<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">Letter
to Mendocino County Treasurer, Shari Shapmire, about the county Annual
Investment Report. <br /> <br /> Hi Shari,<br /> I arrived a bit late and
didn't hear the beginning of your Annual Investment Report. I have
several questions. <br /> <br /> 1) Did I overhear the Chandler adviser
mention something about "credit enhancements" that might boost
your return...? The derivatives market is always coming up with
creative<span class="text_exposed_show"> new names for their high risk,
unregulated investments. I surely hope that you are not investing the
County's money in any fancy designer notes. <br /> <br /> 2) The
Economic Update on p3 gives a surprising and rosy report. Were those
statistics for Mendocino County, California, or the USA? <br /> <br /> 3)
Since farming is the largest income producer in our county, what do
nonfarm payrolls mean to us? <br /> <br /> 4) Although the unemployment
rate fell, how many of those jobs pay a living wage? How many of them
also require public assistance to make ends meet? <br /> <br /> 5) Why
is it a good thing that consumer debt rose? That just means that there
will be more fodder to foreclose on when the Homeowner's Bill of Rights
expires in 2018. <br /> <br /> 6) What is an "asset backed
security"? What is a "mortgage pass through"? <br />
They both sound like the mortgage backed securities that the big wall
street banks are paying settlements for defrauding people and the rating
agencies declined to take responsibility for their ratings of these toxic
assets. Although the big Wall Street banks have been paying settlements,
the laws have not changed and the banks are still carrying on the same
frauds. The settlements are only a small fraction of the amount of
profits gained from the fraud. <br /> <br /> Please remember that Orange
County went bankrupt from the Treasurer investing public money in
derivatives. <br /> <br /> I noticed that there were no ABS in June
2013. Now there is 3.6%. BEWARE!!!! I suggest to stay miles away from
ABS or MPT for investing public monies! Don't be tempted by that smooth
Chandler guy. <br /> <br /> 7) General Electric is one of the biggest
defense contractors in the nation, and they control a large part of the
mainstream media. They are war profiteers and promote nuclear weapons.
They are an unethical company and I suggest you divest our public monies
from them. <br /> <br /> 8) Wells Fargo Corporation is one of the banks
that have settled over their fraudulent foreclosure practices. They are
an unethical company and our public monies should not help fund their
unethical business practices. <br /> <br /> 9) Both Coca Cola and
Pepsico contributed to defeat the GMO labeling law Prop 37. They bought
fraudulent advertizing with misleading and specious accusations shortly
before the election. Considering that Measure H was passed in 2004
banning GMO agriculture in our county, one could assume that your
constituents are in favor of GMO labeling. You must not invest our
public funds in companies that actively fund opposition to the will of
Mendocino County voters. <br /> <br /> 10) The Wal-Mart business model
depends upon paying such low wages that their employees need public
assistance to make ends meet making Wal-Mart one of the most profitable
companies in the world. Wal-Mart corporation is an unethical welfare
queen robbing the public coffers to get richer and richer. Please divest
our county's public money from supporting a welfare queen like Wal-Mart.
<br /> <br /> 11) Why are we investing all the county's money in
companies that have NOTHING to do with Mendocino County? Why aren't we
investing our county's dollars into our own county's economic
development? <br /> <br /> 12) Carmel Angelo said our county loses about
$53,000 per year from MERS bypassing recording fees. If we started
recording assignments, and stopped paying BOA $45,000/yr, we would be
$8000 ahead. (a joke)<br /> <br /> 12) Please watch this 12 minute video
about the looming risk of depositing in the big banks. <a target="_blank"
rel="nofollow nofollow"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIVRcYJvjwA"><span>https://www.youtube.com/</span><wbr></wbr><span
class="word_break"></span>watch?v=xIVRcYJvjwA</a><br /> <br /> In Peace,
Robin Sunbeam</span></span>