What is it about us as a people, a country, as proud Americans that causes us to prefer to listen to lies but to turn a tin ear to truth?

Shades of The Pentagon Papers! Echoes of Gulf of Tonkin!

Our “now” example of self-imposed hearing loss is the revealing of thousands of pages of secret U.S. military files which show a harrowing, “boots-on-the-ground” view of the Afghanistan war. And it is ugly.

In it, we discover that coalition forces have killed 100’s of citizens in unreported incidents, soaring (and also unreported) Taliban attacks, and evidence that the insurgency is being actively supported by neighbors Pakistan and Iran.

As expected, this violation of secrecy was met with outrage.  As those on the right could not attack the veracity of the material – they chose to attack the newspaper that, albeit selectively, printed the documents. You know, their favorite demon, “radical left’s” institutional organ, the New York Times.

The government’s response was equally predictable.  These wonks deplored the “serious damage to national security.”  The Afghan government found it “shocking.”

“Serious damage to national security”

Hasn’t this country, quite well on its own, quite successfully damaged our national security?  How does $300 BILLION of our treasure and the loss of 1,207 American lives stack up in comparison to the “dangerous” 9,000 pages of documents of any kind…if truth is revealed?

“Danger to our National Security!”  This has got to be the most abused patriot-phrase of all time, perhaps second only to “This gives aid and comfort to our enemies.”   I do remember the latter as a favorite Bush tactic – which allowed our government to prohibit the photographs of military coffins on their way back to the U.S. 

But, Obama?  The leader promising to provide us change that we can believe it?  Show me the change.

And, I must ask my fellow Americans – just how “dangerous” is truth when it leads to understanding?  I would think that we would welcome any segment of socieity or the press whose goal it is to publicize information that otherwise would never see the light of day.  If these people are our enemy…what does this say about the people who foster and further lies?  Which are the patriots?

Pfc Bradley Manning is the person who delivered these documents via a third-party to Wikipedia.  He is in military detention in Kuwait and faces up to 52 years of imprisonment.

Why Wikileaks?

A PressThink reporter answered the question correctly. “If you’re a whistle blower with explosive documents, to whom would you rather give them? A newspaper with a terrestrial address organized under the laws of a nation that could (editor: and does) try to force the reporters you contacted to reveal your name…or to Wikileaks which has no address, answers to no subpoenas and promises to run the full cache if they can be verified as real?

What does it mean for this Whistle Blower?

What does it mean for Pfc Manning, who is an extreme example of individuals who are rightfully and righteously motivated by the public’s right-to-know?  A class of citizen that believes publicizing secret documents and classified material in order to expose corruption, deception and crimes against humanity is absolutely necessary in a society that fancies itself as ‘free?”

As I pointed out in a previous blog, “Whistle Blowers – Where are you when we need you?”, our true national security calls for more – not fewer – such people.

Daniel Ellsberg, the 1971 leaker of the “Pentagon Papers,” calls this “the greatest leak in 40 years.” Could this be our government’s version of the BP Gulf Disaster? An outing of a government that has drilled too deep and with no plan – other than keeping reporters at a distance?  Do you want actual diplomatic cables exposing massive corruption of both U.S. and puppet government officials to be kept secret?  Will that make America safer?

These are not just documents…they are worse than dry words, however horrifying.  Actual videotapes show U.S. soldiers chortling with glee as they gun down unarmed civilians, including children, and even a Reuter’s camera crew.

All this in a military action we call “Operation Enduring Freedom.”  Which “enduring freedom” here at home is being sacrificed to keep Lies on the throne?  If we stand by to see Pfc Manning convicted of “violations” that may actually lead us to an open and lively AND HONEST debate on our presence in that God-forsaken middle eastern country, of what violation are we guilty?  The answer?  Of not supporting the truth above all else.

Because, we can’t handle it.

(For more: www.bradleymanning.org)

FTC to Collection Agencies/Attornies:
“You are either with us, or against us.”

Julie Brill, commissioner, minced no words when speaking to an assemblage of professional collectors and debt buyers at that industry’s association meeting – ACA (American Collectors Association) International in Las Vegas earlier this month.

“You can listen to me and listen to the Commission…or not.”

This came after her announcing a newly-released report from the FTC on this industry titled “Repairing a Broken System” in which abuses were enumerated. A number of specific recommendations to protect consumers from debt collection litigation included:

*States should adopt measures to ensure that consumers will defend in litigation.

Ex: The infamous process of “sewer service” by debt collection attorneys needs to be reigned in, along with limiting ARM lawyers to use continuance to extend trials.

*States should require collectors to include more information about the debt in their complaints.

Ex: debt collection lawsuit complaints should include the name of the original credit and last four digits of the original account number, the date of the default or charge off and amount due at that time, the name of the current owner of the debt…and more.

*States should take steps to make it less likely that consumers will unknowingly waive statue of limitations defenses available to them.

Ex: calls for a more clear and uniform statute of limitations for debt, as well as require ARM companies collecting on out-of-statute debt to clearly inform consumers that they cannot file suit on the debt…and more.

