Category: Observations

On October 15, Callahans offered a free webinar that analyzed the macro trends of all credit unions with less than $500 million in total assets.

The link to the recording and the slides can be found here.  The significance of this macro-micro analysis is two-fold.

As shown below, this segment makes up over 84% of active charters.   Secondly, as you listen to the analysis and comparisons with all credit union trends, the differences are not as dramatic as one might assume. On a number of indicators, this segment outperforms all credit unions since 2019 (eg. delinquency and charge offs).

The all-industry five-year trends reflect the performance of credit unions over $500 millions as these account for 85% of industry assets. However the differences are small (eg. ROA).   In some cases the differences have nothing to do with scale, but rather business strategy.  An example in the webinar was the higher apparent member increase in larger cu’s; however, the analyst attributed this to third party loan originations, not organic growth.

Listen to the presentation. If one were to view these 84% of charters as the movement’s seed corn,  the opportunities for the future would seem promising.  Especially in the 4,000 or more groups and communities they serve.  What will be critical is that existing institutions and approaches support the feeding and tending of these institutions.  And not their acquisition by performance-challenged larger institutions.

This is the webinar’s initial data slide showing the segments by percentage of institutions  and asset size as of June 2024.

(Note:  See current article in CU Today, Small Credit Unions Beating Big Credit Unions in Key Performance Area for latest confirmation of the webinar’s thesis)

The top 100 US-based Coops by 2023 Annual Revenue

From the Report’s Introduction:  Since 1991, the National Cooperative Bank (NCB) has published its annual NCB Co-op 100®, highlighting America’s top 100 cooperatives. In 2023, these member-owned, member-controlled businesses generated revenues of $325 billion, a slight increase from 2022. Many of these cooperatives that appear on the list are household names and are known throughout the world.

The full listing begins on page 10.   Credit unions hold 4 of the top 50 positions as follows:  Navy FCU  # 9; State Employees NC  # 28; PenFed # 33; and BECU # 44.

Nine credit unions are in the second 50. I will let you look them up here.

I found interesting that while credit unions account for 13 of the 18 institutions in the finance category, there are five other financial cooperative charters  serving specific sectors of the economy such as agriculture.

The NCB Report provides an overview of the role of major coops, many familiar to consumers: REI, Ocean Spray, Land ‘O Lakes and ACE Hardware.   This summary is a quick and useful introduction to  areas of the US economy which have coop options.

A Brief History of Women and Credit in the US

Fifty years ago, it was legal to deny credit to a woman without a male co-signer.

Read how this situation was changed by Congressional legislation.  Since women such as Louise Herring played a vital role in the creation of the cooperative alternative, one might assume that  “free market” innovation or competition can be relied upon to rectify prior shortcomings.  That is not always the case. Until finally corrected by rule, generations can be denied lifetimes of equal opportunity.

Sometimes the market is only “free” for those who already occupy positions of power and advantage.

What is your “Plan B” If Your Presidential Preference Finishes Second?

This question was asked at a recent conference in which the current campaign was a primary topic. The one answer I heard was by a person who would invest his time and effort into local organizations and issues.   He believed this provided a better opportunity for compromise and creating shared solutions versus the ideological divides at the national level.  He also believed that this is where democratic practice is learned and  becomes a foundation for change at higher levels of political leadership.

Supporting  this thesis is a movie just released on Netflix called Join or Die.  The film chronicles what it calls the “unraveling” of the country’s social fabric and seeks to answer the question: “What makes a democracy work and what can I do to help?”

David Brancaccio interviews the film’s co-producers in this brief article.   I  will be seeing the movie this Sunday at a local church. One of the film’s messages is on the importance of community connections. I will be looking to see if credit unions are one of those local organizations mentioned.

Enough reading for one weekend!  Get ready for Halloween.

Fall, the time for harvest from the land.  Future Farmers of America’s (FFA) greenhouse in Rensselaer Central High School, Indiana.

“Growers for Life.” Fall mums for sale,  $10 each at the local Saturday farm market.

