Action Advocacy Law FirmConnecticut Consumer Bankruptcy Attorney

“Miracle Cures” for Cancer That Don’t Work–and Can Break the Bank

Tyrell Dueck, a 13-year-old boy from Canada, lay dying of cancer on a hospital bed in Tijuana, Mexico. An IV dripped laetrile, a concoction made of ground apricot pits, into his vein. He drank powdered shark cartilage dissolved in liquid. Alternative treatments that supposedly cure cancer. The treatments failed. The cancer spread from the tumor on his leg, into his other bones, and finally into his lungs. He died a couple of months after leaving the clinic and returning to his home in Saskatchewan.

Tragic—yes. But the real tragedy is that if his parents had allowed conventional treatment proposed by oncologists in Canada—chemotherapy and amputation of his leg beneath the knee–Tyrell had a good chance of surviving his cancer. A 65% chance. Instead his parents opted for unproven alternative therapies—shark cartilage and laetrile. And their boy died a miserable, and probably unnecessary, death.

What was the cost of this “alternative” cancer treatment? $6,000 a week, for a grand total of $65,000. Not covered by insurance, of course. A lot of money to dish out for remedies that do not work and provide false hopes of a “miracle cure.”

Cancer Scams: Preying on the Desperate

Desperate people do desperate things. There are few people more desperate than those affected by cancer—a terrifying disease which often proves fatal. And there are scores of alternative health practitioners and companies who are willing to take advantage of their desperation by selling them products which have no scientific evidence to back up their claims that they can cure cancer. Shark cartilage pills and powders, laetrile and other herbal remedies fit into this category. Miracle cures for cancer are a billion-dollar industry—and they are scams!

Shark cartilage showed promise as a weapon in the fight against cancer back in the ‘70s. It was erroneously believed that sharks did not get cancer because their cartilage, which comprises their “skeletons” instead of bones, has properties that inhibit angiogenesis—the development of blood vessels that feed tumors. Cancerous tumors, which need blood vessels to provide oxygen and nutrients to fuel their growth, can be “starved” and shrunk if these blood vessels are prevented from forming.

Enter William Lane, PhD, a biochemist who ran with the ball and wrote a book entitled “Sharks Don’t Get Cancer.” Research today by marine biologists proves him wrong—they do get cancer.

Lane formed a company which sold shark cartilage pills and powders, despite evidence that the protein in shark cartilage is digested by enzymes in the digestive tract and is not absorbed into the bloodstream, where it would inhibit angiogenesis. In other words, swallowing shark cartilage pills and powders have no effect against cancer at all—and is a colossal waste of money.

Andrew Lane, his son, formed a company called Lane Labs, again touting the effectiveness of shark cartilage in curing cancer. In 2005 a federal judge agreed with a Food and Drug Administration request to ban the company’s shark cartilage product “Benefin,” which Lane promoted as a cancer cure. Lane Labs was ordered to pay eight million dollars in restitution to customers who had bought Benefin and two other products.

Studies Prove Shark Cartilage Treatment is a Scam

Studies by responsible and well-respected doctors and researchers show shark cartilage pills and powders had no effect on tumor growth:

· In 2007 a study was designed to see if patients with advanced lung cancer would live longer if they ingested shark cartilage. Directed by Dr. Charles Lu of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, the study tested a liquid shark cartilage extract being developed as a drug by Aeterna Zentaris, a Canadian company. There were 384 lung cancer patients in the test. Those who received the shark cartilage extract lived a median of 14.4 months. Those who received a placebo—a sugar pill—had a median survival of 15.6 months—longer than the patients who received the extract! (www.skepdic.com/shark.html).

· In the July 1st, 2005 issue of “Cancer,” a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, Mayo Clinic oncologist Dr. Charles L. Loprinzi and his colleagues in the North Central Cancer Treatment group related their findings: In breast and colorectal cancer patients, there was no difference in overall survival between patients who received shark cartilage and those who had received a placebo. As a matter of fact, the study showed that the patients ingesting shark cartilage often became ill from its effects. In essence, they had a poorer quality of life than those who received a placebo. (www.interscience.wiley.com/cancer-newsroom).