*Federal and state laws should be changed to prevent the freezing of a specified amount in a bank account into which a consumer has deposited funds that are exempt from garnishment.

Ex: at present, funds frozen in consumers’ accounts may likely include government payments such as Social Security (exempt from garnishment) and result in significant hardship for consumers. The desire is to limit the amount that banks can freeze in accounts receiving exempt funds.

*Debt collection arbitration should give consumers meaningful choice, eliminate the bias and appearance of bias in the arbitration system, and be conducted in a manner more likely to motivate the consumer to participate.

Ex: it is an open secret that Arbitration clauses included in most consumer contracts (read your credit card standardized legal boilerplate) requires a form of arbitration which in practice seems clearly skewed in favor of the creditor.  As a professional mediator, I can only believe that this is surely a violation of that industry’s practice and ethical construct.

The full text of the FTC’s report can be downloaded here. The report is from the Federal Trade Commission website.

As could be imagined, and reported in an article by Patrick Lunsford in an editorial at insideARM, a Kaulkin Ginsbert publication which serves as the industry sounding board and resource, Ms. Brill’s comments did not go over that well with many of the attendees.

In the aftermath of this article, some of the comments which arrived at the website ranged from heated to supportive.

“By HUGE majority, the most common FTC complaint is trying to collect money not owed. Many definitions to that phase. Wrong party,no longer enforceable by law, or creatively adding on fees not provided by contract, or statute. Doesn’t sound like the real issue is consumers that refuse to pay bills they know they owe and all about consumers that refuse to pay bills they know they ‘don’t’ owe.”

“Of course the FTC has some changes they want to make. If there were no changes to make; how could they justify their jobs. Pretty soon it’s going to be a crime to suggest that it is wrong not to pay back what you borrowed.”

“I am a consumer that ran into troubles – NOT OF MY OWN MAKING! (company went bankrupt owing me a ton of $$, including $30k worth of expenses on MY AmEx & Diners)…I have had to deal with the gamut in getting out of the mess. I can say that the DEBT BUYERS have consistently been the biggest ‘breakers of the law’…”

“The FTC just needs to target the violators and let the good agencies out there do their jobs. There are many honest agencies out there and the FTC needs to realize that. There is a ton of money that gets put back into the economy because of agencies and there is a bunch of money in the hands of Debtors that hide behind the laws and the low-life Attorneys.”

“Why do you think the credit industry is in shambles?? Because these regulations are in place to protect the consumers. Instead of giving these banks “bail out” money, they need to reform the FDCPA so it does protect the consumer, but at the same time, does not make collecting legit debts impossible.”

So, where do we go from here – both as issuers and users of credit?

From my experience, there is blame enough to go around – but the credit industry and those serving it (agencies, attorneys) deserve the majority of the scorn. From banks which – and this will sound incendiary – issue credit cards and charge exorbitant fees and interest charges to deliberately keep people in high-profit debt, to bottom-fishing low-life debt purchasers who use “legalized extortion” and worse to collect on their booty, this world is a sewer.

A good dose of “Roto-Rooter” is called for…and any reasonable and responsible member of the ARM industry will agree with me.

Stay tuned…this only gets better.

(To access the article quoted on this subject click here.)

Trouble Exposure
CNN Money features “former bill collectors”

I believe that CNN Money should have warned the people they interviewed for a piece called “Confessions of Former Bill Collectors” that anything they said can, and would, be held against them — by the readers.

And what the readers had to say was pretty nasty, graphic, personal and peppered with “expletives deleted.”

In fairness to CNN, I believe the article was intended to show these former collectors in a “good” light – as good as can be given the Industry in which they worked, it appears. There was no editorial content – just people sharing very personal tales about their experience as“bill collectors.”

Ten people were featured, complete with their face (from facebook?) as well as their actual names. Two mistakes, already.

Those interviewed ranged from 20-year-veterans to one with just 2.5 years in the trade, and almost equally divided between men and women. One appeared as “Anonymous,” which proved to be a smart move.

Here are some examples of the “feedback” that was left by the readers:

“The national debt in America is fast approaching 14 Trillion. I was born into debt, and I will die with debt, F U debt collectors.”

“Debt collection is simply legalized abuse, assault, harassment and stalking…When a business does business they take-on a certain risk, part of that risk is dead-beats. They’ve no decent right to sell their unpaid accounts to debt collectors willing to drive down-and-outers into an early grave.”

“…most of these people who call on behalf of debt collectors are wanted, drug abusers, and or people who cannot get a real job because of problems associated with their past abuses.”

“Just the fact that this idiot thought harassing people would be a “fun” job is disturbing. I had to have my phone shut off because of debt collectors calling – not for ME but for the guy who had the phone number before me.”

“What a worthless, self righteous b—-.”

I could go on, but I believe you get the idea…

There were some positive comments…but few.

Out of curiosity, I contacted one commentator by way of his Facebook page and asked him for more details as to why he had such an antipathy towards collection agencies. His answer below, which I am using with his permission, should be posted on the wall of every collection agency and attorney in the U.S:

“I have worked hard all of my life, paid my taxes and paid my bills. I pride the fact that I do not live above my means. Other than a home or a very reliable car for my job (construction management) I had little, if any, debt.



