Manns Medium

So many ask this question but few ever get a straight answer to it.  Most are given the “old tired and true” reasons like lack of sufficient credit or lack of sufficient equity/capital or my favorite, lack of sufficient personal wealth.  Which begs the question, how can any of these be achieved if one cannot get the capital to begin that journey. The real reason that minority and women businesses face a steeper climb up the wealth ladder than others is that program rules are set for those already there or it is designed to keep minority and women owned businesses from ever achieving this status.  I say that because the evidence of such is quite overwhelming, if you look at it honestly. There is a recent story in our local news about a “79 year old former owner, CEO and president of a company called Rockford’s Commercial Mortgage and Finance Company who was just sentenced to 7.5 years in prison on 17 counts of mail fraud, one count of wire fraud and one count of s...

Many people ask me where do I come up with these deep philosophical solutions or theories in many of my writings and the simple answer is having a very strong desire to understand why people do what they do and an equally strong desire to be able to explain it in a way which allows all of us a choice.  The choice of owning our actions which gives us back control over them or ignoring them which keeps us in that funk which some seems to enjoy.  Others have accused me of being too simplistic and minimizing an issue but to them I say that contrary to popular belief the simple answer is always the right one because problems are only complicated when we inject other things into them.  Ever notice that the simplest change to an existing product makes that product better? This hypothesis leads me to our current debate or discussion.  The real truth behind why we lie.  The simple answer is fear.  We lie because we fear what the results will be if we tell the t...

With the economy being so very sluggish, you would think that intelligent people would be spending more of their time making all attempts to help instead of hurt but not according to an article written by The Associated Press titled Thousands fall victim to scam disguised as Obama utility bill relief.   The article reports that “as much as President Barack Obama wants your vote, he's not actually offering to pay your monthly bills.   But thousands of Americans have been persuaded otherwise, falling victim to a fast-moving scam that claims to be part of an Obama administration program to help pay utility bills in the midst of a scorching summer.   The scam benefits from being cleverly executed and comes at a time when air conditioners in much of the country are running around the clock to tame record-high temperatures.   Here's how it works: Victims typically receive an automated phone call informing them of the nonexistent utility program that will supposedly pay up...

Sometimes our news agencies fail to report things that affect many of us directly and because the information is not shared, many more are taken advantage of.   This has certainly been the case during this economic turn-down and with so many struggling to make ends meet.   A few that I thought would be of good use to know are taken from the alert email received from the Federal Bureau of Investigation Internet Crime Complaint Center or IC3. The IC3 continues to receive reports of counterfeit check schemes targeting U.S. law firms. The scammers contact lawyers via e-mail, claiming to be overseas and requesting legal representation in collecting a debt from third parties located in the U.S. The law firms receive a retainer agreement and a check payable to the law firm. The firms are instructed to deposit the check, take out retainer fees, and wire the remaining funds to banks in China, Korea, Ireland, or Canada. After the funds are wired overseas, the checks are determined ...

It appears that every single time, Washington does anything to help ease the pain of the middle class and poor in this country, some egghead or a group of them see this as an opportunity to take advantage and make money on the backs of those who have suffered most in our country.   When are we going to say enough is enough and start hitting back?   When will the middle class and the working poor stop being a victim and start reclaiming our mantle as more than just dollar signs with legs to those who prey on us? Recently, the Obama Administration secured a very large down-payment for those homeowners who have done the right thing and kept up with their mortgage payments even though they were the only ones playing by the rules.   The task force assigned to bring those responsible for this casino creation to justice is still working diligently and for those Americans who did all that they could to keep their homes and their American Dream alive but were victims to th...