It should be. It’s a recipe for civil unrest.

Excerpt
The following is an excerpt from the book The Maui Millionaires
by David Finkel, Diane Kennedy, CPA
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; October 2006;$24.95US/$29.99CAN; 0-470-04537-X
Copyright © 2007 David Finkel and Diane Kennedy

Chapter 9

The 25 Keys to Dreaming Big

Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.
–Goethe

Everything happens because of a dream. If you’re not living your dream, you’re living someone else’s dream.

Look at a normal life for the average person today. You get up earlier than you really want to because the alarm goes off. Rush through a work-out (or wish you had time for one) and go to a job that occupies most of your working time. The dreams of your childhood are long past. Now, it’s about working, providing for a family, and maybe, someday, you’ll have some time for you.

If you’re working for someone else, chances are you’re working on someone else’s dream. Now here’s the amazing part. The owner of the company might never have purposely chosen the course of his business, so it’s not even his dream. His mother always had the dream that someday her son would own his own business or his high school math teacher told him he was gifted in math and needed to do something in that field. He might have married someone his family told him he should marry (through spoken or unspoken comments and actions), lived in a city and neighborhood where someone else thought he should live and work. It’s a life of chance and passive coincidence. No wonder we go through midlife crises! It’s our subconscious waking up and saying, Hey wait a minute! What happened to those great dreams we had once upon a time?

Some people decide to start their own business in hopes that this is the way to personal freedom. The entrepreneurial spasm lasts long enough to quit a job and start working for their own business. But, for most people, they run their own business exactly the way they used to work a job. The difference is that instead of just one boss, they now have a whole lot of bosses to keep happy. We call them customers or clients. The business owner still has no control and still isn’t following her deepest, most precious dreams.

Ask yourself: If you have your own business, is it run exactly the way you want it to? If you work for someone else, are you living your highest purpose? Are you achieving what you wanted in your life right now?

A big part to being a Maui Millionaire is purposely choosing the life you want to lead. Then it’s a matter of setting the game up so you get exactly what you want. If you don’t choose where you’re going, you’ll never get there. The dream is the beginning. It’s the seed and spark that grows into a life of abundance and wealth.

Rediscover Your Dreams

As a child, we had dreams. They were in the language of children because we were children. Then we put aside many of those childish dreams and “grew up.” Of course, growing up meant that we followed what the adults around us said being a grown up was. We gave up on the big dreams.

Instead, we started substituting goals for dreams. If you were raised in a typical American household, those goals had to do with success and money. They focused on the outer achievements, not on inner values and dreams. It’s pretty ironic that with the primary focus on those kind of achievements, more and more people find their wealth slipping away. Could it be that there is something fundamentally off with how the average person thinks about the future? Of course! And in this section of the book you’ll learn how to tap back into your real passion and purpose in life as you clarify your big dreams.

The big dreams of a Maui Millionaire are not always brand new dreams. You’re not reinventing dreams. You’re rediscovering the dreams of your childhood. Now, though, you’re doing it with the years of experience and education that allow you to use the language of adults, with the heart and faith of a child.

Dream No Small Dreams

If you’re committed to going out there and pursuing a dream, make sure the dream is worthy of your time and attention. Seek the game worth playing. If your current life doesn’t have a dream big enough to risk the game, then find one that does. Find a dream so juicy, so appealing, and so powerful that it compels you to work to reach it. It calls to you, sings to you, sinks its hooks into you and won’t let you go. What’s a dream that is so powerful that you will live part of your life for it?

In the next few chapters, we’re going to look at how to rediscover the dreams you’ve had and then supersize them in Maui fashion to create something even bigger and bolder. We believe that you were born to do something great, and now it’s time to rediscover exactly what that greatness is!

Dream Big!

Corporations pay thousands of dollars to work on articulating their company vision. The corporate vision generally isn’t just about making money. It’s about the deeper reasons why the business exists and the powerful passions that fuel the organization.

The same is true for us. You have a personal vision as well. Sadly most of us don’t bother to take the time and energy necessary to articulate our own vision — the dreams that make everything we do worthwhile. Without a dream to pursue, our spirit wilts and our soul shrinks.

Your big dream is your personal vision that taps into the passion you have in your life. Passion is the energy of your heart. It drives you to perform at the highest possible level. It gives you the fuel to keep going when others around you quit. Passion dares you to ask more, to do more, to be more. Passion allows you to make mistakes, get knocked down, and get up for another round. Passion is the limitless energy that allows you to achieve extraordinary results. It’s the juice that makes life so sweet.

What is so important to you that you would invest part of your life going after it without any direct reward or compensation, just because you felt so powerfully moved by that dream? That’s a first step in determining the dreams that aren’t just merely financial. If your most compelling desire right now is to create a certain amount of money or passive cash flow, ask yourself — why? Imagine you have all the money and financial success you’ve ever wanted, then what? When you achieve that level of wealth, what are you going to do with the money? Who is the person you dream of being? That’s how you can tap into the most compelling aspect to those dreams.

Three Ways to Re-Discover Your Dreams

Sometimes finding out what our dreams actually are can be the hardest part. Here are some ideas to jump start the process.

Technique One: Do a dream download. Consider who would you love to be . . . what would you love to do . . . to have. That’s your passion. Think about what you are good at. That’s your talent. Reflect on what’s most important to you. Those are your values. Now, what were you born to do? That’s your destiny.

Take a blank piece of paper and put it in front of you. Set a timer or ask someone to time you for 10 minutes. Pick up a pen (not a pencil!) and write. You might make a list of dreams. Or you might describe your dream life. Or, perhaps you just answer the questions above. Whatever it is, keep writing. Don’t stop until the timer stops.

Technique Two: Make a dream collage. Assemble a stack of magazines, blank poster board, a glue stick and a pair of scissors. Cut out pictures and create a poster of your dream life. Include pictures of whatever speaks to you.

Supersize your dream collage. Get a few friends together and each work on the project individually. Each person will create a collage of his or her life today on one side of the poster board. Assemble a dream collage on the other side of the poster board that will show your life five years from now.

Technique Three: Talk to your friends. Chances are your friends, family and business colleagues know things about you that you don’t even know. We tend to look at ourselves through the eyes of others who have been critical of things we’ve done. Have you ever noticed how you remember the one bad comment you got about something you did and can’t for the life of you remember the dozen good comments you received?

We’re conditioned to look for the fault in ourselves. That helps us find the things we need to improve on, but it also means that we overlook the things we do well. Spend a lifetime working on your faults and you’ll live a lifetime being mediocre. Instead look for those things that you have a talent for and that you are passionate about. Chances are the things you do well will unlock the secret of your dreams.

