BULLET POINTS

It is way too hot out here in the fly-over zone to even think so today we just get bullet points to keep the mind turning over.

---Jamie Dimon, the CEO of J.P Morgan yesterday told Ben Bernanke what everybody knows but nobody would say: Has anyone given a thought as to the effect that all of these new regs might have in freezing up the financial system? Amazingly, Ben said "not really," claiming that it was a very hard thing to do but what happened two years ago simply could not be repeated, hence, new regs. A greater example of the lame leading the halt has never been seen. Jaime might have thought about what he was going to get when he dropped a couple of mil of his own money on The Leader in '08. Sorry Jaime. Deal with it.

---Germany jumped on the French bandwagon yesterday in regard to Greece. The effort to give the banks time is now in full voice. Of course no one is asking what in the hell the banks were doing for the last three years, but then again, Jaime can't be in two places at once or can he? He might think so.

---Big vote in the Senate today on the famous Durbin addition to the Dodd/Frank law. The vote was to delay the admendment which would slash fees consumers pay each time their debit card is "swiped" and was fought tooth and nail by the banking industry. The vote to delay failed and the consumers win. Personally, I think anybody stupid enough to use a debit card should be charged !0 bucks a swipe, but the banks take it in the neck again. This is not going to hurt Jaime and his buddies so much but the home town guys that are issuers of cards are going to get murdered. Way to go Sen. Durbin. Why don't you walk into Rock Island National this afternood and see what kind of a reception you get.

---And speaking of Senators...It seems Carl Levin crawled under a rock a few days ago and hasn't been seen since. Remember his hearings regarding Goldman Sachs noted for his liberal use of the four letter substitute for fertilizer? Remember Carl accusing Goldman of the "massive short" that almost ended the world? Well, it seems as though Carl's boys couldn't read and if they could they didn't understand what it was they were reading. Got all the numbers wrong in their final report and managed to convince everybody that not only didn't Goldie have a "massive short," but that Goldie may well have lost money on the trades. Stay under the rock, Senator. The world will be better off, but apologize first.

---And speaking of "massive shorts," THE Ohio State University football program is a massive short if I ever saw one. The joy around the mid-west is palpable and in that state "up north" as Woody used to say it's party time. Who cares if we're in the tank as a nation? Go Blue! We need rain to break the heat. It's driving people nuts.