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“Consumers reported losing more than $5.8 billion to fraud in 2021, a 70% increase over the prior year, the Federal Trade Commission [FTC] said Tuesday. Almost 2.8 million people filed a fraud complaint, an annual record.” So reported CNBC on 2.22.2022. When you do the math, the average scam was for about $2071.43. When millions have been victimized by fraudulent scams of various types, why should it be a surprise that even larger scams occur?
In an op-ed previously mentioned by MHLivingNews, a 500-word letter to the editor of WND on 5.11.2021 entitled “The solution to Big Tech and the oligarchs” made this point: “Anyone who thinks Big Tech will be reined in by regulations has not been paying close attention. The following cases exposed years of documented corporate, regulatory and accounting failures. They spotlight massive corruption and mainstream media misses.”
It listed these massive scandals that involved not only everyday Americans, but pension funds, public officials, and scores of savvy professionals.
Quoting:
· Enron
· Theranos
· WorldCom
· VW “Diesel-Gate”
· Solyndra
· Bernard “Bernie” Madoff
· WeWork
· Lehman Brothers
· Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac (Government Sponsored Enterprises/GSEs).
Collectively, that list involved hundreds of billions of dollars in losses by investors. Various types of fraud, corruption and deception occurred. Because taxpayers and the broader economy were impacted by Lehman Brothers and GSEs housing-finance scandals, those cost Americans trillions of dollars.”
Against that backdrop, consider this recent mainstream report.
“In its recently released 2021 audit report, the Government Accountability Office found that more than $662 billion was lost due to improper payments ($281 billion) and tax fraud ($381 billion). That’s more than the total income taxes paid by 94% of the country — all those earning $200,000 or less,” per Deseret News on 3.11.2022. Among what should be the obvious lessons? Those who may sincerely think that big government is a ‘solution’ to this or that problem have to think again. Big government is sadly often clumsy, inefficient, or even corrupt.
This writer happens to be a political independent. We look at information from sources that span the left-right divide. There is no question that there are people of good will among the various political parties and among those registered as independents. There are people of good will among various religious faiths, or among agnostics and atheists. This point is stated as first-hand knowledge as well as researched insights.
Against that backdrop the video documentaries in this collection each shed useful light on various topics that intersect. Some come from sources that lean right, others from sources that lean left. While none are perfect, they are broadly useful and insightful.
Behind most if not all of these issues are revelations that can come to light only when someone will follow the facts, evidence and the money trail. We’ve quote Senator William Proxmire (D) previously because of the insightful statement quoted below. There are no coincidences in Washington, D.C. said Proxmire. He also said when you follow the money trail you begin to grasp where the truth of the motivations about an issue is found.
What may seem to some initially to be disconnected issues, such as free speech on college campuses, the Creepy Line with big tech giants, or the China Hustle that has cost investors and Americans in several ways, there are sometimes subtle but discernible realities. While not all billionaires in America largely give more support to the political left, many do. That begs the question. Why is it about so many American billionaires that causes them to routinely support left-leaning Democrats? Let’s note, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t woes among Republicans. There are. But as some lifelong Democrat supporters have learned, their party has steadily been ‘hijacked’ by the very big money powers that many in the rank-and-file claim to rail against.
This pattern impacts affordable housing in general, manufactured homes, and manufactured home community living.
Note some of the billionaires who may at times complain against Democrats and their policies are – when federal campaign and PAC donations are examined – slyly supporting Democrats.
Let’s return to what lifelong Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr has said about contemporary government. He has called it a kleptocracy. Wikipedia defines that as follows: “Kleptocracy is a government whose corrupt leaders use political power to appropriate the wealth of the people and land they govern, typically by embezzling or misappropriating government funds at the expense of the wider population.”
Some have long played with language, using words to manipulate millions. An example is the demonstrably ridiculous notion that the Nazis were from ‘the political right.’ Nazi is a contraction, the full name “National Socialist German Workers’ Party” or “Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei” in German. The Nazis very name is clearly linked to the political left! The Nazis were distinct from the Soviets who were ‘international’ socialists and communists. But both systems were autocratic and dictatorial. Both systems were from the political left. When someone says otherwise, they are either ignorantly passing along propaganda they’ve heard or they are trying to manipulate some person or group.