How can you find out what those dreams are? Your friends might hold the answer — ask them. Send them a letter or e-mail and ask for their help.

Copyright © 2007 David Finkel and Diane Kennedy

David Finkel, Diane Kennedy, Cpa
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/the-25-keys-to-dreaming-big-73906.html

When I first began working in the incorporation and business credit industry, some years ago, our clients had the goal to separate their business life from their personal life. Some wished to do this for tax reasons, others for asset protection, and in many cases for both. In order to achieve this separation, they incorporate their businesses.

After a legal entity is properly formed and filed, the next thing to do to achieve true separation is to build credit on that entity. This is a step by step process, much like building a pyramid. I have had the pleasure of personally helping hundreds of business owners build credit for their businesses. It has been wonderful to see them succeed.

The desire for separation has not changed; however, within the past year there has been a change in the wind. In addition to separating their business and personal lives, many business owners are now experiencing the “credit crunch” that comes from trying to support their business with their personal credit. They are discovering that suddenly getting credit is not as easy as it used to be. Personal credit standards have changed dramatically. A recently published article on MSN’s Money Central makes use of some statistical data that does a great job of illustrating our current situation:

“We had an artificial economy,” said Brad Geisen, founder of Foreclosure.com, a Web site that lists foreclosure properties. “There was all this wealth created in real estate, and it wasn’t really created.”

In other words, the economy, which had been driven in large part by rising real estate prices, was artificially inflated. That means that when the bubble popped we were left with just air. The article goes on to support this further with the following:

“The Census Bureau today released 2006 housing data for every state, county, metro area and city with a population of at least 65,000. Income data were released last month. Together, the figures provide a snapshot of the nation’s economy just as housing prices were peaking in many areas. Since then, housing prices have decreased in many markets, fueled by a crisis in the subprime loan market and dwindling credit even for some wealthier borrowers.”

(Source: articles.moneycentral.msn.com/News/HousingCrunch.aspx)

What does all of this mean to you: You had better start thinking about an alternative.

Our clients are looking for the alternative as well. They have come to our staff with the following question: Can I still build business credit, despite everything that is going on with the economy? We have heard this from new clients as well as those who have been in our program for some time and I understand why: They are seeing foreclosures in their neighborhoods and are having their credit card limits suddenly slashed. It is only natural to wonder if the ability to build business credit will also be affected.

I have given the question a lot of thought. It was not something that I immediately was able to answer. I have had to place myself in the shoes of my clients, and by extension the public at large. It is certainly daunting; one could even say that it is scary. We are facing a credit crisis that we have never seen before. While thinking about all of this I suddenly realized that they have already taken themselves out of harm’s way. Therein lays the “secret formula”.

Unlike Colonel Sanders, I will put that secret formula down here in black and white: Build separate business credit. Right now this is the alternative. Very soon, I believe that this will be the standard.

The advantages of the business credit system are growing by the moment, again, especially in light of our present economic circumstances. The credit of corporate entities is evaluated using a system of rules completely different from the FICO system; things such as debt to income ratio and inquires have no effect whatsoever. That is why you can build separate credit for your business.

Business credit is the largest lending source in the world. Here is a system that allows you to use other people’s money interest free. For instance, let’s assume that you own a retail business that sells framed works of art. Wouldn’t it be great if your frame supplier shipped all of your framing materials to you, but gave you thirty days to pay your bill? That is the way business credit works. The system allows the business to purchase everything from vehicles to real estate to equipment. The thing to remember is that it must be done the right way. You will want be sure that you are following the proper steps at the proper time.

Those who have already pursued the goal of building separate business credit are going to be ahead of curve when the dust finally settles. Those who have not, I would strongly urge to take that step. Very quickly, business owners will not be able to grow their business and maintain their personal life using their personal credit. They have a relatively small window of opportunity to take advantage of what is going to be the new standard.

The solution, or secret formula, is there for the taking. Achievements never happen on their own. They happen because of the hard work that we put into achieving them. Get ahead of the curve and escape the “credit crunch” and in so doing, take advantage of the peace of mind that comes from true separation of your business and your personal life.

Hazen Martin
Senior Advisor
Corporate Credit Concepts
hazen@corporatecreditconcepts.com

<a target=”_new” href=”http://businessloansbadcredit.net//index.php”>http://businessloansbadcredit.net//index.php</a>

Hazen Martin

Introduction

They cannot manage their own lives, yet they may bully to manage yours.  These are the dysfunctional managers.  They are focused on managing, even micro-managing, the details, getting things done, accomplishing the strategic business plan and meeting the financial goals of the businesses that pay them, but not relating to the people they supervise.  While the success of the business is an admirable goal, during that process dysfunctional managers tend to alienate employees and business partners and may lose their connection with their families.

Traits of the Dysfunctional Manager

Their personal backgrounds and experiences may have included separation or divorce, strained family relationships or alienation from children, smoking and or battling obesity or anorexia; yet, they have been successful in business.  It is an interesting paradox that demands exploration.  How can individuals who are not focused on the people they manage, the opposite of the servant leaders who preceded them, succeed in the 21st Century?  The answer appears to lie in their business successes, the short-term financial and strategic results they can engender, often at the cost of employee or associate engagement, the watchword of the later 20th Century.

A 2007 study released by the San Francisco-based Employment Law Alliance, as reported by the Society for Human Resource Management in an HRMagazine May 1, 2007 article, “Study: Bully Bosses Prevalent in U.S.,” “found that bullying in U.S. workplaces is alive and well.  And, in many cases, managers and supervisors are the bullies:  Nearly 45 percent of the respondents reported that they have worked for an abusive boss.” 

In a September 25, 2000 article by Sarah A. Klein in Crain’s Chicago Business, “Take that you big, bad corporate bully! More firms seek ways to tame uncivil bosses, workers,” reported that “in one national survey, 53% of workers who reported themselves the target of incivility said they lost time worrying about incidents at work, from receiving a nasty or demeaning note to enduring a supervisor’s temper tantrum.  Almost half of the group in the University of North Carolina’s ‘Workplace Incivility Study’ said they contemplated changing jobs to avoid the offender, and 12% actually followed through.”

