Ironic, Isn't It?

The greatest irony of Mike Welch’s column on ironies, “It’s Ironic How Many Examples of Irony Crop Up”, is a little something I call the Socratic irony – the missing side of the bankers’ equation on unfair competition from credit unions because of the tax-exemption. Socrates would have said: “You must excuse my provincial ignorance. But, if we have all the advantages living out here in the country, why do you choose to live in the city? Is it not, perhaps, that you are used to more?” The “more” of course is profits for handsomely paid boards of directors and stock-optioned executives doing business out of grand edifices and on glossy paper, wearing silk stockings and imported Italian suits, lunching at the Savoy, and vacationing in the Mediterranean (not once, but twice a year). It’s very hard, but extremely satisfying work, making profits. And as advantageous as the tax-exemption is, who in their right mind would want to become not-for-profit to earn that advantage and give up “more”. “Not I,” say the Bankers. (Sotto Voce: “Me neither,” say Lake Michigan CU and Community CU executives). The real irony is that Socrates was poisoned for being so damned ironic. Mike Dillon Marketing Director South Division Credit Union Evergreen Park, Ill.