Showing posts with label Financial Journalism Ethics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Financial Journalism Ethics. Show all posts
5/21/14
4/23/13
On the 2012 Greensboro & Guilford County Real Estate Tax Revaluation Assessment
Guilford's unemployment rate went from about 5.5% in 2004 to about 10% in 2012, and home prices dropped during 2011.
On Tuesday, March 5, 2013, The Greensboro News & Record reported “A record number of Guilford County property owners are appealing their 2012 tax revaluations at the state level… after being rejected by the Guilford County Board of Equalization and Review”, and “this year’s number is nearly five times that of the 2004 revaluation”
The City of Greensboro’s property taxes are based on Guilford County’s valuation.
This information can be verified by Tax Director Ben Chavis at 641-3379, or bchavis@co.guilford.nc.us. The Rhino's Scott Yost, the News & Record's Amanda Lehmert, Joe Killian and Jeff Gauger failed to interview the expert who analyzed this information, and didn't investigate or report the following information to the public.
In May, 2012, Mecklenburg County moved to independently audit their 2011 real estate revaluation after numerous complaints of over-valuation. Among 52 neighborhoods with the fastest-rising values, 20 had major problems and 18 others had minor ones.
The audit found “neighborhood modifiers were often used…instead of using “influence code” adjustments such as shape, size, and topography with clearly expressed percentages for each adjustment… The use of neighborhood modifiers in this manner, results in a lack of transparency in land appraisal”, and “The mixing of influence code adjustments with neighborhood modifiers hinders an efficient review of neighborhood” and “this was a primary tool the Tax Office staff utilized to produce the values for the 2011 revaluation”, and “it is difficult to determine what individual factors were considered… Property owners cannot readily determine if nearby commercial properties also received the same base square foot rate or were adjusted for similar influences such as location or limited access."
Mecklenburg County's Tax Assessor resigned after the report revealed the department had not made on-site visits to actually see properties that were being valued.
Guilford County’s Tax Department declined to provide what data points and variable broad based assumptions (modifiers) and foreclosures were and were not included, as well as the software instructions for the 2012 revaluation.
The Greensboro News & Record’s Joe Killian 373-7000, or joe.killian@news-record.com, and the Rhino Times’ Scott Yost 273-0885, or scott@rhinotimes.net, also declined to investigate or report on the following, which correlates with the information above;
The North Carolina Department of Revenue’s “Sales Ratio” is an indicator used to access which NC counties are relatively over or under assessed for tax valuation purposes. Of the North Carolina counties that revalued in 2012, 5 had a Sales Ratio showing overvalued tax assessments as of January 1, 2011.
Those I spoke with who sell real estate valuation software, revealed some tax director’s interpretations of revaluation laws vary widely, and that all counties don’t incorporate the same information for assessments, meaning results may vary and can be massaged.
Guilford was the only North Carolina County in 2012 whose real estate values were supposed to fall by the state’s metric that didn’t, as 72% of the other counties fell more than the Sales Ratio indicated. Of the three counties that went higher, the other two were at the extreme opposites of the valuation metric.
Guilford County’s 2012-13 pre-real estate revaluation proposed budget including a 9.5 cent tax increase, but instead of falling about 3.72% or more as the 1/1/11 Sales Ratio and housing data from 2011 suggested, Guilford County’s values rose and tax rates decreased to the benefit of political incumbents.
In August 2012, Guilford County's Commissioners voted to give Guilford County employees a $250 bonus and 40 hours of extra paid time off.
In March 2012 before announcing her retirement, Guilford County Manager Brenda Jones Fox created a temporary bonus for county employees, only for those retiring with more than 30 years of service within a certain time period. When Fox announced her retirement, she stood to receive another $44,500, until the Rhino Times’ Scott Yost reported the story.
Mrs. Fox was not fired.
Please support Greensboro and Guilford County investigating the 2012 revaluation process and redo the next tax revaluation in 2016 instead of 2020, and encourage our local news industry to report these results.
10/8/12
Just emailed to Kirsten Pittman, business reporter at the Charlotte Observer;; From: Spivey, William - Sent: Tuesday, May 08, 2012 4:17 PM - To: Hartzman, George
Hi Mr. Hartzman,
I'm a business reporter at the Charlotte Observer
and just wanted to get back to you regarding your complaints about Wells Fargo.
My editor forwarded me your voicemail last week.
I'd love to set up a time to talk more about this.
Just let me know what works for you.
Thanks,
Kirsten Pittman
FINRA, SEC, DOL, CFPB, FTC, FRB, and PCAOB Wells Fargo Whistleblower Filing
1. WHO IS THE FIRM AGAINST WHOM THIS COMPLAINT IS FILED?
The potential enormity of George Hartzman's Wells Fargo Whistleblower filing on Envision Investment Plans and 4front
Wells Fargo Advisors is one of the nation's premier financial services firms.
Its brokerage business is represented by more than 15,000 Financial Advisors...
If about 10,000 Wells Fargo Financial Advisors
had to do a minimum of 25 Envision Investment Plans on households worth at least $250,000
to receive 4Front compensation ["retention bonus after Wells acquisition of Wachovia"?]
and the average assets held by households that received 4Front Envision plans
was/is about $450,000,
and the average number of qualifying FA 4Front Envision Plans
was/is about 35 per Financial Advisor,
If about 10,000 FA's created about 35 plans each = 350,000 4Front Envision Plans,
and about 350,000 x what could be about $450,000 of assets held for each household = $157,500,000,000,
could George Hartzman's Wells Fargo Whistleblower filing
affect what could be more than $150 billion of Wells Fargo Advisors client assets?