An earlier recognition of problems associated with dysfunctional managers was addressed in a November 1, 1991 American Management Association article “Coping with Dysfunctional Managers,” in “Supervisory Management.”  That article early in the last decade began to recognize the dysfunctional managers as “adults who grew up in dysfunctional families” and learned special coping skills, not as those adults who became dysfunctional based upon their later life experiences.  Yet that summary, citing an article by Francine S. Hall in the Summer 1991 issue of “Organizational Dynamics,” has some applicability today in its observation that, “frequently, says Hall, the organizational culture unwillingly contributes to a dysfunctional manager’s destructive behavior.  If control, for instance, is valued within the company, the dysfunctional manger might fit all too well into the framework.”

In a June 10, 2008 op-ed piece for “Business Wire” by Stephen Xavier, CEO of Cornerstone Executive Development Group, “Micro-Managing CEOs Are a Danger Sign in This Economy,” Xavier observed “there are also micro-managers who will jump from one large company to another.  Given his record at Home Depot, one would have thought that Bob Nardelli would have had trouble getting hired as CEO of any major corporation.  Yet, this old-school authoritarian CEO has found a home as CEO at Chrysler which unsurprisingly has the same history of poor labor relations, shoddy products and eroding market share.”

In The Dumbest Moments in Business History: Useless Products, Ruinous Deals, Clueless Bosses and other Signs of Unintelligent Life in the Workplace, Adam Horowitz, editor, Portfolio, the Penguin Group, New York, 2004, relates the January 2003, statement of Goldman Sachs Group CEO Henry Paulson concerning the investment banking firm’s employee layoffs for which he apologized to employees by voicemail a week later.  “I don’t want to sound heartless, but in almost every one of our businesses, there are 15 to 20 percent of the people that really add 80 percent of the value.  Although we have a lot of good people, you can cut a fair amount and still be well positioned for the upturn.” (p.21)

Richard Farson in Management of the Absurd: Paradoxes in Leadership,  Simon & Shuster, Inc., New York, 1996, wrote “many of us have the idea that as managers we can use our skills to shape our employees as if we were shaping clay, molding them into what we want them to become.  But that isn’t the way it really works.  It’s more as if our employees are piles of clay into which we fall—leaving an impression, all right, and that impression is distinctly us, but it may not be the impression we intended to leave.” (p. 41)

Although there has been a wealth of academic research on dysfunctional workplaces and the people who manage them, there has been a noticeable absence of material in the popular literature on the subject of dysfunctional managers.  Some popular management books have addressed the “boss from hell,” such as Managing Your Boss, by Sandi Mann, Barron’s, 2001.  In the section on “dealing with the boss from hell,” Sandi Mann characterizes bosses as bullies if they are continually abusive and arrogant, exploding angrily, constantly criticizing, belittling, ridiculing employees.  Mann suggests that while such bosses, similar to impatient or stressed bosses, achieve their desired results, there are serious consequences to employees due to chronic workplace bullying including serious health problems for employees and lost time to the business. 

A few books, such as When Smart People Work for Dumb Bosses, by William and Kathleen Lundin, McGraw-Hill, 1998, and Crazy Bosses, by Stanley Bing, HarperCollins Publishers, 2007, address the demoralizing short-sighted management decisions, thoughtless actions and rude behaviors of managers and the obnoxious and dangerous insanity of managers, respectively.  The Lundins wrote, “Dysfunction can be the outcome of dumb (inept, misguided, insensitive, power-driven, unfeeling) leadership or dumb (tradition-bound, blind-sided, arrogant) organizational thinking.” (p. 117)  They further wrote, “we predict more and more of what this paradigm example shows as organizations, out of competitive anxiety, dash toward ‘technological fixes’ without considering how the people who have to adapt to those ‘fixes’ need to be helped to do so.” (p.  117)  Stanley Bing writes “bully management is perhaps the most difficult of all tasks for those who wish to survive in a world filled with the impressive variety of sick senior officers.”  (Crazy Bosses, p. 75)  He noted the inconsistent nature of the bully manager with “vast emotional swings depending on mood, often seemingly unrelated to external circumstances,” (p. 75) further noting that “management by terror has been a time-honored technique because it works.” (p. 76)

The Paradox Businesses Face with the Dysfunctional Manager

Many organizations adopted a family style culture during the latter part of the 20th Century.  However, some quickly became dysfunctional family styled organizations, focused on a few functional details that yielded to the short-term success of the organization and its leaders rather than the engagement and empowerment of employees or associates.  Communication, sensitivity and caring, which are at the heart of a fully functioning and competitive organization are hazy or lost in dysfunctional management styles.  After relating many interviews with a variety of employees the Lundins observed “the most compelling observation is how people in power—from those who manage a small department to leaders of multinational corporations—believe they have the right to manipulate and play with the emotions of their employees.” (p. 173)

An example of the bully as a dysfunctional manager is one who appears in a temper at the employee’s office questioning the status of activity or demanding a status report when it was previously provided, but the manager did not take them time to save it or look for it.  Or in the mean spirit of another example, demeaning an employee with years of published and very successful writing experience with the statement “you sometimes write as though English is your second language.” 

The Dilbert cartoon strip by Scott Adams has popularly and perhaps now properly characterized the dysfunctional bullying boss.  In The Dilbert Principle: A Cubicle’s-Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads & Other Workplace Afflictions, HarperBusiness, HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 1996, Adams described the change in the management selection process from the Peter Principle of workers being promoted to bosses beyond their levels of competence to the Dilbert Principle of the most ineffective workers being “systematically moved to the place where they can do the least damage: management.” (p. 14)

In The Dilbert Principle Scott Adams shares an email submission that is similar to the statement of the Goldman Sachs Group CEO previously identified in The Dumbest Moments in Business History. 

“A newly appointed VP of my company, in an interview printed in the internal company news rag, made the following comment when asked whether existing employees would be relocated if the company won an upcoming contract, or if the company would instead hire local people:

‘Engineers are basically a commodity.  It doesn’t make economic sense for the company to pay for moves when we can buy the same commodity on site.’

Naturally, this disturbed some individuals in the workforce and a number of them showed up at an all-hands meeting held by this VP a few days later and sat in the front row plastered with signs labeling themselves as ‘Bananas,’ ‘Pork Bellies,’ etc.” (pp. 295, 296) 

Yet, these dysfunctional managers are frequently successful, in a financial sense both as individuals and for their organizations.   In the Human Resource Management article describing the 2007 study by Employment Law Alliance, its CEO Stephen J. Hirschfeld was quoted, that “changing the behavior of workplace bullies could be problematic for employers, Hirschfeld concedes, because workplace bullies can be high performers.  Aggressive or ‘type A’ behaviors tend to be rewarded in the workplace, but Hirschfeld contends that employers need to draw the line and make sure aggressive workers don’t become abusive managers.”   A Wall Street Journal article viewing the recruitment of chief executive officers observed that the characteristics of recent CEO hires have been focused on specific financial talents, details and successes rather than on the broader team leader or coach models of the past.  A September 1, 1996 article on “Making it, CEO style,” in “Executive Female by D. A. Benton stated that among five personality traits of chief executive officers ”“the higher you go, the more exposure to the big picture you have, the more you might think being detail-oriented is unnecessary.  Wrong.  It’s just the opposite.  According to near-perfect chefs, the higher you go, the more critical it is to be aware of details.”

In Management, a Revised Edition by Peter F. Drucker with Joseph A. Maciariello, HarperCollins Publishers, 1973, 1974, in the introduction to management and managers, Drucker observes “there is tremendous stress these days on liking people, helping people, getting along with people, as qualifications for a manager.  These alone are never enough.  In every successful organization there are bosses who do not like people, who do not help them, and who do not get along with them.  Cold, unpleasant, demanding, they often teach and develop more people than anyone else.  They command more respect that the most likable person ever could.  They demand exacting workmanship of themselves and other people.  They set high standards and expect that they will be lived up to.  They consider only what is right and never who is right.  And though often themselves persons of brilliance, they never rate intellectual brilliance above integrity in others.  The manger who lacks these qualities of character—no matter how likable, helpful, or amiable, no matter, even, how competent or brilliant–is a menace who is unfit to be a manager.” (p. 10)  Drucker concludes, “Organizations are far from perfect.  As every manger knows, they are very difficult; full of frustration, tension, and friction; clumsy and unwieldy.  But they are the only tools we have to accomplish such social purposes as economic production and distribution, health care, governance, and education.  And there is not the slightest reason to expect society to be willing to do without these services that only performing organizations can provide.  Indeed, there is every reason to expect society to demand more performance from all its institutions, and to become more dependent upon their performance.  And it is the managers who make institutions perform.” (p. 526)

Reforming or Reassigning the Dysfunctional Manager

Returning to the American Management Association’s article, “Coping with Dysfunctional Managers,” cited earlier in this article, efforts a decade and a half ago to solve problems related to the behaviors of dysfunctional managers were in their infancy.  That article stated that in solving the problem, “often supervisors of dysfunctional managers mistake behavior problems for management skills problems.  But for the true dysfunctional manager, attending seminars on improving management will have only short-term success.  Once a manager has accepted the fact that he or she is dysfunctional, Hall advises, a recovery program should be sought.  As for organizations, how companies both recognize the problem and effect solutions will be one of the most difficult challenges for managements in the next decade.”

One method to identify the dysfunctional manager to senior management is to allow the manager to demonstrate dysfunctional incompetence in the forum it most frequently appears.  For example, if it occurs in meetings find an appropriate opportunity to invite the dysfunctional manager’s supervisor to a meeting or if it occurs in written or verbal communications seek witnesses.  This may, however, be a long-term effort that may not have a desirable short-term result.  Another approach may be to identify documented problems seeking solutions from appropriate sources.  Still another approach may be to a peer or three level review.

Rather than providing seminars and additional training for dysfunctional managers, the solution may include intensive efforts to identify dysfunctional managers and provide coaching or reassignment when those follow-ups are needed.   One-on-one coaching, engaging a mentor relationship or even peer networking groups with other managers focused on identifying issues adversely impacting the dysfunctional manager’s style may lead to behavior modification techniques.

If the Problem is Not Addressed: Potential for Legislation

Some articles, such as the 2007 Human Resource Management summary of the Employment Law Alliance study on bullying in the workplace, suggest that a growing awareness of the problem could result in the potential for legislation if employers fail to remedy the situation.  That article reported, “There are proposals in about a dozen states for some form of workplace bullying legislation.”  It also referenced “a recent anti-bullying law enacted in the Canadian province of Quebec that gives workers the right to file suit against their employers and to recover damages for ‘any vexatious behavior that affects an employee’s dignity or their psychological or physical integrity.”

Conclusion

The inevitable conclusion, however, is that the cycle of the dysfunctional non-abusive manager may be the right type of manager for the current competitive business environment, facing cost-cutting efficiency, financial challenges and economic declines domestically and internationally.  Since dysfunctional managers may have difficulty self-identifying their need to transition their management style, organizations must be prepared to assist them in that transition through coaching and mentor or peer networking opportunities.  If the dysfunctional manager cannot to adapt hardened characteristics to the amiable and servant leader model of management, reassignment or termination may be the course an organization should consider.

There is hope, however, that in the foreseeable future effective managers with the hardened characteristics of the qualified manager that Drucker proposed, and who remain for the longer term, can adapt those characteristics to the amiable and servant leader model.  That combined model appears to have staying power that will bring longer-term success to the organization and the relationship with its employees or associates.

Glenn Soden

Universal Greetings with Respect,

It would be a travesty of justice to approach the subject of At-Risk Youth without addressing how people of color are affected since the largest number of At-Risk Youth are of color. Three primary areas of concern are:

1.Our higher rate of incarceration, from juvenile to state penitentiaries, compared to our white counterparts.

2.Our limited access to affordable and quality health care.

3.The lack of appropriate pay for qualified teachers to work in economically deprived areas with our at-risk youth–the “shadow kids.”

I am aware that it is impossible for a single person to speak to all of the opinions, experiences and ideologies of a race of people however, is my desire to express as much as I am able based upon my exposure.

As a Black man living in America it is obvious that I (We) are attending way too many funerals of our youth. Yet there is a greater number of youth who are physically alive according to medical sources, but to those of us who know them, we know that they are dying–spiritually, intellectually and emotionally due to the infestation of negativity and mis-education. We have some of the most physically overweight and unhealthy people in some of the most economically deprived communities (“When you control a man’s thinking you don’t have to control his actions.”–Carter Woodson) and those numbers are growing exponentially.

As a member of the group known as African Americans, we are a very resilient people with unlimited potential who possess a rich culture. We exist on the shoulders of giants such as Shaka Zulu, Marcus Garvey, Harriet Tubman, Fannie Lou Hamer, Martin Luther King Jr., El Hajj Malik Shabazz and multitudes more whose names we don’t know and whose history we have not studied, excluding minimal discussions which are condoned during the so-called Black History month.

However, in spite of all things considered, many fighters for our at-risk youth become co-opted and silenced by the need to keep insurance, pay mortgages, car notes, win friends and influence people. It is not popular to be race-specific in our empowerment and teaching methods, although the disproportion in our detention centers, alternative schools and among at-risk youth is, race-specific. In attempts to be politically correct, all inclusive and non-offensive, we have watered downed, generalized and broad-brushed our approach to where the core of the message, if still present at all, is having little effect.

