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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1995-06-21, Page 5Arthur Black International Scene MO Op THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 1995. PAGE 5. You know how tough times are for banks When I go into a bank I get nervous. Stephen Leacock Pity the poor beleaguered Maestro of Mariposa. Stephen Leacock was utterly flummoxed by banks. He couldn't handle the mental arithmetic. He balked at the people who worked there. He got rattled at the wickets, the deposit books and the thought of all that money piled up in the vault just out of sight. "When I go into a bank" he wrote, "I become an irresponsible idiot". He could walk through the front door as a sane and stable burgher with cash in his pocket. He left minutes later, a stricken, gibbering fool determined never to darken the door of any financial institution for the rest of his life. But, on the bright side, he got some great material in that sleepy Mariposa Temple of Mammon. He wrote one of the funniest essays any Canadian ever penned. It's called "My Financial Career" and it still cracks me up more than half a century after he put it on paper. That's more than he'd get if he went into a bank nowadays. Needed: new world order On June 15 the leaders of the seven "richest" nations will have sat down for an opulent conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to hold their annual summit meeting on the world's economy. It is Canada's turn again to host the gathering and presumably the security will be as tight as it was the last time we welcomed the leaders at Toronto's Pearson Airport. I have often wondered why the word "economic" is used since a broader term is needed. While the leaders certainly do get around to taking a close look at the international economy, they also manage to discuss whatever happens to be on the world plate at the time. It is, for example, a sure bet that the word Bosnia will be high on the agenda and this is surely a topic which is more of a political or military nature than something which would bring a glint to the eyes of those economists whose forte is world trade, international capital flows and the like. At any rate, I deliberately wrote this in advance of the conference for the simple reason that I wanted to outline what needs to be done rather than how well the meeting went. If you keep this in mind as you read it, you will be in a better position to judge the success of it all; that is, assuming that you don't take one look at the first paragraph and then pass up the whole article or skip to the end to see what conclusions I have drawn. When I was first struggling with all the subjects that teachers could throw at me, a new economic world order was in the process of being created, with the greatest economist of the 20th century, John When I go into a bank, I feel ... irrelevant. The first thing I see is a sign urging me to "Have My Bank Card Ready". What bank card? I don't have any freaking bank card. I've got a little cash in my pocket and I want the bank to hold it for me for awhile. That's what banks do. They take care of your money because their chances of getting mugged are considerably less than yours. I don't feel bad when they ask for my bank book. That's fair enough - if I happened to remember to bring it. I don't complain when they ask me to put my signature on a withdrawal slip. I mean, hell - Conrad Black might be trying to raid my bank account. You can't be too careful. But I tend to wax ballistic when my bank tries to convince me that I need to flash yet another piece of plastic before they will deign to deal with me. Alas, I realize that I am, as my old sea captain used to say approximately, merely "spitting into the wind". It's a losing battle. The banks, like every other institution in these, the Nasty Nineties are "downsizing''. Which is to say they're laying people off and replacing them with machines and "automatic, client-driven procedures" just as fast as they indecently can. Not so long ago I used to see five, sometimes six tellers each time I went through the bank door. Now there are two - and with so many extra chores to perform - Maynard Keynes, playing a major role. Alas, it was to be one of the last things that Keynes did for he died of a heart attack shortly after. The work of Keynes and his colleagues was Jell done; out of the deliberations came such organizations as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. These three provided the framework for a system that would help countries with balance of payments problems, provide loans for development projects in third world nations and set the stage for a dramatic increase in the level of world trade. In the last half of the century they have served the world well but it could be that they are going the way of Oxymandias, the king in one of Shelley's most famous pieces of poetry. In short, they need to be either updated or replaced. To a certain degree this has already been done. GATT is no more, having been replaced by the World Trade Organization. The other two, however, are still around and showing their age. The IMF, by itself, was totally unable to provide Mexico with the help it needed when that country suffered a collapse of its currency. Perhaps it will be better prepared next time but whether it, in its present form, has the resources or not is very much a question. There are a number of other problems to be addressed, not the least of which is unemployment. While some of the members, notably the United States and Japan, are better off than the others, there is little doubt that the second industrial revolution has brought with it an unacceptably high level of unemployment, with a high percentage of the long-term variety. The French are looking at a rate of over 12 per cent, a