Why Teaching Financial Literacy to Seminarians Makes Sense

Financial literacy skills are a key to economic health, yet too few Americans have even a basic knowledge of how to manage their personal finances. This is especially true among African-Americans, Hispanics, women, millennials, and individuals without a high-school education.

According to a financial capability study by FINRA Investor Education Foundation, only 46% of Americans have emergency funds and only 39% have tackled retirement savings needs. The survey also reflects that African-Americans are more likely to use non-bank borrowing, such as payday lenders and pawn shops, than other ethnic groups. The study states that nearly half of all respondents with a high school education or less could not come up with $2,000 in 30 days in the event of an emergency.

Americans want to live a comfortable life at each stage of their lives, regardless of race, gender, age, or education level. But whether we are young, middle aged or seniors, we must learn financial knowledge and tools for economic success. A lack of financial understanding can be a serious roadblock to a healthy financial life and has a negative impact on our economy and our citizens, including those who are most vulnerable.

Americans often wait until it is too late or when a financial crisis occurs before they seek help for financial problems. This is especially true in underserved populations, who have limited access to financial education training and resources.

But there is good news. Higher education institutions committed to teaching financial literacy are making tremendous difference by including such education at the undergraduate and post-graduate education levels.

This fall I am teaching financial literacy to divinity students, pastors and ministers at the Howard University School of Divinity in Washington, D.C. The class is structured to increase the financial and stewardship knowledge of the participants by teaching them practical money management concepts and skills. The program is designed to train religious leaders who will be able not only to use their own financial resources wisely, but also to teach financial literacy in their communities and places of worship. They will also be better informed to make leadership decisions regarding the facilities and finances of their congregations.

Enhancing the financial literacy of religious leaders and instructing them with the “Each One, Teach One” curriculum training model to implement in their own faith communities is a powerful tool to reach African Americans and others who would not otherwise have access to this knowledge. This education model also has the strong potential to impact thousands of individuals in African-American communities and elsewhere.

Imagine if financial literacy courses were a mandatory requirement at all divinity schools across the nation, and if churches and places of worship made a promise to host financial literacy trainings for their communities each year.

In nearly 20 years of running an education nonprofit organization dedicated to financial education, I have discovered that people want to learn personal money management concepts and their applications. Financial knowledge and skills of these kind help individuals make smart decisions so that are able to maximize financial resources and achieve their personal and financial goals.

The financial topics that I teach at Howard University, which focus on practical issues relevant to faith-based groups, include:

•Personal Financial Planning for Ministers and Pastors
•Credit and Debt Management
•Maximizing Financial Blessings through Investing

Thus far, the feedback from divinity students who have taken the “Personal Financial Planning for Ministers and Pastors” course has been positive and participants are eager to share what they have learned with their congregations.

Innovative and comprehensive programs to teach divinity students financial literacy, so they can in turn instruct their church members about useful financial concepts that can be applied in everyday life, can be a real lifeline for African America communities and other groups.

I urge other divinity and theology schools to expand their offerings to include financial literacy instructions in their curriculum and offer subject specific seminars and workshops to enable ministers and pastors to empower their congregations to become fiscally healthy. This can also play a key role in the financial sustainability of the churches they serve. We don’t have a moment to lose if our goal is growing healthy and robust communities and providing tools for all our citizens to have a chance to improve their financial well being.

The 9th Annual Financial Literacy Leadership Conference will be held on October 17-18, 2016 at the Omni Atlanta Hotel at CNN Center. Click here for more information and to register.

Access Your Potential is a new blog series focused on exploring the importance of developing technology skills and financial acumen in minority communities. Join the conversation by emailing PurposePlusProfit@huffingtonpost.com or by tweeting with #AccessYourPotential.

Trump Needs To Stop Pretending He's King Midas

If there’s one thing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump isn’t, it’s understated.

Bloomberg journalists Tim O’Brien and Joe Weisenthal decided to hone in on one of the things Trump is particularly emphatic about: Gold.

The video published Thursday shows us how Trump’s hotels and casinos have always had a gaudy, Goldfinger-esque quality to them.

How Trump uses gold accents in nearly everything regarding his campaign.

They even posture that perhaps the Don only loves gold because of its approximation to power. 

Whatever the reason for his obsession, someone needs to tell Trump that he’s not King Midas, the mythical ruler known for his ability to turn everything he touched into gold. Despite his hair being the shade of wispy gold.

Watch Bloomberg’s whole breakdown of Trump’s love of gold here:

We can assure you, Don, you touching the American government is definitely not turning it into gold.

For more on the video, head on over to Bloomberg.

Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims ― 1.6 billion members of an entire religion ― from entering the U.S.

Edward 'Tiger Mike' Davis, The World's Meanest Boss, Dead At 85

Think your boss is bad? Odds are, he has nothing on Edward “Tiger Mike” Davis ― the meanest boss in the world. 

Davis was so surly even a quick hello would be out of the question. In a memo, he once wrote:

“Do not speak to me when you see me. If I want to to speak to you, I will do so. I want to save my throat. I don’t want to ruin it by saying hello to all of you sons-of-bitches.”

As owner of the Tiger Oil Company, Davis turned nasty interoffice memos into an art form.

It all began in 1959 when he married “one of the earliest cougars ever,” as his obituary states.

At the age of 28, Davis wed 69-year-old Helen Bonfils. He was a high school dropout and her limo driver until her husband, theater and film director George Somnes, died in 1956. She was the owner of the Denver Post newspaper. 

When the two divorced in 1971, Davis received what the book Here Lies Colorado called “a substantial settlement,” which he used to start his oil exploration business. And that’s where his memos entered the picture; these notes developed almost a cult following years later when they began turning up on the website Letters of Note.

For example, he didn’t like guys with hair below the ears:

Anyone who lets their hair grow below their ears to where I can’t see their ears means they don’t wash. If they don’t wash, they stink, and if they stink, I don’t want the son-of-a-bitch around me.

Davis had a potty mouth, but he made it clear he was the only one allowed to cuss in the office:

There is one thing that differentiates me from my employees. I am a known son-of-a-bitch, and I care to remain that way. I have the privilege of swearing publicly, in front of anyone, or doing anything I want to because I pay the bills. When you work for me, you don’t have that privilege.

On the other hand, Davis was open to new ideas:

If you have a suggestion on how we can improve our methods, your suggestions are more than welcome. The best way to submit a suggestion is to put it in writing, sign your name and send it to me by registered mail ― then you can’t say it got lost. I DON’T WANT ANY EXCUSES. 

“There was no one else like him; there was only one Tiger Mike,” spokesman Marcelo Anevcua told the Las Vegas Sun. “Things had to be done his way all of the time. That’s just the way he was. And he spoke the way he felt.”

His way included no “shabby attire” in the workplace. According to his memos, Davis was also opposed to  “birthday celebrations, birthday cakes, levity or celebration of any kind,” in the office. 