We have developed individual wealth and collective poverty. We have spread throughout the Diaspora and become disconnected in our own homes. In communities of color, the definition of success has been too often defined by material possessions over quality of life; excessive alcohol consumption under the illusion of living the good life; a pervasion of music in our community that denigrates our women and causes our sense of brotherhood among males to be degenerated into a hatred of self and kind. Then we, as adults, award and reward the musical artist with top ratings, air play, movie deals and unsupervised time with our children, in the name of freedom. The results of this mentality are displayed in the local newspapers, evening news and our local funeral homes.

The good news is although this is not an easy task we, as individuals and as a nation, have overcome monumental challenges in our past and present when our cause was more critical than the consequences that we would face. The result is that many one time at-risk youth have turned out successful in spite of all the challenges.

We must work to close the generational divide. Effective education must include the parents or whoever are their caregivers. What harvester would complain of the fruit without ever giving attention to the tree? Also we don’t have to be a part of an organization to get started moving towards adjusting the mindset (even though that helps). We can begin in our homes, in our classrooms, and within our own circle of influence. We need a paradigm shift. Of course this has to first begin with us.

All we need are three things:

1)A sincere desire to change the current situation. (Of course you have to realize that whatever effects one of us directly affects us all indirectly.)

2)The willingness to make a plan and follow it. (This cannot be a quick fix, microwave or sprint-like approach. This is a slow-cooker, a marathon, a lifetime change.) And,

3)The willingness to put in the required work. (It ain’t over till it’s over!)

“The Way of R.E.S.P.E.C.T.” encourages and promotes an approach of:

Marcus C. Gentry
http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/a-wakeup-call-for-educators-of-atrisk-youth-97623.html

The key to record keeping is to simplify, simplify, simplify. As with any other repetitive task you want to make it as easy as possible so the main goal is achieved. At the end of the chapter I will reprint a copy of what the IRS is providing to its auditors when looking at child care centers. This information will give you some insight.

The end result of keeping accurate records is two-fold. Sometimes we get all caught up in defending against problems with the IRS and tax return preparation and that we forget the purpose of record keeping. We should be using the information from the records to advance our business and allow us to make decisions on how to run the business more effectively.

Good record keeping will allow you to keep track of the health of your business. Again, seek professional help or read as many books as possible to aid you growing your business effectively and keeping it on track. Don become overwhelmed with everything in your business and allow this area to be the one that always falls short. Remember the rule simplify! Get the information you need to make a proper decision and give the government the information they need in the form of tax return or reports.

Lets get started.

There are a number of logs that are necessary in the preparation of good records. They are: time, food, auto, and asset. In addition to these logs we need to keep track of income sources: private pay, government pay, grants, and food program. The other sources of funding must also be tracked: bank loans, vehicle loans, and loans from others. The final things that need to be kept track of are the valid expenses of the business.

Lets break down each of the above in a little more detail.

Income sources

1. Private pay from parents by child

2. Food Program (USDA)

3. Grants

4. Government Programs

I recommend that you keep track of each source of income separately and then report them separately on your income tax return. Each source can be verified by the IRS so if you report it this way there is no question to its accuracy. All money received should be deposited into a business bank account. This allows you to easily verify the income to the deposits that were made during the year.

Time, Food, and Auto

Many states provide a calendar for the tracking of these figures. In the end we need to know how many hours the day care was in operation to calculate the time space percentage (discussed previously.) Do this daily and weekly, (record on the calendar) to be able to answer all questions at the end of the year on your tax return. If you are anything like me, you can’t explain what you did last week much less what you did eleven months ago.

In 2004 the IRS made a significant change in the calculation of food expense. Prior to 2004 the only way to track food was to provide receipts of food purchases. This method was always in question to providers on how to determine what was personally eaten food, (non-deductible) and what was consumed by children, (deductible). We now have a new log to keep. You now need to provide the number of breakfast, lunch, dinner, A.M. snack and P.M snack. The IRS provides a rate that is equal to the tier-one food rate for the USDA food program.

This new program eliminates the tracking of food receipts. I still recommend keeping the food receipts to prove that you have spent at least what you are claiming. You are still allowed to keep actual receipts and use those for expense. Just realize that on audit the auditor will do a test of meals served and if your expense is higher than the calculation of meals times rate they will argue to reduce the expense.

The auto log is simply the record of miles driven on a personal vehicle for the pursuit of business. If the vehicle is used 100% for business you may take the actual expenses for that vehicle. If you share the vehicle for personal and business you need to determine the percentage of business that the vehicle was driven. The choice of using actual or mileage method is made in the first year of service. In both methods you will need to keep an accurate mileage log. The total miles driven are also necessary. The other information needed is date, miles driven, and what the business purpose was. This can be recorded on your calendar or a special book specifically for this purpose. Again, if you do it daily, it becomes natural to you and the information is readily accessible for tax time.

Asset Log

Asset Log is defined as: what is in your home that will last longer than one year. There are two types of assets: those you owned before you started operation, and those you purchased after you started operations. These assets can be further broken down into those that are 100% used for business and those that are shared by you personally and the day care. No matter which kind the assets are you need to record information about them.

Owned before operations started

1. Asset Name (ie refrigerator)

2. Location (room from floor Plan)

3. Fair Market Value at date of start of operation

4. How you determined value

5. Asset type

Purchased after operation started

1. Asset Name (ie refrigerator)

2. Location (room from floor plan)

3. Date Purchased

4. Where purchased

5. Asset Type

Based on the above information you will be able to create a depreciation schedule and claim the proper amount of expense. The depreciation schedule will either go directly to the business return or be further reduced by the time space percentage depending on whether it is a shared asset or a total business asset.

Loan List

You will need to keep track of the monies that are entering your business and from where. When you make a loan to the business it needs to be tracked. The bank wants to get their money back when they loan you money and you should want the business to return that money back to you as well. The money you loan to the company should be deposited into your business bank account, and the expenses that the loan was needed for will be recorded in the business checking account.

Many times I will have a provider complain that they are not being treated as a business person and instead are being treated as a baby sitter. Keeping accurate records and acting like a business requires you to have good records. Be sure to keep strict separation between personal expenses and business expenses. By doing this you will be treated as the professional that you are, and will give you piece of mind when tax time or decision time arrives.

