Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf (left, in file photo), speaking to the Charlotte Chamber’s kickoff breakfast for its inter-city visit described the role of banks. “We don’t build buildings,” he said. ” … We listen to dreams.” (His point, to be fair, is that banks finance what others do.) But in the QC, of course, we believe that banks do build buildings, and lots of them. Indeed, the breakfast was taking place on the 40th floor of a building that a predecessor of Stumpf’s bank (First Union) built. (Technically, I suppose, Childress Klein built it.)
McColl is to speak today at a Chamber lunch, on “Vision for Center City.” I expect he’ll mention a few buildings that banks have built around here.
Stumpf again, talking about TARP: “It was not a bailout.” Hmmmm.
Interesting tidbit: Stumpf says he grew up on a farm in northern Minnesota, one of 11 children. UPDATE 11:03 a.m.: Our own Observer Minnesotan, cartoonist Kevin Siers, says “Uff da!” His Google research turns up a hometown of Pierz, in Morrison County, in central Minnesota. I told him to the rest of the U.S. anything north of the Twin Cities is Northern Minnesota.
Spotted on Realtor Allen Tate’s lapel: A green sticker with a circle around an I-485 logo, saying “CLOSE THE LOOP.” Who wants to bet I’ll see more of those?
UPDATE: 11:05 AM: Want to see Jim Rogers on the Colbert Report: Here’s a link.
More later. Follow Tweets about the trip @nakedcityblog and at hashtag: #icv09