Welcome to the club
To the editor:
Now you know why I ran [“Random Thoughts,” Feb. 9.] I was not satisfied with the consensus candidate that was being offered to represent me, and I wasn’t going to take it. So, welcome to the club of the disenchanted who have enough gusto left in them to give it a go themselves. I wish there were more of us. Bravo on getting off the bench and into the game. A last word of caution: It’s not for the faint of heart, or the thin-skinned. Folks will hammer you from time to time, but the hammering most often serves a useful purpose.
Sen. Dan Claitor, District 16, Baton Rouge
Dat’s dat
To the editor:
Zapp’s Potato Chips has had Who Dat? chips in the market for the last two seasons. Although we have a registered Louisiana trademark, we received three threatening letters to “cease and desist” from the NFL in 2008 [Daily Report, Jan. 28]. In order to thaw any legal action for the 2009 season, Zapp’s sent a news release, announcing that all the profits would be donated to the Louisiana Food Bank Association. Earlier this month, Zapp’s presented a check to Mike Manning of the Baton Rouge Second Harvest Food Bank for $29,132. Coincidentally, Zapp’s didn’t hear a peep out of the NFL this year. They must have been busy going after the T-shirt shops in New Orleans.
Ron Zappe, President, Zapp’s Potato Chips
Just the facts
To the editor:
Some quick, simple facts:
1. Louisiana’s FDIC-insured banks and thrifts are a safe and reliable place for customers’ money in these uncertain times. No money has ever been lost in a FDIC-insured account [Daily Report, Jan. 13].
2. Louisiana’s banks and thrifts did not cause or participate in the irresponsible and sometimes unethical residential mortgage lending practices we have seen in other parts of the country by unregulated financial companies, that caused the crisis.
3. Louisiana’s banks and thrifts have funds available to lend to credit-worthy borrowers. It is true that federal regulators of our FDIC-insured banks and thrifts are more closely monitoring the safety and soundness of each institution and their lending practices.
4. Unfortunately, some of the responses by the federal government since the crisis have significantly impacted our institutions. For example, Louisiana FDIC-insured institutions pay insurance premiums into the Federal Deposit Insurance Fund. In 2007, Louisiana’s banks and thrifts paid approximately $3.6 million; in 2008, $16.9 million; and in 2009, $104.3 million. This large increase in premiums is in addition to all other federal and state taxes paid. This increase in expenses is coupled with new lending restrictions promulgated by the Federal Reserve to combat subprime residential mortgage lending. We support the provisions directed at ending abusive subprime residential home lending. But as so often happens, the regulations go beyond that scope and are today making it much more difficult for Louisiana community banks to extend credit to many long-term customers.
5. Policy-makers in Washington, with complicity by the media, are misusing the word ‘bank,’ hurling it as an epithet. For the record, Louisiana banks and thrifts are not the ones at which all this finger-pointing is directed. We have stuck to traditional, common-sense banking and maintained sound underwriting standards. That conservative approach has benefited the state’s economy and our banks.
Robert Taylor, CEO, Louisiana Bankers Association