Lastly, Direct Expenses

All direct business expenses should be written from your business checkbook. I have found that using a credit card has been very helpful. If you use a credit card use it for business purposes only, and pay the balance monthly, you will be able to track expenses easily. Debt is a burden that will many times destroy a new business. Good record keeping will allow you to better keep track of the monies coming in and going out. You should keep the receipts associated with the expense and organize them by category, not the month. The IRS wants to know the amount of supplies, not January, February, etc. This will allow you to easily assemble the information for the tax return or financial statement purposes.

Whether you decided to use a computer with the many programs that are available for record keeping or not, the overall goal doesn’t change. You need to systematically assemble the information in a way that you can make decisions from, and also comply with the laws of your state and federal government.

I thought it would be helpful to take a look inside what the IRS auditor would be looking for. In 2004 the IRS published an audit guide for child care centers. This publication is used by auditors to get up to speed on a certain industry segment. If you know what they are looking for you can better be prepared when the time comes. It is too late to prepare after you are selected for audit, because the audit will happen between two and three years after the year that they are auditing.

The IRS has given its auditors specific guidance that lets you know what issues the examiners are looking for. This is not an absolute list because the individual auditor can ask for anything they want to look at but this is a great starting point.

From Child Care Providers Audit Techniques Guide

1. Be prepared to discuss the business history including the starting date, a brief description of a typical days activities, and internal controls for income and expenses information

2. If you are taking a deduction for the use of your home, provide a floor plan, blueprint or other significant documents to reflect the square footage of the residence. Provide the escrow and/or closing statement to verify the cost of the property. Mortgage company statements showing the paid property tax renting your home provide substantiation of the expenses and a copy of the rental agreement.

3. Provide copies of Federal Tax Returns for prior and subsequent years, prior Federal and State audit reports, any related returns: partnership, corporation, or employment tax returns and any Forms 1099 filed and/or received.

4. Provide journals, ledgers, records, notebooks used to keep a record of clients and the amount they paid (weekly, monthly, etc)

5. Provide all bank statements, business and personal, for the period beginning _______ and ending _______.

6. If you are participating in the food program, provide copies of the reimbursement statement, name and address of the food sponsor, attendance and meal count record, and time record.

7. Provide copy of any benefit or retirement plan.

8. Provide substantiation in the form of canceled checks, receipts, statements, or invoices for expenses identified for examination.

9. Provide all business licenses, approvals, registrations, and certifications.

When facing an examination by the IRS, it is best to provide the auditor with exactly what they ask for and nothing more. Answer only the questions they specifically ask and avoid offering additional information that they don’t specifically ask for. You don’t want to expand the scope of the audit by offering information that will lead to additional areas of inquiry. Do not go to the inquiry alone and preferable bring your tax advisor to assist you. If the tax advisor has complete knowledge of your return he/she may prefer to complete the audit without you present. This normally avoids the expansion of the audit and allows it to proceed to a conclusion as quickly as possible.

If you take the process of record keeping one step at a time and do one thing every day you will stay on top of the work and benefit from the wealth of knowledge that can be derived from that information.

(c) CG Groth 2007

Christine Groth
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-business-articles/record-keeping-for-daycare-centers-138131.html

Dawn is just cresting the mountain ridge as you hike silently up to your favorite spot, a perch where you can see – unseen by other hikers. Here, you position yourself to meditate. The golden rays paint the rocks, and trees glisten with their own energy. You reach out to embrace the view. Suddenly, it feels as if your spirit leaves your body and becomes a part of all around you. Then, just as suddenly, you are back inside your own skin wondering what just happened.

You had a transcendental experience, leaving this “mortal coil” to join with all that is the universe, to become one with creation. It is an awe-inspiring experience that may last for only an instant but leave its impact for a lifetime.

If you are lucky enough to have had an experience similar to this, you have had a vision of the world as it truly is…where everything is connected to everything else. As Martin Luther King said, “we are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny…” This is the core tenet of sustainability, understanding that we humans are not the masters of the Earth.  We are part of and connected to everything that exists.  When we understand this most basic concept, all that we do to pursue sustainability becomes almost self-evident.

The Need for Thinking Sustainably
Why do we, at this time in history, need to be concerned with sustainability? For many scientists, economists, and sociologists, there is mounting evidence that humans have been sowing the seeds of their own extinction. Many believe that, unless immediate corrective actions are taken, civilizations and humanity itself are headed for global catastrophes.

According to the World Resources Institute, at least 3.5 billion people, more than half of the world’s current population, are expected to experience water shortages by 2025. As the population continues to soar, the world’s fisheries and agricultural productivity are in decline. Global heating is threatening to raise sea levels and dry up water resources all over the world. Meanwhile, the warming atmosphere spawns highly variable weather with devastating storms, snows in the South, heat waves in the North and the paradoxical possibility of a new Ice Age.

Economic disparity is also growing worldwide. Today, a few hundred billionaires control more wealth than all the people in the 45 poorest countries.  Political upheaval, religious fanaticism and ongoing conflicts destroy the environment, lives and communities. While these are not new phenomena, technology has made them global in their impacts.

As the Chinese curse states, we now live in interesting times. And that is why there is a renewed interest in sustainability spreading across the planet.

To Be or Not To Be…Sustainable
Apparently, there seems to be some controversy and misunderstanding about the term, sustainability. It is becoming politicized, primarily by those who either do not understand what it means or who feel threatened by its concepts.

Simply put, sustainability means the ability to last, to continue existing in one’s chosen state. To be sustainable, you must appreciate the conditions in which you live and limit the demands your chosen life makes on those conditions. To be sustainable, we must take only what we need and preserve the resources and capabilities needed so future generations can thrive.

We must work together to create strong economies, healthy communities and a preserved natural environment. Are we living within the carrying capacity of the Earth?  Are we taking only what the Earth can continually provide? Are we contributing positively to our communities and the natural environment?  The answer to those questions will determine what kind of future we are leaving to those who follow us.

There are lessons in sustainability to be learned every day…if one pays attention to the natural world around us.

Learn from Nature
All life as we know it on Earth lives within a “closed system.”  Nothing enters Earth’s system in any measurable quantity except sunlight. The seeds for all new life come from existing life. All plants, animals, insects and humans gather their food and water from what exists on Earth. At the end of each life, everything must cycle back to the Earth to sustain the future. That is the Cycle of Life, and it is bound by physical laws that cannot be broken.
The Cycle of Life links all living things together. We depend on each other, on all living things, for our survival. Yet, knowing that we need a healthy natural environment and an ongoing Cycle of Life, we humans are the only species that actively works to break the Cycle of Life.
To build our modern societies, we take resources out of the natural environment, use them and then dispose of them as wastes. During the course of that linear process, we generate all sorts of pollution. The result is that, unlike other species in nature, we deplete natural resources, destroy natural habitats and, consequently, threaten our own existence. 

