Toxic Substances

• Can Eating Sushi give you Minamata Disease?

  Steve Lombardi | September 09, 2009 11:01 AM | 2 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  Shortly after 1908, a small fishing village in Japan saw the first outbreak of Minamata disease, an epilepsy-like affliction. The disease is a neurological condition caused by mercury poisoning...

• Iowa Mercury Rules And What they Mean to Your Health

  Steve Lombardi | September 08, 2009 9:05 AM | 1 CommentDes Moines, IA

  Humans have been putting mercury in their mouths for hundreds of years. It’s the silver liquid inside of glass thermometers and, despite its variety of uses, it can be extremely dangerous. The...

• Political Malpractice, A novel idea

  Steve Lombardi | April 17, 2009 10:09 AM | 0 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  Here is a blog post about being able to sue politicians for malpractice in the same manner as are other professions. I’ve got an idea of how it could be done, but I’d better develop it...

• FINANCIAL MISCONDUCT: What are mortgage-backed securities?

  Steve Lombardi | April 14, 2009 3:02 PM | 0 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  Yesterday we covered CDO’s and learned these investments used three levels of investors that each received a different level of risk and reward. The levels or tranche's allowed us to spread the risk from defaults. Spreading the risk...

• FINANCIAL MISCONDUCT: What are collateralized debt obligations?

  Steve Lombardi | April 13, 2009 3:01 PM | 0 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  CDO’s are a way of turning mortgage debt into investments that can be bought and sold on the open market. Investing in CDO’s involves calculating, using mathematical formulas, the risk involved in the debt going sour or the investment paying off a return on the money invested...

• FINANCIAL MISCONDUCT: What is a Ponzi scheme and how did Madoff get away with it for so long?

  Steve Lombardi | April 10, 2009 5:36 PM | 6 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  A Ponzi scheme is a form of a pyramid scheme. In a Ponzi scheme the instigator interacts with the investors. The ruse is carried out by creating the false impression that...

• FINANCIAL MISCONDUCT: Credit Default Swaps 2 – Financial weapons of mass destruction.

  Steve Lombardi | April 08, 2009 12:07 PM | 0 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  Yesterday we posted part one of credit default swaps. Today we talk about why they were described by Warren Buffet as financial weapons of mass...

• FINANCIAL MISCONDUCT: What are credit default swaps?

  Steve Lombardi | April 07, 2009 11:59 AM | 0 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  Credit default swaps are a way of insuring credit instruments (loans) that make it easier for the lenders to sell the loans to investors. As the name implies the insurance is to protect the investor who buys the loans in the event of a default...

• FINANCIAL MISCONDUCT: How did the credit crisis develop?

  Steve Lombardi | April 06, 2009 11:07 AM | 0 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  Jonathan Jarvis has created a diagram explanation of how the credit crisis developed. In simple terms. To understand about the credit crisis you have to understand the components known as sub-prime...

• FINANCIAL MISCONDUCT: What is a liar's loan?

  Steve Lombardi | April 03, 2009 1:14 PM | 1 CommentDes Moines, IA

  What is a liar's loan? A liar's loan has to do with mortgages. The "liar's loan" is a phrase and in many instances is a misnomer. It was a misnomer because the borrower wanted to tell the truth about their income but the loan broker or even the lending...