My company closed their doors because of the economy. Over the next 9 months I bled through my savings to keep my bills paid and I defaulted on not one loan – until the money ran out.

I made several phone calls to my creditors and explained my situation; I called if not once a week, at least once a month.

Then the money ran completely out and all we had to live on was the small income that my wife was bringing in.

My three children had an ultra limited Christmas because I paid bills through savings while looking for a job. Even my wife’s income did not cover anything over the bare necessities.



Then came the calls from collectors. I went through my family savings to make sure I remained a good person and made good on my credit obligations to the point that my three children had a minimal Christmas and now they were going to call my home and threaten me and verbally abuse me because I had no money? 



I did what any sane person would do. I wrote down the person’s name, researched his company and the town it was in. I got lucky because there was a person in the company data base that matched the name I found, with the name that he called himself to me when we were talking, to the name of someone that lived in North Carolina (I withhold the name and city for my protection). 



After thinking about it for a couple of days, I drove nearly 8 hours to a city in North Carolina to the address of the person that worked for this company. I waited for him to come home and when he got out of his car, I walked up to him introduced myself and explained how easy it was for him to be found.

I told him not to call my house again and he didn’t.”

The lesson here, which runs in both directions, is that just because your designation is “bill collector” or “debtor” doesn’t provide license for insult and worse…and there is no telling as to the outcome of collection “encounters.” As a number of people on the receiving end of collector calls caution, it doesn’t take much for the shoe to be on the other foot.

Collectively, the Collection Agency industry has largely earned the wrath and scorn of society. If that is going to change, the industry must change.

And, THAT is from THIS bill collector of 30-plus-years-experience.

For those interested – the original CNN site: Confessions of Former Bill Collectors

If you are deeply in debt and feel you have practically nowhere to turn – you have a target on your back! And, it is not your local collection agency taking aim, there is a veritable army of companies offering to rescue you.

Major among these, ranging from bankruptcy attorneys to debt relief “consultants,” is the debt settlement industry. Their pitch is very attractive – “Let us take over and negotiate your debt with your creditors (usually the credit card companies), and we promise to cut your balance owed in half and have you free of debt in three years.”

Sounds tempting, until the process is understood.

Typical arrangements require that a client set up a special account with the settlement firm and stock this with monthly deposits to create a “fund” which – when the balances reach sufficient size – the firm can then use to negotiate lump-sum settlements with the creditors, usually card companies.

What isn’t understood – or properly explained – is that this firm is getting the money that would ordinarily go to the credit card people and that this will not be a welcome diversion of assets as viewed by the banks – and the cardholder falls further behind.

Long before a fund is filled, the collection agency calls, credit reporting and legal process has started. As for the fund? Strangely enough, largely eaten up by “administrative fees” and still insufficient for negotiating power. My sainted mother’s Christmas Fund account would have served you better.

Now beset by nagging agency calls and even legal summons, many former clients give a failing grade to a majority of these firms. The Better Business Bureaus in the cities where these companies are housed are reporting negative report after negative report in the hundreds.

In defense of the industry, those companies consider themselves victims of the debtor’s historic lack of commitment in following through with a payment program. Much like the trainer at a health club, they feel that they cannot be held responsible for someone who is unwilling to show up to use the equipment and/or change their diet.

Personally, I don’t know what the failure rate might be for those enrolling at a Health Club, but roughly half of those using debt settlement programs fail to last full-term. Still obese and now being foreclosed on? That’s your fault, buddy…

As Providence would have it, another group of Saviors are on the scene – the Federal Trade Commission as well as scores of state attorney generals. I wonder how well that is going to work?

Do you have a story to relate on this? Written Off – America and Americans wants to get out the word. Share your story today. Please.

For another blog on this theme, check out “You’re in Debt. So?” http://bit.ly/aRekcL

The mind is boggled when we are confronted daily with malfeasance in every part of life.

In government, it was in learning how MMS – the agency in charge of regulating the oil industry and its activities/payments – was not only sleeping at the wheel, they were also sleeping with the enemy!

It was, and is, in hearing our elected officials rant for change…and then vote NO (or not) when real change is presented to them.  It is in learning that 350,000,000 Americans have less to say about regulation and oversight than a few thousand Lobbying firms.

And the grim truths are revealed about Industry.

Business is no longer the “golden child” which will lead us out of the wilderness.  All too many of them are actively cooking the books, subverting oversight authority, funding campaigns that support their narrow and selfish cause, and otherwise making sure that Capitalism will triumph.  Omigod.

A federal grand jury has indicted the head of what was once among the largest privately held mortgage lending companies for allegedly scheming to steal more than a half-billion dollars from the government’s Troubled Assets Relief Program.

The attempt to get TARP funds was just one part of a scheme that was “truly stunning in its scale and complexity” and that resulted in losses of more than $1.9 billion, an official in the Justice Department reported.