Seeking Balance: Economy, Community, Environment
In Nature, organisms strive for balance or homeostasis within their ecosystems. Take the time to sit and observe a tree, a stream or any small natural area. You’ll find it rich with life, even in desert areas. Within a small ecosystem, you can see the interdependency of life in action. Plants grow together helping each gain water and minerals from the soil. Insects, birds and animals find food and shelter among the plants. You’ll notice there is no waste. Everything serves as food for everything else.

Everywhere you look there is a natural balance that continues until some external forces upset it. Then, each system, together with its living components, works to regain that balance. To become sustainable, we must think holistically and work collectively to find balance within ourselves, our families, our economy, our communities and the natural environment.

Let’s start with economy. Notice that it has the same root word, ECO, from the Greek for home or where we live. Economy means managing where we live. It means thoughtful use of resources to sustain life. In today’s society, we consider economy in terms of the flow of dollars. That is not our economy. It is only one inaccurate way to measure our economy.

Genuine Progress Indicators measure how well we are doing. To learn more, visit Redefining Progress at www.rprogress.org.

So to begin to gain balance with our economy, we need to think about it differently and measure progress differently. How do we know when our economy is improving? Certainly, it is not by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that only tracks the flow of dollars. We know it by measurable improvements in our quality of life.

Are children healthy and doing well in school? Does every child have access to a good education? Are people who work earning livable wages? Is good housing affordable for all? Is the air clean and healthy to breathe? Are the elderly and infirm well provided for? Is the water abundant and safe to drink? Are communities healthy and safe from crime and war? Are more people working using less energy and materials to create more value to society?  In each of these questions lie fabulous economic opportunities. When the answer to these questions is “Yes,” then we are beginning to produce a healthy, balanced economy.

Connecting, Engaging, Supporting
Strengthening communities begins with understanding our connections to each other. We are all more alike than we are different. Knowing this allows us to celebrate our differences in ways that enrich all our lives. Knowing that we all share a “single garment of destiny” can lead us to overcome old antagonisms and work for the common good. Together, as good neighbors, we can conceive a collective vision and develop the will to achieve it.

Creating healthy, balanced communities requires engagement. We need to be involved with others at different levels in our society, depending upon our interests and our talents. Some of us may be great at arranging neighborhood gatherings. Others may feel the need to volunteer at the local school or with a civic group. There are the natural politicians among us who can represent us at the town council. All of us can become informed and vote.

Restoring and preserving our natural environment is fundamental to sustainability. Learning the lessons of nature, we can more closely integrate ourselves into the Cycle of Life where everything contributes to the whole and nothing is wasted. We can all do simple things.

Eat lower down on the food chain. Locally produced fruits, vegetables and grains take less from the Earth than processed foods. Take shorter showers. Get out of your car and walk or bike. Form carpools and use public transportation when you can. Become knowledgeable about ways to conserve and lead simpler, more rewarding lives.

Stay in Contact
Our modern lives have disengaged us from our communities and the natural world. We have the opportunity and the need to re-engage for our own well-being and that of everyone on the planet. Connected, each one of us can do our part, and as we do, the whole becomes stronger and more vibrant.

So take the time. Make meaningful contact with those around you. Support those in need. Share your feelings about the issues of today and your dreams for tomorrow. Contribute your talents and good works to the true economy that benefits all.

Go to Nature. Learn from her. Find that special place for yourself where you can reach out to become one with everything around you. There you can awaken within yourself the power of your sustainable spirit.

John Neville
http://www.articlesbase.com/environment-articles/the-sustainable-spirit-683319.html

What do we even mean by personal success? Hopefully you don’t think it is all about appearing successful to others in order to feel good about yourself. So what if you have the things they all desire and you gain enough money and power to impress the world. It may be true that it will cause some good feelings in you, and satisfy some lower nature that we all have. But this is a fragile and temporary success at best.

Finding a “success” based on the standards and opinions of other people means you are forever dependent on the approval of those people. You are only as successful as they say you are. A financial failing, a change of public tastes or even just growing old and less attractive will leave you scrambling to get back into their good graces. That isn’t personal success. That’s personal stress and spiritual corruption.

It isn’t that there is anything wrong with money, homes on the beach or even fame. You can have all these things and be a successful human being too. But to base your life on a wealth that is defined outside you makes you a slave to both the whims of public opinion and your own mistaken ideas. Hopefully you already sense the futility of chasing other people’s dreams, but the latter – the following of the one’s own bad ideas – that is what the following secret of personal success addresses.

Personal Success Is Beyond You

The above may seem like a bold statement, or perhaps even rude, but let me explain what I mean. What you and I see as our “self” is often an identity created in our minds. I’m not talking about the conscious choice to maintain a certain “image.” We all “play” roles at times. But how often are we conscious of the interior forces that “play” us. In other words, there are patterns of thought and ideas in your mind that pass themselves off as “you.”

This isn’t meant to be mystical in any way. I’m referring to a real phenomenon that you can verify for yourself, but to speak of these things requires a metaphorical understanding. So imagine for a moment that an invader has taken control of your mind. It tells you what you can and can’t do, who to impress, why you should feel bad, and more. Now watch your own thoughts today and you’ll see that this is not an invention, but a reality of how our minds work.

We all tend to identify with the thoughts and conversations which fill our minds. They tell us how to feel and exactly why we should feel that way, and we even repeat their arguments as though this is who we truly are. But if you do not consider a virus in your body to be you, why do you call those thoughts in your head “you.” They seem to come and go without conscious decision and are contradictory and often self-defeating, aren’t they? They are just thoughts, and you certainly are more than this collection of random ideas and repetitious programmed responses.

Perhaps this is easier to see in our friends, where we can easily witness bad ideas truly “taking hold” of them and leading them down destructive paths. But why would they hurt themselves if they didn’t identify with these thoughts as their “selves?” They wouldn’t.

Suppose a man told you to jump off a cliff or otherwise hurt yourself. You would ignore this advice, right? In fact, even if someone simply suggests why you should give up on something important to you, you probably dismiss it as rude. But when the advice comes from your own mind in the form of your own imagined voice, you jump, don’t you? And you justify your actions and feelings using the arguments handed to you. How often have all of us missed opportunities or been lead to destructive actions or painful situations by the thoughts in our own minds? Yet we so easily believe that our busy mind is looking out for our own best interest, that it is who we are.

