EASY MONEY and the American Real Estate Ponzi Scheme

EASY MONEY and the American Real Estate Ponzi Scheme

Author: John Agostinelli

Publisher:

Published: 2016-12-10

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 9781633933316

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Politicians, bureaucrats, home buyers and housing activists are at it again. History is repeating itself right in front of us, and if we do nothing to stop the volatility in real estate markets, we risk the impending doom of the next housing collapse. Industry experts John Agostinelli and Chris Michaud had front row seats during the Great Recession. They witnessed the nonsensical lending practices that blew up the bubble and created disastrous consequences for government endorsed loans, and hurt low to moderate income people and the communities they lived in. Not only did government create the problem, their reaction to the crisis made matters worse. So what now? How do we prevent this from happening again? Easy Money and the American Real Estate Ponzi Scheme reveals: - How to determine where prices are heading - The whole truth about the causes of the real estate bubble - Why the real estate cycle is important to you - How to make better real estate decisions that affect your pocketbook - What needs to be done to restore the American Dream With keen insights and a no-holds-barred style, this in-depth examination of the real estate market is a cry for action because--without change--we are headed towards another calamity. Readers will learn about the need to revamp Dodd-Frank, how to stop incentivizing debt and risk, put an end to our National bailout mentality and return to the days of achieving the American Dream as our forefathers had envisioned. Now is the time to stop the nation's addiction to "Easy Money," and blow the whistle on corruption so that our children's standard of living does not disappear.


Strong Towns

Strong Towns

Author: Charles L. Marohn, Jr.

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2019-10-01

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 1119564816

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A new way forward for sustainable quality of life in cities of all sizes Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Build American Prosperity is a book of forward-thinking ideas that breaks with modern wisdom to present a new vision of urban development in the United States. Presenting the foundational ideas of the Strong Towns movement he co-founded, Charles Marohn explains why cities of all sizes continue to struggle to meet their basic needs, and reveals the new paradigm that can solve this longstanding problem. Inside, you’ll learn why inducing growth and development has been the conventional response to urban financial struggles—and why it just doesn’t work. New development and high-risk investing don’t generate enough wealth to support itself, and cities continue to struggle. Read this book to find out how cities large and small can focus on bottom-up investments to minimize risk and maximize their ability to strengthen the community financially and improve citizens’ quality of life. Develop in-depth knowledge of the underlying logic behind the “traditional” search for never-ending urban growth Learn practical solutions for ameliorating financial struggles through low-risk investment and a grassroots focus Gain insights and tools that can stop the vicious cycle of budget shortfalls and unexpected downturns Become a part of the Strong Towns revolution by shifting the focus away from top-down growth toward rebuilding American prosperity Strong Towns acknowledges that there is a problem with the American approach to growth and shows community leaders a new way forward. The Strong Towns response is a revolution in how we assemble the places we live.


Real Estate Riches

Real Estate Riches

Author: Dolf de Roos

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2012-06-29

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 1118429176

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An all-time bestseller, Dolf de Roos?s classic Real Estate Riches shows you how to find great deals and make great profits in the real estate market. You?ll learn why real estate is such a reliable moneymaker and how to achieve the biggest return possible on your investment. Full of time-honored wisdom, proven tactics, and quick-and-easy tips, this book shows you how to find the best properties with the most potential, analyze deals, negotiate and submit offers, effectively manage properties, and dramatically increase the value of your real estate without spending much money. If you want to be your own boss and quit the nine-to-five life, Real Estate Riches shows you how.


Consensusland: A Cryptocurrency Utopia

Consensusland: A Cryptocurrency Utopia

Author: Mark Helfman

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2018-11-20

Total Pages: 118

ISBN-13: 1483491110

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""Entertaining and fascinating. The prose is crisp and engaging, the voice confident, and the plot skillfully imagined."" -- Readers' Favorite Book Review In this blockchain version of Gulliver's Travels, a businessman gets the offer of a lifetime from the tiny, island country of Consensusland, but the catch is troubling: give up everything he knows about business and finance on a leap of faith in cryptocurrency and the power of blockchain. Will he take that leap? Possibly the first fiction book about blockchain, Consensusland infuses a strong narrative with dramatic realism to show readers how the world changes when it uses cryptocurrency, not cash. ""This book answers, in a very clever and engaging way, the question of what a society running on the blockchain could look like. But really, it goes deeper than that, intertwining allegory to capture a lot of the current debate amidst the naysayers that are resistant to change."" -- Misha Yurchenko, author, ""Bullish on Bitcoin""


The Ponzi Factor

The Ponzi Factor

Author: Tan Liu

Publisher: Ponzi Factor

Published: 2018-02-10

Total Pages: 170

ISBN-13: 9781976949951

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One of the biggest myths about stocks is the belief that profits from stocks come from the earnings of the underlying companies, and when companies make money, they share the profits with their investors. But the reality is, profits from stocks come from other investors who are buying and selling stocks, and when companies make money, they keep everything. The belief is, stocks represent value in a company. The truth is, stocks are Ponzi assets because investors’ profits are dependent on the inflow of money from new investors and no one is obligated to pay the shareholders anything. This is not just another story that will disappear after another bubble bursts. It is an idea that will remain relevant for as long as the stock market exists.