It should come as no surprise, then, that business can’t even trust its own people. A recent article in the CFO Magazine summarized a 2010 release “Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud and Abuse” by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE).

Here are the corporate Confidence Games that keep the Giants of Industry up late:

Only 14% of corporate fraud is caught by internal auditors. Lack of internal controls was a primary problem which allowed for fraud.  It took the inside “whistleblower,” provided a protected “hot line,” to reduce corporate fraud - by nearly 60%.

Another non-surprise is that workers (and us) can’t even trust the bosses.  Median losses of $834,000 by execs outstripped losses related to crimes committed by non-management employees by a 9-1 margin! 

When they were caught, what gave them away? Living beyond their means. (Hmmmmm. Better check out the CFO’s new Bimmer.)

And, a history of appearing trustworthy is not enough – 80% of all fraudsters had no previous fraud convictions.  At the top of that game: Bernie Madoff.

Which department allowed for the greatest losses? Our collaborators in accounting, of course. 

In my industry, credit and collections, there are ”no-goodnics” galore.

In Rhode Island, scam artists impersonating law enforcement officials recently launched a volley of calls to collect a debt… claiming the non-payback of payday loans.  If the initial attempt to collect were not successful, they would call back months later to threaten their victims with arrest for fraud.

In another scam, con artists posing as a collection agency representative will contact a victim by mail, email or telephone, claiming the person owes a specific dollar amount to a particular company.

They threaten to report “overdue bills” to credit bureaus, take some form of legal action or even drain money from victims’ bank accounts without their consent.

Upright citizens may doubt themselves, thinking they’ve forgotten to pay a bill. And, because the sums involved tend to be fairly small, some people are tempted to just pay the “bill” and “get it over with.”

There are reported cases in which people purportedly (or actually) working for a collection agency use the information obtained through the course of their work to steal a debtor’s identity – and no one the wiser.

In this case, both creditor and collection agencies are victims of the crime. Creditors and collection agencies are not going to get paid by a victim of identity theft. Compounding this, there are individuals who claim identity theft but in reality are trying to avoid paying a valid bill.

This makes it even harder for collection agencies, creditors and the true victims of identity theft.

The kicker?  Agencies will rack up more than 11,750 complaints filed with the FTC by the end of this year.

Diogenes would wear out a thousand lamps in search of an honest person in today’s world.

A “Best Practice” Long Overdue

…The Option of Mediation

“When the only tool you have is a hammer, everyone looks like a nail.”

If that isn’t true of the collection agency and collection attorney industry, I don’t know what is.

In the 30-plus years in which I have been in the credit and collection field, first starting out in the world of the collection agency, I found my preferred way of doing business evolving to provide alternative A/R management tools and training to a variety of business customers.

It is not that I didn’t appreciate the value of third-party intervention a collection agency provides.  I just didn’t appreciate the way it was – and still is – done.

My firm positioned itself, both legally and in fact, as a consulting and outsource firm that could serve as a third party – but one without negative baggage of that line of work.  Our purpose truly was to “get the money and keep the customer.” (For clarity, my work was strictly in the commercial, business-to-business arena and not business-to-consumer.  That’s a whole different animal…)

I discovered that my potential clients, finance and credit executives, really started listening when I made it clear – in both performance and in philosophy – that my firm did NOT use traditional collection agency approaches in motivating payment.

The approach of CFO Advisors at that time was to serve as a connection and listening post between our client and their customer and not simply another entity demanding payment.  The extra time and energy it took to research and to negotiate was a challenge, but our style, attitude and superb performance (who doesn’t want to pay the “nice guys?”) earned us long-term clients such as RR Donnelley, Hearst, Gannett, and Johnson & Johnson Health Care Services.

Coming into the present, where I am semi-retired and work selectively for businesses that value the customer relationship almost as much as the dollars outstanding, I have still been thinking that it was time for my industry to change and evolve.  “We have the hammer, and they are the nail” just wasn’t working as well as it once did.

A workshop I completed recently on advanced Mediation confirmed that need, and provided a professional and effective path that needs careful consideration.  Mediation.

Mediation?  To “collect a past-due bill?”

Yes and No.  Mediation requires engaging a trained professional who understands conflict (and there are few greater conflicts than between someone who owes and someone who is owed) and is able to get people to participate in a positive dialogue.  It also requires a level of neutrality and respect for both sides of an issue that is not usually found among collectors.

The training confirmed my personal experience that when people are led to an understanding of why and how of a conflict (in this case, the unpaid bill), and were able to explore alternative solutions, terms were reached that were fair and satisfactory to both parties. 

No coercion, no manipulation, no threats – exactly what mediation is all about.

There are drawbacks for the collection firm, of course.   The expense of the mediation has to be taken into consideration.  (However, both parties may well agree to split the cost.  After all, should they not come to terms through such a facilitated meeting  both sides will be spending a lot more on attorneys.)  There is also the need to re-frame a collector’s thinking and approach – which means time and money invested.

Geography is also a consideration, as is the amount of dollars owed or perceived value of the relationship which is at stake.

What is more at stake is your firm’s own future. 