This secret to personal success, then, is to start to doubt your own internal dialogue. It will ramble on, but you can mentally step back and see how much of it is nothing more than a mechanical reaction. You really don’t even need to see what childhood experience created this or that mental “program” or pattern of thought and behavior. You just need to witness it and see it for what it is. Then reach beyond this false “you” for better answers.

This is a kind of self awareness that requires constant vigilance and continuing exploration. But it’s worth it. You may be surprised to see how many things you consider valuable are actually just ideas that started from the people and environment around you and now are trying to perpetuate themselves in your mind, pretending to be your own. You can dismiss these bad ideas once you see them clearly for what they are, and then pursue what is truly valuable to your truest self. That is a powerful secret of personal success.

Steve Gillman

If there’s a word that is universally invoked in the world of finance, it’s “transparency.” The word comes to us from the 16th century with the connotation of “shining through,” The idea is simple. Transparency is about being able to see what is going on and to have key practices disclosed. Without that, it is believed, financial markets can’t function because of a lack of trust and clear rules that all the players adhere to. It is a market fundamental, a primary rule of principle.

Or so you would think.

When it began, subprime lending was even not a term that most people outside the financial markets understood. (By 2007, the American Dialect Society would call it the most used term of the year.) The Wikipedia would describe it this way:

Subprime lending, also called B-paper, near-prime, or second chance lending, is the practice of making loans to borrowers who do not qualify for the best market interest rates because of their deficient credit history. The phrase also refers to paper taken on property that cannot be sold on the primary market, including loans on certain types of investment properties and certain types of self-employed individuals. Subprime lending is risky for both lenders and borrowers due to the combination of high interest rates, poor credit history, and adverse financial situations usually associated with subprime applicants.

In early February 2008, almost a decade after the birth of what would become the subprime industry, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the nominal regulators of financial markets, found the courage to admit that they didn’t really know what was going on in their multi-billion-dollar securities market.

They announced an investigation.

One of their “enforcers” explained: “The big question is, who knew what when, and what did they disclose to the marketplace?” These were the words of Cheryl Scarboro, an associate director in the SEC’s enforcement division in charge of the subprime working group. This working group, composed of one hundred lawyers, which seems to have only begun working after the scandal erupted, is investigating how banks, credit rating firms, and lenders valued and disclosed complex mortgage-backed securities.

Reuters reported they were looking into three areas: “the securitization process, the origination process nd the retail area. Insider trading, which is one of the SEC’s highest priorities, is also a key area.”

Bear in mind that they are not operating in the interests of borrowers who were victimized by deceptive loans, but inquiring whether shareholders – i.e., investors – were kept in the dark through inadequate disclosures.

Their scope is narrow: “We do have to work very hard at bringing the right cases,” says SEC enforcement division chief Linda Chatman Thomsen. “We work on the most ‘impactful’ cases. … At the end of the day we have to be about deterrence.”

Deterrence? That was a concept born in the nuclear age to prevent/deter war. How it’s relevant after the collapse of the industry itself was not addressed. What is there now to deter?

This SEC group was reportedly “talking with” but not coordinating with oversight bodies like the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and Office of Thrift Supervision. Is it significant that the FBI, which also announced its own investigation into criminal conduct by mortgage firms, is not on this list!

If the regulators who should be in the know about these practices are not, it’s not surprising that most of the media and the public share this plight.

The whole area is murky. Even George Miller, the Executive Director of the industry’s own trade association and lobby group the American Securitization Forum, told CNBC as this investigation was announced that one of the reforms his organization was advocating was “taking steps to enhance where necessary the transparency in the marketplace.” Note the qualifying phrase “where necessary.”

While reporting from the Forum’s meeting in Las Vegas, CNBC’s correspondent joked they had “gambled away our economy.” Ha, ha. The Forum has not always been a joke. When the Treasury Department announced, with great fanfare, a program to help distressed homeowners in December 2007, it was widely reported that this industry group had actually written it. The plan offered no help to
families facing foreclosure.

They also played a very powerful role in holding off government scrutiny. They were the influential behind-the-scenes player rationalizing the industry and its exotic derivative financial instruments. Their website, which lists their impressive membership list of big banks and funds, describes its work this way: “The American Securitization Forum (ASF) is a broadly-based professional forum through which participants in the U.S. securitization market can advocate their common interests on important legal, regulatory and market practice issues.”

According to the New York Times, the Forum’s Las Vegas Meeting could be considered a “predator’s ball.” The newspaper did not remind readers that 16 years earlier this same phraseology was used widely about an earlier scandal on Wall Street. This account was published on August 15, 1991:

They call it the Creditors’ Ball: a hundred or so bankruptcy lawyers, bankers and investors, sipping cocktails and feasting on shrimp in the Hamptons in an unabashed celebration of the impoverished 1990’s.

This party of the well-paid, the well-connected, and the well-coiffed is quickly becoming the social event of the bankruptcy set, just as the Predators’ Ball was a highlight of Wall Street’s social calendar. That Beverly Hills extravaganza, sponsored by Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc., ended with the brokerage’s downfall in 1990.

So much for lessons being learned.

THE IMPORTANCE OF DISCLOSURE

At least now, the industry’s public face and the regulators have come around to agreeing with a growing army of critics that inadequate disclosure was at the root of the problem, i.e., a lack of transparency.

And not only in the housing industry!

Well-known banks had also been admitting a little, while hiding a lot. When the finance ministers from the Group of the 7 top industrialized countries met in Tokyo on February 9, 2008, they issued a call to banks to fully disclose their losses from the subprime meltdown. The German Minister Peer Steinbruck said that these write-offs could reach a whopping $400 billion, four times previous estimates.

It must be noted that just a month earlier, in late December, Wall Street firms paid out more record bonuses to the bankers who had made them a vast fortune.

Why the secrecy, why the lack of disclosure?

A top-level corporate reputation consultant, who asked to remain anonymous but who has worked on the issue, summed it up for me in one word: greed. “They were making so much money that they didn’t have time for due diligence or transparency. It was just pouring in.”

Yet, oddly enough, one of the industry’s big traders was still not remorseful. “We need to step back and take a breather,” John Devaney told the New York Times. “I don’t think there is anything fundamentally wrong.”

No one asked him about the findings of the Senate’s Joint Economic Committee:

Approximately $71 billion in housing wealth will be directly destroyed through the process of foreclosures.

States and local governments will lose more than $917 million in property tax revenue as a result of the destruction of housing wealth caused by subprime foreclosures.

No one thought about that at the beginning of the subprime boom either.

Danny Schechter