Joe Biden came to Northside Thursday morning and stood beside the old American Can Company building that sits on the corner of Spring Grove Avenue and Fergus and spoke to a few hundred people in Cincinnati. It is interesting to me that one block east of Fergus is Spring Grove and Mad Anthony where my father's hardware store once stood.
Before the vice president got there, I spent some time talking with a fellow classmate from high school, class of 1960. The morning was nice, warm and sunny as I looked at that old brick building and thought about how Northside has changed since I first came here 55 years ago. The American Can building project will no doubt be a great improvement over the eye sore that exists now. With apartments and condos and retail space, this project once completed would be an anchor to this neighborhood. Interestingly enough, I met and spoke with one of the developers. Of the $22 million, they are only looking for $1.6 million in stimulus money to get this project moving again. The developers have a track record in that they did a first rate job with another development in another part of the city. When the American Can building project is completed, it will be a huge improvement for Northisde. Then, all we will have to do is get the City of Cincinnati to pave our side streets so Northside does not look like part of a Third World Country.
At the end of his speech, V.P. Biden came down from the stage and started shaking hands and greeting the people, so I moved forward and shook his hand and told him as I looked at his face, " they need to fix the credit rating agencies because they are corrupt." Joe acknowledged my remarks and countered that they have something coming shortly. Well, I guess I will have to wait and see what they do. Had I had the time, I could have explained how the CRAs, because their credit ratings can not be trusted, is holding up the movement of credit for the entire economy. When someone cheats the system, people walk away from the table because they realize the game is fixed. May be they are smart enough in Washington to correct what needs to be corrected. We will see.
Stay tuned.
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2 comments:
I hope so. But i have heard that the CRA's are being sued - and I think that could be why there hasn't been much in the press about them -- you know - prejudicial and all that.
When businesses commit fraud, or should I say when big businesses commit fraud, sometimes it just gets portrayed as the customer or investor just didn't do their homework. In the case of the rating agencies, they knew that some of the bonds they were giving their triple-A rating did not deserve the highest rating, yet they gave it anyway because the fee business from the bond underwriters was so good. I would like to see some people spend a few years in "Hebrew School" for their actions.
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