However, the extra effort will pay dividends in many ways, not the least being distinguishing yourself as an evolving firm which takes relationships into consideration and practices a more facilitative approach. 

Over the last two years, the FTC has recorded the largest number of complaints ever about collection agencies.  Record fines and penalties have been assessed.  Collection agencies have been closed.  An entire – if dubious – cottage industry in “debt counseling” has been created to enable debtors to better resist collection attempts.

It is time for collection professionals to balance out their traditionally adversarial approach

For those wishing to explore the value of the mediation option, there are two outstanding teachers in the field of mediation in the greater NYC area: Elizabeth Clemants of the Association for Conflict Resolution (www.acrnet.org) and Alex Yaroslavsky, the Yaro Group (www.yarogroup.com.) 

It was in their Professional Mediation class that I saw the application of ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) to certain parts of a collection agency – or any business’s – account portfolio.  If they can’t help you directly, they can certainly direct you to the right place/person.

So, for those of you who are interested in having more tools in your toolbox other than a hammer, this will be an intriguing new area to explore.  

One of these days, we will pull ourselves out of the Great Recession and we will dust ourselves off and decide where to take our business.  I doubt that it will be with companies that hired bill collectors who treated us shabbily.  Think of it – Being Nice can actually pay!

LET’S FAITH IT! - this unfortunate but courageous seven-year-old afflicted with bone cancer of the upper left arm – deserves more and more supporters on her Facebook page.  

Her left arm has been salvaged from amputation, but not every reading has been totally hopeful.  So, please visit and include yourself amongst world-wide visitors who are cheering for her and her recovery. 

Now, here’s an update for her present and future fans…

As you might know by now, Faith is back home in southern Oregon after undergoing more chemotherapy.   

HISTORY:  To those new to this blog, it appared that Faith’s left arm was destined to be removed early last month - until a few miracles set in.

On a chance recommendation, Faith’s parents were referred to Dr. Ernest Conrad of Seattle Children’s Hospital.  They drove Faith and her records and X-rays to a 5:00 meeting which lasted unti 8:00 p.m., and the Doctor said,

 ”We will operate tomorrow.” 

That took place on June 9 and the arm was salvaged after an almost three-pound tumor was removed.  Dr. Conrad’s people then teamed with Dr. Linda Stork’s unit at the Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland to begin a specific chemotheraphy program. 

Meanwhile, in the background, “Faith’s Friends” have organized to provide financial and emotional support.  When this this blog debuted on June 5, there were just around 300 “Faithbook” friends – now that number is 1,153 and climbing.

If 1,000 supporters is powerful – can you imagine 2,000?

Faith’s FB page, “Faith’s Friends,” can be found at: http://bit.ly/djOulS.  Her parents, Louis (a southern Oregon policeman) and wife, JoLayne, live in Central Point, OR.  Many, many driving miles from Portland and Seattle.

I am inviting you to consider becoming “Fired Up for Faith” and joining others on FB for prayer and support – both emotionally and financially.  every $5 for gas, or $2 for a meal, can make a difference for her parents.

This is the first time I have “gone personal” in my blogs…but couldn’t keep something as important as this to myself.

Here’s to all parents/mothers/fathers/brothers/sisters/family who have similar trials before and behind them.

I know that Faith and her family will be drawing on that wellspring of love and prayer.

Finally, for those unaware of Osteosarcoma, it is the eighth most common form of childhood cancer – or about 2.5% of all malignancies in pediatric patients.  Rarely does it occur in someone as young as Faith – mostly striking teenagers.

Statistically, Faith is one of perhaps 50 children annually who will suffer this disease.

We Need You More than Ever

Shakespeare tells us, “The truth will out.”  But, what do we do about this truth, and with those who tell it?

What should be the role of “Whistle Blowing” in ensuring institutional integrity?

That was the question I submitted to fellow LinkedIn members earlier this month, one I was compelled to ask given the rampant (no other world) growth – or at least exposure – of Ponzi schemes, corporate rip-offs, avaricious banking practices and other such insults to our financial system.

You can add governmental systems to that list, as well – some “watchdogs” they have been!

As part of my question, I queried my respondents as to what they would do if they had that famous “magic wand” to wave which could correct excesses.

Many of their answers are below and more will find their way into chapters in my upcoming book, “Written Off – America and Americans,” but I want to share some with you now.  Even more, I would like to hear and include your views and answers.  Check out the categories below, choose one in which you have something you would like to say, and respond here.

How important are “whistle blowers” anyway?  Consider; without them we would not have been made aware of:

• Nixon and his duplicity in the Watergate cover-up – Mark Felt
• The dirty secrets of the Viet Nam war via the Pentagon Papers – Daniel Ellsberg
• The lies and manipulations of the Tobacco Industry – Jeffrey Wigand
• Widespread misconduct of the IRS – Jennifer Long
• The corporate criminality in Worldcom and Enron – Cynthia Cooper and Sherron Watkins
• …and the heartbreaker…the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq – Joseph Darby

What if there had been a whistle blower on the BP Oil Platform this month….???

