September 2008 – Fraud Files Forensic Accounting Blog

The Lure of Multi-Level Marketing

15 August 201130 September 2008 by Tracy Coenen

I constantly marvel at how multi-level marketing (MLM) can continue to lure in millions of people a year, who collectively pump billions of dollars into these losers. Time and again, industry experts calculate a failure rate of 99% (failure = losing money on the deal) … And still consumers line up to sign up for these things.

Even the COLD HARD FACT that they have almost no chance of turning a profit does not deter them. Stop and think about it. These people have less than a 1% chance of turning a profit in MLM, yet they still sign up and pay hundreds or thosands of dollars each into these recruiting schemes. (Schemes… because the name of the game is signing them up and getting their money via fees to join and/or inventory purchases.) Consumers have a better chance of coming out ahead if they simply put their money on a table in Vegas.

The UFF Money Merge Account Money Shuffle Explained

15 August 201129 September 2008 by Tracy Coenen

Guest post by Joe Taxpayer

As I looked at multiple United First Financial agents’ sites, I found the common thread was the claim that one simply can’t do this on their own, that the shifting of funds from a checking account, to a HELOC, and then to a primary mortgage somehow needed such a level of sophisticated computer analysis that it was beyond the average consumer.

But let’s dig a bit deeper to understand what savings may or may not be possible with the UFF Money Merge Account. In the classic MMA example (i.e. the one appearing on or linked from most agents’ sites) we are looking at a 6% fixed rate mortgage, and $5,000 in net monthly cash flow.

Cookies and Coffee Now Mean “Come Join Our Church.”

31 May 201227 September 2008 by Tracy Coenen

From the “how many ways can we waste taxpayer dollars” file… Daniel B. Kapustin has filed a complaint with the state’s Government Accountability board about the September 9 elections held at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Delafield. City buildings are under construction, so the church is the temporary polling location. The impetus for the … Read more Cookies and Coffee Now Mean “Come Join Our Church.”

Mark Cuban’s Idea On a Private Bailout of the Financial Sector

19 August 201126 September 2008 by Tracy Coenen

Mark Cuban has an idea: Let’s scrap this government bailout of the financial sector and instead make it private. Create an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) that buys the distressed securities these companies want to get rid of, as well as all warrants and shares of stock in the companies themselves. Investors choose whether or not to put their money into the fund and Mark is offering up $50 million of his own funds to invest in such a plan.

The problem is not the funding formula!

25 September 2008 by Tracy Coenen

Tonight the Milwaukee Public Schools board met to discuss the possibility of dissolving the district. The consensus is that they can’t do it. But the sheer ignorance is stunning. The sound bytes from board members went like this: “The problem is the funding formula. We need to fix our funding.” Wrong! The problem is the … Read more The problem is not the funding formula!

Somebody please check Henry Paulson

12 June 201024 September 2008 by Tracy Coenen

This whole “bailout” of the financial sector bothers me. It bothers me that as a taxpayer, I will be on the hook for a nice chunk of the $500 billion to $1 trillion that this will cost. (And the way things are looking, the cost may be closer to $2 trillion.)

It bothers me that executives on Wall Street got multi-million dollar bonuses and perks in recent years, but now they don’t have to share in the downside of what they’ve done. (What they’ve done is made a ton of bad loans to parties who weren’t credit worthy, and then they engaged in a series of selling those loans by lying to the buyers.)

Bailout to Include Consumer Debt?

21 December 201124 September 2008 by Tracy Coenen

The Wall Street bailout, publicly estimated to cost taxpayers somewhere between $700 billion and $1 trillion or more, could end up to be bigger than we ever imagined. Now added to the bailout plan: student loans, auto loans, credit card debt, and other “troubled” debt.

The Washington Times reports:

Would You Sleep on a Wet Mattress for 59 Days for $295,000?

23 April 201223 September 2008 by Tracy Coenen

How much money would it take for you to agree to sleep on a wet matress for 59 days? The mattress keeps getting wet over the 59 days, so it gets a little moldy and a little smelly. But would you do it for $295,000?

A Wisconsin prisoner was just awarded $295,000 by a jury for that exact thing. Reggie Townsend is in prison with a 23-year sentence for killing an 11-year-old girl when firing a gun throughout up a neighborhood one night.

The End of Life As We Know It

19 August 201120 September 2008 by Tracy Coenen

We now have a Socialist marketplace. I thought that the Democrats were the ones who would lead us there, but I was wrong. It is a Republican administration that has taken us down this road to ruin.

No longer does capitalism mean what it used to… that people worked hard to succeed, and determined their own success or failure. We had some government programs in place to help those in need when they were down on our luck.

Dissolve MPS? Yes, please!

12 June 201020 September 2008 by Tracy Coenen

Late this past week, the Milwaukee Public Schools board voted 6 to 3 in favor of “examining” the possibility of dissolving the district. This would be a sort of bankruptcy situation, and basically that is where the district is headed eventually. The teachers are so grossly overpaid and the administration is so excessively wasteful with taxpayer money, that the taxpayers simply can’t afford to let this continue.

Of course, MPS officials aren’t blaming themselves for being incompetent and having an awful school system: