Federal Reserve keeps interest rates in check, downplays inflation threat

After reading Don Lee's article in the L.A. Times, I am not comfortable where this is all headed. The Fed Res has really not done well with their approach to monetary policy. I see inflation in the future. If this is a “jump start” it is really slow. People who use to spend no matter what don’t. Just ask the ones that just got laid-off. Or the poor restaurant owner. I talked with a lady that owns two small restaurants in suburban Chicago. The amount she has had to invest from her savings to keep them “afloat” is staggering. Thankfully there were the savings. The greed has not been dealt with. The pain by those who caused this economic morass has not been felt by them. The recovery is very slow in spite of the heightened spending. Where do we turn the corner and start returning what has been spent?. Certainly not the $69 billion returned by 10 greedy banks.

10 banks want to pay back the loan

Why did 10 banks want to pay back the loan? I think that it is because they did not want government intrusion especially in the area of compensation. We got into this mess because a number of financial institutions did NOT have adequate financial governance. Have they learned their lesson? I think not. There has not been enough time of governance and pain. Left to their own devices the 10 banks will make a lot of the same mistakes of greed. I do not think we are yet headed in the proper direction with our financial institutions. Is the government the proper ones? NO! It takes strong and committed private control.

Finding the Lola T70 MK3B and its first race

The Beginning

My partner Jack Douglass--a Hinsdale, Illinois Chevrolet dealer--and I decided in 1968 we needed an upgrade from the McKee MK VI we had been campaigning. I found a Lola T70 MK3B in California that was owned by Carol Shelby’s company. It had been driven the previous year by Peter Revson for Dana Chevrolet. Peter was later killed in an F1 accident while testing in Africa. I flew to California and went with some people from Shelby to Willow Springs for testing. Wow! It was the fastest car I had ever driven even though it was powered by a small block Chevrolet. I discussed it by phone with Jack. We agreed to buy it. We paid $10,000 for the car, packaged and delivered to the airport, extra engine, wheels and lots of spare parts.

The car was flown to Chicago where it was readied for its first race, the 1968 500-miler at Elkhart Lake. I had renewed my friendship with Jerry Entin while in California. He agreed to co-drive with me. The car was ready--painted as it arrived in primer, engine rebuilt by Traco, etc. Jerry arrived in Chicago. As a low budget operation, he stayed at my house. We arrived at Elkhart Lake and I qualified. Not sure where. I started and early in the race braked hard coming into Canada Corner. The car did a 180 and backed into the foliage next to the track. No real damage but the end of the race for Team Douglass. It turned out that one of the many team volunteers had not tightened both master cylinder caps. The rear drained and thus the braking problem. SORRY JERRY!