While the infamous memoranda were written in the 1970s, Davis remained active in the oil industry. In 2012, he settled a multimillion dollar lawsuit over a finder’s fee he received for a deal that went sour. And he continued to work as recently as this year.

“He was working until about six months ago — still drilling oil wells, mostly in the Wyoming and Nebraska area,” friend and colleague Kevin Trujillo told the Denver Business Journal.

Davis died earlier this month of complications due to prostate cancer, The New York Times reported. He was 85. 

His obituary in the Las Vegas Review-Journal insisted there were two sides to the man, the one in the memos and another Tiger Mike.

“If he loved you, it was Heaven. If he disliked you, it was Hell,” the obit noted. “If you were powerful and arrogant, he would destroy you. If you were down and out, he would pick you up, dust you off and change your life forever.”

Read more of his memos on the Letters of Note website, or in the book “Letters Of Note: Volume 2,” which will be available Oct. 11. 

(VIDEO) Four Reasons 4C's Neuhauser Is Taking A $26m Investment

COLOGNE -- Last year, 4C Insights of Chicago bought itself a leg up in the fusion of social and TV advertising, by acquiring TV monitoring outfit Teletrax from Civolution, to know what's airing when and where.

Now the online ad targeting outfit is tooling up for further expansion, by taking a $26m series C investment from Kayne Partners along with previous investors.

Amongst 4C's product suit, the company variously helps advertisers target TV audiences using social data and vice versa. So why does it need more money? Speaking with Beet.TV at DMEXCO this month, CEO Lance Neuhauser explains:

1. "We are expanding globally ... more markets."
2. "We have to continue to work to gain more inventory connections."
3. "We need to continue to ingest more data sources."
4. "We're going to continue to build out our data science capabilities."

4C already has inventory arrangements to place ads on the major social networks, but Neuhauser wants to go farther. Data scientists, which are said to have "the sexiest job on the planet", don't come cheap these days, but are in the box seat for transforming business and industry.

That's a capability Neuhauser needs to make sense of how new data streams can help ad targeting. He says: "Social data is the largest set of digital anthropology to mankind ever."

Recently, the company also hired a chief product officer and chief revenue officer.

 

This interview was taped at DMEXCO '16. It is part of a video series of industry leaders. The series is sponsored by Videology. For more Beet.TV coverage of DMEXCO, please visit this page.

You can find this post on Beet.TV.

The Day The Music (Almost) Died

No matter where you live in the U.S. you may be able to hear the collective, thunderous applause emanating from Nashville. Of course, if you are a songwriter or composer, the same applies wherever you may roam: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, and every other square inch across the fruited plain.

I am referring to the August 16th ruling by BMI rate court judge Louis Stanton, striking down the Department of Justice recent mandate, ordering Performance Rights Organizations (BMI, ASCAP) to adopt a 100% licensing model within 12 months.

100% license is, in short, the discontinuance of many decades of mainstream music licensing protocol, thereby stripping the copyright owner(s) (writers and publishers) of licensing their works on a fractional basis.

Why does this matter?

By example, assume that song A has three writers, each contracted with different publishers, for a total of six legal claimants to copyright royalties (fees) associated with that work. The current model allows all six claimants to license their fraction of ownership interest to whatever Performance Rights Organization (BMI, ASCAP, SESAC, etc. which monitor and collect copyright royalties) they choose.

100% licensing essentially divests copyright claimants of control, fractures the system, threatens the creative process, increases exposure to IP loss and results in a huge loss of royalty fees to those who have a legal, rightful claim to them. Think of it as a slow, progressive parasite that kills its host.

This interpretation of longstanding intellectual property law, while not entirely without precedent, albeit very limited in scope, would be an unmitigated disaster for songwriters, composers and other copyrightable creations. Music in all of its genres and varied uses would be adversely impacted by this counter-intuitive position.

According to Stanton’s ruling “The consent decree neither bars fractional licensing nor requires full-work licensing,” which is the exact opposite of what the DOJ argued when it gave ASCAP and BMI one year to employ full-works licensing.”

The only portion of the DOJ ruling that is of actual use and merit, is the rightful pointing of the finger of obligation at Congress, before quickly returning to their very disturbing and ongoing pattern of legislating from an unelected position; creating an entirely new dictate out of whole cloth, and essentially a new form of Copyright infringement. That element alone, should be of equal concern and focus.

I understand you may, to some degree consider this to be a bit of melodrama, but from where I sit, it isn’t far off the mark. In a previous life cycle, I made a living as a musician, both live and studio. Some of my dearest friends are lifelong songwriters and composers, that have decided it simply may not be worth the effort anymore. Of course, they will keep writing for the sheer love of it, but will spend less time doing so, which means decreased volume or supply. Who do you know willing to work for free? I don’t believe it can be considered mailbox money, if it isn’t worth walking to the mailbox to collect it.

Considering these people have written multi-platinum songs that most everyone in the free world are familiar with, I cannot think of a more compelling reason for long overdue, decisive action to protect their, and all intellectual property, past and future, and make it once again worthwhile to rekindle the full potency of creative energies.

Bottom line: a variety of influences have rendered songwriting and music composition significantly less feasible in the classic sense, with increased risks and exposure to loss of intellectual property and/or the revenue associated with same. Assuming you are a music lover/user, that should be of deep, contemplative concern.

It would seem that both Congress and existing laws and regulations in this area of American jurisprudence desperately need to catch up with the times. Imagine a world absent half of your favorite songs. Is ignorance truly bliss, or is it just ignorance?

Meanwhile, the only defense I can find of the DOJ ruling comes from the radio and digital music industries. Wow… there’s a surprise! What next, they hand the keys to the blood bank over to Dracula?

To be clear, Ideashares has no political affiliation. We exist to promote, assist and protect intellectual property and intellectual property holders. On our weekly radio show, we occasionally discuss laws & policies, inclusive of the regulatory environment, that represent a threat or create even more barriers to the maintenance of (or at least attempting) an optimal environment for creation, innovation and entrepreneurialism.

Politics in this context is only relevant in the sense that it is the engine that drives policy. The results and consequences of those policies, good and bad, fall to the entirety of the governing body that created them. From a macro perspective, party affiliation is a smokescreen. Look at the results. Follow the money.

Also accounting for the numerous current issues that exist at the USPTO (United States Patent & Trademark Office), how long can we afford to operate in this dysfunctional, Keystone Cop, intellectual property environment, while our trust level with the rest of the world continues to freefall? Uncertainty equals unreliability, which is not a recognized form of leadership, unless the pursuit is to achieve irrelevance. What we need is new leadership. REAL leadership.

So, after the applause ebbs, we need a thunderous national demand for our esteemed government to set aside their self-serving, political “partisan sizing, and do what they are being way overpaid to do. Although, I would be remiss not to offer a word of caution and reason for pause. After all, we are talking about the same Congress that reversed 235 years of well-functioning patent law, to give us the cryptic cluster foxtrot otherwise known as the America Invents Act of 2011.

