Them on Us: Banker blowout
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
By Jake Nichols
Jackson Hole, Wyoming - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke didn’t have much to say last Friday when he made his annual speech at the policy symposium in Jackson Hole, organized by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
He acknowledged the nation’s climb out of recession is going more slowly than anticipated and the Feds may take bolder steps to snap us out of it.
We scanned the coverage around the world and The New York Times managed to get in the best of the obligatory cowboy references.
“As economists (some wearing jeans and cowboy boots) conferred on a terrace with a sweeping view of the 13,770-foot peak of Mount Teton, or watched a horse trainer tame an unruly colt at a nearby ranch, they anxiously discussed research like Ms. Reinhart’s,” the Times wrote.
iMarketNews.com’s coverage included mention of the “horse whisperer” as well. It featured a mess of KC Fed President Thomas Hoenig’s sweet analogies.
“There is a lot of commonality between a horse whisperer and a good central banker,” Hoenig reportedly said with cowboy hat in place. He went on to explain how a banker might want to gentle the bucking bronc that is today’s market.
By the way, the trainer was Grant Golliher, who entertained the bankers at his Diamond Cross Ranch in the Buffalo Valley.
Catching big airThe Baltimore Sun ran a nice write-up for Reisterstown, Md. teenager Nate Foster. The 17-year-old just completed a cross-country flight in his Piper Super Cub, finishing the trek in Monterey, Calif., after six days of flying.
Aside from having the world’s slowest plane – most people drive that distance in less time – Foster may want to get his altimeter checked. Reporter Childs Walker said Foster reached heights of 12,000 feet – the highest he’s ever flown – when he crossed over the Grand Tetons.
Hmm, if 12,000 feet above sea level is all he gained, Search & Rescue would be picking Piper parts off the Owen Chimney.
“To see those snow-capped peaks literally passing by my window was surreal,” Foster told the Sun.
Meanwhile, local blog TheSnaz.com was the only place we caught news of Chip Hildebrand’s amazing flight. The Wilson local broke the Wyoming State Record for distance flight in a paraglider on August 3.
Hildebrand took off from Rendezvous Mountain and didn’t set down until six hours and 19 minutes later in Thermopolis, total of 137.2 miles.
Simpson steps in itWyoming’s own Alan Simpson has become something of an online celebrity after his recent comments regarding Social Security.
Simpson called Social Security nothing more than “a milk cow with 310 million tits.” Many Wyomingites simply regard this as Al being Al, but the backlash was vicious at times.
T
he Huffington Post reported several Democratic senators called on Simpson to step down from his post as the committee co-chair of President Obama’s deficit commission. Simpson apologized days later.
“Over the last 40 years, I have had my size 15 feet in my mouth a time or two,” Simpson said. “To quote my old friend and colleague, Senator Lloyd Bentsen, when I make a mistake, ‘It’s a doozy!’”
The Sheridan Press ran an online poll asking: Should former Wyoming Sen. Al Simpson step down? With 309 votes in as of press time, 59 percent of the respondents said “no,” 30 percent said “yes,” and the rest were undecided or didn’t care.
Trout catch a dam breakA big knuckle-bump is in order for Trout Unlimited. Native cutthroat have had a helluva time swimming into Grand Teton National Park from Spread Creek thanks to a damn dam there.
National Parks Traveler has just announced an agreement reached between TU and the National Park Service that will remove the diversion dam and open a 50-mile stretch of Spread Creek to the Snake River for the migration of fine-spotted cutthroat trout.
“This is an historic step toward correcting a long-term disruption to fish migration and an important action for restoring Spread Creek’s hydrology,” said Grand Teton Superintendent Mary Gibson Scott. “We appreciate and applaud the work of Trout Unlimited and their funding partners in making this milestone project possible.” JHW
photo: Chip Hildebrand by COURTESY TheSNAZ.COMPERMALINK:
Them on Us: Banker blowout | Planet JH News Article: General News
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