Laetrile—a “Cure” That Can Cause Cyanide Poisoning

Laetrile (which is actually the chemical amygdalin) is the other “miracle cure” that unfortunately did not save the life of poor Tyrell Dueck. It is found naturally in the kernels of many fruits—apricots, peaches, plums, bitter almonds and others. Cultures as diverse as the ancient Egyptians and Chinese have been using this chemical as a medical remedy for thousands of years, particularly in the case of bitter almonds.

In 1920 Dr. Ernst T. Krebs, Sr., a California physician, began using an extract of laetrile to combat cancer. In 1952 his son, Ernst T. Krebs, Jr., a biochemist, developed a purified form of laetrile for injection into cancer patients. Neither the doctor nor his son had the evidence of replicable, controlled laboratory experiments to back up their beliefs about the efficacy of laetrile as a cancer cure. Only a few testimonials from former patients, which may or may not have been accurate and true.

Despite this, the “legend” of laetrile as a cancer cure has stubbornly survived throughout the last half of the twentieth century until present day. Cancer patients and some well-meaning doctors embrace it as a way to cure cancer without suffering the all-too-real and debilitating effects of chemotherapy and radiation. In the 1970’s movie star Steve McQueen hailed its benefits in his fight against lung cancer. He died shortly after from the disease at a treatment center in Mexico.

It’s not just that laetrile does not work and is outrageously expensive as a treatment: it has dangerous side effects, too. In the body, laetrile ultimately breaks down into the poison cyanide. Patients have reported fevers, rash, nausea and vomiting and other ill effects. A few have died when high cyanide levels poisoned them.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well as the American Cancer Society (ACS) have concluded that laetrile is worthless in the treatment of cancer (www.cancer.org/docroot/ETO/content/ETO_5_3dx_laetrile.asp). There are dozens of tests, both on laboratory animals and humans, which back them up:

· In 1973, researchers Isidore Wodinsky and Joseph K. Savinorsky, under contract to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), conducted laboratory tests using laetrile as treatment on four types of rodents with cancerous tumors. Laetrile proved completely ineffective, either as a cancer cure or in preventing tumor growth. Results were published in the September/October 1975 issue of Cancer Chemotherapy Reports.

· Another similar experiment conducted under NCI auspices by W.R. Laster Jr. and F.M. Schabel Jr. of the Southern Alabama Research Institute found laetrile manifested no anti-tumor activity in mice with various types of tumors. Results were published in the above issue of Cancer Chemotherapy Reports.

· Trials of laetrile on humans were performed between 1979-1981 at various medical centers around the U.S. In all, 175 patients with myriad types of cancer were treated with laetrile. Ninety-one percent had tumors progress after three months of treatment; after eight months of laetrile injections, all of the patients’ tumors grew and metastasized (www.encognitive.com/node/2576).

Yet, despite a multitude of tests conducted by respected physicians and researchers over several decades, people continue to believe laetrile will cure cancer. Why? Desperation. In some cases, patients have exhausted traditional chemotherapy and/or radiation treatment, and feel they have no where else to turn. They want to survive, as do we all.

In other cases, people driven by conservative or fundamentalist religious beliefs reject Western pharmaceuticals and believe only “natural” treatments fit into their spiritual paradigm. And frankly, many don’t want to face the debilitating effects of chemotherapy and/or radiation, which are very real.

As in the case of the boy Tyrell Dueck that begins this article, the costs of these bogus “miracle cures” can be staggering. And not covered by medical insurance, of course. Caveat emptor!

The Cancer Treatment Is “Natural” –It Must Be Safe and Effective?

People want to believe that natural substances—something that arises out of Mother Earth—have to be good, as God or evolution intended. But “natural” doesn’t always mean safe and effective. Various varieties of mushrooms are poisonous, for example. And one wouldn’t want to roll around naked in a patch of poison ivy.

Similar dangers exist in natural herbal remedies. Scammers promote unproven and potentially dangerous remedies such as “black salve” (an herbal concoction), laetrile, Essiac and other herbal remedies with claims that the products are “natural” (and therefore apparently safe) and effective.