figure which has stubbornly refused to change by any great amount. Canada's, at about 9.5 per cent, is some two sometimes fewer than that. And it ain't going to get better. Indeed, the financial wave of the future is already splashing against the wickets of the First Chicago Bank, down in the Windy City. Oh, you can still walk into the First Chicago and hand a teller your deposit. Difference is, the bank will charge you $3 for the privilege. Every time. Unless you happen to have $3,000 gathering moss in a checking account. The bank waves the three-buck penalty for people who are that dim. You see, the bank thinks you should be penalized for not using an Automatic Bank Machine. They figure it this way: it costs the bank nearly 10 times as much to pay a human to handle your transaction as it does when you punch it in yourself. Sure, it's only pennies but ... well, you know how tough times are for the banks. The day is coming, my friends, when encountering a real live teller at a real live wicket will be as rare as a UFO sighting. I guess it's progress. But I guess I don't have to like it. I prefer talking to flesh and blood people with actual smiles. People with kids and spouses and new hairdos who know me by name and ask after my dog. Punching a keyboard may be faster, but it's not terribly life-enhancing. And Mister Leacock, if you're perusing this in some celestial gazette, I want you to know that you got out just in time. per cent higher than it was at the same time in the last business cycle, and we could stand some honest talk at the conference. What we are likely to get is little more than lip service. There has been a great deal written of late about the lack of trust which the voting public has in the current crop of politicians. This has been brought about, for the most part, by the failure of this crop to carry out ptomises made. It seems that the public is more realistic in its demands that the same politicians be held accountable for their words. The "economic summit" in Halifax, held as it is in the spotlight of public opinion, would be an excellent place to not only make valid promises but to keep them. I, for one, will be surprised if that happens but I would be delighted to be proven wrong. HELPING THE WORLD WRITE NOW • CODE Self-sufficiency through literacy in the developing world PLEASE SEND ME MORE INFORMATION Name Address MAIL TO. CODE, 321 Chapel St., Ottawa, ON, Canada, KIN 7Z2. FAX (613) 232-7435 PHONE 1-800-661-2633 The short of it By Bonnie Gropp The frustration of frustration, When it comes to writing they say the best thing to do is to write about what you know best. With this in mind I have decided to spend this time sharing some thoughts on frustration. As a human being I know that I will be faced with dilemmas and situations that will tend to frustrate and confound me. Though generally a trying problem is just another of life's little challenges, most of us at one point or another have been burdened by a buildup of minor difficulties, which confronted alone would not have seemed so much, but together their impact can feel unbearable. Frustration can be - well, frustrating. I'm certain you've all seen the face of a child trying to do something new and not doing very well. People by nature like to succeed, prefer to have things go smoothly. When they don't we are confronted with our human fallibility. It is an attack on our ego. We are frustrated when we lose. We are frustrated when we fail. We are frustrated at having to do things over and over and over. I recently ended a week that had proven to be a long game of frustration, which I do believe I won just by point of survival. I was living under Murphy's Law and couldn't break free no matter how I struggled. I bore not just mental wounds, but physical as well, so that by the end I was beginning to feel it was unsafe for me to be out and about. Just tie me in a corner for the safety of all I might encounter until this is over, I thought. Then as suddenly as the onslaught of trials and tribulations began, the skirmishes between my will and why me ended and I looked back on several long days with a chuckle and the ability to recognize it was not something personal, but a siege we all endure from time to time. Saturday in the sweltering heat, which I'm sure you've noticed tends to increase the weight of any burden, my husband was busy with car maintenance. Of course, nothing was going right; each mistake was tagged on to the previous ones until the job was one mountain of mishap. Now Mark has his own way of dealing with life's frustrations, which in print looks something like !#&$?!$. While it may make others nearby a bit uncomfortable, it does seem to make him feel better, which is what's important. Frustration is our own personal battle and we all must come to terms with how to handle it. I couldn't help being impressed this past weekend watching pitcher David Cone's face as he experienced what was probably one of the most frustrating experiences of his career. As he lost his no- hitter with two out in the ninth, he actually smiled, then went back to work. Mind you, if I was making millions even when I messed up, I guess I could probably smile, too. I, as I'm sure the majority do, feel 99.9 per cent of the time that I have been truly blessed. Though life hasn't always followed the route down Easy St., it has for the most part been on cruise control. I have been fortunate that my mistakes have not cost me too dearly, and have instead been lessons that have helped to improve and educate me. I have been fortunate in health, family and career. I have been fortunate that the biggest trials in my life have been only those irritating little frustrations that are part of everyone's life. They have, I hope, taught me patience, tolerance and most importantly to laugh at my own foibles.