The CTA nightmare

I have mentioned quite a few times my disdain for the Chicago Transit Authority. Today sealed the deal.

After a quick walk down Wabash Avenue to Macy's( I was trying on a new suit), I found myself at the height of rush hour needing a train back home. Now as any Chicagoan will tell you, trying to board a train during rush hour can be a stressful experience.

In the Randolph station of the Red Line, I stood for almost thirty minutes waiting for a train I could board. Each train shooting down the tube was filled to the brim with people. Then came one that was somewhat empty. I saw an opening, and new this was the train for me. The doors open and at the opening of the door comes a handicapped woman trying to get off of the train. The problem with that is there is a gap between the train and the platform. The train was delayed for almost another ten minutes while the woman waited for a CTA official to show up with a ramp that sits between train and platform, so the woman can get off. Then the doors closed before anyone could board and the train left. The next train came and was packed.

This was enough for me. At this point I was forty minutes behind schedule and wanted desperately to get home to work on my paper that is due this week. I finally left the Red Line, walked up the steps and headed for the Brown Line where I found an easier time boarding a train. I walked into the apartment at 6:05.

When is the CTA going to get its act together. Security on the train sucks, the workers are either talking to the cops assigned to watch the stations, or they are on their cellphones. Isn't there a rule that you cannot use your cell phone while you are working? I cannot sit at work all day and talk on my cell phone.

I wish in my deep hidden wishes that I keep in my heart that I could be the CEO of the CTA for one week. I would deplete the existing workforce and give the jobs to people who want to work sans cell phones.

** Addition- Someone got stabbed hours earlier a stop away. Security and/or the Chicago PD was probably standing around doing nothing.

Ryan

Rainy Sunday In Chicago

Today is rainy, and with the rain comes the inevitable leak that sprouts from our ceiling. The wife and I rent, so it is really that landlords issue, but just the inconvenience of moving the couch, and the lamp, and my Guitar Hero drum set, is enough for me to be "put out". The weekend has been lazy, with a stack of work that I need to get done for school. I will get to it, just needed to blog my headache away. If anyone wants to read a good article, check out today's Chicago Tribune.

The article is about 27 year old Jon Favreau, the president's chief speech writer. At 27, he is working in the White House, and through the power of written word, changing the world. It amazes me the dynamism of the presidential team. I saw Jon on the evening of the election. We were standing in the press pit, looking up at the stage, and for that moment, when Jon stepped in front of me, he looked like any guy walking down the street, or working in my building, or standing in the hall at DePaul. The thing to remember is that each day, when you feel the walls of the cubicle closing in, or the monotony of life on your shoulder, remember that there are people like you changing the world.

It can be done.

Jon Favreau

Saturday- The Deluge Begins

A big rainstorm is blowing through and my meteorological guru Tom Skilling is predicting a wicked weekend of weather. For anyone who does not know Tom Skilling, I am including a Wikipedia entry on him below. I have been watching him since I was a child, always telling you the technical aspects of the weather, leaving out the charming fluff that seems to follow TV weatherman. I wonder of he has ever been approached by the Weather Channel. Nationally he would be a superstar. For his part he is a superstar here in Chicago, and I am glad we have him.


Tom Skilling Wikipedia Entry

Tom Skilling's Blog

Friday

My pal PezCore decided to do a little video mashup this week. Let me know what you think




AMAZING!!

Danger Danger

This is not very encouraging. (Courtesy of Bloomberg)

March 3 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair said the deposit insurance fund could dry up if the agency doesn’t impose additional fees on the industry amid a surge in bank failures.

“Without these assessments, the deposit insurance fund could become insolvent this year,” Bair wrote in a March 2 letter to the industry.

“A large number” of bank failures may occur through 2010 because of “rapidly deteriorating economic conditions,” Bair said in the letter. “Without substantial amounts of additional assessment revenue in the near future, current projections indicate that the fund balance will approach zero or even become negative.”

The FDIC last week approved a one-time “emergency” fee and other assessment increases on the industry to rebuild a fund to repay customers for deposits of as much as $250,000 when a bank fails. The fees, opposed by the industry, may generate $27 billion this year after the fund fell to $18.9 billion in the fourth quarter from $34.6 billion in the previous period, the FDIC said. The fund was drained by 25 bank failures last year.

U.S. community banks plan to flood the FDIC with about 5,000 letters in protest. They are outraged over the one-time fee, which could wipe out 50 percent to 100 percent of a bank’s 2009 earnings, Camden Fine, president of the Independent Community Bankers of America, said today in a telephone interview.

“I’ve never seen emotions like this,” said Fine, adding that he’s received more than 1,000 e-mails and telephone messages from angry bankers.

‘Significant Expense’

“The FDIC realizes that these assessments are a significant expense, particularly during a financial crisis and recession when bank earnings are under pressure,” Bair wrote. “We did not want to impose large assessments when the industry and economy are struggling. We searched for alternatives but found none better.”

The agency, which has released the change for 30 days of public comment, could modify the assessment to shift the burden to the large banks “that caused this train wreck,” Fine said. “Community bankers are feeling like they are paying for the incompetence and greed of Wall Street,” he said.

Bair dismissed that suggestion.

“For risk-based assessments, our statute restricts us from discriminating against an institution because of size,’’ Bair wrote.

Bair rejected arguments that the agency should use government aid to rebuild the fund. The FDIC has authority to tap a $30 billion line of credit at the Treasury Department.

“Banks, not taxpayers, are expected to fund the system,” Bair said. Asking for taxpayer support “could paint all banks with the ‘bailout’ brush.”

The FDIC “will revise the interim rule, if appropriate, in light of the comments received,” the agency said in a Federal Register notice posted today.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alison Vekshin in Washington at avekshin@bloomberg.net.

SCARY

RYAN

The Book I am Reading.

I am now reading "Basic Economics" by Thomas Sowell. It is amazing. I am including a review from the awesome Amazon.com below.

This completely revised and updated third edition of Thomas Sowell's instrumental work includes a new chapter on government finance. Basic Economics is a citizen's guide to economics--for those who want to understand how the economy works but have no interest in jargon or equations. Sowell reveals the general principles behind any kind of economy--capitalist, socialist, feudal, and so on. In readable language, he shows how to critique economic policies in terms of the incentives they create, rather than the goals they proclaim. With clear explanations of the entire field, from rent control and the rise and fall of businesses to the international balance of payments, this is the first book for anyone who wishes to understand how the economy functions.


Guess what song is playing on my 90's Greatest Hits. Hint Hint..The band's name before their current name was the Shrinky Dinks.

I Just Discovered....

I just discovered the radio list on my Itunes. I have spent the better part of an evening listening to 90's greatest hits. I bet you cannot guess what song is playing right now.

Hint Hint...It is from the Pretty Woman Soundtrack and I believe with my eternal nerdiness that JC Chasez sang this song in the Mickey Mouse Club Version.

I am nerdy.