A red flag here! Many herbal remedies are benign and perhaps helpful for various ailments if used in moderation; they have stood the test of time. However, no one has yet come up with an herbal remedy that is proven to cure cancer. Additionally, some botanical substances can either block or speed up the body’s absorption of prescription drugs, either nullifying their effect or accelerating them to dangerous levels. One has to be extremely careful using herbal concoctions when undergoing chemotherapy.
(www.cancer.org/docroot/ETO/content/ETO_5_3x_How_to_Know_What_Is_Safe_Choosing_and_Using_Dietary_Supplements.asp).

One must beware of the claims of some “natural” herbal remedies. Advertisers tout them with certain catch words that sound healthy and impressive—but really don’t mean anything when put under a skeptical microscope. A few examples: detoxify, purify, revitalize, balance, strengthen, support.

Advertisers may claim that a certain remedy “purifies” the body, or “balances” the immune system—but how would you, the consumer, ever know? Without the evidence of a series of controlled lab experiments conducted by respected researchers such claims are worthless. Let the buyer beware!

Vitamin Mega Doses to Cure and Prevent Cancer—“Natural” and “Safe?”

The sale of vitamins and supplements is a billion-dollar industry. One is constantly bombarded with television advertisements stressing the need to take anti-oxidant vitamins to destroy “free radicals” in the body. Free radicals are unstable molecules produced through normal internal functions of the body as well as by exposure to toxic environmental pressures—chemicals and radiation. They attach themselves to normal cells in human tissue and can spur on the advent of cancer.

Several decades ago, Linus Pauling, Nobel-prize-winning biochemist, promoted the idea that mega doses of anti-oxidant vitamins are critical in preventing or curing cancer. In the late seventies he and a Scottish surgeon, Ewan Cameron, conducted experiments that seemed to indicate cancer patients survived longer if they ingested mega doses of Vitamin C.

However, in the decades since, a series of studies conducted at the Mayo Clinic have shown no evidence that Vitamin C taken in large doses inhibits tumor growth. As a matter of fact, the tests show that it might actually accelerate cancer growth! (www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedEpics/cancer/chtml).

In other controlled experiments conducted in 1999, researchers found that Vitamins A and E—two other anti-oxidants promoted as cancer preventatives, might actually protect cancer cells in their infancy from the natural cancer-killing cells that exist in the human immune system. And neutralize the effects of chemotherapy and/or radiation, by protecting cancer cells from being eradicated by these treatments (www.scienceagogo.com/news/19991114042505data_trunc_sys.shtml).

According to experiments conducted under the auspices of the American Cancer society, mega doses of many vitamins can be dangerous and toxic. For example, too much Vitamin C can interfere with the body’s ability to absorb copper—essential to properly functioning body chemistry. Too much phosphorous can inhibit the absorption of calcium, vital to bone growth. Large doses of Vitamins A, D, and K are not eliminated by the body quickly and can easily reach toxic levels when too much is ingested (www.cancer.org/docroot/ETO/content/ETO_5_3x_How_to_Know_What_Is_Safe_Choosing_and_Using_Dietary_Supplements.asp).

Many doctors will tell you that the best way to get one’s vitamins is through proper diet. The body is designed to absorb vitamins through the digestion of food. Until controlled experiments prove otherwise about the efficacy of vitamin mega doses, cancer patients must be careful!

Are Doctors and Pharma Companies Concealing the Truth about Miracle Cures?

People love conspiracy theories. Nowhere is this truer than in the field of medicine, especially concerning cancer treatment. No doubt the treatment of cancer is a billion-dollar industry in this country: oncologists, oncology nurses, chemotherapy drugs and radiation. Conspiracy junkies seize onto the fact that a lot of money is being made in this arena and declare that the hundreds of thousands of doctors, tens of thousands of cancer researchers and pharmaceutical executives are in a massive conspiracy to make money by concealing the “truth” about miracle cures. In short, the conspiracy theorists believe the medical establishment doesn’t want to cure cancer: it wants to keep people sick so it can make money from their misery.

Is this a proper bead on reality? Are the hundreds of thousands of doctors in this country all evil sociopaths? Did they put in the arduous years of medical school after college and several years in residency solely to make money while their patients suffer? Doctors get cancer, as do their family members and friends. Does it make sense that they would choose death for themselves and their loved ones if there were simple cures for cancer available?

Certainly, pharmaceutical companies exist to make money. That is the nature of large corporations, no matter what products or services they market. But cancer also afflicts pharma executives and their families at the same rate as the general population. Would they choose pain and death for themselves and their loved ones just to keep their profits high?

