Check out these small business loan images:
Northern Rock Queue
Image by Dominic's pics
Small line of customers (presumably anxious investors and savers) outside a branch of Northern Rock Bank - a Mortgage specialist and a top UK mortgage lender - in North Street, Brighton, East Sussex. The business (a former "savings and loan" type Building Society which was demutualised in 1997) has been affected in part by problems in the US "subprime" lending market. Picture taken late on Friday afternoon on 14th September 2007.
This was a very polite english "run on a bank" - the first in 141 years - in (loose) comparison to the Argentine "pots and pans" (cacerolazo) protests. As the British satirist Charlie Brooker blackly remarked (in response to the endless, dull, undramatic television footage of patient queues) - "Oh, for f*cks sake, why won't one of you panic!"
THE LIES OF OBAMALAND (OR HOW DO I GET TO THE 15TH DISTRICT?)
Image by SS&SS
OBAMA WATCH CENTRAL
Inspector general says 'jobs saved' numbers are nonsense
Totals 'should be offset by thousands destroyed'
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Posted: January 11, 2011
8:09 pm Eastern
By Gene Koprowski
© 2011 WorldNetDaily
Claims by the federal government that it used stimulus dollars to create and save millions of U.S. jobs are "misleading," cannot be confirmed and rely on methods that lack "transparency," according to reports from government watchdogs that WND obtained.
The first watchdog report takes on the Small Business Administration. According to the SBA's own inspector general's office, the SBA received 0 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – commonly known as the stimulus act – and, like other federal agencies which also received part of the trillion-dollar Obama stimulus package, was required to report job retention and creation statistics. The agency reported the figures initially, on its web site, every month, but the inspector general audited those figures, casting doubt on their veracity.
"I have never been a fan of the SBA," Donald Mazzella, editorial director of Information Strategies, Inc., a New Jersey-based publisher of small business publications, tells WND. "I have long suspected the numbers."
According to the SBA's inspector general, the SBA never defined what constitutes "jobs saved" for its programs, which provide grants and loan monies to small businesses and banks that deal with small businesses. Thus, SBA "lenders are generally reporting all existing jobs at the applicant's business as 'jobs retained,'" the report noted.
On the White House website, Obama administration officials estimate that during the last three months of 2010, they created 3.5 million jobs.
Their report says the government spends only ,000 to create "1 job-year."
The inspector general's report was based on information provided by financial institutions on just 30 loans made by SBA programs during the first year of the Obama administration. Under the stimulus act, the SBA is required to report job creation and retention statistics in its monthly Recovery Act Program Performance Report, which is published online.
The SBA's two major loan programs are colloquially known as the 7(a) program and the 504 loan program. The inspector general reported that the loan programs' "lack of a definition for 'jobs retained' and the discrepancy in the forms used to collect job statistics from 7(a) borrowers and lenders has resulted in a performance metric with questionable clarity and transparency."
The inspector general, what is more, indicated that only one of the programs, the 504 program, even asked loan applicants how many jobs are to be saved. The other program, the 7(a) program, made something of a leap of faith as to jobs created.
"In the 504 loan program, where job creation and retention is a program criteria, applicants are required to report the number of current employees, jobs to be created in the next two years, and jobs to be retained because of the loan," the IG report said.
Applicants for the 7(a) program, meanwhile, were just asked to report on their application the number of employees at the time of application and the number of employees "if [the] loan is approved."
As the inspector general noted, as a result of this shoddy methodology, the report "results in unclear and misleading reporting." Those who follow the SBA have suspected that something was amiss for some time, as surveys of small businesses do not indicate the stimulus bolstered main street during the recession. There are also side-effects of the stimulus that have actively harmed small firms.
"I think that any jobs purportedly saved should be offset by the thousands of jobs that have been destroyed by the stimulus package, such as the jobs it destroyed by igniting trade wars with Mexico and Canada that the U.S. effectively lost," Hans Bader, an attorney with the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), tells WND.
Green Gaffe
Another watchdog report indicates that the feds actually gave stimulus funds to foreign firms – located in Australia and China – meaning that any jobs "created" were created overseas using U.S. money.
"Its green-jobs subsidies ... funneled money to foreign firms and effectively outsourced American jobs," said Bader. "Seventy nine percent of all green jobs funding in the stimulus package went to foreign firms, according to the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University – such as money given to a bankrupt Australian investment firm, Babcock & Brown, to import Japanese-made wind turbines."
According to the report, it gets even worse: a proposed wind farm in Texas stands to get 0 million in stimulus money even though a Chinese company would operate the farm and its turbines would be built in China.
Research by the Congressional Budget Office, what is more, indicates the stimulus package may, in the long-term, shrink the economy by driving up the national debt and crowding private investment through increased debt-service costs.
ABC previously reported that among the White House claims was that 30 jobs were "saved or created" with just 1,420 in federal stimulus spending in the 15th congressional district in Arizona.
The only difficulty is there is no 15th congressional district in Arizona
Read more: Inspector general says 'jobs saved' numbers are nonsense www.wnd.com/?pageId=249665#ixzz1CjYX4yPh
www.wnd.com/
The Murky Business of Life Time Achievement Awards by Indo-American Organizations
Image by davemakkar
“Moreover none of these awardees including Kamlesh Mehta can explain why they deserve “Life Time Achievement Award for taking care of their own family and business?” Why not we give this award to every Indian-American because all of them do take care of their family and their own business or profession. Those who have done frauds and stolen community money they should get bigger awards or may be Silver or Gold awards.”