Pumpkins, the uniquely American fruit. Anything that starts from a flower is botanically a fruit.

Corn, all colors.

Gourds, technically fruits, but realistically fall table decoration.

An enormous sunflower head-a seed bank.

To Autumn by John Keats (1795-1821)

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
  Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
  With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
  And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
    To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
  With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
    For summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

In my 62^nd Rensselaer high school reunion last week,  I saw again some of the benefits of living in a small, rural community.

The concept of duty to others. one’s community and the country is often experienced early in life.  While there are many organizational and institutional practices that present this concept, I believe personal example is often the most powerful teacher.

Duty to country in times of war is one of our most hallowed civic commitments.  Growing up, the draft made this a potential obligation for all.  Military service was widely recognized.  In the Jasper County historical record from 1900-1985 there is a brief description of the First Presbyterian Church. The article points out that the first post WW II minister called was a former Navy Chaplain.  One of his initial acts was to make a  list of the forty-three members who had served in WW II.

That seemed like a large number.  However the local library found the Jasper County Veteran’s office had a list of 1,295  men for WWII that had the DD214 (discharge from active duty) form on file. The Service Record Book of Men and Women of Rensselaer, Indiana and Community maintained by the local American Legion Auxiliary Dewey Biggs Unit, shows a total of 1,814 who were on active duty.

Jasper County’s last Survivor of the Civil War

I believe that personal example whether a family member, mentor or public individual has a great influence for how one considers duty to country especially in times of conflict.

An example of this service calling is the life of George Morgan, who died on April 16, 1945.  His obituary called him the Last Survivor of the Civil War.  According to records 935 men from Jasper County enlisted for the Union, from a population of 5,000.

And when comparing the proportions of men able to fight, Indiana contributed more soldiers than any other state to the Union.^[14]

Following are excerpts from Morgan’s obituary by Lefty Clark the editor of the local daily, the Rensselaer Republican and republished in Vintage Views.

George Morgan, who left Rensselaer that sunny August 11, 1862, as a lad of 14 and one half years to lend his bit toward the preservation of a nation torn by internal strife died at the home of his daughter at an early hour Sunday April 15. . .

One day little George, not yet possessed of the beard that distinguishes the man, made his way to a recruiting office  and by a little hedging and evasion of questions, and self-admitted fibbing managed to make the recruiting officer believe that he was ready and well able to assume the burdens of a soldier.  George Morgan at the skimpy age of 14  and one half years was now a man and a soldier at that.  He had a uniform to prove it to his parents when he returned from hi stealthy visit to the “recruiting man.” It is not chronicled that any gret storm of disapproval came from the parents. . . 

Time’s haze prevents a complete description of his military career, but the unit was not too long in Laporte.  It was sent into the Tennessee Campaign wafter some duty in Kentucky.  “Grandpa” was a participant in the Battle of Chickamauga where the Union toll was heavy but its ranks victorious.  Following that there came many minor skirmishes for Little George Morgan and his comrades nd weeks of guerilla warfare with the sniping breaking out sporadically. 

And so it went through the years of 862, 1863 and 1864 andinto the final months of the war.  The kid of fourteen and one half years not approaching 17 was keeping right up with the rest of the veteran trooper as the triumphant 87^th regiment joined Sherman’s March to the sea.  It was at a military center near Washington D.C. that Mr. Morgan received his discharge papers on June 10 following the cessation of hostilities. . .”Grandpa legged it for home via a box car assigned for the transportation of troops.  He finallyed arrived in Indianapolis after a laborious journey and from there rode the “covered cars” to Bradford after which he staged-coached to Rensselaer. 

The first thing he did after reaching Rensselaer he would say, “I struck right out for home across the fields, at a dog trot, and did not stop till I reached the house.”  He said he started shouting when within range of the house, but his booming call brought no answer.  The house was empty so he started for the field.  He discovered his mother picking strawberries.  “I got me a great big bowl of freshly picked berries, stopped at the milk house and got a pitcher of cream, helped myself out of one of the containers of the sugar bag and went to work.”

