Hawaii sues Takat

LO CA L
Reflections,
subprime
mortgages,
Roy Orbison
“In a warm September
… you can still remember
yesterday.”
— from “Memories,” as
performed by Roy Orbison
Recently The Wall
Street Journal reported
that cash out refinances by
Americans on their homes
are up 68 percent. The typical
refinancing homeowner is left
with an average of 33 percent
equity in his
home.
Folks
have short
economic
memories,
but the 2008
financial
Margaret R. crisis is one
we probably
McDowell shouldn’t
Arbor Outlook forget.
The S&P
fell over 36 percent in
one year. Unemployment
skyrocketed. Real estate
prices plummeted. To
complicate matters, we
exported the recession to the
rest of the globe. The fallout
reverberates still.
Occasionally I remind
myself of some staggering
details: government
bailouts; failures of revered
financial institutions, some
of which filed for Chapter
11 bankruptcy protection;
charges of mortgage fraud,
fines and much more. It was a
near perfect storm of perilous
financial circumstances.
Each day brought worse
news. The crisis even gave
us a new economic term: the
Great Recession. We were
fortunate that it wasn’t
worse.
American family finances
have devolved over the
last 35 years, leaving many
susceptible to the siren
song of no money down and
interest only home loans. In
the ’50s and ’60s, an American
family could thrive with only
one parent working and
afford what we came to know
as a middle class lifestyle.
Wages stagnated in the late
’70s, so then both parents
worked in order to maintain
the same way of life. Then
both parents worked and
families assumed credit card
debt to pay their way. Many
were already overextended.
Then 2008, combined with
globalization and automation,
eroded equity and sent
families tumbling into the
economic abyss.
Our regulatory safeguards
failed us as well. Neither
private mortgage lenders nor
semi-private, government
backed lenders like Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac should
have offered mortgages with
such lenient terms.
There were other factors
that contributed to the
collapse. The securitization
and buying and selling of
mortgages, many of which
were suspect, represented
one of the major causes of
the financial collapse. Simply
stated, we failed to abide
by an age-old doctrine: live
within your means. And we
allowed our leading financial
institutions to knowingly
sell bad products. Even our
security rating agencies were
corrupted. Our regulatory
laws failed to supervise
major financial institutions,
and in turn, failed to protect
us from ourselves. The next
major financial crisis may
not emanate from housing,
but supervising home loan
procedures more carefully
must be part of our ongoing
regulatory process.
Lending and borrowing
regulations have tightened
since 2008. And admittedly,
some relaxed guidelines can
help stimulate the economy.
But a good memory will serve
us all well, borrowers and
lenders alike.
Margaret R. McDowell, ChFC,
AIF, author of the syndicated
economic column “Arbor Outlook”,
is the founder of Arbor Wealth
Management, LLC,
(850-608-6121) —
www.arborwealth.net), a “fee-only”
registered investment advisory firm
located near Sandestin.
&
STAT E
Sunday, May 15, 2016 | Daily News | Page B9
OUT OF BUSINESS from Page B10
Dailey said like all businesses, the first few years
were the hardest, but she
was able to survive by sticking to her mission and her
budget.
“I survived the rough
years after the oil spill and
stayed relatively out of debt
in my company through my
meticulous financial management,” she said. “You’ve
got to have strong money
management, know your
mission and stay focused.
You have to have a strong
business plan and stick with
it.”
Dailey said the mission
plan for her business is simple: To provide many happy
returns through 100 percent
customer satisfaction.
“It’s important to know
your mission and what you
want to accomplish, and
don’t be distracted from
it with all the other noise
coming in,” she said. “Also,
be consistent in your delivery; that is important in all
businesses.”
In addition to new businesses closing, the Destin
chamber reported that 86
former chamber members
canceled their memberships in the past two years
because of closures.
“My guess is that about
50 percent of our drops are
from businesses that go out
of business,” Moody said.
“Most are from businesses
that close within two to three
years of when they open.”
As far as what businesses
do best in Destin, Moody said
there is no right or wrong
answer.
“I think any business can
succeed with the right plan,”
he said. “Timing is a big part
of it too, though. I think any
business in this community
can succeed if they plan
correctly.”
SHORT-LIVED BUSINESSES
THE SECRET TO
SUCCESS
Here is a partial list of businesses that opened in Destin during the past two years and
have closed.
In this tough market,
three successful Destin
business owners about
the secrets to longevity.
Bad Ass Coffee; opened 2014
Brick and Spoon; opened 2014
Buster’s Old Time Photos; opened 2014
El Abuelo Café; opened 2014
LuLu’s Uniform Boutique; opened 2014
Deep South Sno Treats; opened 2014
Ella Madison Boutique; opened 2014
Sadie Lane Revolving Loft and Boutique; opened 2014
Nosh Eatery & Café; opened 2014
Southern Mercantile; opened 2014
X Marks the Spot; opened 2014
Mother Clucker’s; opened 2014
All Dressed-Up Boutique & Gifts; opened 2014
Smoke on the Water; opened 2015
“I think one of the
major key factors is to
not overspend and to
understand who your
customers are. Be very
selective about what you
spend your money on,
especially in a business
in this area. It’s very
seasonal, so you have to
store your pennies for the
winter like a squirrel.”