The notion is absurd. Such thinking defies human nature. Cancer treatment conspiracies don’t make any sense when one applies them to the human level of the alleged conspirators.

The Warning Signs of “Miracle Cure” Scams

Medical scams have been around for hundreds, if not thousands of years. With the advent of the Internet, they have “metastasized” like out-of-control cancers. Internet cancer cure scams generally share these things in common:

· Ancient Indian Herbal Remedy Cures All Cancers! If you see an advertisement making this claim run—don’t walk—in the opposite direction. Cancer actually comprises about 200 different diseases—each unique in its own right. For example, ovarian cancer is comprised of entirely different cells than lymphoma. Oncologists treat each disease with different chemotherapy medicines. Claiming a remedy can cure 200 different diseases is outlandish. Not only that, but each person’s individual body chemistry reacts differently to medication—no two people respond to chemotherapy in the same way, for example. It’s that way with many medications for many ailments and diseases.

· Vague language or technical jargon that sounds impressive—but was probably skimmed from a medical dictionary. It’s better to talk you your doctor and have things explained in plain language.

· Testimonials—which may be entirely made up, promoted by actors or models who are paid to endorse the product. Even when testimonials are put forth by actual consumers of the product, it is not credible evidence. Science demands results that are replicable under controlled laboratory conditions; two or three people who seemingly were helped by a product—out of tens of thousands who used it—is not evidence of a cure.

The bottom line? Talk to your oncologist about a remedy before you waste your money.

Get the Lowdown from Your Doctor—Questions to Ask

Before you buy “alternative” remedies for cancer, which may be quite expensive (in some cases, as with laetrile clinics, that may actually bankrupt you and your family), talk to your doctor. Ask a few pointed questions:

· Is the product safe? What are the risks involved in ingesting it?
· Does this product have any research—lab experiments by impartial researchers—to back its claims of effectiveness?
· Will taking this remedy interfere with my current treatment plan? As stated earlier, certain herbal remedies and other natural products can diminish the effects of chemotherapy or accelerate its absorption by the body, leading to toxic levels that may be dangerous or outright fatal (www.ftc.gov.curious).

If your doctor doesn’t know, do some research on your own to answer these questions. The Internet is a good place to start; it can provide answers or lead you to places to look for answers. Be an intelligent consumer. Caveat emptor applies to every dime one spends.

How to Report Bogus Claims

If you buy and use a product and it doesn’t live up to its claims, you have recourse. You can report scams to a number of official entities—both to get your money back and to prevent other people in search of cures from being led down the garden path. File complaints to:

· The Federal Trade Commission (www.ftc.gov/complaint)
· Food and Drug Administration (www.fda.gov)
· Your state attorney general. Check out this site to find the links for your state: (www.naag.org).
· American Cancer Society (www.cancer.org) or 1-800-207-2395

The Bottom Line

“Miracle cures” promise much but may not—and probably don’t—live up to their claims. Again, be an intelligent consumer. The Internet is at your fingertips; take advantage of it to do your own research.

As always, the old adage applies: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Bibliography

Videos:

Anatomy of a Cancer Treatment Scam (www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO_Z7VsD9GI}

Shark Cartilage Scam (http://video.asterpix.com/v/300582221/shark-cartilage-whaaa/)

Books:

‘The Remarkable Substance That Inhibits Tumor Growth and Reduces Pain: Shark Cartilage –Rita Elkins, M.E., Woodland Health, 1997

‘Sharks Don’t Get Cancer’ –I. William Lane, Linda Comac, Avery Publishing Group, 1992

‘Voodoo Science’ –Robert L. Park Oxford University Press, 2000

‘Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts About Alternative Medicine’ –Edouard Ernst, Simon Singh, W.W. Norton & Co., 2009

‘Snake Oil Science: The Truth About Alternative and Complementary Medicine’ –R. Barker Russell, Ph.D., Oxford University Press, 2009

‘The Cure Within: A History of Mind/Body Medicine’ –Anne Harrington, W.W. Norton & Co., 2008

‘The Power and the Glory: The True Story of Tyrell Dueck’s Public Battles With Cancer and the State’ –Owen B. Griffiths, Seventh Generation, 1999