A Bright and Guilty Place

A Bright and Guilty Place

Author: Richard Rayner

Publisher: Anchor

Published: 2010-06-01

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 1400033586

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Best Book of the Year The Los Angeles Times • The Washington Post Los Angeles was the fastest growing city in the world, mad with oil fever, get-rich-quick schemes, and celebrity scandals. It was also rife with organized crime, with a mayor in the pocket of the syndicates and a DA taking bribes to throw trials. In A Bright and Guilty Place, Richard Rayner narrates the entwined lives of two men, Dave Clark and Leslie White, who were caught up in the crimes, murders, and swindles of the day. Over a few transformative years, as the boom times shaded into the Depression, the adventures of Clark and White would inspire pulp fiction and replace L.A.’s reckless optimism with a new cynicism. Together, theirs is the tale of how the city of sunshine went noir.


The Real Book of Real Estate

The Real Book of Real Estate

Author: Robert T. Kiyosaki

Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com

Published: 2010-05

Total Pages: 462

ISBN-13: 1458772500

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From the #1 bestselling author of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" comes the ultimate guide to real estate--the advice and techniques every investor needs to navigate through the ups, downs, and in-betweens of the market.


The Complete Idiot's Guide to Frauds, Scams, and Cons

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Frauds, Scams, and Cons

Author: Duane Swierczynski

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2002-12-03

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 9780028644158

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-- The main target for scams are those 50 years of age or older. -- This book will expose all the latest scams, frauds, and cons -- and can be updated yearly, if necessary, to expose all the latest schemes. Fraud -- credit card fraud, telemarketing scares, Internet scares, identity theft and hundreds of other items that are geared to separate you from your money -- is a multi-billion dollar business, both in the U.S. and worldwide. From a simple three-card monte game on a street corner to sophisticated banking and Wall Street swindles, cons, frauds and scams are destined to strike one in ten Americans this year. Check kiting, ATM scares, bankruptcy fraud, real estate scams, Nigerian money offers, and even slave reparation scams -- there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of ways to get suckered by telemarketers or just plain fast-talking swindlers. Scary stuff, right? This book identifies the myriad of scams, cons, and frauds perpetrated every minute of every day in this country, and gives cutting-edge, up-to-date advice on how you can protect yourself from unscrupulous cons of every conceivable stripe. There will also be an entertaining section on con artists through history, from the infamous grifters of the Great Depression to the masterminds of the recent Enron collapse -- perhaps one of the greatest scams in America's history.


The Ultimate Ponzi

The Ultimate Ponzi

Author: Chuck Malkus

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2013-01-21

Total Pages: 187

ISBN-13: 1455617873

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This true crime exposé details the exploits of a Florida lawyer and master con artist who stole more than a billion dollars before getting caught. In what became one of the most ruthless Ponzi schemes in United States history, Fort Lauderdale attorney Scott Rothstein stole $1.4 billion to finance his opulent lifestyle. It’s a story of corruption, murder, sex, and suicide in which no one is innocent. From Rothstein’s humble beginnings in the Bronx through his sudden rise to become one of the most powerful men in Florida, the full story is revealed in The Ultimate Ponzi. An employment lawyer of flamboyant charm and seemingly endless wealth, Rothstein infiltrated South Florida society by posing as a philanthropist. All the while, he was using criminal kingpin methods to corrupt one prominent businessman after another. But in late 2009, South Florida learned that Rothstein was far from generous—he was a destructive con artist who plundered investor accounts to build his own fortune. With photographs and input from community members and psychologists, The Ultimate Ponzi reveals the man behind the scam that deceived hundreds. Despite Rothstein’s lavish lifestyle, he was unable to escape judgment both from the law and from the society he used to manipulate.


Billion Dollar Whale

Billion Dollar Whale

Author: Bradley Hope

Publisher: Hachette Books

Published: 2018-09-18

Total Pages: 412

ISBN-13: 0316436488

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Named a Best Book of 2018 by the Financial Times and Fortune, this "thrilling" (Bill Gates) New York Times bestseller exposes how a "modern Gatsby" swindled over $5 billion with the aid of Goldman Sachs in "the heist of the century" (Axios). Now a #1 international bestseller, Billion Dollar Whale is "an epic tale of white-collar crime on a global scale" (Publishers Weekly), revealing how a young social climber from Malaysia pulled off one of the biggest heists in history. In 2009, a chubby, mild-mannered graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business named Jho Low set in motion a fraud of unprecedented gall and magnitude--one that would come to symbolize the next great threat to the global financial system. Over a decade, Low, with the aid of Goldman Sachs and others, siphoned billions of dollars from an investment fund--right under the nose of global financial industry watchdogs. Low used the money to finance elections, purchase luxury real estate, throw champagne-drenched parties, and even to finance Hollywood films like The Wolf of Wall Street. By early 2019, with his yacht and private jet reportedly seized by authorities and facing criminal charges in Malaysia and in the United States, Low had become an international fugitive, even as the U.S. Department of Justice continued its investigation. Billion Dollar Whale has joined the ranks of Liar's Poker, Den of Thieves, and Bad Blood as a classic harrowing parable of hubris and greed in the financial world.