Corporate-Trust

This is a solid, common sense, easily-read guideline for those who are wise enough to learn from others how to preserve what it took a lifetime to build.

It is Norman Pappas' factual yet enjoyable presentation of personal financial essentials that separates "Passing the Bucks" from similar books. Believe me, I've struggled to read many of them in an effort to understand how to keep Uncle Sam at bay and preserve the results of a lifetime of work for my heirs and business partners. Now I've finally got it!

The author is an obvious authority on wills and trusts, business succession, insurance, estate taxes, corporate benefits and personal financial planning.

However, it's the WAY he brings it all across that makes it all so digestible. You can almost see this book - and its chuckle-filled Q&A format - as a TV series with Jerry Seinfeld or Tim Allen as the baffled businessman (hey, they're just sitting around counting their money now anyway).

The ease of finally understanding the alphabet soup of trust options (GRIT, GRAT, CLAT, CLUT, QTIP) makes us want to put together a plan NOW to protect our assets. I never realized that my children might only see 27% of my IRA dollars! And who knew that it costs me $155 to make a gift of $100 while I'm alive...but $222 to give the same $100 in a will when I'm gone? I know now!

As Mr. Pappas says, we and our accountants and lawyers are too busy putting out the day-to-day brush fires to deal with the forest fire that's just over the horizon.

I now feel confident that the people I love will be the biggest beneficiaries - literally - of my having read "Passing the Bucks."

"Passin the Bucks", is not, and does not claim to be a substitute for professional advice. Instead it should be used by the individual to gain knowledge so that he/she can come to the table with his/her advisors armed with the knowledge to carry on an efficient and intelligent discourse. With a little time and effort this volume will provide the affluent individual with information needed to preserve assets that have been acquired over a lifetime. So long as the government, through odious tax policy, continues to destroy family bussinesses and conficates already taxed personal assets, people like Mr. Pappas will be a welcome savior.

CGJM@AOL.COM

The book is written in an easy to understand manner, which follows the most important codes that are used in tax today. The only drawback of these books are the fact that since the tax codes are constantly changing, the books are updated about every year.

No one should be intimidated by this book's length or the complexity of its subject. Its pages are rich with lively portraits of the sometimes quirky men who ran the Morgan banks, the high and mighty of the world with whom they did business, and the world's many critics of such concentrated economic might. Pierpont and Jack Morgan and their successors at the top get the most detailed treatment, but figures as diverse as Brandeis, Mussolini, Lindbergh (the son-in-law of a top Morgan partner), Bryan, Theodore Roosevelt and Margaret Thatcher all play a part in the story, not to mention interesting but lesser-known figures like Ferdinand Pecora, Judge Harold Medina and central bankers from Britain, Germany, Italy and Japan.

As a backdrop to the Morgan saga, this book includes accounts of the main events of 20th-century financial history, such as the Panic of 1907, the creation of the Federal Reserve system, the Crash of 1929 and the depression and bank failures that followed it, the New Dealers' attack on banks led by Pecora that resulted in the Glass-Steagall Act and the separation of commercial banking from investment banking, and the rise of hostile takeovers, Eurodollars, petrodollars, Latin American lending, junk bonds and the securitization of debt, all refreshingly written for laymen rather than experts.

"The House of Morgan" has perhaps two overriding themes. The first is that as the years have passed, and the Morgan banks have faced increasing competition, the Morgan bankers' need to maintain their global preeminence has led them to take bigger and bigger risks. Some of these risks have resulted in large financial loss, but more often they have resulted in a loss of both public and customers' confidence, which has eroded the very preeminence that the banks seek to maintain. The second theme is that the top Morgan bankers have consistently underestimated the power of government to control what they do, and even make their lives miserable. From Pierpont on down, they have ignored government at their peril. It's almost a certainty that with the next big economic downturn, the Morgan banks will be attacked again, and I hope that Chernow will be on the scene to provide an account of it.

I thought that the first 40 pages were pretty slow, but the actions did pick up real soon. By the 700th page, I was hoping there would be a second book written on the House of Morgan. I was especially impressed with Mr. Thomas Lamont that I proceeded to read a separate biography on him. I loved the book so much that I went on to buy some other books related to it - (RJR Nabisco story on Leverage Buyout and The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst). It's a thick book but it's really worth the time to read. You'll be pleased with yourself!

At the heart of this epic is a great paradox: the rise of modern global finance ushered in the demise of the banker. In J.P. Morgan's day, a small group of bankers held sway over giant corporations and the governments of global powers, serving as intimate advisors and self-regulating their industry with a strict but unwritten gentleman banker's code of conduct. The institutions that banks like Morgan created ultimately grew too powerful to control. Whereas once governments and companies were at the mercy of their bankers, today the reverse is true. Chernow tells the story of this transformation in exquisite detail and with admirable clarity.

As interesting and well written as this book is, some may still find it to be a challenge to finish. For those who like to read a few pages before bed every night, you should expect the "House of Morgan" to be on the nightstand for several months. However, if you have the time and commitment, you'll likely find the experience of reading this book to be a worthwhile and fulfilling one.

