The world is moving in a direction that everything needs to bebigger and better. Things need to be quantifiable to possessvalue.

Take for instance a recent entry in First Entertainment Credit Union CEOCharles Bruen's blog entitled "Too small to exist." In it headdresses a credit union theNCUA recently closed that had just 213 members and $175,000 inassets. Bruen suggested shuttering all credit unions with less than$1 million in assets.

I'm not sure how a credit union that size remains in business inthe 21st Century, but it served its members over the last 50 years.Personally I can't see how a credit union that small could providemuch useful to me or the people I know. Then again, I live in arelatively affluent area of the DC suburbs. Not Harlem.

Yes, the credit union will cost the NCUSIF (though not nearly asmuch as some large credit unions will in the not-too-distantfuture) and yes, it had 40% delinquencies. Convent FCU hadmanagement issues, no doubt. How many financial services choices doHarlem residents have? These are exactly the areas credit unionsshould be serving-maybe not exclusively because it would beextremely difficult to make the numbers work. I wonder how manyother financial institutions served the members of Convent AvenueBaptist Church-not just existed in the area but servedthem. If a better alternative existed that would be great.

While management and oversight could have been stronger at thiscredit union, eliminating all credit unions under $1 million (andthen move up, Bruen wrote) would destroy the only financial hopesome people have beyond payday lenders and pawn shops. Plenty ofvery large credit unions are in horrible shape right now anyway soobviously the determining factor of a credit union worthy ofexisting is not necessarily asset size. If a small credit unionfulfills a need and can do it in a safe and sound manner, morepower to them. Large credit unions could be providing someback-office assistance, which would 1) be in line with thecooperative philosophy; 2) be politically wise; and 3) help somepeople of modest means along the way.

In the publishing world, we watch things like web site pageviews and unique visitors and time on site. One columnist at amainstream paper was fired, in part, because his page viewsdeclined. Never mind the knowledge of the person or the talent; ifyou put George Clooney or Brittany Spears in the headline, you'regolden but what's the value in that? What's next? Will parents'love be measured by the number of times they text their child?