Do you watch American Greed?

Hogan

On occasion I watch American Greed on CNBC? It is part entertainment in a schadenfreude kind of way and part educational. Many victims seem either greedy by reaching for returns or fearful the world is going to collapse. The one thing I would recommend is don't put your money with a company that does not have strong institutional controls. So how do you know if an institution has strong institutional controls? If the company you are handing your hard earned money over to is controlled by one or two persons. It appears to be too tempting for some who want to cover losses or just want to steal from you because there is nobody in the company who can say no to the potential thief.

Investor

Yes, you hit the nail. There is a greedy side who has friends in the same scheme that is getting rich by the minutes and they cannot be left out the scheme. Obviously, scheme is too good to be true and how such high returns are possible at low risk is not explained or very vague. The thief often a small operation. The custody of the funds is not at a well known 3rd party custodian.

hank

Yes - have caught portions of this program on some late nights. It's easy for investors to get suckered. I've had a couple close encounters. One in the 80s involved a big outfit in Florida called IGBU (International Gold Bullion Exchange). I had ordered a couple nice looking K-Rands which arrived in good condition as promised. So far no problem. But, a few months later I received a phone call from one of their salesmen offering to pay me around 20% annual interest (on the cash value of the coins) if I would mail them back. IGBU would safely "store" the gold coins in my name. I could retrieve them anytime I wished with a simple phone call. "No Thanks" I said. A year or so later the outfit was busted by the Feds and shut down. Criminal charges ensued. Essentially, they had been running a big ponzi scheme - reselling the same bullion over and over to different investors around the world. I guess alot of folk got burned by this. Story made quite a splash in the WSJ & elsewhere.

The second instance was that I invested for about three years with Strong Funds in the late 90s. I liked them at first. But, at some point service deteriorated and it begn taking 2-3 days or longer for simple phoned-in fund exchanges to be executed. Calls to inquire were rudely received. Kind of a nasty, "We'll call you. Don't call us" approach. Finally, I pulled everything out. A year or two later the scandal broke. Numerous Federal securities charges were brought against founder & CEO Dick Strong who was eventually banned from securities trading for life.

So, yes. They're out there. Beware!

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VintageFreak

I don't want CNBC as a matter of principal. It all boils down to who gets my "business". I just don't feed certain people. CNBC, Fox News (while I periodically visit when I'm in the mood for comedy), Honey Boo Boo, Donald Trump, Kardashians, and a host of others.

hank

Reply to @VintageFreak: I share your aversion to CNBC-Daytime. Actually, for a quick look at how Asian and Australian markets are shaping up overnight, CNBC-West (if your provider carries it) isn't too bad. (Not the right wing idiots regular CNBC offers up:-). Most of their anchors are more balanced. Bernie Lo out of China is downright hilarious in addition to being very smart.

Anyhow - the program Hogan mentioned airs on CNBC-West late some nights. I've glimpsed a few. Show's a bit "melodramatic" and I can't stomach very much of that. But, only takes about 5 minutes to size up the particular scam they're covering.

BTW - if you find anything worth watching regularly on TV please share it with the rest of us! We watch a little PBS and some of the C-Span book reviews are interesting. I also think Brian Lamb is one very good interviewer (C-Span Sunday nights). ... And sports - especially baseball. Otherwise, it all seems pretty barren. FWIW Take care.

..... OOOPS - Some of the CBS 60 Minutes presentations on Sundays are also worth watching - quality varies.

Investor

Reply to @hank:

It is also on regular CNBC, not just CNBC-W. It is outside of their regular programming hours; at night and weekends. It is a program completely different regular feel of CNBC. They need to fill the idle time with something so this is their go to filler. CNBC even had some sort of car chasers/flipper programming as well; actually it was not bad at all.

But I prefer Bloomberg more. Especially Bloomberg European programming late at night.

VintageFreak

Reply to @hank: I have recommended people watch VICE on HBO, Season 1 is over, but available online. I don't watch much TV other than for entertainment. I don't watch for financial / investment matters either. I come to MFO instead. Once in a while if my fund manager interviewed by Consuelo Mack or someone I will watch.

hank

Reply to @VintageFreak: Thanks. MFO's an excellent source.