Always turn to your friends

Mitch and his buddies seem like decent sorts. When a friend is having a hard time, you can go to him and he helps you out. He get even gets 40 or so other friends to help him help you.  I know Mitch. I've know him and his family for 40 years.  They are the type who have a million friends who know them but they don't know anybody.  He is a remarkable guy who, as I think Lincoln should have said, "a humble person with much to be humble about".

I have a friend out here who has owned kind of a family business for I think almost 60 years having inherited it from his father ages ago.  Like all things on Eastern Long Island, it is a long hard winter until the crowds re-emerge from the city and bring new money in. He arranged for a line of credit I think in 1980 with a local bank. Not much. $25,000 or so in the event that he had to draw on it during the lean months or something broke down.  Well the bank was bought up by a big bank and then eventually by an even bigger bank. All his lifelong business friends were of course let go.  Just so you know, my friend owns outright his own not insubstantial home on Long Island plus has close to 7 figures of his own in the bank if he has a dime, plus owes NO ONE on this earth a red cent.  Of course big bank pulled the line of credit because "he didn't use it the last couple years".

This is a cautionary tale because it is 530 on Saturday morning and I am mad as hops about it. To be straight, the bank is in the "too big to fail" class. It gets its money for free from our federal reserve. IT DOESN'T VOTE. It donates.

Now go back to bed and dream nice things. GRRRRRRRRRRRRR. I'll sit and fume a bit.