‘Natural Cures “They” Don’t Want You to Know About’ –Kevin Trudeau, Alliance Publishing, 2005

‘World Without Cancer—the Story of Vitamin B-17’ –G. Edward Griffin, 1997

‘Calling of an Angel: The True Story of Rene Caisse and an Indian Herbal Medicine Called Essiac—Nature’s Cure for Cancer’ –Dr. Gary Glum

‘How to Feel Better and Live Longer’ –Linus Pauling Ph.D., Camino Books, 1996

‘Cancer and Vitamin C: A Discussion of the Nature, Causes and Prevention and Treatment of Cancer with Special Reference to Vitamin C’ –Ewan Cameron, Linus Pauling, Ph.D., Camino Books, 1993

‘The Anti-Oxidant Miracle’ –Lester Packer, Carol Colman, Wiley Books, 1999

‘

Howard Zinn was my hero. I normally don’t have heroes or people that I think have something to say or to offer that is unique. But in my limited Pantheon of Heroes, Howard Zinn was certainly one of my foremost heroes.

He died recently at age 87. I understand he died while swimming of a heart attack.

Why was he a hero? He came up the hardway. But his hard life didn’t control him. He was a compassionate man and it was this compassion which allowed him to write the underground best seller, ‘A People’s History of the United States’. This was an underground best seller in spite of the fact that it didn’t have the backing of any Ivy League College.

The title is so simple and so deceptive because he wrote history from the perspective of working people and minorities. And he wrote the history book in the standard fashion of starting with Columbus and chronologically going through all major events thereafter but with a different perspective. He made me realize that all the previous books on American History which I had read, were written from the perspective of the ‘conqueror’, ‘the victor’ or ‘Father Knows Best’ perspective and these books had the imperator of Henry Steele Commager from Harvard.

And perspective is very, very important and yet it is so subtle that you can’t recognize it because like gravity, you’ve grown so accustom to it, you don’t recognize how pervasive it can be. When I finished reading, ‘A People’s History of the United States’, I realized that for the first time I had stood on the Moon and looked at the Earth, rather than my normal perspective of standing on the Earth and looking at the Moon. Same facts but a different perspective which causes you to pause in amazement, wonder and awe. It takes your breath away when you discover from what perspective you’ve been seeing and understanding. Just ask Galileo and the Catholic Church. Approximately, 500 years ago Galileo was on trial for life for allegedly saying that the Earth wasn’t the center of the universe. Well, Galileo danced around the issue and the Catholic Church danced around the book he wrote and as a result, he wasn’t executed. Just recently the Catholic Church sent Galileo’s family an apology. And this only goes to prove that it’s never too late to say, ‘I’m sorry’.

But Father Bruno wasn’t so lucky. He said the truth is the truth and he wouldn’t back down and, consequently, he backed himself right into a post where he was burnt at the stake. He refused to say that the Sun was the center of the Universe. Copernicus, the Polish astronomer and mathematician, had his friends publish his book, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, (On the Revolution of Heavenly Spheres) just as he died because he figured that if he was burnt at the stake after he had died that he wouldn’t take any notice of it.

As Copernicus and Galileo had made a major break-through in astronomy by changing our perspective on our planet, Howard Zinn made a major historical break-through for American History and provided a unique and cogent new perspective on our history.

Howard Zinn was a professor of history at Boston University but prior to that he taught history at Spelman College in Atlanta, GA, whose student body was African American. And prior to teaching at Spelman College, he was a bombardier in WWII. And prior to WWII, he worked in a factory or ship yard.

He was a fervent critic of the Vietnam War and all of our other wars. And in one of his last observations said that Obama will give us plenty of rhetoric but very little was going to change under him. And so far, Howard Zinn’s perspective is proving to be very correct.

I had the honor of interviewing Howard Zinn and I can attest that he a good and profound man, or as the Indians would say, a ‘Great Mahatma’. His spirit will always walk among us and I know that his memory will continue to urge us to study the details of history from the perspective of compassion; his greatest contribution.

Letters to the Editor
The Day
47 Eugene O’Neill Dr.
New London, CT 06320

November 30, 2009
RE: Stopping Embezzlement with the RULE of law.