— Jeanne Dailey,
Newman-Daily Resort
Properties.
“I tell my employees all
the time, ‘You gotta love
the locals. You gotta sell
yourself, sell Harry T’s and
Destin, Florida.’ You also
have to know what’s going
on around town. We try
to tell people where to go
on a rainy day, try to get
them to check out some
of the other sights, and
people appreciate that.”
— Lou Longo, Harry T’s
Manager
“I think having a
committed staff
for people to feel
comfortable and know
they are going to get
quality service each and
every time. We’ve always
said our reputation is built
on the recommendations
of our clients. When they
get good service and
quality work on their hair,
each person is like our
own personal billboard,
that’s how the ball keeps
rolling it gets attention.”
— Donna Stuart,
LaDonna’s Redken
Hair Salon
SAVANNAH VASQUEZ | The Log
Several businesses in the Harbor Village Townhomes strip mall have come and
gone during the past two years.
UNWELCOMED from Page B10
AP
Broward County recently posted this sign at Hollywood
North Beach Park to discourage live-aboard boaters from
coming ashore at all hours of the night.
They also pose a hazard to other boaters
who might not see them in time.
Fiore said it’s difficult to track down
the owners because they usually scrape
identification numbers off the hull so
they can dump the boats with no legal
consequences.
“Most of these people abandon (the
boats) at night and disappear,” he said.
State law makes it a crime to sell a
boat without transferring title, but it happens all the time in the boating industry,
said Tyson Matthews, a spokesman for
the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Even boats that aren’t considered
derelict can pose problems if their owners overstay their welcome, neighbors
say.
“Hollywood has this nice little lagoon
and with all these boats helter skelter in
there, it’s just an eyesore,” said neighbor Ross Frick. “I don’t think anyone
minds if people come and stay a couple
days, but these guys just anchor it and
leave it for months and months. One has
been here going on two years.”
And no one can order the boaters
to leave. Under a state law enacted in
2009, boaters can drop anchor pretty
much anywhere they want for as long
as they want, as long as they are out of
the navigational channel.
“We used to tell them they couldn’t
anchor them more than 24 hours,” said
Raelin Storey, spokeswoman for Hollywood. “And then the state law changed
that and made it a free-for-all.”
Kurt Winselmann says he no longer
lets his son swim in the water behind his
home in the Moorings, a community of
42 townhomes that has a bird’s eye view
of the 15 or so boats anchored at the
cove — some for as long as a year.
“We see people living on the boats
and they never have a dump boat come
out” to pump out the sewage holding
tank, Winselmann said. “Some of the
boats are abandoned. And some of them
sink.”
Boater Major O’Brien dropped
anchor eight months ago and has no
intention of leaving anytime soon.
“This is one of the few free places you
can anchor — and I think it’s one of the
best,” he said. “They have bathrooms
here, free water, garbage (cans).”
The shelter has water, electricity,
a grill, picnic tables and a view of the
Intracoastal. The liveaboards come and
go as they please, using the public facilities at Loggerhead Pocket Park on the
west side of A1A even after the park
closes.
Hawaii sues Takata, Honda over unsafe air bags
HONOLULU (AP) — The state of Hawaii is suing Japanese manufacturer Takata over defective air bags they say
threaten peoples’ lives.
The lawsuit filed Friday in the First Circuit Court of Hawaii
also names auto manufacturer Honda.
Millions of Takata’s defective air bags have been recalled
because their inflators can explode, spewing shrapnel in cars.
Hawaii is the first state in the nation to sue over the air bags,
which are blamed for at least 11 deaths worldwide and more
than 100 injuries.
Independent reports have concluded that a chemical used
in Takata air bags — ammonium nitrate — can degrade when
exposed to heat and humidity, which can trigger explosions.
“We’re particularly vulnerable here in Hawaii to the defect
that Takata has manufactured ... we’re not going to wait until
something like this happens,” said Stephen Levins, executive
director of the Hawaii Office of Consumer Protection.
Takata switched to ammonium nitrate, a cheaper component for the inflator of the company’s air bags, despite the
fact that it was widely known to be an unstable and dangerous chemical, Levins said. Honda was in a position where
the company should have known what was going on, Levins
said.
“Clearly Takata has engaged in a deceptive manner in
marketing this, and actually has put profits, their own profits, over the personal welfare and safety of people around
the United States, and around the world, and people here in
Hawaii.” Levins said. “It’s a situation that’s intolerable, and
we’re not going to put up with it.”
Calls to Takata’s office in Los Angeles and a company
spokesman late Friday were not immediately returned.
AP
Stephen Levins, executive director of the Hawaii Office of Consumer
Protection, shows photos of defective air bags and parts on Friday in Honolulu.