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By Times Staff
Published March 4, 2007

Assured prosperity, now pain, special report Feb. 25

Victims getting due attention

Excellent articles. It's nice to see the victims get a little attention for a change. I was afraid we would see the usual garbage about what a "colorful" character Lou Pearlman is. I can't wait for the indictments.

Pete Wilford, Holiday

Bilked to the tune of millions, special report Feb. 25

Scammers' goal is to gain your trust

The 1,800 victims of a scam operation were pawns on a manipulator's play board. Lou Pearlman is a master of mischaracterization who has a lust for riches and was not credentialed by character. Pearlman did not act alone. He was part of a corrupt clique that was constantly scheming and exploiting the gullible. It's obvious that investors were desensitized to the possibility of fraud because of the trust factors on the surface that everything seemed cricket. Investors believed their investments were insured and safe to the core. Pearlman was convincing and they trusted him and, once people emotionally trust another, they think with their feelings and relinquish reason. Every con artist knows that when reason vanishes, emotion prevails.

One wonders how much stolen money Pearlman left the country with. Hopefully he'll be found, extradited, prosecuted and at least some of the investors' assets recovered and returned.

Robert B. Fleming, St. Petersburg

Only deal with licensed sellers

The unfolding TransContinen-tal/Churchill Financial/Lou Pearl- man financial scandal is yet another rude awakening to the general public that a lack of investor education and understanding of financial products will always have a costly consequence. Investors, many of them senior citizens or others searching for higher-yielding instruments in order to supplement their income, are looking to blame federal or state regulators for not "intervening" on their behalf to protect their investments. Are we to blame the Securities and Exchange Commission or the National Association of Securities Dealers at the federal level, or Florida's Division of Financial Institutions, Office of Insurance Regulation or the Division of Securities and Finance at the state level? It is an unfortunate conclusion that no matter which regulator you might believe to be liable, in the end each one will not and should not be held accountable to these investors.

As a trained securities professional with over 25 years of industry experience, the true and correct answer rests right within your article. "The investments were sold through a network of life insurance agents and tax preparers." It is no wonder the investment losses $317-million are so staggering. Investment securities should be sold only by investment professionals who have taken in-depth educational courses and possess licenses to sell securities.

The unfortunate investors should note that life insurance agents and tax preparers are not necessarily licensed securities professionals. If investors determine that their life insurance agents or tax preparers, in fact, possess securities licenses, then they have an avenue to pursue in possibly filing arbitration claims against them, which might lead to a possible recovery of all or a portion of their investments. The arbitration process is a long and sometimes grueling process.

If investors chose to buy their from unlicensed individuals operating with no regulatory oversight, they have no recourse against anyone and no one to blame but themselves for chasing after high-paying or high-yielding investments that were "too good to be true" and, as they now well understand, certainly were the case.

David W. Dube, Largo

President, Peak Securities Corp.

Power plant Feb. 11

Don't allow plant for biomass fuel

I am very concerned about the proposal by Biomass Investment Group to plant Arundo Donax in Florida as a feedstock to produce power. While I agree that we must find alternatives to our energy supplies, this option has far-reaching, unintended consequences.

It was brought to California from the Mediterranean in the 1820s to be used for roofing material and for erosion control in drainage canals in the Los Angeles area. Since then it has spread uncontrollably throughout the warm coastal waters of North America. It spreads by underground rhizomes, grows fast and has no natural enemies here. Even grazing animals cannot eat Arundo Donax because it emits a noxious chemical in its defense.

The same characteristics that make it harmful to our wetlands and wildlife make it an attractive choice for biomass. It grows fast and it's hardy.

The Florida Department of Agriculture and the Department of Environmental Protection should deny the use of this plant for biomass in Florida.

The next time you're driving around, notice the abundance of Brazilian pepper along roads and waterways. The state and counties are not equipped to handle the eradication of this exotic invasive plant species. Should we really be taking this chance with Arundo Donax? I think not!