But perhaps more significantly, the Nazis, like Italy’s socialist party, was a hybrid. As CRF-USA.org said: “Fascism arose in Europe after World War I when many people yearned for national unity and strong leadership. In Italy, Benito Mussolini used his charisma to establish a powerful fascist state. Benito Mussolini coined the term “fascism” in 1919 to describe his political movement.” Wikipedia says facism: “Originally, it referred to a totalitarian political movement linked with corporatism which existed in Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini.” Roanoke aptly quoted Mussolini in saying: “Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.” Benito Mussolini (1883 – 1945).
Isn’t that what’s been occurring in the U.S. (or other countries) for some decades? Haven’t the financial and corporate elites been buying political influence for decades by funding campaigns, nonprofits, institutions of higher education, or other causes?
Reagan on Fascism in America?
That reality outlined above is not so far from what Ronald Reagan said in the following statement: “America stands on four main values: Faith in God, Freedom of Speech, Family and Economic Freedom. If fascism ever comes to America, it will come in the name of liberalism.” The case can be made that Reagan should have said “leftist” rather than “liberal” or liberalism. But the thrust of Reagan’s observation has proven to be quite correct. How that has played out in recent years – and how that has impacted manufactured homes and the American Dream – are detailed in the reports below.
The documentary videos that follow are a mix of some newly and previously shared by MHProNews.com and/or MHLivingNews. They are part of the ‘big picture’ that is playing out, which has its own unique wrinkles in manufactured housing. This report and analysis are part of our “Intelligence for your MHLife” © series.
Keep in mind that behind each vexing issue there are routinely certain common points. Among them? Someone is being misled, conned, or scammed. Keep in mind that list of scams above, some of which went on for over a decade before they were exposed and in some cases, finally resolved in a legal fashion. While there are those that say the wealthy are never held to account, that list reveals that some have gone to prison for their crimes. One takeaway? The American system CAN work, but it requires a level of understanding and then often a persistent press of media and public officials to make the system work.
Informative Documentary Video Festival
The titles of the videos and the brief descriptions are from their respective YouTube pages. Each of them are overall well done.
Our Freedom of Speech Is Under Attack | No Safe Spaces | Documentary Central
In NO SAFE SPACES, comedian and podcast king Adam Carolla and radio talk show host Dennis Prager take the audience on a powerful and entertaining journey to expose the growing threat to free speech taking place on university campuses, in social media, and at your place of work. Along the way, Carolla and Prager show Americans how to have the courage to defend their First Amendment rights?
The Creepy Line – Full Documentary on Social Media’s manipulation of society
The Creepy Line reveals the stunning degree to which society is manipulated by Google and Facebook and blows the lid off the remarkably subtle – hence powerful – manner in which they do it. Offering first-hand accounts, scientific experiments and detailed analysis, the film examines what is at risk when these tech titans have free reign to utilize the public’s most private and personal data.
The China Hustle
From the producers of Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room comes a Wall Street heist story about a still-unfolding financial crime so big, it has the power to affect all of our wallets. Investors on the fringes of the financial world feverishly seek new alternatives for high-return investments in the global markets, and have found a goldmine in China. But when one investor discovers a massive web of fraud, everything else is called into question. Jed Rothstein’s documentary rings the alarm on the need for transparency in an increasingly deregulated financial world by following those working to uncover the biggest heist you’ve never heard of.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoVWIM_Lbuo
The video above is also available on Rumble, which is posted below.
FREEDOM FROM CHOICE – FULL DOCUMENTARY | Conspiracy, Corruption, Loss of Liberties
Do We Really Have Freedom Of Choice? Freedom From Choice provides viewers with a glimpse at the myriad of ways their lives are being dictated, and tells us who stands to gain.
Shadows of Liberty
“Shadows of Liberty”, directed and produced by Jean-Philippe Tremblay (featuring Julian Assange, Daniel Ellsberg, Robert Parry, Gary Webb, Dan Rather, David Simon, Roberty McChesney, Roberta Baskin, Dick Gregory, Amy Goodman and Danny Glover) is about the ongoing war on journalism and freedom of information. The film examines various examples of mass media deception and censorship and explores the treacherous American media landscape, where greedy, multi-national corporations exercise unprecedented, extraordinary power….