Messrs. DiPiazza and Eccles present a compelling blueprint for wholesale restructuring of corporate reporting and the concomitant rebuilding of public trust in the capital markets. The foundation for their model is built on the values of transparency, accountability and integrity. Their model -- development of a global GAAP, development and application of industry-specific standards, and establishment of guidelines for disclosure of company specific information -- makes sense given the expansion of capital markets across country-specific boundaries, but also is timely given the wide-availability of enabling technology (i.e., the Internet and XBRL).

Meaningful reform cannot be had solely through governmental reform, the lobbying of special interest groups, self-regulation or lawsuits by regulators and disgruntled investors. The end results will likely be half-baked attempts to address the symptoms of the breakdown in corporate reporting and the capital markets, rather than development of a cure. Accordingly, DiPiazza and Eccles stress that meaningful reform through development of their three-tiered model must be had through open dialogue and lines of communication with all members of what they term as the "Corporate Reporting Supply Chain" which, in a nutshell, includes all stakeholders in the capital markets.

"Building Public Trust: The Future of Corporate Reporting" provides, in plain English, a detailed description of the problems plaguing corporate reporting and roadmap to a meaningful solution. The road to reform, however, is long and, as DiPiazza and Eccles suggest, requires that the journey (read: participation) be undertaken by ALL members of the Corporate Reporting Supply Chain. The book is a must read for corporate directors and officers, regulators, lawyers, accountants, analysts, the investing public and all other persons who (or whose clients) have a stake in the smooth functioning of the capital markets.

The time for open debate on reform is now. It is up to members of the "Corporate Reporting Supply Chain" whether they want such reform to take the form of a lecture leading to mandates by the few, or an open dialogue leading to a consensus by the majority. This book provides its readers with a grounding for developing the tools to accomplish the latter...

We as the public may be skeptical about some of the tactics used by the PR firms, but this book certainly opened my eyes - the practice of outright deceit by means of PR spin is far more widespread than I would have believed otherwise.

Several of the reviews posted here refer to the Alar scare - those who think it was bogus have obviously been swayed by the same PR spin (or are spin doctors themselves) - it's just the tip of the iceberg - there are thousands of chemicals out there, essentially unregulated by an underfunded and impotent EPA. Industry would have you believe that there is no risk.

I prefer to believe those who have no financial incentive to lie.

Buy this book - you will never look at the media and corporate ethics the same way again.

PR "spin" can, and often does occur on both sides of many issues. The length that companies go to, to set-up bogus "independent" organizations to sway public opinion is simply mind-boggling. PR agencies assume people are stupid and irrational; they then step in to skew the facts and help the ignorant make up their minds.

Numerous companies and recent events are profiled in the book to illustrate the harmful effects PR manipulation. It calls into question so called experts and many "independent" organizations for a specific cause. In most every case the long term health and well being of humanity takes a back seat to quarterly earnings.

Of the specific issues discussed, Monsanto's' pursuit of bio-engineered crops ought to be of great concern to anyone who eats. While they play with the genetic traits of various crops in the name of making them better, the ultimate goal of Monsanto appears to become the Microsoft of food. The goal is to stake claim to the intellectual property (genetic tampering) in the seeds used to grow crops - like corn, so that Monsanto can collect royalties for its' intellectual property. In has also come up with a "terminator" seed that generates useless seeds for the following years' crop. The farmer is then forced to ante up to Monsanto in order to plant a crop for the following year. As one would expect, pollen from these "engineered" plants can mix with wild plants and cause problems. While it may be impossible to prove beyond a doubt that such applications of genetic engineering will cause great harm, the company chooses to push ahead, gambling with nature and world food supply.

This is a book about education and advocacy. The ultimate message is simply to stay informed, keep your ear to the ground, and know what is going on in the world around you. This is a must read book for anyone outside the PR industry.

A huge *spark* happened when he read some articles on thedoctorwithin.com, especially an article that cited this book. When he said, "I'd like to get that book," I was happily astounded in his interest and purchased him a copy as soon as I could. He's been reading it now for weeks and several times has commented on how much he appreciates the book, has used facts from the book for arguments in his high school debate class (with great results -- he won the debate "hands down") -- and better yet, he is now "turned on" to learning more.

Shoot, because of this book, "Trust Me, We're Experts" my son has also gotten turned on to reading again for the first time in years. Said so himself! When he saw my fresh-off-the-press copy of "Our Toxic World: A Wakeup Call" by Doris J. Rapp., M.D., sitting on the coffeetable -- where before I would have gotten from him a distinterested "Hum," he said, "I'd like to borrow that book sometime!" WOW.

It's today's youth that will gain the mantle and have to deal with this world and all the problems of corporate greed/control. I strongly feel that becoming aware of the kinds of things this book delineates is a very, very hopeful sign for our future and the future of this planet. This book is a radical TURN-ON, and for that I give it a big two hands up! (Hey, he's even gaining interest in organic food now!)