Bev Griffiths, Riverview

About runaway executive salaries

We all pay for fat cat salaries

We read lots of stories about the multimillion-dollar salaries some corporate fat cats are earning, even while the performance of the companies they run are headed south, along with the stock price.

I don't have a problem with someone being paid a multimillion-dollar salary-bonus-benefits-severance package. I do have a problem when the company deducts those huge salaries as "operating expenses" so profits are reduced and the company pays less income tax. The end result is that the rest of us have to pay more to make up for that huge deduction. In effect, we all subsidize those big salaries.

Richard Landry, St. Petersburg

Reverse mortgages may be getting too popular Feb. 13

Reverse mortgage can keep you here

Take the tax and insurance increases, throw in a sluggish real estate market and Florida has a recipe for disaster for a large part of our population. Especially the seniors. They feel that they have to move out of Florida in order to reduce their financial burdens, but in our present real estate market, they cannot even sell their homes in order to achieve this. A reverse mortgage can be a viable option to allow them to stay in the home they chose to retire in.

A reverse mortgage can allow a senior of 62 and older to gain access to a portion of their equity and turn it into a growing line of credit, monthly income or lump sum up front. On the downside, the closing costs are somewhat higher than a regular mortgage.

I hope that this will give some of you an alternative option to selling your home and moving out of Florida.

Lynette Ball, Spring Hill

Bank of America extends hands to undocumented Feb. 14

Don't encourage illegal residents

Let me get this straight. We are trying to stem the flow of illegal immigrants who are in our country and who don't pay into the Social Security system for lack of Social Security numbers. Now I read that the Bank of America is offering credit cards to illegal immigrants with no Social Security number nor credit history! What's wrong with this picture? Why isn't it incumbent upon Bank of America to report these illegal immigrants, not encourage them by offering these credit cards? Does the Bank of America have to resort to this practice to increase their customer base? Please Bank of America, rethink your position on this.

Marie E. Furciato, Lecanto

The choice: Tax break or fly   |   Feb. 23
Address tax issues together

This article about Avantair and its request for a sales tax exemption on jet planes is a perfect example of how messed up Florida's tax system is. There must be a plan that "fixes" sales and property taxes in tandem before either will be fixed. How about this:

- Call Avantair's bluff and, in addition, eliminate the sales tax exemptions for all the other non-necessities (emus, kiwis, Realtor commissions, legal fees, etc.). Exempt only necessities such as basic foods, medicines, doctors' fees. Do not increase or reduce the sales tax rate. Eliminating the exemptions will provide billions of dollars in additional revenue that can be used to offset a millage rate reduction and/or homestead exemption increase.

- Do not eliminate property taxes for all homesteaded properties. Instead, increase the homestead exemption to $500,000. Anyone in a more expensive home (including me) can afford to pay some property taxes, particularly at a more reasonable millage rate. The exemption amount could escalate each year to consider inflation.

- Provide an exemption amount for all non-homesteaded properties (second homes, rental properties, commercial properties, etc.).

- Forget about caps. Escalating the exemption amounts will take care of that. It will encourage people to trade down.

- Reduce the millage rate on all properties.

- Balance lowered property taxes with increased revenues from sales taxes, without raising sales tax rates.

This plan would be equitable to the greatest number of people.

Hal Freedman, St. Petersburg

Planes are noisy to neighbors

In the Avantair article in the newspaper, you neglected to check the airport neighbors, namely the Mainlands community. The Piaggio P180 Avanti turboprop causes a great amount of noise pollution, in addition to their low flying altitudes of less than 400 feet. The citizens are quite upset with the flight patterns. Mainlands and Golden Gate Mobile Home Park residents have sent e-mails and phoned various people at the airport on numerous occasions with no changes in procedures. We would not miss Avantair and look forward to having them leave the airport.

George C. Thomas, Mainlands resident, Clearwater

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[Last modified March 2, 2007, 22:42:47]