Again I say…lead or get out of the way.

Innovate On!

References:

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7511194/bmi-rate-court-judge-rules-against-dept-of-justices-100-percent-licensing

https://musictech.solutions/2016/07/06/cost-recovery-and-the-dojs-100-licensing-scheme/

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-16/songwriters-win-royalty-decision-as-judge-rejects-u-s-rules

http://dcantitrustlaw.com/Stanton%20Letter.pdf

Wells Fargo Faces Proposed Class Action Lawsuit Over Bogus Account Scandal

Wells Fargo & Co, embroiled in a scandal over the opening of sham accounts, was sued on Friday by customers who accused the bank of fraud and recklessness for its behavior.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Utah, and seeks class-action status on behalf of hundreds of thousands of customers nationwide.

Wells Fargo did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Last week, the San Francisco-based lender agreed to pay $190 million to settle regulatory charges that employees opened some 2 million accounts without customers’ knowledge, in order to meet sales targets.

Wells Fargo, the country’s third-largest bank by assets, has said it has fired 5,300 people over the matter and would eliminate sales goals in its retail banking on Jan. 1, 2017.

Federal prosecutors have begun examining Wells Fargo’s practices, and the bank’s Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf is scheduled to testify before Congress next week.

In the complaint, three plaintiffs said customers were hurt by “abusive and fraudulent tactics” used by employees who felt they had to “do whatever it takes,” including selling products they did not need or want, to meet sales quotas.

It was not immediately clear how the three named plaintiffs were specifically harmed by the bank’s alleged wrongdoing.

The case is Mitchell et al v. Wells Fargo Bank NA et al, U.S. District Court, District of Utah, No. 16-00966.

(Reporting by Karen Freifeld; additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Robert Scoble: Here's Why Virtual Reality Will Change Everything

Robert Scoble has been at the forefront of the technological trendlines in Silicon Valley his entire life. Now he’s dedicating all of his time to virtual and mixed reality. But why?

If you pinch the little Cirque du Soleil artist you can make her bigger and when you click on her she will start performing just for you. Right there in front of you by your desk. At the same time a zombie is coming through the wall while the CNN is on next to your work screen. Sounds like a fantasy come true. Well, it is.

Robert Scoble has seen it. Just like he has seen a lot of other stuff from the frontier of technology for the most part of his life growing up in Silicon Valley. And there has been some crazy things going on around him. Microsoft happened. Apple too. And then Facebook. Silicon Valley has been the center of technological innovation in a lot of industries. It’s been like a science fiction tv-series for the last 20 years with more breakthroughs and disruptions of industries than killings in Game of Thrones.

But you’ve seen nothing yet.

Now it’s time for something even more radical. It’s time for virtual reality and the even more immersive mixed reality as Robert Scoble favors.

“20 years ago one of my friends had a complete set up for VR games. And it worked. Only the computer running it cost a million dollars. Now you can get the same technology the size of a mobile device for just 2000 dollars.”

And that changes everything, says Scoble.

“Now we have low cost, small size and more bandwidth. But most importantly we have social systems. Like Facebook. And that’s why VR, AR and mixed reality will not only stay but change everything,” says Robert Scoble of UploadVR. And that’s when he starts to explain the six technologies that are fundamental to create all these new devices that will mix our reality with artificial experiences.

He’s fast paced. It’s about optics, sensors, high speed, dimension mapping, artificial intelligence as in deep learning. And audio. Audio will be tremendously important in the field of virtual and mixed realities.

It’s not that Robert Scoble is fast paced for the sake of speed. He is after all reclining horizontally in a sofa as we speak at the Trouble offices in Copenhagen. Like a missionary buddha of technology trendlines. But Robert Scoble is a storyteller with a lot of information. Just take a look at his social media appearances on Facebook and Twitter and his Scobleizer blog.

We’ll skip the technological explanation for now and go straight to consequences.

“We’re now in the fourth state of user interface of the personal computer era. The first was character mode as we saw in MS-DOS. The second was the GUI as in Graphical User Interface known from Macintosh and Windows. The third was touch as we know from the iPhone or Android. And here comes the fourth of spatial computing.”

It’s the most intuitive thing there ever was in computer interfaces. There almost is no interface. But to grasp the full potential of it you have to try it for yourself. You can design things in virtual reality and manufacture them in real life with the push of a button.

The article continues under the video.

So it’s three dimensions but this is not like 3D TV where it’s just an effect. This is actually a 3D replication of the world. Think about that. Or let Robert Scoble explain:

“We’re gonna put basketball games on the floor and I’m gonna be able to go on the court with Steven Curry and the Warriors and then I’m gonna stop the game and practice my three point shot right next to him. And I’m gonna hit play and see if he makes the shot the same way I did. He might even turn to me and give me some tips.”

And the thing that will tie all these new ideas together will be the social layer of the internet. If it’s gaming, everything is more fun when you play with someone else. In journalism it feels more real if you bring people virtually to a refugee camp in Syria instead of reading about it. Art will be extreme when you do anything you want. Medicine will change because you can better diagnose concussions. It is already happening.

“Everything about our world is going to change. And this means deep cultural change. The kind of change we saw in the 1960’s when the electric guitar brought us rock’n roll, when the pill brought us the sexual revolution and when the space race brought us to the Moon and gave us the internet.”

It feels promising. But will the feelings be real, virtual or mixed?

Let’s dive in.

...

For daily perspectives, rants, thoughts & ideas you should follow the Trouble people on Facebook. This post originally appeared on Trouble Stories.

Why Corporate Tax Deserters Shouldn't Get The Benefit Of Being American Corporations

Apple is only the latest big global American corporation to use foreign tax shelters to avoiding paying its fair share of U.S. taxes. It’s just another form of corporate desertion.

Corporations are deserting America by hiding their profits abroad or even shifting their corporate headquarters to another nation because they want lower taxes abroad. And some politicians say the only way to stop these desertions is to reduce corporate tax rates in the U.S. so they won’t leave.

Wrong. If we start trying to match lower corporate tax rates around the world, there’s no end to it.

Instead, the President should use his executive power to end the financial incentives that encourage this type of corporate desertion. President Obama has already begun, but there is much left that could be done.

In addition, corporations that desert America by sheltering a large portion of their profits abroad or moving their headquarters to another country should no longer be entitled to the advantages of being American.

1. They shouldn’t be allowed to influence the U.S. government. They shouldn’t be allowed to contribute to U.S. political campaigns, or lobby Congress, or participate in U.S. government agency rule-making proceedings. And they no longer have the right to sue foreign companies in U.S. courts for acts committed outside the United States.

2. They shouldn’t be entitled to generous government contracts. “Buy American” provisions of the law should be applied to them.

3. Their assets around the world shouldn’t any longer be protected by the U.S. government. If their factories and equipment are expropriated somewhere around the world, they shouldn’t expect the United States to negotiate or threaten sanctions, or use our armed forces to protect their investments. And if their intellectual property – patents, trademarks, trade names, copyrights – are disregarded, that’s their problem too. Don’t expect any help from us.

