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These posts are the creation of Doran L. Barton (AKA Fozziliny Moo). To learn more about Doran, check out his website at fozzilinymoo.org.

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Credit union congestion

Posted: 31 December 2002 at 17:51:00

Good evening. I'm in an Arby's restaurant in Centerville, Utah. Normally, I don't stop anywhere on my commute home for the weekend, but tonight the traffic on the freeway was so bad, I thought it would be better for my sanity if I stopped, ate, and let the traffic congestion die down.

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. This is largely due to the fact that I've been listening to talk radio programs, pondering the recent address of President Bush at his State of the Union address this last Tuesday, and discussing things of a political nature with my parents.

My coworker Dave has little awareness of what's going on in the world politically. He'd be the first to admit he's naive and mostly ignorant about most issues. So, it's been interesting for me to explain things to him and hear his take on things.

I, on the other hand, grew up in politics. My father served 12 years in the Utah State Legislature and was very active in the political arena before and after that. His views are very conservative and mostly leaning towards the free-markets-will-solve-everything approach of policy.

Right now, the Utah State Legislature is in session. One bill being considered (HB 162) was crafted by a coalition of banks in the state and aims to impose heavy taxes on a handful of large credit unions because they, in the bankers' words, "behave like banks."

As a member of one of these credit unions, I'm pissed. My father does not disagree with the bill. He says credit unions were originally formed to serve a small community of people and since have grown beyond that purpose.

That may be true, but they're still non-profit organizations. Non-profit organizations, regardless of how much money they deal with, are still non-profit and I feel that shouldn't be held against them.