The Murky Business of Life Time Achievement Awards
RANA Board Refuses to Honor Kamlesh Mehta of The South Asian Times
The Board of Directors of Rajasthan Association of North America (RANA), a social and cultural organization of Rajasthanis in its recent meeting after an acrimonious heated debate decided 11:4 against the decision to honor one of its founders Kamlesh Mehta. He was to be honored during the annual Deepavali gala to be held on Nov 10 at Long Island Hilton Hotel.
RANA was founded in 1999 by five Rajasthanis; K K Mehta, Sunil Shah, Navin Shah, Anand Bandhari and Kamlesh Mehta.
Mehta is the publisher of the weekly publication The South Asian Times from Long Island and works full-time as Director of Business and Economic Development in Nassau County reporting to the Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano. He claims to be a community leader par excellence of Long Island garnering awards from functions – big and small – to build his portfolio of Awards.
Mehta was recently honored with Lifetime Achievement Award in October 2012 by the Nargis Dutt Foundation in Long Island despite objections by a New Jersey resident. He cited Mehta’s dubious role in stopping his own reporter Prakash Swami from exposing illegal activities of Federation of Indian Associations (FIA) in 2009 for material benefits to himself. Again very recently in October 2012 Mehta tried to cut a deal for Trusteeship on FIA Board and Life Time Achievement Award for not printing an Article on FIA in his newspaper South Asian Times. That’s a different story that deal fell flat on his face as the FIA top leadership told him that his newspaper is like a toilet paper and too insignificant to damage FIA.
Mehta used his newspaper without shame to put all the photos of Nurgis Dutt Awards to use them to strikes deals to get more awards. His aim is get Ellis Island Medal of Honor and Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award recommended by the Consul General of India in New York. According to reliable sources Consul General Prabhu Dayal has refused to entertain him.
Diamond merchant Haridas Kotahwala the RANA President is a disciple of Kamlesh Mehta. He has a penchant for seeing his photos everywhere was the main culprit who propped up the name of Mehta against opposition from the Board. Kamlesh Mehta has been nurturing Haridas by publishing his photos frequently only to bargain for the Life Time Achievement Award of RANA. Haridas may be forced to resign at the end of this month as many directors are bringing no confidence motion against him.
When Haridas suggested the name of Kamlesh Mehta as one of the honorees from the community, all hell broke out with senior members and directors shouting “We do not want to honor a person who has cheated several of our community members and continue to indulge in illegal activities bringing disrepute to the Rajasthanis. We will all boycott and resign if you decide to honor him.”
The other people whose names proposed for the awards are former AIA President Sushma Kotahwala, AAPI Treasurer Dr Ajay Lodha, Vinay Kothari and Prabha Gholia. Except Kamlesh Mehta, the other four names have been approved unanimously for the honor. The Consul General of India Prabhu Dayal is among the invited guests of honor for the gala celebrations along with senior community leaders and dignitaries.
One of the directors flashing a promissory note given by Mehta to him said Mehta had been dodging repayment of his loan and last year refused to renew the promissory note and even that he is now close to Ed Mangano and will teach him a lesson if he continues to bother him for payments. “Do we need to honor such a man who has cheated several Rajasthanis in the past years and then filed bankruptcy to avoid paying to his debtors?”
“Only honorable persons should be honored by RANA and the decision will bring a bad name to the organization,” said a board of director opposing the decision of the RANA President to include the name of Mehta in the list of honorees. “If we honor cheats and criminals, the name of the Board will be tarnished and we will all resign form RANA and ensure that the event becomes a failure.”
“RANA Board is very happy when their photos are published by Mehta in his community small time newspaper and if they want to honor him, let them take him out for a drink and not waste RANA’s hard earned money by giving an award and lower its name and prestige,” a director said.
RANA President Haridas Kotahwala who was scared to comment on the controversy agreed that many directors opposed the move over the nomination of award to Mehta. Financial irregularities seem to be the main reason for opposition and the Board should not decide one way or the other because he cheated people. Both are different. Raking up the issue in public will bound to bring a bad name to the organization.
“Diamond business is not a joke and I know that Mehta owes money to several people and have promised to repay them once his position improves. He is now doing well in business and in the County and it is wrong to isolate him this time. He has promised to settle all the old dues and I stand guarantee for his actions. He owes money to me too like others and could not keep up his word,” Haridas Kotahwala said.
It is disturbing to see this rat race of getting “Life Time Achievement Award” by individuals with shady characters from community organizations that refuse to stand for the human rights and justice for the less fortunate in the community. People that have done nothing for the less fortunate from the Indian-American community wants “Life Time Achievement Award” for taking care of their family and their own business by bribing or manipulating the organizations!
Moreover none of these awardees including Kamlesh Mehta can explain why they deserve “Life Time Achievement Award for taking care of their own family and business?” Why not we give this award to every Indian-American because all of them do take care of their family and their own business or profession. Those who have done frauds and stolen community money they should get bigger awards or may be Silver or Gold awards.
Compiled by Dave Makkar with info provided by Prakash Swami
On behalf of volunteers for
Transparency and Accountability in Community Organizations
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