In fact, their interests should be of no concern to the U.S. government – in trade negotiations, climate negotiations, international treaties reconciling American law with the laws of other countries, or international disputes over access to resources.

They don’t get to be represented by the U.S. government because they’re no longer American.

It’s simple logic. If corporations want to desert America in order to pay less in taxes, that’s their business. But they should no longer have the benefits that come with being American. 

 

6 Mistakes That Can Knock Out Your Finances

During the historic Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight there was no knockout, but your finances may not be able to take a punch quite as well. It is always a good idea to be aware of what could knock out your finances and drain savings accounts because boxers who know where the punch is coming from have better chances of keeping their defenses up.

Here are six common problems that can deal a knockout punch to your finances:

1. Credit card dependency

Americans owed a total of $729 billion on their credit cards in the second quarter of 2016, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit. This also means billions in annual interest sucked out of the bank accounts of credit card customers, all because they got in the habit of charging more than they could readily pay off. Mounting debt burdens and interest charges have knocked out many a household's finances.

2. Student loan debt

A by-product of the weak job market resulting from the Great Recession was a doubling in student loan debt outstanding over the past seven years. Going back to school simply because it is easier than facing a tough job market can put your finances up against the ropes before your career even starts.

3. Overpriced investments

The past 15 years have seen extreme peaks and valleys in tech stocks, real estate, oil and gold, among other investments. Trying to chase these trends can lead you into overpriced assets just when they are poised to collapse - the investment equivalent of walking into a punch.

4. Big mortgages

People like to think big when they buy a house, leading them to sign on to mortgage payments that are a stretch to afford. This is like getting into a fight and expecting not to be hit. If your finances cannot take a little adversity, they'll never go the distance.

5. Career complacency

It happens time and time again in boxing - a fighter gets to the top and loses the edge it took to get there. For more mainstream careers, the equivalent is taking your job and your career for granted. People get to a comfortable income level, and they ease back a bit. The problem begins if you don't keep your skills up to date or put forward a consistently competitive effort. Keep your eye on how well your company is holding up in its markets. Or you might find that your comfortable job gets taken by a hungrier and more aggressive competitor, either from inside or outside your own organization.

6. No financial cushion

It isn't just laziness that dooms some fighters. Others are done in by too much fast living once they become rich and famous. Financially, you don't need to have a drug or alcohol problem to be living on the edge. Any lifestyle that is debt-dependent, makes no room for savings or is just one setback away from defaulting on payments is too close to the edge to be safe.

Notably, Floyd Mayweather has made a huge fortune by being a primarily defensive boxer. You will probably never make Mayweather money, but your finances can be successful if you learn to keep your defenses up.

More from Richard Barrington and MoneyRates.com:

Credit Card Monthly Payment Calculator

How to establish good credit starting with your first credit card

Credit Card Interest Calculator

Ford Foundation's remarkable mea culpa will provide greater opportunities for people with disabilities

For 80 years, the Ford Foundation has sought to reduce poverty and injustice, strengthen democratic values, promote international cooperation and advance human achievement. Now stewards of a $12 billion endowment, when this remarkable organization's leader speaks, people listen. So it may well reverberate throughout the nonprofit world - and far beyond - now that Ford Foundation President Darren Walker has used the occasion of his annual letter to his constituents admitting that a new effort by the Ford Foundation to disrupt inequality had neglected people with disabilities.

Walker, who is African-American and gay said, "In the same way that I have asked my white friends to step outside their own privileged experience to consider the inequalities endured by people of color, I was being held accountable to do the same thing for a group of people I had not fully considered," Walker wrote. "Moreover, by recognizing my individual privilege and ignorance, I began to more clearly perceive the Ford Foundation's institutional privilege and ignorance, as well. It is clear to me now that this was a manifestation of the very inequality we were seeking to dismantle, and I am deeply embarrassed by it."

I have known Darren Walker for years and consider myself honored that he sought counsel from my organization and others in the disability community on this issue. He is an extraordinary man who has been a leader in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors for two decades. When TIME magazine names someone to its annual list of the "100 Most Influential People in the World" one could be expected to let that get to his head. Not Darren. His remarkable admission about the Ford Foundation's past ignorance and indifference to people with disabilities only underscores his humility and grace. He also knows when he's made a mistake and owns it.

The sad reality is people with disabilities have been marginalized for centuries. Even in this age of prosperity, people with disabilities remain underemployed and their skills underappreciated. Twenty-six years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, its full promise has yet to be fulfilled, as millions of Americans with disabilities still struggle to attain a quality of life equal to our non-disabled neighbors.

Personally, I have felt a special connection to the Ford Foundation since my longtime mentor, Mike Sviridoff, went to work for the Foundation in the 1970's under its legendary leader McGeorge "Mac" Bundy. Together, Mike and Mac worked tirelessly to nurture a variety of programs to address the problems of our cities, most notably poverty. Two years before President Lyndon B. Johnson declared the war on poverty, Mike led an antipoverty program in New Haven that was set up with a Ford Foundation grant. In its first 30 months, the program found employment for 1,500 people and became a national model.

Fast-forward half a century, the Ford Foundation continues to deliver proven results for poor and excluded communities around the world. But even more importantly, Darren Walker takes the unusual next step of putting Ford's own practices under a microscope, and leading by example. In his letter, Darren notes that "those who courageously--and correctly--raised this complicated set of issues pointed out that the Ford Foundation does not have a person with visible disabilities on our leadership team, takes no affirmative effort to hire people with disabilities, does not consider them in our strategy, or even provide those with physical disabilities with adequate access to our website, events, social media, or building. It should go without saying: All of this is at odds with our mission."

In a country where most foundations don't consider disability among their focus areas, for the leader of the nation's second-largest philanthropy to acknowledge this gross oversight and to appreciate the need to be inclusive of people with disabilities, is a game-changing move for the people my organization represents and for our nation as a whole. I hope his actions will spur other foundations, large and small alike, to examine if they, too, have ignored people with disabilities in their programs and employment. He concludes his letter with a hopeful tone:

"For my part, I am hopeful," he writes. "By demanding and expecting more of ourselves and our institutions, we can deliver more for others. In listening to each other, we will continue to learn. By listening more to each other, we can continue to forge a more just way forward, together."

Darren knows we'll all be watching. And we know he'll deliver. He always has.

Wells Fargo Will Pay $190 Million To Settle Customer Fraud Case

WASHINGTON, Sept 8  - Wells Fargo has long been the envy of the banking industry for its ability to sell multiple products to the same customer, but regulators on Thursday said those practices went too far in some instances.

The largest U.S. bank by market capitalization will pay $185 million in penalties and $5 million to customers that regulators say were pushed into fee-generating accounts they never requested.