Fecundstench, Ed Cone, Billy Jones, Tony Wilkins and Roch on Hartzman's Wells Fargo Whistleblower filing
Please make sure to read the comment sections.
Making the Case Against Hartzman
Making the Case for Hartzman
Please make sure to read the comment sections.
Making the Case Against Hartzman
Making the Case for Hartzman
Please make sure to read the comment sections.
If Peoples Bank of North Carolina's CEO Tony Wolfe decided to sign off on SEC reports stating Federal Reserve Borrowings, did BB&T?
It appears that the N.C. Office of the Commissioner of Banks (NCCOB)
oversees the following banks
The Bank had $5.0 million in borrowings
from the Federal Reserve Bank (“FRB”) at December 31, 2008.
This borrowing was a 28-day Term Auction Facility loan
at an interest rate of 0.28% which matured in January 2009.
8/3/12
Harry Markopolos - Bernie Madoff
In front of the House Financial Services Committee hearing,
the former investment manager
told how his nine years of repeated warnings to SEC enforcement officials went ignored
and how they dismissed his detailed "red flag" reports.
Madoff Whistleblower: SEC Failed To Do The Math
It was redemption of a sort for Harry Markopolos,
...who spent nearly a decade on Madoff's trail
— and whose warnings were largely ignored by securities regulators.
Madoff whistleblower blasts SEC
A whistleblower who repeatedly warned the Securities and Exchange Commission
that Bernard Madoff was perpetrating a massive investment fraud
testified Wednesday that the regulatory agency that oversees financial markets is inept,
"financially illiterate" and far too cozy with the financial titans
it is supposed to be regulating.
"The SEC is also captive to the industry it regulates
and it is afraid of bringing big cases against the largest most powerful firms,"
"Cleary the SEC was afraid of Mr. Madoff."
Harry Markopolos
After at first receiving an encouraging reception from the SEC's Boston Bureau Chief, Edward Manion,
Markopolos said the New York SEC office, which supervised Boston,
blocked a further investigation.
Markopolos said the SEC is in need of a major overhaul.
Senior managers should be replaced,
lawyers should be separated from financial investigators,
and the agency should hire employees
who have years of Wall Street experience, he said.
7/31/12
7/21/12
On David Massey, Securities Director for the state of North Carolina
"The president of the North American Securities Administrators Association
...which is comprised of securities regulators from all 50 states...
David Massey, the deputy securities administrator for the state of North Carolina,
began a one-year term as president
of the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) in September.
What are your priorities for NASAA in 2011?
Number one on our priority list is that financial professionals
who provide investment advice be subject to fiduciary duty.
...which is comprised of securities regulators from all 50 states...
David Massey, the deputy securities administrator for the state of North Carolina,
began a one-year term as president
of the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) in September.
What are your priorities for NASAA in 2011?
Number one on our priority list is that financial professionals
who provide investment advice be subject to fiduciary duty.
I believe money is fungible
Fungible means interchangeable.
The word comes into play
when (inter alia) earmarked funds end up in a general account.
These funds are then free to be used for purposes other than intended.
Example: You would like to go on a vacation but you have unpaid car repair bills.
A wealthy uncle hears that you are having financial trouble and sends money to help.
However, he would never have agree to pay for your vacation
–- he’s nice, but not that nice.
Once your uncle’s money is deposited into your checking account,
you are free to spend it as you please.
You then get to pay off your bills and go on vacation.
In essence, you paid your bills (a necessity) while your uncle funded your vacation.
http://blog.mises.org/archives/007321.asp#
The word comes into play
when (inter alia) earmarked funds end up in a general account.
These funds are then free to be used for purposes other than intended.
Example: You would like to go on a vacation but you have unpaid car repair bills.
A wealthy uncle hears that you are having financial trouble and sends money to help.
However, he would never have agree to pay for your vacation
–- he’s nice, but not that nice.
Once your uncle’s money is deposited into your checking account,
you are free to spend it as you please.
You then get to pay off your bills and go on vacation.
In essence, you paid your bills (a necessity) while your uncle funded your vacation.
http://blog.mises.org/archives/007321.asp#
Fungibility
Fungibility is the property of a good or a commodity
whose individual units are capable of mutual substitution.
Examples of highly fungible commodities [like oil]
are ...currencies.
It refers only to the ease of exchanging one unit of a commodity
with another unit of the same commodity.
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungibility
Word for the day: Fungible
7/19/12
Financial Journalism Ethics
Statements by high officials are practically always misleading
when they are designed to bolster a falling market.
Gerald Loeb
7/17/12
6/12/12
Can truth be a casualty of social instability?
Those who do not accept the fundamental principles of state propaganda
are simply excluded from the debate
(or if noticed, dismissed as "emotional," "irresponsible," etc…)
Noam Chomsky
If a few multinational corporations
own an overwhelming majority of newspapers, magazines, news channels
radio stations, book publishers and business information sources,
what are the chances of an investigative journalist
publishing a negative story on a sister subsidiary
or on a subsidiary of another company that could retaliate in kind,
or on a whistleblower against the top brass
of the fourth largest bank in the country?
Is it worse that America’s political leadership didn’t see the financial crisis coming,
or that most economists and business leaders didn’t know
or did and failed to inform the public,
or that some legislators sharing relatively high portions of blame,
pledged to find and punish those responsible and did relatively nothing
as the regulatory infrastructure of the country became compromised?
It is difficult to get a man to understand something
when his salary depends on his not understanding it
Upton Sinclair
Is an untruth disseminated as true a lie
if the truth remains unfound through in-curiosity?
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