It's a whole new ballgame

That's what one Senator has commented. It's a whole new ballgame. Citi Group has announced that they now "Get It." Meaning that they are actually going to use that money that you and I, thru our good friends in DC, gave them to do what our good friends meant for the money to be used for. You know, making loans and stuff. They vow not to use that money to pay for other things, like naming a ball park after themselves.

Oops, except that is still what they are going to do. But not with our money, they are going to do it with their money.

Riddle me this... you have this big pot of money, this side came from DC, the other money came from other investments.... now when you go to give bonus checks, pay for parties, or name a stadium, doesn't that money still come from the same big pot of money?

It's hard to justify your corporate name on a ball park, tennis match, party, or gasp, a bike race if you are laying your employees off. Look at all the big name bike races that are getting cancelled right and left.

Strangely enough, there was an article out yesterday that the grass roots cycling is doing just fine, thank you. Our little races, and racers are marching on.

Pay outs might suffer, goodie bags might go unfilled and some teams that have always done race reimbursement may not get to do it this year. The local race scene itself should do just fine. I still believe that while some people might holler about payouts, they really aren't racing for money anyway. Heck, most of my payouts wouldn't pay for the gas to get to the race, and few actually pay for the race entry itself.

It's going to be a very interesting year...