Month: October 2008

Bailout Head Neel Kashkari Wants Transparency (Except When He Doesn’t)

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It’s been widely reported that Neel Kashkari, Goldman Sachs alum and head of the $700 billion bailout, has said he wants transparency in administering the whole process. He is quoted as saying:

“Consistent with Congress’ intent, we are committed to transparency and oversight in all aspects of the program and have already taken several important steps in this area…”

Yet I have to wonder how transparent he really wants things to be when large contracts related to oversight and administration are being released to the public with redacted information. How is that transparent, if we can’t even see who is involved with overseeing the bailout and what they’re being paid?

Read moreBailout Head Neel Kashkari Wants Transparency (Except When He Doesn’t)

Auditor Liability in Market Meltdown?

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It should come as no shock to anyone that lots of fingers are being pointed related to Wall Street’s meltdown, and specifically related to the banking industry. And auditors are likely to find themselves the targets of lawsuits. Auditor malpractice is often hard to prove, but in this case, I think there will be several victories against the auditors.

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Massive MonaVie Distributor Losses Demonstrated With the Company’s Own Numbers

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Multi-level marketing expert Robert Fitzpatrick discusses the phenomenon of high-level MLM distributors going from company to company. He also explains some distributor numbers released by MonaVie, which show that 91% of distributors receive no commissions from the company, and that the bottom 99% of distributors receive an average of $3.75 a week in commissions. Doesn’t sound like much of an earnings opportunity to me!

From Robert’s blog:

Read moreMassive MonaVie Distributor Losses Demonstrated With the Company’s Own Numbers

Only at Overstock.com

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Executives at Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK) announced last week that they’d be restating financial statements for 2003 through 2008. (And a few of those years were already restated once, so this makes it the third set of financial statements that will be issued for those years.)

David Chidester, Senior VP of Finance, explained it like this in his letter to shareholders:

Read moreOnly at Overstock.com

Joe the Plumber: It’s really about the dream

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The American Dream of Joe the Plumber Whether you consider him a plumber, a contractor, a political plant or just a guy who’s behind on his taxes, Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher — a.k.a. “Joe the Plumber” — has a point, says WalletPop contributor Tracy Coenen. His dream is the dream of innovators and entrepreneurs alike. Full … Read more Joe the Plumber: It’s really about the dream

ShopToEarn: How Much, How Fast

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Shop To Earn representatives frequently promote the idea of earning $4,100 in commissions your first 30 days after signing up? How can you do it? The details are below, and it’s not as easy as it seems. It starts with “just recruiting” some people. But then you also have to get people below you to recruit, or you don’t get the points and commissions. If you take a careful look at the below details, to get the $4,100 in 30 days, you have to get 10 people recruited and you have to get several of them to recruit 3 or more people. Plus you have to generate enough point volume.

The information reproduced here is from the back office available to STE brokers. It is being posted for educational and critique purposes, as permitted under fair use principles.

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Overstock.com executives subject to clawback provision in Sarbanes-Oxley?

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This past week, our good friends at Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK) – – CEO Patrick Byrne, President Johnathan Johnson, and SVP of Finance David Chidester – – made an announcement about how they have screwed up the company’s financial statements again.

Overstock has a colorful history of issuing incorrect financial statements, with the following discoveries of their errors (and maybe irregularities):

Read moreOverstock.com executives subject to clawback provision in Sarbanes-Oxley?

Milwauke Public Schools: Obscene Property Tax Increase

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Tonight the Milwaukee Public Schools board is going to vote in favor of increasing city property taxes 14.6% for the school portion. That is the largest portion of the property tax bill, so overall taxpayers will see a sharp increase in their bills.

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