The county’s last Civil War Veteran now came to town to find himself a job of work.  In those formative industrial years, he was a blacksmith’s apprentice and then a full-fledged blacksmith.  However, his is bet known fas an artisan who worked at wood working, carriage making and carpentry.  And there was a long period that he was a millwright at what ws the Babcock Hopkins elevator in Rensselaer. . .

Mr. Morgan married Mary J. Morris of Rensselaer on July 27, 1870. . .

It is interesting to note that Mr. Morgan once saw the immortal Abraham Lincoln wen the troops were reviewed by President Lincoln near Washington D.C.  it is also interesting to note that Mr. Morgan died on the day that Franklin D. Roosevelt was being buried.    He participated in all presidential elections from 1872 on.  He cast his first such ballotin 1872 for Ulysses S. Grant, his commander during the Civil War.

Mr. Morgan was the sort of the personal property of every RensselaerIan.  He became known as “Grandpa.”  All loved him.  . . A kind man, a courageous man, s msn colored with the romantic days of the wilderness and with the present day.  He was idolized and cherished as the last representative of the treasured race of man-the Civil War soldiery. . .

One Person’s Life of Duty

So honored was “Grandpa” Morgan that the local newspaper would publish periodic updates on events in his life.  A July 1, 1890 a front page article reported that he had been granted a pension.   The story noted that he was the youngest of the three Morgan brothers to volunteer and concludes with this statement: “Although so young he was a thoroughly good soldier and never shirked his full sized share of the hardships and fighting.  He well deserves the pension he gets, and a good deal more.”

On February 14, 1945, the Rensselaer Republican’s  front page story was headlined, Time Marches On, So Does Grandpa.   It was Morgan’s 97th birthday.

Morgan’s life of duty: A person of 14 who volunteered for war, raised a family. worked in the community and voted in every presidential election from Grant to FDR.

In Rensselaer we saw and experienced first hand, daily, persons who lived responsively for their families, community and country.  It is these examples we all knew and helped shape who we would become—with our own personal sense of duty.

 

 

 

 

The first visit was on Friday December 17, 1937 at the National Guard Armory where he brought the professional basketball team, the Cleveland Olympians to play the Peerless Athletics from Lafayette.

The second was on April 16, 1959 to address the annual Hi-Y (high school YMCA) banquet in the Fellowship Hall at the Methodist Church.  My dad had invited Owens to speak.  I attended the event along with many of my high school sophomore classmates.

Owens’ Brief Biography

There are two extraordinary athletic achievements by Owens that are still celebrated today.

On May 25, 1935, he set three world records and tied a fourth in a span of 45 minutes during the Big Ten meet at Ferry Field in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

At the 1936 Olympic games he won four gold medals in three individual events and as a member of the 4 by 100 relay team.  This triumph has been memorialized in numerous films which celebrate a black American’s triumph in front of Hitler and his belief in the superiority of the Aryan race.

After the games, the entire Olympic team was invited to compete in Sweden. Owens decided to capitalize on his success by returning to the United States to take up some of the more lucrative endorsement offers. United States athletic officials were furious and withdrew his amateur status, which immediately ended his career.

Owens was angry and stated that “A fellow desires something for himself.” He argued that the racial discrimination he had faced throughout his athletic career, such as not being eligible for scholarships in college and therefore being unable to take classes between training and working to pay his way, meant he had to give up on amateur athletics in pursuit of financial gain elsewhere.

Owens struggled to find work and took on menial jobs as a gas station attendant, playground janitor, and manager of a dry cleaning firm and at times resorted to racing against motorbikes, cars, trucks and horses for a cash prize.

He was prohibited from making appearances at amateur sporting events to bolster his profile, and found  commercial offers had all but disappeared. In 1937, he briefly toured with a twelve-piece jazz band and made appearances at baseball games and other events.  Hence his trip to Rensselaer.

