This week I begin this report with a rant about banks. Lately, I have been astounded by all the little ways my Canadian bank has been sticking it to me. They’ve added lots of little hidden fees, they take two points off the posted exchange rate for the privilege of transferring money from my U.S. account to my Canadian account; more if I use a Canadian credit card to pay for something in the U.S., and as well, their holds on funds seem unreasonably long. Turnover at my bank is constant, and every time I try to establish a relationship with my “relationship manager” or whatever they call the representative at my branch assigned to assist me with my accounts, he or she leaves the bank and I am faced with the prospect of proving myself to another young face. License and identification please … and after fifteen years with the same bank, one hopes that one does not need to explain that one has been and continues to be a loyal customer. But on top of all of these petty inconveniences, we have just been faced with what appears to be a gross miscarriage of justice, and it is keeping me awake at night. Without going into great detail, an important document was ignored by a bank, authorizing someone in our family to act on another’s behalf. Because the document was executed by a failing member of our family, we don’t want to and should not need to have to get her sign the document again. For some reason, the bank is stonewalling us and I am getting the uncomfortable feeling they’ve crossed the line. You cannot believe how impossible they have been, and they are overtly denying the directions of someone who cannot at present speak for herself. My suspicion is that it is in the bank’s best interest to delay the execution of the document, and they are intentionally using their bureaucracy to keep it from happening. With all the other challenges facing us right now, we don’t have time or the energy to fight with a possibly corrupt bank manager in order to enforce the wishes of a failing member of our family. If we don’t fight this then another peripheral member of the family is free to manipulate the estate to his advantage. We have reason to believe he already has done so and we want to stop it. We are now faced with the complicated dilemma of trying to decide which is worse. The dying wishes of a family member are not being honored, but do we put her under undo stress to re-execute a document, or do we let another family member take advantage of her compromised position. I used to think that nonsense like this only happened in the movies, but it has become painfully clear now that it happens in real life as well. The more people I talk to, the more stories I hear about greedy family members scrambling for their cut of an estate. We don’t want this woman’s money - she can give it all to the SPCA for all we care - we just hate to see people get away with doing things which are so clearly wrong. For every Bernie Madoff who is caught, there seem to be two that don’t.
In the news last week it was reported that they had succeeded in plugging up that damaged BP oil well; there was even video showing that the gushing had stopped. Apparently the fix did not take, and now it may be August before the gushing oil can be diverted to another line. Things are heating up in the Middle East as Israel is condemned for raiding a ship carrying food and supplies ( and guns?) to Gaza. Obviously, both sides are trying to spin this one, but there is a lot of video footage of the incident and perhaps that will help sort out the truth. Gary “Different Strokes” Coleman croaked last week at the age of 42 and Dennis Hopper bit the bazooka as well. He was 74. I first saw Hopper play the drug-addled hippie biker in “Easy Rider” and that character really annoyed me, but I did like his over-the-top performance in David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet”. Lee DeWyze is new American Idol, and though I didn’t follow the competition as I have in past years, I did watch the season finale. I was impressed by the list of guest stars who performed. Perhaps because it marked the send off Simon Cowell who is leaving the show for good, they brought in some big guns (Joe Cocker, Bee Gees, Michael MacDonald, Alanis Morissette, Hall and Oates, Janet Jackson, and others) to perform with the idols. I still think Ryan Seabreeze is a hosehead, but that’s television. The Flyers play the Black Hawks for the Stanley Cup. At least it’s not one of those Western expansion teams again. I’ve hated Philly “Broad Street Bullies” ever since they defeated the Sabres for the Cup back in the 70’s, so I’m rooting for the Hawks. They’re up two games and favored to win. Tropical Storm Agnes walloped Central America, it snowed in Edmonton, there were floods in Winnipeg, forest fires are raging in Quebec, and it’s hot as hell here in parched Central Ontario. As hurricane season approaches, I wonder where all that oil in the Gulf will blow.
Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c2010 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No comments:
Post a Comment