Some people would wish that many of these whistleblowers would simply have gone away; to others, they are true American hero’s.  The LinkedIn sampling reflects this, and I have sorted them into a few distinct categories…with more to come.

Shoot the Messenger

“I personally doubt there’s one whistle blower in ten, if that, who are honorable.  The only whistle blowing I would ever indulge in is to report a murder, or something in that category.  Otherwise, quit the damn job if you don’t like what your company is doing.  (You probably don’t have P&L responsibility, so no great harm done.)”
-R.B., Chicago, IL

Voice of Experience

“It’s a good way to get your ass handed to you. I speak from experience.”
-P.L., Pittsburgh, PA

Reward them

“Give bonuses and Promotions for it!”
-W.J., Santa Barbara, CA

Hang the Evil-Doers High

“’Whistle Blowing’ would come easy to me.  It’s kinda like going to war.  No one wants to die, but those with integrity and honor are willing to in order to protect those they are fighting for.  I would not think twice about my job when it comes to exposing corruption, greediness, and downright theft…

The closest I can come to offering up a possible starting point…is to require across-the-board regulation on financial institutions.  Don’t just inflict fines on these cash flush robbers, but put there a—s in jail!

Another possibility is offer monetary rewards to anyone who suspects corruption and reports it in some kind of regulated way.  In the long run it would be cheaper to spend the money up front instead of at bailout.  Pay the employees and (the general) public to be the “Whistle Blowers,” and protect them when they man/woman-up!

…I’m not sure if I contributed or just ranted, but I feel a little better at any rate.  I so do wish I had a magic wand.  So many have been hurt, and I would love to wave it and have everyone employed again and living in the home they thought they would always have.”
-D.B., Seattle, WA

“I’ll volunteer for the job, for only $100K per year, plus health care benefits, a modest expense account, and a couple of “Body Guards”.  Then, I’ll start a campaign to question the intent of everyone I can find, who looks, walks, talks, and acts, like a ‘crook!’

After I recover from years of having been (personally and professionally) financially humiliated … in about 5-7 years, I may take a cut in salary.  The only problem with my plan is that no one would hire me … too risky!  I might question my boss … could be embarrassing.”
-C.S., New York, NY

“I agree to the idea of whistle blowing.  But against (Goldman Sachs) you better buy a major life insurance before you blow that whistle.”
-B.N., Orange County, CA

It’s all Mental

“I would like to offer a different kind of feedback and offer some quotes by Carl Jung:

Where love reigns, there is no will to power; and where the will to power is paramount, love is lacking. The one is but the shadow of the other.

The man who promises everything is sure to fulfill nothing, and everyone who promises too much is in danger of using evil means in order to carry out his promises, and is already on the road to perdition.”
-M.K., Orlando, FL

Hopeless

“Sorry to say that nobody could have a magic wand for this…the malpractices and manipulations are as universal and as all pervasive as god in the economy and industry.”
-D.G., Bengaluru, India

“There would be no need for whistle blowing if everyone did their jobs.  The political climate in corporate America today is “go along to get along.”  It is safer to act surprised when things go wrong than to attack the system.

I’ve seen too many examples of well intentioned employees being penalized for speaking up.  The so called malcontent may be the only one with integrity in the whole equation.

We’ve never had so many consultants, auditors and other so called experts, and (yet) we’ve never had so much corporate fraud.  (By) killing the messengers … the whole company ends up suffering.”
-W.S., Boston, MA

“One huge problem (deal with cases which) no lawyer will touch just because they will lose their long-term influence if they go up against the big powers.  These types of cases are everywhere. Justice is often not served.

…the only solution is to stick with people who can be trusted to be fair. There are not very many of them.”
-A.C., Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX

“Our Finance minister has promised that Whistle blower shall be protected. I am waiting for it to happen !!!!!!!”
-R.K., Bangalore, India

“I’ve been in a position a couple of times in my career where I was privy to matters where a whistle should have been blown.  I’m not proud to say that I did not blow the whistle.  Why? It would have ruined my life.  I would have been fighting a losing battle against a much, much more powerful entity.  I did, however, walk away from, and not participate in the activities that I believed were unethical.”
-W.F., – Madison, WI

“In these days of yes Sir and quite right Sir, what is the use of whistle blowing?  There are many who behave as if they never heard your whistle.  They, themselves want to snatch (the) whistle and throw it in a corner.”
R.K., Hyderabad, India

Do it from the Inside

“If I had the ‘magic wand’ – I’d charge by the second for my services.  On a serious note.

Whistle Blowing has to be managed within the realm on Corporate Security, Risk Management and Good Intelligence Practices in early warming systems.  It’s almost impossible to create a net that will catch all forms of whistle blowing, as the corrupt practices in financial industry was endemic. Before this we found creative accounting was the big bad guy, who knows what other malignant practices are hidden away from public scrutiny.

As a typical example, how would anyone deal with the likes of Wikileak [when it's back online], or the fact that Iceland is making moves to become a whistle blower haven.”
-J.B., Halifax, UK

“The term whistle blowing says it all.  It’s a wake-up call to those who (would) rather stay asleep and ignorant.