“We regret and take responsibility for any instances where customers may have received a product that they did not request,” the bank said of a settlement reached Thursday with California prosecutors and federal regulators.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will receive $100 million of the total penalties - the largest fine ever levied by the federal agency.

“Today’s action should serve notice to the entire industry that financial incentive programs, if not monitored carefully, carry serious risks that can have serious legal consequences,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray.

Los Angeles officials and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency were also party to the settlement.

In a complaint filed in May 2015, California prosecutors alleged that Wells Fargo pushed customers into costly financial products that they did not need or even request.

Bank employees were told that the average customer tapped six financial tools but that they should push households to use eight products, according to the complaint.

The bank opened more than 2 million deposit and credit card accounts that may not have been authorized, the CFPB said Thursday.

Wells Fargo spokeswoman Mary Eshet said the bank fired 5,300 employees over “inappropriate sales conduct.” The firings took place over a five-year period, Eshet said, adding that the bank has 100,000 employees in its branches.

Wells Fargo regularly releases numbers about how many products it sells to customers, a practice it calls “cross-sell.” Its wealth and investment management unit, for example, sold 10.55 products per retail banking household in November 2015, up from 10.49 a year earlier, according to the bank’s annual 10-K financial filing.

In the second quarter, however, the bank changed how it tallies up some of those numbers and said it was considering more changes.

Piper Jaffray analyst Kevin Barker said he does not think the crackdown on Wells Fargo will have much of an impact on others in the industry.

“I think this is unique to Wells Fargo and their particular situation and how hard they push on cross-sell,” he said.

 

(Reporting By Patrick Rucker in Washington and Dan Freed in New York; Editing by Alan Crosby and Jonathan Oatis)

Someone Is Actually Facing Jail Time For Volkswagen's Pollution Scandal

A Volkswagen engineer pleaded guilty to conspiring to cheat on U.S. emissions tests and agreed to work with federal prosecutors to investigate the German automaker, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday. 

James Liang ― a 25-year veteran of the company’s plant in Wolfsburg, Germany ― helped develop the device that allowed the diesel-fueled Jetta sedan to beat emissions tests in 2006. Volkswagen became embroiled in scandal last September when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found that nearly 482,000 cars in the United States violated emissions standards set by the Clean Air Act.

Liang’s plea marks the first criminal conviction from series of probes that began last year after Volkswagen admitted to programming roughly 11 million cars worldwide to circumvent emissions tests. Liang, 62, could face up to five years in prison, according to the Financial Times.

The conviction is sure to rock an auto industry that has repeatedly hoodwinked customers into buying faulty or dangerous vehicles ― infractions that haven’t led to anyone spending time in jail. 

The day before the Volkswagen scandal erupted last year, General Motors admitted to criminal wrongdoing and agreed to pay a $900 million penalty for mishandling a defective ignition switch. The faulty hardware, which caused the engine to shut off during driving, has been linked to at least 124 deaths. 

“People were hurt and people died in our cars,” Mary T. Barra, GM’s chief executive, said at the time. 

The company entered a deferred prosecution agreement, which allows the government to drop the case in three years if GM abides the terms of the deal. But no individual executives faced criminal charges. 

In 2014, Toyota agreed to pay a $1.2 billion fine to avoid prosecution for covering up safety risks from parts that caused “unintended acceleration” in cars for about a decade leading up to 2009. The defect led to at least 89 deaths. No individual executives faced criminal charges then either. 

Volkswagen’s deception may have caused some deaths, too. The automaker’s cars spewed up to 40 times the legal limit of nitrogen oxides, which comes from burning diesel. The resultant emissions may have led to at least 60 premature deaths in the U.S. alone, according to a peer-reviewed study published last October in the journal Environmental Research Letters. 

Is the Woman Business Enterprise Certification Worth the Time and Money?

If you're a woman who owns a business you may find the woman-owned certification requirements a bit excessive - and a little overwhelming - at first. If you can get past the initial shock, you may find the benefits of certification outweigh the work required to complete certification. Some of the many important benefits to this certification include increased visibility and access to the Fortune 500 business world.

The National Women Business Owners Corporation (NWBOC), became the first private national certifier of women-owned businesses when it formed in 1995. Since then many local, state and national organizations have been created that also offer certifications to help female business owners grow their businesses and gain access to big clients.

The Benefits of Woman-Owned Certification

#1. Government Contracts

The U.S. government is one of the largest buyers of goods and services and even have set goals to help award more contracts specifically to women, which can become reliable sources of income.

Back in 2000, it became apparent that federal procurement dollars were bypassing women-owned businesses. This prompted the government's 5 percent goal of awarding government contracts to woman-owned businesses in hopes of leveling the playing field.

Since 2010, the government has been within 1 percent of reaching their 5 percent goal, but only achieved it in the 2015 fiscal year. Gaining access to government contracts is one of the many benefits of becoming a certified woman-owned business.

Last year, 5.05 percent - or $17.8 billion dollars - were contracted with women-owned small businesses. The steady incline over past years demonstrates a strong trend that the percentage of contracts with woman-owned businesses will continue to rise.

#2. Access to databases

Another benefit to being certified through an official organization is the access to databases of information. With access to lists of suppliers and procurement executives and hundreds of major U.S. corporations and federal, state, and local government entities, finding big business leads can become easy.

This also means agencies and purchasers can easily find your company since your information will be added to the database as well.

#3. Educational and Networking Opportunities

Most big organizations include educational and networking opportunities to those who have successfully received certification. This can help you learn which major corporations or government agencies are interested in the types of goods or services you supply, helping your market directly to the buyers you want to reach.

#4. Enhance Your Business Marketing

There are also many ways to use this certification to promote your company. Most certifying organizations provide a seal to use on marketing materials and retail product packaging. In addition, it can provide the opportunity to partner with other woman-owned businesses. An American Express study found that business owners who team with another business win 50% more contracts.

Before applying to become a certified woman-owned business it is important to know that ownership is not the only criteria. It's a bit more complex. The following are the criteria to be eligible for this certification:

1. A woman or multiple women must own and control at least 51.0% of the business
2. The woman owner must serve as President or CEO - if both positions exist
3. She must be active in daily management
4. She must be a U.S. citizen
5. The woman owner must have the ownership and officer position for at least 6 months

The benefits of becoming a certified Woman-Owned Business could outweigh any initial cost because the certification helps create credibility, access, and opportunities for companies that may otherwise not be available.

I spoke with Tricia Wallwork, CEO of Milo's, a producer of organic teas and other beverages. Milo's is a certified woman-owned business.

Q: Why did you get your business certified?

A: We are always looking for ways to explain the Milo's Corporate Difference. The Women Business Enterprise (WBE) certification was a great way for us to acknowledge our unique and diverse culture so our loyal fans could understand more about who we are as a company.

Q: Have you seen any benefits to being certified?

