I have driven past this sign several times and did not pay attention to the SPONSOR of the Warren Ballentine show until I heard a representative from this firm sit in on the show as a pseudo-guest of the show. Instead it was an "in studio" commercial segment.
The small print at the bottom of the board says: "The Law Offices Of Robert Sermund. DebtStoppers is a debt relief agency. We help people find financial freedom through bankruptcy"
First, please allow me to establish my argument.
I AM NOT saying that "bankruptcy is the wrong strategy for everyone". Indeed there are some people who's financial situation has reached a point where there are few other viable options. For this group of people - I have no problem with this advertisement.
I have listened to enough credit financial talk shows to know that both these bankruptcy firms and these "reduce you credit card debt" firms are not always the best solution for all people. Financial columnist Michelle Singletary - who has far more credibility with me than does Warren Ballentine warned against the promises of pain free discharge and recovery that these firms market.
For a man who sells himself as a "Truth Fighter" it is quite interesting to me that he is in bed with a firm that profits from the bankruptcy filing of others.
A bankruptcy attorney is not a "financial adviser" and should never be mistaken as being one. They make their money by filing bankruptcy.
What is more telling is the complicity that the Atlanta radio station WAOK played in marketing various financial products and mortgages over time to the very same community that now is suffering from the threat of foreclosure and high credit card balances.
Clayton County Georgia - where this sign is posted has the highest rate of mortgage loan delinquencies in the metro Atlanta area. Do you think that WAOK is going to admit the part that they played in getting the message out to these people regarding the financial products that were marketed to and accepted by their listeners?
Nope! Instead they are going to operate under the guise of being "for the people" and come to their rescue, demanding foreclosure relief and bankruptcy protections.
It must be nice being the "good guy" both coming and going.
2 comments:
I was so glad to read your blog. I started listening to Warren Ballentine after he was added to WAOK. At first I thought the show was entertaining, but then I found it to be conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory. When Warren repeatedly had a bankruptcy lawyer on his show actually advertising and LYING to listeners, I was appalled. Typical crap. Then, I went into the truthfighter chat room, I suggest you log in and take a gander. It's enough to make you cry. Chatters, or TruthFighters, chat for hours about the system, how police put crack cocaine into our community and how most folks in prison are innocent. Warren's show and his premises are very rarely based on intelligence or logic. He actually compares Michael Jackson to Martin Luther King Jr. and EVERYTHING on his show is based on race.
His poor listeners don't even realize how Warren contradicts himself. He indicated that Bill O'Reilly is not a racist. He goes on the man's show. Then the next week, he is calling O'Reilly "Bill Don't like Black People O'Rielly".
The man had a section on his website so that Truthfighters could contribute to help him pay off his student loans (something that he often complains about). And recently, he had his listeners waiting while he was to announce if he was going to leave the show. He came on first thing in the morning, and told listeners to wait for an hour and a half to see if he had decided to stay on the program or leave. Of course, at 11:30 on the dot, he told his listeners, that he decided to stay.. And let them know that he had turned down $200,000 to stay with the "Truthfighters". Apparently, someone had approached him and asked him to run for political office and was offering him $200,000 up front. Ummm, isn't that illegal? And how could he get elected as anything with all of his conspiracy theories? Most likely, Warren was lying. But what was sad were the callers calling in actually CRYING, because they were so nervous that Warren was leaving.
Some of us are sheep. Warren is no wolf, but he dayum sure is close.
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