004. Today’s protests stem from similar pain, which they’ve shared with me through personal interviews and court documents. They are inspirational and prophetic.

            The lead plaintiffs were Jeanie and Joe Luna. Jeanie was the full-charge office manager/bookkeeper of the Blaine, Washington newspaper. After reading HFC advertisements and letters promising lower interest, they consolidated all their debt into a bi-weekly loan to get a 6.99 percent interest rate. When Jeanie saw her first statements she began complaining about being charged too much interest. HFC’s branch manager told her to keep making payments and she’d get the 6.99 percent rate, which made no sense to Jeanie. Finally her credit union told her she had a 12 percent interest rate and debt so loaded by fees she couldn’t refinance. Jeanie was stunned. She told HFC, “You lied to me.”

Jeanie wronged is a relentless force. After a year’s search she explained their financial trap to Wenatchee attorney Bob Parlette. He told her, “I’m going to take your case. I know somebody said to you 6.99 percent, because nobody [like you] would be so stupid unless she was lied to. But we need proof.”

She produced their HFC document promising 6.99 percent.

Brenda and Carl Bennett refinanced with HFC seeking lower payments, but a representative convinced them they’d save more money with a lower rate on a bi-weekly loan. Brenda kept her account current but payments were crushing their finances and marriage. Desperate, she met a lawyer who arranged a meeting with Jeanie. After much prayer about the impact on their children, they agreed to sue HFC on condition they wouldn’t participate in publicity.

A month later, Elsie and Neil Nelson signed up. They refinanced with HFC after the branch manager had called to promise lower interest rates, but their accountant discovered they’d paid much higher interest than the year before. He sent them to mortgage broker Debra Cook who found irregularities in their files. Cook recommended they file a complaint with Washington’s Department of Financial Industries, which already had dozens of complaints statewide. I asked Elsie why they signed with HFC.  She quietly said, “We had a loan with HFC, they were everywhere, and we trusted the people we talked to.”

Parlette filed a class action lawsuit and recommended Jeanie call the Bellingham Herald. Reporter John Stark said he dismissed her story at first but, “She pestered me until I called Parlette.” The Lunas’ story appeared the first Sunday in April. Monday his email was lit up with stories from people relieved to know they weren’t alone. Two weeks later he published several more stories and later covered their picket line outside the HFC office. His continuing coverage triggered articles in Forbes and financial magazines.

The $50 million Whatcom County award went to over 200 plaintiffs. I visited five of them last weekend. The Lunas had already refinanced and won small credits on their former loan. They retired and in June returned from an overseas mission. The Nelsons saved thousands of dollars in interest when their rate was lowered retroactively and recently took a dream vacation to San Francisco. Brenda and Carl sold their house in a short sale and divorced. Brenda said the children are fine and expects to get her teaching degree in 2012.  She said, “Jeanie and Joe were so brave, they kept me going.”

These plaintiffs identify with the Wall Street occupiers. Jeanie said she hoped we’d get a president with more business experience. I said, “I think Congress has the long term responsibility.”

Joe said, “It’s not doing its job.” 

Jeanie said, “Then it’s up to the people occupying Wall Street.”

Listen to her. She represents this nation’s mighty force that knows when something is wrong and endures until justice prevails.  

For the first time in 13 years, East Wenatchee has a mayoral race between Mayor Steve Lacy and council member Dave Bremmer. Once you’ve decided who has the most attractive signs and most signs implanted in yards, what else do you need?<< MORE >>

Measure 1183 officially “concerns liquor: beer, wine and spirits (hard liquor). This measure would close hard liquor stores and sell their assets; license private parties to sell and distribute spirits; set licenses fees based on sales; regulate licensees; and change regulation of wine distribution.” Whoaaaaaaaaaa! This is full privatization via a Costco sponsored measure that organizes Washington wine and spirits sales to fit perfectly within its warehouse and distribution model. It also eliminates a legislative mandate to evaluate leasing the state’s distribution system even though two firms have submitted bids to do so. Every state that has privatized liquor sales has experienced increased per capita alcohol consumption. National health organizations warn against further privatization, let alone a big box business takeover that threatens smaller retailers and distributors. According the Seattle PI politics blog on September 26, support for the measure dropped in the past month to the point where less than half those polled supported it, although there is still a large percentage undecided. I was stunned by the measure’s impact and now urge its defeat.<< MORE >>