Dear Editor:

Recently, it has recently been reported in a recent article how the Casino is trying to monitor people who have had too much to drink. The article showed some of the detailed surveillance systems of the Casinos. And the article reported the procedures that the Casino is using to detect customers who are under the influence and how they are handling the situation. Obviously, the casino is reacting to the recent deaths caused by excess drinking at the casino. But it took these deaths to get them to act and probably the ‘bad publicity’ and lawsuits to make them see that they have a social responsibility to the community. Absent from the article was any mention on what procedures or regulations were being used for the group that casinos love to court and lavish comp points and benefits, namely, the ‘high rollers’ when they have too much to drink.

Also, it has been reported that 2 people recently embezzled money to cover gambling losses. The total amount of the embezzlement came to $628,000. And there’s a study which your newspaper reported conducted by Spectrum analyzing casino related embezzlements . The Spectrum report indicated that over $7.5 million has been embezzled and used at the casinos. However, the Spectrum study omitted the embezzlement at the Coast Guard Academy of $1.4 million and $1.7 million from a South Windsor law firm which were gambling related. Therefore, the total would be at least $11,239,448.00 that can be documented. See attached documents from the Spectrum Report and The Day’s newspaper articles.

It has been reported that Harrah’s Casino in Las Vegas has trained employees to spot people who are obviously having gambling problems and supposedly Caesar’s Palace has broken with industry standards and is banning problem gamblers from the casino.

A check of casinos in Aruba indicates that the government only allows local Arubans into the casino on a limited basis and in Rhodes, Greece, local inhabitants are banned from casinos and only tourists are allowed to patronize the casinos. And a check with the SEC, you’ll find that certain high risk investments can only be purchased by certified investors or people who can prove that they can afford to lose money.

The Day’s article indicated that patrons can only be served 2 drinks per hour instead of 3 drinks per hour. But there’s no limitation on how much money you can lose in one hour or one day at the casino. There are many elderly people who have lost their homes due to casino gambling but this is perfectly acceptable. I submit that there is absolutely no real regulation of gambling here in Connecticut which at one time was known as the ‘land of steady habits’. There is no limitation or ceiling to the amount of money you can lose at a casino and when there is no limitation, there is no RULE of law.

The pattern of receiving stolen property (embezzled money from businesses and local governments) and the extra special treatment accorded to ‘high rollers’ is too pervasive for the casinos to proclaim that they and the State of Conn are merely the innocent recipients of stolen or embezzled money. I would refer you to the case of Terrance Watanabe who lost his family’s fortune of $112 million at the Las Vegas casinos when he was plied with drugs and liquor. There’s a very thin veneer of regulation at the Harrah’s casino just like with the SEC there was a veneer of regulation. And look at the consequences of not having real regulation or the ‘rule of law’ with the SEC and with the casinos. And it is at Harrah’s and Casesar’s Palace with its thin veneer of spotting problem gamblers, who are now protesting that they are the innocent recipients of Terrance Watanabe’s lost fortune.

Further, the character of the people running the Casinos as demonstrated by a recent conviction in Federal Court, demonstrates the ‘moral bankruptcy’ of the leadership of the casinos and the greed upon which individual members of the Indian tribes believe that they will re-establish their culture.

I want to propose that citizens sign a petition entitled, RULE, or ‘Regulating Unaccountable Larceny and Embezzlement’ and ask that the State of Connecticut and the Casinos establish a victim’s fund for gambling related embezzlement and other social problems such as divorce, suicide, and DUI and that the ‘Rule of Law’ be imposed and developed where the Casinos are truly Regulated regarding DUI, problem gamblers and other social related problems which are caused by gambling.

I realize that bringing the RULE of law to the casinos will be exceptionally difficult since the casinos are losing money and might be on the brink of bankruptcy and; therefore, they can’t afford to lose their ‘high rollers’ and must offer them every accommodation to separate them from their money. The movie Casino probably has more truth than fiction.

But let us start now against overwhelming odds and recognize that the State of Connecticut, also, doesn’t want to ‘bite the hand that feeds it’. And, therefore, we have to expect that the State will not be listening to any petition which would seek to regulate through the Rule of Law, the excesses and problems related to gambling. But the citizens of New London County as taxpayer, individuals and as businesses are paying for the excesses and problems of Casino gambling and it’s time to establish the ‘RULE’ of law.