A critical mind and speaking out as such requires independence. A far cry from the position most whistleblowers find themselves in.”
-J.R., Amsterdam, Netherlands

“This really comes down to everyone being aware of things in their surroundings.  If you see something funny or not making common sense or suspicious then you have to make others aware of your findings.  Even if nothing comes out of it, you have done what you can and it is the responsibility of those in higher places to make a decision to address it or not.”
-P.P., London, Canada

“Whilst ethical compliance has many facets, Internal Audit is the means to monitor many of these within the general course of a standard controls audit i.e. standards of business practice, corporate governance and employee relations.

…overall, this monitoring activity helps to ensure that both managers and employees have a clear understanding of the group’s ethical standards of operation and the expectations of our stakeholders.  Managers are also given assurance on their compliance with group standards and any remedial action to be taken is identified.  The Internal Audit team also take a pro-active approach when it comes to educating businesses and management as to the importance of our ethical standards.”
-K.P., New Delhi, India

That’s what they have to say. Your thoughts?

As frightening as it has been to follow the eco-and-economic disaster that continues to unfold in the Gulf of Mexico, it will be even more catastrophic for us not to notice – and act on – the more-than-symbolic parallels to be found between how both BP and our own government is reenacting and mirroring the Wall Street meltdown.

If it is not a re-enactment, it is certainly a complementary and horrifying Parallel Universe!

How so?  Take a “deep dive” with me into some pretty murky water (the Deepwater Horizon had dug the deepest well ever – over 1.5 miles just to get to the ocean floor) to find and compare the slippery details.

The first parallel to notice:  are you aware that BP – even in the middle of “managing” its Gulf crisis – had a second battlefront on Capitol Hill working to fight tough financial economic reforms?

According to Mother Jones, BP in the company of the US Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable, and other large advocacy groups, worked to exempt itself from a new provision in derivatives regulation that would increase transparency and make derivatives trading less risky.

Yes – derivatives, those complex and opaque products (sound like oil?) used to hedge risk and bet on fluctuations in the financial markets.  The same financial “products” – Frankenstein monsters – deepwell blow-outs – which exacerbated the 2008 financial crisis.

A second parallel: what we have here is high-risk and uncertainty being managed by people whose ONLY interest is profit or self-aggrandizement – not safety, and certainly not the public good.  I am not an opponent of businesses making a ”profit,” be assured.  Profit is great, but profit being extracted from the bottom of the sea (and then from the American taxpayer) without any semblance of “informed consent” or competent oversight is nothing less than rape.

There are substantial proofs that this billion-dollar company cut corners (poor concrete on the cheap, anyone?) to improve their bottom line and stock value. 

What about the Good Guys – our own government?

A third parallel:  evidence mounts that oversight agencies in the Gulf were no less complicit – or stupid – than the sister agencies which oversaw the deep drilling being done on Wall Street.  A distracted Obama administration snoozed while MMS waived environmental reviews for 26 new offshore drilling projects…even as the BP Gulf disaster was unfolding!

The MMS (Mineral Management Service) regulatory agency responsible for overseeing oil, gas and minerals extraction rubber-stamped oil drilling permits without respect to environmental review.  Another parallel?  Doesn’t this sound to you to be vaguely similar to the way that Wall Street was “overseen.”

Thank God for the whistleblower – an ethical resource which our government and big business does not seek out, encourage, support, reward and protect.

One such hero (heroine?) leaked that BP drawings lacked final engineering approval.  An independent expert subsequently armed with this alert said that “a BP database showed that over 85 percent of the Atlantis Project’s piping and instrument drawings lacked final engineer approval.”

This expert went on to recommend that the project “should be immediate shut down until those documents could be accounted for an independently verified.”  This was ignored.  Although we STILL have no concrete idea as to the amount of oil being discharged into the gulf on a daily basis, its oil slick covers a surface area of at least 2,500 square miles and growing.

As with Wall Street, it isn’t what is happening on the surface that needs to be feared.  What isn’t being considered are the deadly, and immense, underwater plumes of oil not visible.

Only now have these oil plumes…miles long and very deep…been identified and proven to be the result of the BP Gulf disaster.

This sort of dawning realization is similar in fashion to how we are just now becoming aware of what lies beneath the surface of our global financial crisis.  Consider the effects of the “slick money” CDO’s had on society.  Both are toxic.  Both need to be brought under control.  NOW.

The banks/corporations that are “too big to fail?”  The effect of CDO’s and other financial derivatives appear to be just a small percentage of America’s 14-trillion-plus economy until you look under the surface. 

Consider the size of the financial “plume” which has spread throughout the world.  These IMD’s, “Instruments of Money Destruction,” drive out good money much as oil drives out oxygen.

Computer models show that oil in the Gulf may have already seeped into a powerful water stream known as the loop current, a necessary stage to propel it into the Atlantic Ocean. Ironically, its destination could be as far up the east coast as the tip of Manhattan…and Wall Street. 

Oily slick, meet oily bastards.