A: The WBE certification has opened many doors for Milo's through networking with other talented professionals, our customers and the fine retailers where our products are sold. During Women's History Month in March 2015, Walmart featured six women-owned businesses nationally and Milo's was one of the chosen products featured. This enabled us to reach many new customers and further tell our story, as well as meet and learn from many other dynamic WBEs.

Q: Was the certification process difficult?

A: The certification and recertification processes are not difficult but they are detailed enough to ensure that the company is truly majority owned and controlled by women and remain that way during certification.

Q: Do you believe the certification process was worth it?

A: I believe the WBE certification process was worth the time, expense and effort because it gave Milo's another way to demonstrate the Milo's Difference, network with other talented WBEs and differentiate ourselves to our customer and retailers.

(Image Source)

How To Know Whether Mortgage Refinancing Pays

If you took out a 7.5% mortgage in 1994 and still have it, refinancing it in a 3.5% market is a no-brainer; you don't need much analysis to know that refinancing into today's rates will pay. The only possible reason that such mortgages still exist is a marked deterioration in the borrowers' credit, in the value of the home, or in the borrower's mental capacity.

If you took out a 5.5% mortgage in 2004, the case for refinancing is not as strong but, barring deterioration of the types indicated above, it is strong enough to move with confidence.

The challenging case is when your mortgage is at 4% from 2014. This is a situation where the rate reduction might or might not be large enough to offset the costs of the refinance. This article will explain the valid approach to answering the question, and an invalid approach used by loan officers that is all too common .

Factors That Affect the Profitability of a Refinance

A refinance pays if the sum of all the costs arising from the refinance during the period you expect to have it is less than the sum of the costs of the old mortgage over the same period. Costs on only the new loan include points and other origination charges paid at closing. Costs on both the new and existing mortgage include monthly payments of principal and interest, mortgage insurance premiums if any, and lost interest on upfront and monthly costs. In both cases, tax savings and the reduction in loan balance are benefits that must be deducted from total costs.

Yes, this is a formidable list but I have made it easy for you with my refinance calculator Refinancing One FRM Into Another to Lower Net Cost. The calculator will prompt you for all the required inputs and indicate why they are needed. This calculator assumes that you have only one fixed-rate mortgage that is refinanced into another, and that you don't take any cash out of the transaction. Other refinance calculators are available for borrowers who have an adjustable rate mortgage, or a second mortgage, or want cash from the transaction. See Find a Refinance Calculator.

The calculator indicates that a borrower with a 4% 30-year mortgage that is 3 years old would benefit by refinancing it into a new 3.25% loan, and benefit even more by selecting a 15-year mortgage at 2.5%. With a loan balance of $360,000, the savings over 10 years would be about $17,000 on refinancing into a new 30-year, and about $49,000 when the new loan is for 15 years.

Don't Be Led Astray by a Spurious "Break-Even Period"

Another approach to whether or not you will save on a refinance is to calculate a break-even period - the period over which costs of the old loan and the new loan are equal. The larger the spread between the new interest rate and the rate on your existing loan, and the smaller the cost of the new loan, the shorter the break-even period. If you are confident that you will have the new mortgage longer than the break-even period, you will benefit from the refinance. My calculator shows the breakeven period, in addition to the cost comparison over the period you specify.

But beware! The break-even period is not the cost of the new loan divided by the reduction in the monthly mortgage payment. Many loan officers use this rule of thumb, which completely ignores how rapidly you pay off the new loan as opposed to the old one. Borrowers following this rule would never refinance into a shorter term loan because of the increase in payment, although the total benefit including the pay-down of the loan balance is substantially greater on refinancing into a 15-year loan, as indicated above. The rule of thumb does not work for any borrower who is concerned with how long they have to pay, which should be every borrower.

Combining the Refinance Analysis With Mortgage Shopping

The answers generated by refinance calculators are no better than the current mortgage prices the user must enter to make the calculators work. The calculators on my web site were developed at a time when users were on their own in finding the prices at which they could borrow in the current market. But that is no longer the case. You can now price shop and assess whether a refinance will pay in a single operation on my site.

The "Refinance Mortgage Shoppers" calculator gives you an input form that includes all the factors that affect your mortgage price in today's market, and also includes information about your current mortgage. The calculator will show the costs over the period you stipulate, using the best prices quoted by the lenders who report their prices to my site, on all the new loans for which you qualify, and also for your existing mortgage if you retain it. You can thus shop for the best terms on a new loan, and you can select the new loan type that generates the largest saving over your current loan.

For more information on refinancing or paying off your mortgage faster, visit my website The Mortgage Professor.

9 Cartoons To Help You Avoid Any Actual Work

If you want to continue avoiding any actual work, follow the sage advice in these nine cartoons.

#1 Got a lot of email? Try this is revolutionary strategy.

Sarah Cooper / TheCooperReview.com  

#2 Email reminders are a great way to surprise yourself.

Sarah Cooper / TheCooperReview.com  

#3 It’s important you’re comfortable at work, no matter how ridiculous you look.

Sarah Cooper / TheCooperReview.com  

#4 Open office layouts are a great way to increase collaboration and misery.

Sarah Cooper / TheCooperReview.com  

#5 In the corporate world, you learn to live with regret.

Sarah Cooper / TheCooperReview.com  

#6 Boost team morale with a team building event.

Sarah Cooper / TheCooperReview.com  

#7 Be realistic about your productivity goals. 

Sarah Cooper / TheCooperReview.com  

#8 Sometimes to get more productive you have to waste time trying to get more productive.

Sarah Cooper / TheCooperReview.com  

#9 Get your morning meetings off to a great start. 

Sarah Cooper / TheCooperReview.com  

I post new humor every week! Sign up for my free email newsletter to get updates.

Sarah Cooper is a writer, comedian and creator of TheCooperReview.com. Her first book, 100 Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings comes out October 4th.

Women in Business Q&A: Margaret Riordan, The Blanchard Collective

Margaret Riordan

Margaret Riordan heads up the Blanchard Collective, an eclectic group of 18 European dealers, who between them, have a mixed array of 17th to 21st century English, Continental, Oriental and American furniture and decorative items. The idea is to provide a one-stop shop for interior
decorators and private clients alike.

Her journey to this position has been one of mixed fortunes. Trained as a teacher, she taught English in Istanbul for a year before taking up a post in London. A need for change lead to a year as a motorcycle messenger, and then to setting up a cookware business. However, when the opportunity to join an existing antique business presented itself, there was no looking back. Mentored by a dealer with an excellent 'eye', she promoted his business, and then when he gave up the lease, she opened a Collective on her own behalf with his blessing.

How has your life experience made you the leader you are today?
For me, talk of leadership necessarily involves a team. A leader needs his/her team, a team their leader. It is an organic process growing from a breadth of work/life experiences which, approached with an open mind, form the basis for developing sound character judgment.

I started my working life as a teacher, was a motorbike messenger for a year, ran a cookware business. Growing up I was surrounded by antiques because my grandmother was a serious collector and this clearly inspired me when the opportunity arose to get involved in the business and to start building the right team to launch our Collective of 25 antiques dealers and interior designers located just outside the historic city of Marlborough.