Anyone interested in signing this petition should contact my office at (860) 449-1510

Sincerely,

Dave Falvey, a victim of casino related embezzlement.

This is my letter in response to an article in The Day ‘Personal bankruptcies easing after dramatic increase in ‘09′ by Lee Howard. The full article can be found at:
The Day
Hi Lee Howard:

I read your article regarding bankruptcy statistics. I respectfully disagree with the interpretation of the bankruptcy statistics presented.

Let me first cite a little piece of bankruptcy history as my first observation. In Oklahoma at one time the oil industry prices so fell that Oklahoma no one could pay on their mortgages. And consequently, there were no foreclosures and no Chapter 13’s! Why? The banks stop foreclosing on properties because no one could pay on their mortgage and no one could buy a home. The defaults were massive. And if the bank foreclosed on all its portfolio which it had the legal right to foreclose, then the bank became a proud property owner and proud property owners pay property taxes, and insurance on their homes and have to have the homes inspected. So all that the foreclosure accomplished was to turn a non-performing loan into a monthly expense because again, no one was buying real estate. So here’s a scenario where there are no Chapter 13’s and based on the line of reasoning in your article, the fewer the Chapter 13s, the better the economy.

Second, New London County has the lowest number of Chapter 13 filings in the State of Connecticut. In 2008, there were an average of 140 Chapter 13 petitions filed monthly. In 2009, there was an average of 70 Chapter 13 petitions per month filed for the State of Connecticut. New London County had the lowest number of Chapter 13s and I don’t know the number but it can be obtained. You could call the Office of the Chapter 13 Trustee, Molly Whiton, at 1-860-278-9410 and she could tell you how many Chapter 13s were filed in New London County for 2009 and 2008.

People can’t afford to save their homes by using a Chapter 13. They are simply walking away from the homes and using Chapter 7. Their homes are ’submarines’ , they are completely submerged. Now President Obama had as a center piece of his ‘change you can believe in’ (I voted for Obama) legislation that the bankruptcy judge could adjust the terms or interest rates on mortgages. This actually can be done in a Chapter 12 but Chapter 12 is limited to farmers and fisherman. This legislation passed the house and was defeated in the Senate by 10 Democrats- 5 Southern Democrats and 5 Democrats from the West. Obama sat-out this vote and didn’t do anything to fight for it. But then if we remember that one of Obama’s major contributors was Goldman Sachs and the Secretary of Treasury, Timothy Geithner, hired Marc Paterson as his major aide and Marc Paterson was the chief lobbyist for Goldman Sachs and Goldman Sachs while selling mortgages was invested for over 1 trillion dollars in derivatives that the mortgages they were selling their clients would fail. And Goldman Sachs has had a spectacular year and there is ample money to pay all of the billion dollar bonuses to their employees.

Paterson was hired before the Senate voted on the key center piece legislation which would have allowed bankruptcy judges to modify mortgages. So Chapter 13s are definitely down not only in New London County but for the State of Connecticut. People are simply not trying to save their homes. They either don’t have enough income to save their home or their home is financially not worth trying to save and that’s why short-sales are ‘booming’ .

Saying all of the above, I really did enjoy the clarity of your writing and it forced me to think. Now that’s my spin on the statistics and I don’t know who said that there are ‘Lies, Damnable lies and then there are statistics!’

Have a good weekend,
Dave Falvey

This article was found on Yahoo Finance. To view the original work please go: Here

For consumers, it’s a jungle out there, says Bob Sullivan, author of the new book “Stop Getting Ripped Off: Why Consumers Get Screwed and How You Can Always Get a Fair Deal.”

The book is a manifesto for the uneducated, the gullible, the greedy, the pathological optimists and the math-impaired. Sullivan, who writes The Red Tape Chronicles for MSNBC.com and is the author of “Gotcha Capitalism,” talks about why consumers got shafted so badly in the last decade, and what they can do to protect themselves.

“American consumers have become bad at being consumers,” says Sullivan, due to their own innumeracy, magical thinking and greed, combined with political corruption and lack of regulation that allowed predators from mortgage lenders to Bernie Madoff to act with impunity. The book is like a GPS through the curves of home and auto buying, cell phones, pay TV, student loans, insurance and more. Here are a few of Sullivan’s unorthodox personal finance tips for consumers:

1) Assume any salesperson may be a sociopath. Research by psychiatrist Martha Stout suggests an estimated one in 20 adults is a Bernie Madoff — a shameless, often charismatic liar.