So, let’s recap how we got here:  a combination of corporate arrogance and greed working in the dark shadows of finance aided and abetted by easily-bought government functionaries.  Inland and offshore, we have been brought to our financial and ecological knees by people who seem impervious to any punishment and a government officials unwilling to lose the cash these rogue companies provide.

Anyone here up to something stronger than slapping wrists?  I vote for life-term imprisonment, as firing squads are only legal in Utah.

Captured: A Former Banker’s View

My decision to “Crowd-Source” Written Off – America and Americans, is being blessed with page after page of contributed material that prove that you and I do not need to know it all – we simply have to attract – and listen to -people who absolutely do know more than we do about a particular subject.

This has especially been proven in the subject of banking and in the quality of people responding.

When I envisioned a chapter on Banksters…er, bankers, I realized that if I were to write this as a lay person whose only connection with banking was a depleted line of credit, I would simply be another “Me, too” guy jumping on the let’s-kick-the-bankers bandwagon.   A professional view was called for – from within the ranks of the industry in question.

Through a LinkedIn group, I connected with banking veteran  Amer Chaudri.  Amer provides a Main-Street, on-the-beat approach and observations on this over-exposed subject that are both understandable as painfully on-point.

His upcoming book – Diatribe – lays out the details as to how Wall Street – and Our Government – are entertwined to our detriment – so tightly that at this point that practically neither can be totally trusted.

Here are a few snippets from Diatribe that Amer is sharing with us:

“If we’ve arrived at a stage where the write-offs of our worth, the fabric of our economic system and of moral-equity have come to pass, then it is not possible to have arrived here without a subversion of principles and ideals that have served us for almost two centuries.

I will focus on the first of two factors which relate to my professional experience as an analyst and planner in the banking/financial community – the evolvement of ideals and principles and the sense of responsibility by the individual.

The immense fallout in the Great Recession of 2008/2009 has been alarming. This has been a credit crisis and an economic crisis. I would add another dimension: a ‘management crisis,’ as well.

Some history:  In 2008, my then employer, Citigroup, announced in its 2nd quarter earnings that it will be taking an $8 billion loss on its portfolio of securitized sub-prime mortgages. This ignited a conflagration across the industry as we discovered the extent to which sub-prime was woven into the fabric of the credit markets.

A few quarters later, Citigroup had racked up $58 billion in sub-prime related losses—the industry at large suffered $500 billion in losses. These losses, in turn, ignited an even wider economic fallout.

The natural question was: How can a high-risk fringe-instrument like sub-prime that catered to high-risk borrowers become so central to our financial system?

Sub-prime was one rather large tip of the iceberg. We then learnt that the GSEs (Government Sponsored Enterprises) of Freddie-Mac and Fannie-Mae had indulged in an orgy of high-risk mortgage-products such as no-down-payment, interest-only, short-term ARMs—even a combination of these.

According to the US Congressional Budget Office, the fallout in Freddie-Mac and Fannie-Mae would cost the tax-payer around $291 billion. These numbers do not even begin to speak to the wider economic impact of millions of jobs lost and the devastation in the housing market and businesses which has no doubt caused significant damage the enormous trust the public places in our government and business leadership.

These problems emanate from the subversion of principles and the fundamental laws that uphold them.

My former employer was at the forefront of the lobbying effort to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act that was instituted as a clear and determined prevent to stop another The Great Depression by sequestering street-banking, insurance, and investment-banking from each other.

This repeal allowed Wall Street to reintegrate these fundamentally different segments of finance. Citigroup went on to manufacture high-risk portfolio vehicles called Structured Investment Vehicles (SIVs) that concentrated credit card and sub-prime debt. Investors as well as banks were able to subscribe to these vehicles.

The proponents of this scheme argued that since this debt was now taken off the books of banks and lenders, and subscribed to by multitude of investors, the risk was well diversified and the envelope could be “pushed” to increase the portion of US household debt. A “pure greed” play, but activity small in comparison to the expansion of the high-risk mortgage debt perpetrated by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

If economic activity is based on the expansion of consumer debt, then not only is this flawed planning, fictitious economic-growth, but it has compromised the economic integrity of individuals and households.

Such a lapse had occurred because too many CEOs from Wall Street have been handed the reins of the Dept. of Treasury and the Federal Reserve. For example, the former Secretary of Treasury, Robert Rubin (also a former Goldman Sachs Chief) was recruited by Citigroup and is credited with forwarding the campaign to repeal Glass-Steagall.

The issue with Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae is similar. Permitted to operate as private enterprise, their executives’ compensation packages rivaled those of Wall Street CEOs; they mirrored each other in their pursuit of profit at the expense of the public trust.

Government subsidies and tax payer dollars made their way to lascivious lifestyles in a saga of corruption at the helm of the free and civilized world. Former Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines took in $91 million in compensation between 1998 and 2003. Even as late as 2009, the compensation of Freddie & Fannie executives was around $19 million.

There is something decidedly wrong with this picture, and recent history has proved this. This is evidence of the moral deficiency of business leadership, dysfunction of government, and the robbing of public trust. I don’t see how, under these circumstances, we can afford to sit back and hope for the best…”