Storm Aftermath

[eggwards]

I spoke to my parents again tonight. Despite being 100 miles away from Galveston, they were without power. Their whole county is in the dark, and may be for several days. My Dad said that not only were many of the powerlines hit in the area, but the main powerplant was also damaged in the storm

Comments

[teddyb]

I'm glad to hear that your parents were spared serious property damage, and that they'll be able to get away to another part of the country for a while, until the power is back on (and stable

[eggwards]

Yes, the de-regulation of broadcasting rears it's ugly head in times like these, especially for the smaller communities that have no local radio anymore, everything is voicetracked and sent in from elsewhere. I guess they just keep playing music. Some of the stations simulcasted television news reports, and apparently the TV stations were getting calls to tell them to work harder to describe things, since they couldn't see the pictures.

Obama's solutions are OK. Nothing ground-shaking nor awe inspiring, but they are certainly more people-focused rather than corporation focused. That seems to be the state of things here. The Republicans say that the corporations will save us if they would only be allowed to, and Democrats disagree - and then put too much emphasis on the role of government. It's a now win situation, but right now when de-regulation has gotten us to where we are, it's time for the pendulum to swing back the other way.

Thanks for you thoughts!

Status Report

[cruisebear]

I was wondering how you are your family were faring. I know Chris's parents live in Kelseyville (which has a nice new downtown). It is a bitch to be without electricity and I think a trip out of town will be perfect for them. After the 1989 Earthquake I was without power for 5 days and hated it.

I work for a credit union and we are getting in lots of new money and how to structure account to maximize the insurance coverage for our fully insured institution. We just made several million in the last quarter and we do lots of mortgages but don't accept anyone who has low credit soores or late payment and never had. No supprimes or interest only for us so even our mortgage business has increased about 300% in the last 6 months.

Re: Status Report

[eggwards]

Dallas itself is fine. There wasn't enough wind and rain to make a dent. Houston was hit hard, and the media has already left, so the news of the aftermath isn't really getting out. Slowly but surely the lights in Houston are coming back, but it's taking time in the smaller towns. Galveston and other beach areas are going to take a lot longer to recover.

Chris said that his family was without power for a couple of days after the 89 quake, but they lived in South San Jose, far from the epicenter. My parents may be getting power today, since they were able to get the powerplant back online.

Yes, credit unions are looking good as a safe haven. I'm not surprised that you are seeing more money coming in. We to are taking advantage of our economic strength, and trying to draw money away from other institutions. The only loans we do are loan from people's retirement accounts. The company invests in real estate, but not mortgages. It's been a good week for asset growth leads.

[eggwards]

Yeah, we don't hear about the aftermath of storms very often. Except for Katrina, the news vans pull away after the wind has died down, but often there can be a week or more of just trying to get basic services up. More often than not these storms go into rural areas, so we don't here much, but they are least equipped to deal with fixing a power grid or getting fresh water flowing.

I wish they would keep focusing on Galveston and the Texas coast for a while. They are going to need a lot of help.

[eggwards]

Yes, the cool front makes things a lot better for the people without power. Lately I keep thinking of all the things I do that require power. it's a long list.

Well, the job is there for now. The company was already making cutbacks before this week, and did just fire the processing team that was in the building with us, so there is certainly an awareness that things could change very suddenly. We have more people upset that their 401(k) balance is plummeting than we have people calling in to move money to us, so it's going to be a rough time through the end of the year. Yes, the company has strength, but how much they want to spend on customer service is most definitely a concern.