What have the highlights and challenges been during your tenure at The Blanchard Collective?
There are daily highs and lows in setting up and running a business. For me, the biggest challenge was getting the banks to take me and my business plan seriously with a view to finance. 10 years on the biggest highlight has been the realization that I did it without them! That has been very empowering and I hope will inspire would be women entrepreneurs not to take no for an answer.

On a more general note. The main challenge is not to get bogged down in the very necessary, but time consuming day to day admin which running a business entails. I find it really important to keep looking outward, and to let other interests play a part. Living life in various compartments does not work for me.

The highlights are invariably people related. There is huge enjoyment in establishing a rapport with a client, and getting involved in their project, either directly with them, or, in consultation with their decorator. Bringing together an interior is personal, involving as it does a reflection of the client's preferences and interests, and is immensely satisfying.

What advice can you offer to women who want a career in your industry?
The antique business is not a career decision, it is a way of life. Once it is in your blood you never retire.

Speaking generally though, any career in retailing demands a liking for people, an enormous amount of patience, passion for the product and attention to detail. When it is your own business, the most important lesson is to let your passion carry you forward, and to never give up.

How do you maintain a work/life balance?
In my business, work and life are as one. There is so much satisfaction in dealing with wonderfully made & beautiful objects, and in creating interiors with unusual items which can be found in unexpected places. The real joy is in being aware of all manner of outside stimuli which can play a part in your work experience. Whether it be travel, museum & art gallery visits, shopping trips, all experience is a personal investment in the business. My husband John is my partner in life and the business and although we do manage an essential holiday in Italy each year at the same wonderful hotel, our life together is enmeshed in the business.

What do you think is the biggest issue for women in the workplace?
I think that the biggest issue for women in the workplace is an overblown awareness of being a 'woman in the workplace'. Just be yourself, enjoy working out the problems that present themselves, and just get on with it.

How has mentorship made a difference in your professional and personal life?
Mentorship comes in many guises, from friends, workplace colleagues, chance encounters. Just be open to experience, and take from it what is relevant. My most important mentor has been Orlando Harris, for whom I worked for several years promoting his Collective. He was one of the earliest exponents of the 'Dealers' Collective' concept, and the grounding I received whilst working for him has been invaluable in my own business.

Which other female leaders do you admire and why?
Frances Morris, Director of Tate Modern for her controlled enthusiasm, and ability to bring together so may creative minds.

Angelina Jolie who leads by self-effacing example.

Karen Brady for her business acumen.

Theresa May, British Prime Minister for her practical and commonsense approach, and as someone who is not afraid of taking the hard decisions.

The Queen who is always so well briefed, for her dignity and her dedication.

Here's How America Can Solve Its Steel Crisis

China is gorging itself on steelmaking. It is forging so much steel that the entire world doesn’t need that much steel.

Companies in the United States and Europe, and unions like mine, the United Steelworkers, have spent untold millions of dollars to secure tariffs on imports of this improperly government-subsidized steel. Still China won’t stop. Diplomats have elicited promises from Chinese officials that no new mills will be constructed. Still they are. Chinese federal officials have written repeated five-year plans in which new mills are banned. Yet they are built.

All of the dog-eared methods for dealing with this global crisis in steel have failed. So American steel executives and steelworkers and hundreds of thousands of other workers whose jobs depend on steel must hope that President Barack Obama used his private meeting with China’s President XI Jinping Saturday to press for a novel solution. Because on this Labor Day, 14,500 American steelworkers and approximately 91,000 workers whose jobs depend on steel are out of work because China won’t stop making too much steel. 

A new report on the crisis, titled “Overcapacity in Steel, China’s Role in a Global Problem,” by the Duke University Center on Globalization, Governance & Competitiveness flatly concludes that existing policies to stop China from building excessive steel capacity have failed.

Since 2007, China has added 552 million metric tons of steel capacity – an amount that is equivalent to seven times the total U.S. steel production in 2015. China did this while repeatedly promising to cut production. China did this while the United States actually did cut production, partly because China exported to the United States illegitimately subsidized, and therefore underpriced, steel.

That forced the closure or partial closure of U.S. mills, the layoffs of thousands of skilled American workers, the destruction of communities’ tax bases and the threat to national security as U.S. steelmaking capacity contracted.

Although China, the world’s largest net exporter of steel, knows it makes too much steel and has repeatedly pledged to cut back, it plans to add another 41 million metric tons of capacity by 2017, with mills that will provide 28 million metric tons already under construction.

None of this would make sense in a capitalist, market-driven system. But that’s not the system Chinese steel companies operate in. Chinese mills don’t have to make a profit. Many are small, inefficient and highly polluting. They receive massive subsidies from the federal and local governments in the form of low or no-interest loans, free land, cash grants, tax reductions and exemptions and preferential access to raw materials including below market prices.

That’s all fine if the steel is sold within China. But those subsidies violate international trade rules when the steel is exported. 

These are the kinds of improper subsidies that enable American and European companies to get tariffs imposed. But securing those penalties requires companies and unions to pay millions to trade law experts and to provide proof that companies have lost profits and workers have lost jobs. So Americans must bleed both red and green before they might see limited relief.

The Duke report suggests that part of the problem is that market economies like those in the United States and Europe are dealing with a massive non-market economy like China and expecting the rules to be the same. They just aren’t.

Simply declaring that China is a market economy, which is what China wants, would weaken America’s and Europe’s ability to combat the problems of overcapacity.  For example, the declaration would complicate securing tariffs, the tool American steel companies need to continue to compete when Chinese companies receive improper subsidies.

The Duke report authors recommend instead delaying action on China’s request for market economy status until China’s economic behavior is demonstrably consistent with market principles.

The authors of the Duke report also suggest international trade officials consider new tools for dealing with trade disputes because the old ones have proved futile in resolving the global conflict with China over its unrelenting overcapacity in steel, aluminum and other commodities.

For example, under the current regime, steel companies or unions must prove serious injury to receive relief. The report suggests: “changing the burden of proof upon a finding by the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement panel of a prohibited trade-related practice, or non-compliance with previous rulings by the WTO.”

It also proposes multilateral environmental agreements with strict pollution limits. Under these deals, companies in places like the United States and Europe that must comply with strong pollution standards would not be placed at an international disadvantage as a result, and the environment would benefit as well. 

In addition to the family-supporting steelworker jobs across this country that would be saved by innovative intervention to solve this crisis, at stake as well are many other jobs and the quality of jobs.

The Congressional Steel Caucus wrote President Obama before he left last week on his trip to Hangzhou for the G-20 Summit asking that he secure the cooperation of China and pointing out the large number of downstream jobs that are dependent on steel.

Also last week, the Economic Policy Institute issued a report titled “Union Decline Lowers Wages of Nonunion Workers.” It explained that the ability of union workers to boost nonunion workers’ pay weakened as the percentage of private-sector workers in unions fell from about 33 percent in the 1950s to about 5 percent today.

