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Print Edition: April 25, 2009

I DIDN’T KNOW THIS. DID YOU?

One of the perks of doing a column like this is stumbling upon bits of knowledge, things I didn’t know until I tripped over them. At the very least, these items can be useful because I can slide them into conversations, thereby making myself appear more intelligent than is actually the case.

For example, were you aware of a legal maneuver called the "clawback theory?" The reasoning is that if a person withdrew money from an investment and later that investment was deemed to be part of a financial scam (like the Madoff scheme), court trustees could force you to pay the money back – a clawback – so that money could be used to repay those who were defrauded. This sounds logical, but what if you made your investment in good faith in a fund way down the food chain from the actual scammer, were not aware of any scam taking place, withdrew your money in a perfectly legal manner, and bought a house with that money? All legitimate transactions. Well, in New York, you could still have to pay back the money and the courts could go after you up to six years later. Goodbye house.

Talk about your money scams, did you know that the top ten recipients of the government’s $700 billion financial bailout spent about $9.5 million of that on lobbying during the first three months of this year. So, what they did was take the bailout money and use some of it to lobby for more bailout money. Making the top ten were: GM, AIG, Citigroup, JP Morgan, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, PNC financial, and U.S. Bancorp. As cited in an Associated Press report, regardless of the justifications claimed by the companies, Public Citizen noted in at least one instance: "What AIG’s reporting is, in fact, influence peddling." Ah, it’s nice to know my tax dollars are at work.

Speaking about bailout money, did you know you’ll need to hold onto your hat during the upcoming Florida hurricane season? That state’s Hurricane Catastrophe Fund is "hopelessly undercapitalized," according to experts. Essentially, what has happened is that private insurance companies set up rates that politicians (hoping to get re-elected) deemed were too high, so Florida’s government-owned Citizens Property Insurance Corp. now is the largest issuer of homeowners insurance, albeit at bargain basement rates. Good for Florida’s politicians, bad for the rest of us. Said a USA Today editorial: "Florida’s underfunded, state-run program is a cynical ploy to get people in places like Iowa and Tennessee to subsidize those who want to live in hurricane-prone areas." (If Iowans are on the hook, you can assume so are those of us living here in Cadillac.) Republican Governor Charlie Crist says on his website that he stands for "less taxes, less government, and more freedom." If his hurricane fund collapses let’s see how fast he tosses aside those principles and sprints to Washington to ask for your tax dollars to be "redistributed" to his state.

Still concerning spending big money, I’m sure all of us are aware of the vast sums of ransom money Somali pirates try to extort from hijacked ships. Some companies have paid up to $2 million to get their ships back. But did you know that many of those same ships also pay $600,000 to pass through the Suez Canal? That’s right, the Suez toll is a cool $600K. Wow, apparently owning a shipping company isn’t a job for the faint of heart (or wallet). By the way, in comparison, the highest toll ever assessed for passage through the Panama Canal was $141,344.91.

I’m not sure what to make of this set of statistics. Did you know that the United States has spent over a trillion dollars and imprisoned more people per capita than any other country in the world in order to reduce drug use? According to a column in the Miami Herald, in 1914, when the first federal drug law was enacted, the government estimated 1.3% of Americans were addicted to illegal drugs. In 1970, when the War on Drugs began, the government estimated that 1.3% of American were addicted to illegal drugs. Currently, the government estimates that 1.3% of Americans are addicted to illegal drugs. Well, at least Americans should get points for consistency.

I know conservatives like to kick Al Gore whenever possible, but they may have to (grudgingly) give credit where credit is due if one of Gore’s new ventures pans out. Did you know that the former VP is part of a $20 million biotech venture in the stem cell research area? The difference here is that the technology being developed is an alternative to embryonic stem cells called "induced pluripotent stem cells." Basically, the technology reprograms plain skin cells into embryonic look-alikes which can then be used for research. "Even the Pope and the Catholic Church are on board," says Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology of Massachusetts. This seems like it could be a win-win for all shades of the political-philosophical spectrum.

Jim Neff is a local columnist. Comments to neffzone@gmail.com. Read Neff Zone columns online at www.neffzone.com/cadillacnews.