“We imagine we’re pretty good at knowing someone is lying because they are nervous or sweating, but sociopaths exhibit none of those traits,” says Sullivan. “Know what someone’s financial bias is. There is a continuum between bald-faced liars and financial planners giving advice they want you to have because it makes them more money.” Look for service providers — such as fee-only financial planners — who don’t have a commission incentive to steer you into particular products.

2) When negotiating, be prepared to lie. Obviously you don’t want to fib about things like your credit score or income, which can be easily verified. But instead of revealing a planned down payment to an auto salesperson, say “I only have X in my bank account.”

If you find yourself in a high-pressure situation where you have to say no twice, consider yourself in the danger zone, Sullivan says. Three times and you should hightail it out of there. Walk into a sales situation with an escape plan, i.e., “I’m expecting a call from work, and may have to leave at any time.”

3) Never buy a car when you need one. “People let their cars go until it’s absolutely time to buy new one — and urgency is the one thing you can’t overcome when you’re at a car dealership,” says Sullivan. “You have to be able to wait them out. Walk out, come back next week.” No one can plan around a breakdown, but it’s not a bad idea to do some casual car shopping before your vehicle hits the end of its warranty.

4) Never use friends for major transactions. “That sounds harsh, but it’s the truth,” says Sullivan. “When I talked to investigators at the Securities and Exchange Commission, almost every sad story begins with ‘I thought he was my friend.’ When someone is making money off you in a business transaction, at that moment he is not really your friend. Call three professionals, get a price, and never see them again when the deal is done. That’s the best way to do business.”

5) Be engaged with your finances on a daily basis. “It’s human nature to put off the bad news — nobody wants to look at a credit card bill that arrives after Christmas,” Sullivan says. “But when you do that, you detach from day-to-day notions of where the money is.”

Take a cue from baseball managers, he says, who rouse benchwarmers by asking, “What’s the count?” Keep your financial head in the game with questions like: How much cash is in my primary checking account right now? How much did I spend last month? What’s the rate on my credit cards? For consumers who may have trouble paying off the plastic in full that month, just knowing which card has the lowest rate is an easy way to save money. “It just takes a little thought and focus,” says Sullivan.

6) Spend as much time shopping for your mortgage as you spend shopping for your house. “People will spend months looking for perfect front porch and a half hour working on their mortgage,” says Sullivan. “If you end up with a home you hate it’s a lot easier to get out of that than the mortgage, because you can move. But you can’t come up with few hundred thousand overnight.”

He advises homebuyers to go to at least two banks and one mortgage broker and get written quotes on the same day for a 30-year mortgage with no points, to make comparisons easy. “When you start dealing with points and exchanging closing costs among the parties it can become very muddy,” he adds.

7) Never maintain a single checking account for all your transactions. “You should never make ticky-tacky purchases or weekly cash withdrawals from the main staging place for your money,” writes Sullivan. “Eventually you’re going to trip up, screw up and be hit with (an overdraft) fee.”

Sullivan argues that it’s easier to set up two accounts — a “staging” account where your paycheck is deposited, and a “workaday” account for all those little debits and ATM withdrawals. Then shift a pre-determined amount of cash — say $500 — into the second account for the dozens of minor transactions. Use your staging account for the regular monthly stuff — rent or mortgage, utilities, auto loan and cell phone.

If you’re paid every two weeks, call service providers and try to group expenses evenly into the first and second halves of the month. Choose a free account with no minimums and no overdraft protection. (An alternative to opening two checking accounts is PNC Bank’s Virtual Wallet, which offers spending and savings components in one account.)

Finally, Sullivan says, every consumer should be able to answer the question: How much would I need to survive if I lost my income for three months? It’s an old saw, but one that’s taken on more urgency in the last two years.

“If you don’t have that somewhere in cash, you’re living a high-wire act,” says Sullivan. “I’m convinced so many people lose sleep and have stress in their marriages and don’t feel liberated at work to complain because they know they’re only a few paychecks away from being in real trouble.”