While in town he gave free autographs at the Rensselaer Republican’s news office.   During halftime at the basketball game he put on a running exhibition.  One youngster recalling the event years later said, “it was absolutely amazing, the speed Owens possessed.”

The Second Visit

Owens tried to make a living as a sports promoter, essentially an entertainer. “There was no television, no big advertising, no endorsements then. Not for a black man, anyway.”

Owens ran a dry cleaning business and worked as a gas station attendant to earn a living, but he eventually filed for bankruptcy. In 1966, he was successfully prosecuted for tax evasion.

At rock bottom, Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower enlisted Owens as a goodwill ambassador in 1955 and sent him to India, the Philippines, and Malaya to promote physical exercise.  He also promoted American freedom and economic opportunity in the developing world.

Rensselaer’s 1959 Hi-Y banquet celebrated the service club’s students’ role in the community.  There were two groups, the seniors with dates and the junior Hi-Y members with their dads.  The Rensselaer Republican’s account of Owens’ remarks is brief.

“Mr. Owens told many of his experiences then made a dramatic appeal to the young men of the Hi-Y organizations to assume positions of leadership in the community for which their Hi-Y work prepares them.” 

Two Appearances, 22 Years Apart-Did They Matter?

Owens’ first appearance was as an entertainer trying to make a living in a segregated world cut off from the traditional sources of support for other Olympic athletes.  A local family of three generations, the Bausmans, connects these two events.

Slim Bausman, the grandfather, was a successful high school coach who took his son “Dode” to see Owens run at a meet in Soldier Field in Chicago.  Dode was an exceptional athlete who set the Rensselaer high school record in the 100 yard dash at 10.2 seconds that still stands today.  And just one second slower than Owen’s world record of 9.2 seconds.

Dode and his son, Gordon, attended the 1959 banquet at which Owens spoke.  Not as an entertainer, but as a representative of core American values and leadership.  Rensselaer had no black families.  The idea of civil rights and school de-segregation had no immediate resonance for this rural farming community.   Rather he was there expressing the best of what America could be.

Did Owens’ visit in 1959 make a difference?  Two years ago after another reunion,  a classmate, Dale Garriott, sent an email asking if I recalled when Owens came to Rensselaer—and how my Dad had taken all of us to the dinner.  Did I remember anything about the event?

At last week’s reunion I found the Republican news article and an earlier description of Owens’ first visit in Vintage Views, the publication of the Jasper County Historical Society.   At our Saturday evening dinner I sat with Gordy Bausman who still lives in Rensselaer and confirmed his father’s track record—but admitted the time had been equaled by three later runners. He also recalled the Hi-Y banquet.

Examples of sports excellence and more broadly leadership success, can leave a lasting impression on upcoming generations, especially when the speaker comes from a big city, like Chicago, to a small town.  It’s a special deal.

Another name stands out from the news article.   He was a senior, who gave the invocation as the Chaplain for Hi-Y. and sung in the boys quartet that evening. Richard Scharf lettered in all three high school sports-football, basketball, and track.  He was admitted to West Point, retired as a US Army colonel, completing 27 years of commissioned service. He earned a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering and Economic Planning from Stanford University and was involved in architectural engineering and construction for 15 years.

In the an article on his later career, he announces his candidacy for a seat on the Dawson County Board of Commissioners, Georgia with this statement:

Scharf is also interested in the welfare of our next generation. “We need to ensure that we make provisions for the young people in the county,” he says, and asks, “How do we give them some options for the future?” 

A native of Indiana, Scharf says that he grew up in a small rural community, the son of a college coach and athletic director and, while he’s not a farmer, he “understands the rigors of those who provide for the rest of us.” 

As a board member, I will be an active and focused team player, able to add an experienced rational outlook on the infrastructure challenges we are facing and help the board remain focused on the community’s future. My goal is to do the right things to achieve long-term community viability.

An example of a leader’s ongoing contributions that Owens had spoken to, formed by his Rensselaer experiences.