The broad understanding and the often-common solution that requires no new legislation to pass to resolve several of these problems have been probed previously in other reports and analysis found on MHLivingNews.com and our MHProNews.com sister site. They are aptly summed up by that letter quoted above.
John Kenneth Galbraith said: “Regulatory bodies, like the people who comprise them … become, with some exceptions, either an arm of the industry they are regulating or senile.” Bingo.
Modern robber barons are dominating information and capital. Cold Fusion’s documentary about the Theranos’ scandal observed: “It’s the illusionary effect where if you repeat a lie enough times people start to believe it, especially if you have credible names surrounding the product.”
Problematic products are from corrupt companies.
Theranos’ Elizabeth Holmes is shown with then Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama. In the massive Enron scandal, Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling are shown with then President George W. Bush (R). Those establishment politicians are sufficient to make the point of the “illusionary effect” of “repeating a big lie enough times” when “credible names” are involved.
Harry Markopolos and his colleagues spent years trying to get public officials and mainstream media to expose the massive Bernie Madoff fraud they knew existed. Forbes says Madoff losses may have exceeded $50 billion.
Other regulatory failures are hiding in plain sight. The New York Times quoted Warren Buffett: “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”
Buffett’s “class” profited wildly in the 2008 and 2020 economic upheavals. How? CNBC quoted billionaire Bill Gates: “I didn’t even want to meet Warren because I thought, ‘Hey this guy buys and sells things, and so he found imperfections in terms of markets, that’s not value added to society, that’s a zero-sum game that is almost parasitic.'”
The CDC defines parasitic: “A parasite is an organism that lives on or in a host organism and gets its food from or at the expense of its host.”
Buffett said, “The most important thing for me is figuring out how big a moat there is around a business. What I would love, of course, is a big castle and a big moat with piranhas and crocodiles.”
When carefully examined, these oligarchs and their businesses employ “parasitic” “moat” and “sabotage monopoly” methods. They create a slow-motion monopoly of various markets. Experts like James Schmitz say monopolies “inflict great harm on low- and middle-income Americans.”
The solution? Enforce existing laws. Break these pernicious giants up. They cause social, economic, and moral harm. Once broken up, watch the economy and America soar. ## By L. A. “Tony” Kovach.
There is a great awakening occurring in America, per several pundits on WND and elsewhere. But what some fail to mention is the common threads and threats. It is often those corporate giants, who may posture being ‘woke’ or for this or that minority group, but when carefully examined what they are doing is manipulating millions for their own benefit.
Those who would strip you of your rights, wealth, and freedom are intelligent. They realize that it can’t be done by telling the full truth, so they may tell half-truths or ‘give’ away money that is actually going to a nonprofit or educational institution that is promoting their interests. Americans logically should be “America First” and for “Americans First.” It makes no sense to ship jobs overseas – which benefits a few financial elites – while we then have to spend billions defending against the threat those countries cause. What temporary gain may come from shipping jobs offshore are outweighed by the costs that are incurred as a result of those poor decisions for the majority that benefit a select minority.
Millions who voted for Joe Biden are seeing firsthand the stark differences between his policies and that of deposed President Donald J. Trump. Inflation, high gas prices, food and other shortages have become harmful to millions. Once lifelong Democrats, per a range of opinion polls, are pivoting toward Republicans in 2022. The point? It isn’t that Trump was some saintly figure. But realistically, his policies were demonstrably better for most Americans and smaller businesses than those of the billionaires and their corporations that have slyly turned the U.S. – and other countries – into a fascist state in slow but steady stages.
The solution? Break up the corporate giants with antitrust (anti-monopoly) laws, and where other laws – such as RICO – have been violated, let the manipulative elites face the legal music for those violations too. ###
Case Against Clayton Homes – Years of Legal & Regulatory Claims
That’s a wrap on this installment of “News through the lens of manufactured homes and factory-built housing” © where “We Provide, You Decide.” © ## (Affordable housing, manufactured homes, reports, fact-checks, analysis, and commentary. Third-party images or content are provided under fair use guidelines for media.) (See Related Reports, further below. Text/image boxes often are hot-linked to other reports that can be access by clicking on them.)
By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHLivingNews.com.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing. For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com. This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position, and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.
Connect on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach
Recent and Related Reports:
The text/image boxes below are linked to other reports, which can be accessed by clicking on them.
