On Oct. 30, I watched the Jon Stewart Rally to Restore Sanity. One thing he said made me think of NCUA and our trade groups regarding the situation credit unions are in. Stewart said, "If we amplify everything, we hear nothing."

Now I know he was talking about politics but if you think about it, this can be applied to the NCUA and their response to the corporate credit union meltdown. We had five corporate credit unions who the NCUA allowed to go outside of Reg. 704 and load up on private mortgage investments. As we all know it was "credit risk" that caused the problem with these investments and the subsequent losses. Then, NCUA re-writes 704 and amps it up on everything! All five corporates had boards made up of CEOs, so the rule is changed to make sure no volunteers serve on the boards (only C suite individuals), make sense? Did a CUSO cause the problem? No but what the heck, let's throw them into the mix. You know this is the case now at the natural persons credit unions if you have already gone through your examination this year, because the amplification has rolled over to us, amp it up. It's like the NCUA is a 24-hour cable news network!

The trade groups are not helping; they also are adding more noise. It seems like they are making the issues more confusing. CUNA and NAFCU both have "Tell us about your examination" sites. Why? What is the purpose of these competing sites? I think most of us have experienced the up and downs of the examination process over the years, what's next "Best Practices for Your Exam?" Add to that, a never-ending stream of advice from CUNA, NAFCU and the leagues on what to do about the five conserved corporate credit unions.