Surveys of high school dropouts found that 81 percent of them believed high school would have been more relevant with real-world learning and connecting school with work. From the 1870s to the 2000s, the United States has fallen from the highest high school graduation rate to thirteenth and has the worst college dropout rate of industrialized countries. Harvard’s Graduate School of Education wants to reverse that decline and recommends three different strategies in a report called Pathways to Prosperity, Meeting the Challenge of Preparing Young Americans for the 21st Century. The report aims to focus our attention on giving more students employable skills by their early twenties. It makes sense to me because I dimly recall retiring ten years ago as Dean of Business and Computer Technology at an Oregon Community College where faculty taught over a dozen professional technical programs and three university transfer programs.<< MORE >>

Five Nobel-prize winning economists and two former members of the Council of Economic Advisors wrote a public letter saying, “Writing a requirement into the Constitution that the budget be balanced each year would represent very unsound policy.” They gave seven reasons why it was unsound. Those sounded impressive until I read what they wrote, but my undergraduate major is economics and my Ph.D. is business. I needed to ask someone with better qualifications and common sense. Mom would qualify if she were living. She was a Phi Beta Kappa in economics at Carleton College. She understood our home budget and Dad’s business budget. She pierced faulty arguments. Here’s what I’d ask her. << MORE >>

First of all let’s admit two facts about the arena debt: we need a sales tax increase to avoid default but a .02 percent tax is dead on arrival without Wenatchee committing to put up any of its debt capacity. I wouldn’t recommend East Wenatchee or Douglas County support putting it on the ballot, and I certainly wouldn’t vote for it. It’s not fair to the citizens of the outlying districts. But I would support a fair sales tax increase with three legs in an agreement between Wenatchee, PFD districts and the state. 1. Wenatchee pays a heavier share than anyone else; 2. Every district that owns the facility through the PFD shares part of the remainder by voting on a sales tax increase that the political leadership would place on the ballot and support; 3. The state chips in for the remainder of the debt to preserve bond ratings for the state and its municipalities. How to do that? Most important of all is believe we have the leadership to do it. Here some suggestions on how to reach agreement:<< MORE >>

It’s tough to figure out what’s going on inside congressional members minds, let alone my wife’s mind, nor even mine at times, but for some reason I’m supremely confident I know what’s going on in my dog Haley’s mind. She loves me and says it every time she sees me. She gets excited for my morning exercise and convinces me to do it when I think skipping it. She wags her tail when we go for a walk. She slinks away before a car ride. She whines to go out when her friend Hankey, a Boston bulldog comes to play. There are a few times I’m not sure what she’s thinking, but I usually figure it out. If she’s licking me she might want to go out or get petted. If she’s hovering around the kitchen table she could be hungry or she could be sociable. If she’s hiding under the living room table, it’s probably cooler under there. If she’s napping she’s safe. Basically, she’s trained me to do her bidding and keep me healthier. But according to a recent Time Magazine article, new university based research centers are studying what’s going on inside a dog’s mind?<< MORE >>

Those interested in the Apple Capital Loop Trail have opportunities to support future visions and make it safer by removing dangerous curves. I was one of twelve volunteers who studied weekly for six months to develop a vision for the trail and present it to East Wenatchee City Council and Douglas County Commissioners. They are preparing a formal recommendations about the eastside shoreline to the Washington Department of Transportation regarding land use, development and stewardship. The vision is a practical plan to preserve the trail amidst state requirements to surplus land surrounding the trail. The vision, called Our Shoreline’s Future, is available online at cdlandtrust.org/our-shorelines-future, but to my dismay is not available on either the city or county websites.<< MORE >>

Sen. Linda Evans Parlette arranged for Treasurery officials to explain that the PFD should avoid default on Town Toyota Center debt on December 1. I attended the meeting, reviewed it on the Wenatchee World’s livestream, read articles and commented online. I examined the three interlocal agreements that created the events center, defined the relationship between the events center and the City of Wenatchee and amended the Contingency Loan Agreement between the city and the PFD for the current interest only payments. Based on my weird compulsion to read those materials, and despite having erred in not making default my only focus, I’m making new recommendations. Avoiding default is the PFD’s issue. It is not the City of Wenatchee’s issue. It’s the PFD’s debt. None of us in other districts can do anything. And I think avoiding default is the PFD’s highest priority. Nothing else deserves consideration right now.<< MORE >>