by Paul Beebe, SL Trib

After betting heavily on real estate lending, about a third of Utah’s smaller community banks are teetering between collapse and survival after the worst land-value crash in memory.

Nine banks are struggling to collect on development and construction loans representing 36 percent of their combined portfolios. Many loans are overdue to the point of default and are in danger of being written off as total losses.

If the past year is a guide, some of these banks may fail. Since January 2008, federal regulators have seized three banks and one credit union, including Barnes Bank just 10 days ago. All had gambled on speculative real estate construction and land loans.

The seizure of even one more bank could further deprive cash-hungry businesses of money, potentially amplifying the credit crunch and retarding Utah’s economic recovery. Community banks focus much of their lending on small businesses, which generate most jobs. Already the nine troubled banks have cut their loan volumes by an average of 16 percent, according to figures from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The banks operate in the formerly sizzling real estate markets along the Wasatch Front and in St. George. Until real estate began to slide in 2007, they were profitable; the loans produced rivers of cash. At times, construction and development loans constituted more than 70 percent of some portfolios.

They “were caught up in the land-rush mentality,” said Brighton.

Read the rest at the Salt Lake Tribune here.

This is from a once-great political action group of volunteers in the Salt Lake City area who promoted freedom in the state and local governments through direct action protests, press corps confrontation, and more.  The entire group was self-funded, self-actualizing, and completely grassroots.  I miss Accountability Utah and wish they were still around today.  On the other hand, I guess they’re still around in the national Tea Party and Revolution movements.
–D.W.

Original source is at this link.

Take Our “Who is the Bigger Dummy?” Challenge!

Summary: Contestant A is General Mark Shurtleff, lobbyist for SB 175, the confiscation bill that destroyed Citizens Initiative B and your property rights. Contestant B is Senator Chris Buttars, sponsor of SB 175, who has just publicly acknowledged that General Shurtleff has no clue regarding the U.S. Constitution. See if you can identify the bigger dummy.

Topics:

1. Sen. Buttars Denounces General Shurtleff

2. But Wait… Buttars Ran Shurtleff’s Confiscation Bill!

3. Recent Case of Federal Confiscation Abuse in Salt Lake

4. Take the Dummy Challenge!

1. Sen. Buttars Denounces General Shurtleff

Sen. Chris Buttars recently denounced Gen. Mark Shurtleff’s abilities to comprehend the U.S. Constitution. In an interview with Ozwald Balfour on KTKK AM 630, Sen. Buttars stated:

“I think that anything this prominent [the upcoming marriage amendment] will be challenged legally and it will be my suggestion that we have independent outside counsel who is really into constitutional law. Mark Shurtleff isn’t.”

There are many years of evidence that General Shurtleff is an enemy of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Shurtleff has recently gotten Buttars dander up by vaguely opposing parts (apparently not all) of Constitutional Amendment 3.
Note: For more information on General Shurtleff’s horrible track record, see just about every issue on our Issues & Alerts page, or look his name up on our Search page.

Back to Topics

2. But Wait… Buttars Ran Shurtleff’s Confiscation Bill!

Hold the show, however. Last session, Sen. Buttars was the water boy for General Shurtleff’s confiscation bill, SB 175, that gutted Citizen’s Initiative B and destroyed private property rights. See a detailed analysis of this horrific, unconstitutional attack on your rights and also see how your legislators voted in our2004 Legislative Performance Report.

Buttars was clearly the water boy for Shurtleff, and admitted to Accountability Utah volunteers that he was running the bill for Lyle Hillyard, who abandoned the bill after citizens politically thrashed him. Lyle Hillyard ran the bill for Sen. John Valentine, who likewise abandoned the bill after citizens pressured him in a town meeting held in his district. Throughout this shameful display of musical sponsors, Shurtleff was there guiding the bill and the entire process, finding one sucker after another to run his bill.

Back to Topics

3. Recent Case of Federal Confiscation Abuse in Salt Lake

To all those who doubt the insidious nature of federal forfeiture statutes, strike up a conversation with Salt Lake business owner Matthew Ryan Smith. Smith, a glassblower and artist, was on his way to an antique show in Seattle to attend art festivals and obtain gems, minerals, glass supplies, and art. He was carrying $26,000 for that purpose.

Smith’s money was confiscated by federal thugs at the Salt Lake airport, his car was searched without his permission, and he was detained and harassed for several hours. According to court documents, a DEA agent told an incensed Smith over the phone:

”If you’re going to play hard with me, I’m going to come and seize your money… It’ll take your lawyer at least a year to get it back.”

Smith got his money back, but apparently after spending $20,000 in legal fees. (Bonus question: How many other folks do you know who could afford the time, anguish, and money to risk a court fight like this?)

Smith was never charged with a crime, never had a jury trial, and had to fight the very abuses outlined in our aforementioned analysis of SB 175 and federal forfeiture statutes.
Source: “Traveler sues over seizure of cash in airport search,” Associated Press, Salt Lake Tribune, Sep. 7, 2004.

Back to Topics

4. Take the Dummy Challenge!

So, who is the bigger dummy? The drafter and lobbyist of an unconstitutional attack on your property rights, General Shurtleff, or the sponsor of that attack, Sen. Chris Buttars, who only now seems to realize that General Shurtleff is constitutionally challenged?

(Originally published as a comment to a Facebook thread)

Personally, I could care less who’s running the GOP or the DNC. As far as I’m concerned, the GOP has basically ruined itself and has lost nearly all credibility nationally.

That’s fine with me. That’s one down, one to go.

Political parties are tools. They don’t exist to promote ideals, push for certain issues, or anything other than to promote candidates. Candidates (that win) know this and use their parties as tools for election. Only morons (aka the “grassroots”) believe that their party exists to do anything but be a runway for candidates into office.

Parties create political planks to attract the sheep in the grassroots. Candidates realize that those political planks, once an election is over, are just marketing tools and nothing more.

This is why neo-cons get elected as Republicans. This is why Marxists get elected as Democrats.

Once a political party gets beyond the size of a grassroots organization, it becomes nothing more than a tool, a conduit for elections. The UTGOP is no different. It’s just a conduit for power in Utah. Candidates know that 9/10 times, if you want to get elected in Utah, you need that (R) after your name. That’s it.

This is why big-government sheisters who’re more than happy to rob Peter to pay Paul, to propose hundreds of unconstitutional legislation during their careers, and who’re ecstatic about creating larger bureaucracies and more taxation can get elected in Utah as “Republicans.” Just look at your lovely governor, Orrin Hatch, Mark Shurtleff, and pretty much everyone else in elected office.

The sooner there’s a mass exodus of supporters from the GOP in UT, the better.

Why can’t you people see that the UTGOP is worthless? A total waste of time? Beyond saving? Dump it!

“But then the Democrats will win!”

Stupid argument. That’s the downright dumbest reason I can imagine for staying with a failed, worthless, corrupt, broken, political party. Eventually, you “GOP is God” types will realize that the people who’re getting elected through your party are no different than the Dems anyway. They just use different rhetoric.

Just my thoughts. I lived in Utah long enough to realize that there aren’t any good political parties there. If you must have a political party to give meaning to your life, choose one of the smaller ones. Go LPUT or CPUT or even PCPUT and focus on localized, grassroots campaigns. All of these organizations, at the national level, are no better than the GOP/DNC, though, so don’t fall for that either.

–Aaron Turpen (MilitantLibertarian.org)