The EPI researchers found that nonunion private sector men with a high school diploma or less education would receive weekly wages approximately 9 percent higher if union density had remained at 1979 levels. That’s an extra $3,172 a year.

Many steelworkers are union workers. If those jobs disappear, that would mean fewer family-supporting private sector union jobs. And that would mean an even weaker lift to everyone else’s wages.

America has always been innovative. Now it must innovate on trade rules to save its steel industry, its steel jobs and all those jobs that are dependent on steel jobs. 

Trump Pays Penalty For Ethically Questionable Political Donation

Donald Trump paid a $2,500 IRS fine this year for making a $25,000 gift from his charity to support the re-election of Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi three years ago, David Fahrenthold of The Washington Post reports.

In September 2013, three days before Trump made his donation to a political action committee supporting Bondi, the Orlando Sentinel reported that her office was considering joining the state of New York in a lawsuit against Trump University, which sold real estate seminars and was not, as the name suggested, an accredited academic institution. Ultimately, Bondi did not join New York’s case.

As a nonprofit, Trump’s charity cannot make political gifts. The Post reported earlier this year that the Trump Foundation listed the gift as going to a Kansas group with a similar name in IRS filings. That, Fahrenthold points out, meant that “the prohibited gift was, in effect, replaced with an innocent-sounding but nonexistent donation.”

Trump also donated $35,000 to support former Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s campaign for governor in 2013. As attorney general, Abbott decided in 2010 not to pursue a false advertising case against Trump U.

Jeffrey McConney, senior vice president at the Trump Organization, told the Post this week that the inaccurate record of a donation to the Kansas group “was just an honest mistake... It wasn’t done intentionally to hide a political donation, it was just an error.”

Trump said he donated to support Bondi’s re-election because she “is a fabulous representative of the people — Florida is lucky to have her.” Bondi has endorsed Trump for president and spoke at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this summer.

Internal company documents show that Trump University employees were instructed to emotionally manipulate people into buying classes. According to court testimony, Trump U. employees pressured customers to max out their credit cards. Trump’s lawyers and campaign have denied the allegations.

McConney did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.

Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.

6 Things Entrepreneurs Can Learn From LeBron James

The name LeBron James is synonymous with the National Basketball Association, and with the sport of basketball in general.

The current front man of the Cleveland Cavaliers has an extensive and distinguished career under his belt, packed with championships, titles and several individual honors.

James is one of the greatest basketball talents the world has ever seen. After watching him on the court, it is evident that we can learn quite a bit about the game and the value of hard work from his consistently superb performances.

Most people can at least gain an appreciation for the beautiful game of basketball after witnessing a player of James' caliber effortlessly dribble around another team and ring in buckets of points. But the NBA superstar also offers lessons to entrepreneurs.

Here are six bits of wisdom entrepreneurs owners can learn from LeBron James.

1. Marketability
The story of James's rise to basketball stardom is well known. Already a sought-after NBA prospect in his high school years, he'd been breaking records and bagging athletic distinctions well before he set foot in an official NBA game.

What's critical about James's high school performance is the leverage it gave him going into the NBA draft and his rookie season.

James was the No. 1 draft pick because of his hard work and his ability to capitalize on his natural talent.

However, the point here isn't that he worked hard (although he did), but that he made himself desirable as a prospective player.

By surpassing expectations and earning praise in high school, James made himself marketable to professional teams looking for young talent.

Businesses can learn from James's pre-professional career that marketability and branding are the keys to long-term success.

2. Adaptability
Perhaps the most memorable stint of James's long career is his time with his home state's Cleveland Cavaliers (the first and the second time).

It's fair to say that his time with the flashier Miami Heat is equally memorable, but was more infamous than famous. Briefly ignoring his detractors, let's look at the move objectively.

Sure, LeBron may have left behind his teammates, fans and even his hometown in his journey to South Beach, but the move never diminished his ability to churn out excellent performances.

James's time with the Heat included two back-to-back championships, a testament to his adaptability.

Entrepreneurs can learn from James the value of adjusting their business approaches to different audiences, so that they can maintain success in marketing.

3. Tenacity
Despite all the hate he got for moving to Miami, the fact remains that switching teams showed a desire for success on James's part.

The consecutive championships he won in Florida were the result of James's refusal to pass up any chance he had to win a title.

Although he had had previous success with the Cavs, he seized the opportunity to move so that he could achieve greater success and further spread his image as a star basketball player.

In the same way, businesses and entrepreneurs can learn to take risks and be willing to pivot in order to spread awareness of their brand and ultimately become more successful.

4. Loyalty
Now that the criticisms of LeBron for his betrayal of Cleveland are over, we get to talk about the exciting part -- his return to the Cavs.

All was forgiven when James made his decision to return to his former team, his former fans and his hometown.

James's reappearance on the Cleveland roster was more than just a gesture of kindness to the people he'd left behind a few years earlier; he came back because it was the right thing to do.

As a native of Ohio, LeBron James was and is beloved on the Cavs' starting lineup. James was a homegrown idol for the native Cavs fans.

That's why his move to Miami was so widely disparaged, especially by his former biggest supporters.

Coming back to Cleveland not only restored the trust of the Cavs fans; it also demonstrated a deep loyalty between the player and his advocates.

Businesses can learn from James's actions that abandoning their earliest adopters in favor of bigger crowds may not always be the best for their image.

5. Consistency
Perhaps what is most impressive about James is his consistently high performances. As a rookie, and on the Cavs and Heat rosters, James has always set a high standard for himself and the other players on the court.

In his two terms with Cleveland and his time with Miami, he never became complacent. He continued to work hard through it all; three NBA championships and numerous individual and first-team honors are ample proof of this.

Entrepreneurs can learn from James the importance of continuously doing their best and never using current success as an excuse to stop delivering to their loyal audience.

6. Collaboration
We could analyze the nuances of LeBron's game for hours, but the final lesson we can glean doesn't come from what he does on the court; it comes from what he says off the court. Recently, James named Gregg Popovich the greatest NBA coach of all time.

Popovich is a man who has denied him two NBA championships, so it may come as a surprise that James praises him.

However, his applauding of the Spurs' coach in spite of previous rivalries shows great maturity on James's part. It also establishes LeBron James as an athlete who values the dedication NBA coaches so often bring to the game.

From James's respect for rival coaches, businesses can learn the power of collaboration.

"It would be pretty amazing to be able to actually play for the greatest NBA coach of all time," James told USA Today.

Popovich will replace Mike Krzyzewski as the coach of Team USA after these Olympics. For James, this will be an opportunity to be around another coaching legend.

And even the best know that they can always get better and learn. While we may not have access to Coach K directly -- today, you can read books and articles, or watch coaching videos from the world's best coaches at your fingertips.

So while everyone would expect LeBron James to be able to teach us a thing or two about basketball, who would have expected that he could teach us so much about business?