Patriot Express

It is, of course, a given that Congress often passes legislation that appears to be for the "public good" that is really a subsidy of the private interests who lobby for the lesgistlation for the public good.

I think the Patriot Express Loans are fine if the veterans and their families are fully informed of the true risks of their investments in franchising. This, however, is not the case, and I imagine the Congress, the Small Business Committees of the Congress and the Senate know that the failure rate of first-generation franchisees are hidden in Item 20 of the UFOC.

If they don't, maybe the FTC ought to run over there and tell them.

In the meantime, for two years this progam will be offered to Vets and FranData will not furnish the true failure rate of the franchised business plan that is hidden in Item 20 of the UFOC.
It is hidden from government as well as the public so that government has deniability.

But, in the meantime, will many of our veterans and their families be put at risk because they will not know the true risk of the investment because the failure rate of the business plan can be hidden in the UFOC's?

LET THE BUYER BEWARE!

Please help warn Veterans, Reservists, National Guard members and their spouses (all elibile) about this new PATRIOT EXPRESS LOAN offered by the SBA in cooperation with Vet/Fran and the SBA Registry/Fran Data.

Unless Fran Data is putting out data about the failure rate of first-generation franchisees hidden in the UFOC's in Item 20 transfer columns, you know that many who will get these loans will make really BAD investments.

Talk about a VEHICLE FOR FRAUD ----WHAT IS THIS?

The government is neither helping nor hurting. No matter what government program is adopted in any context whatsoever,  it is capable of being abused. People have to protect themselves from abuse. The government can't clean up New Orleans or make Bagdad safe, and they can't even put out competent hurricane preparedness information. When you consider the low quality of what this (or any) government provides by way of "smart" programs, if you don't in that context appreciate that only you can help you, then it is a toss up whether you are better off investing in a franchise or just drinking yourself to death at Muldoons.

Get good help that understands how to vet information concealment. For example, Item 20 is not a big deal to sort out, no matter what they do to the information. If the information is even in there in the first place, how it is arranged is not a difficulty for competent and aggressive due diligence. But if you don't know how to do competent and aggressive due diligence, guess what's gonna happen to your investment. 

Richard Solomon
www.FranchiseRemedies.com

There is no doubt that this new program that could possibly help Vets returning from Iraq and retiring military and National Guard and Reserve and their spouses will be a boon to the franchisors and the banks. The 75 to 80 percent guaranty of the loans by the SBA will mean that the banks and the lenders won't lose and there will be more venture capital for the franchisors to tap into. The economy will need stimulating since the sub-prime mortgage racket has been shut down and the housing market is no longer the bright star of the economy. Elections are coming up in 2008.

We sure don't want our Vets hanging out on the streets like they were after the war in Vietnam and it is good of government to want to keep this from happening and to give this target group a chance at the American Dream ----owning a business of their own. When the pilot is over, maybe the vets and their families can march to Washington to thank the Government.

Good jobs are scarce in this economy unless you work for government or the health care industry/health insurance, etc...or are among the 25% of Americans, and shrinking, who are employed by American Corporations. It is really wonderful and democratic that the Armed Services are allowing amputees to continue to stay in the services to continue their careers if they can pass muster. I know that Congress will provide the VA with the ability to take care of our returning troops, although, in the past, after the war is over, this seems to be an item that is open to cuts in appropriations when Congress is cutting its budget.

If, however, the American Dream enabled by The Patriot Express turns out to be another American Nightmare for many of these troops returning from Iraq and for the retired military, etc... this pilot program, I assume, will be discontinued. The name itself is almost hoky and I wonder if a committee voted on the name. (I would like to see Richard Solomon work on this at Muldoon's)

In the interests of making The Patriot Express a success for the troops, i.e. Vets and their spouses, it might be a good thing if the SBA and the FTC got together and figured out how to reveal the failure rate of the franchised business plan for first-generation franchisees to protect new "patriot express" buyers of the franchises on the SBA Registry from making high risk investments in which they risk losing their houses and savings that were taken as collateral for these SBA loans.

We know, of course, that this pilot is going to be successful for the franchisors and the banks even if the pilot fails and many of the franchisees fail.

Again, to ensure durability of the franchising business model, only the first-generation franchisees will lose in failure and the franchisors and the banks will remain fat and happy.

Maybe, the government, in reporting the sucess or failure of the Patriot Express Program, won't count the franchisee failures because they won't be disclosed under the State UFOC's through the transfer columns. But, of course, the SBA Default Rate on the Loans would be available under the FOIA to citizens, or here on Blue Mau Mau who acquires them from the SBA. Again, the true failure rate for first-generation franchise investors would be obscured and the government might call the program a success based on target research that counted first-generation failed franchisees as successes for the franchisor's network.

This pilot program THE PATRIOT EXPRESS LOAN is no doubt an effort to stimulate the economy as well as to honor and help VETs and families returning from IRAQ and retired military, etc. etc...

It will be wonderful if it is highly successful for this our troops and their families. We know it will be successful from the standpoint of the franchisors and the banks and the lenders and those who make their living in and around franchising. They really can't lose because of the SBA guarantees and the collateral that will be provided by the Patriot Loan borrowers.

What will be the definition of success or failure for the Pilot program? Has the SBA released this to the public?

It worries me that the program could look successful while hiding the failure rate of first-generation franchisee veterans and spouses in the transfer columns of the UFOC. That is to say, the program could be highly successful for the franchisors and minimally successful for the franchisees, and highly harmful to those veterans/spouses who could lose everything in their quest to be Entrepreneurs and be hidden away in the transfer columns of the UFOC's when they are forced to distress fire-sale their assets to third parties for almost nothing. .

Thanks to Richard Solomon who tells it like it is. The facts of franchising like the facts of life have to be faced. The IFA does have a tube into the FTC and to the state legislatures and to Congress and to wherever else it is necessary to go to buy subsidies for franchiors. Franchising is an industry that both state and federal governments count on to keep their economies going.

The blood of the victims of franchising is quickly hosed off and out of sight and those in power who even think about franchising rationalize that sacrifices have to be made in the service of the public good. If naive and uninformed franchisee prospects are the meat of a good economy, so be it! The end justifies the means. The bleating of the sacrificial lambs is not heard when they are dispatched in failure to the franchisee graveyard.

The UFOC's are just a license for franchnisors to operate and a license to steal for those who are inclined to steal and the regulatory will and the money is not provided to enforce laws that might protect franchisees from vehicles for fraud. Churning is what makes franchising so durable and government doesn't have to look at churning because this process is not required to be disclosed under franchise law --apparently, by design.

The brutal truth gives me a stomach ache. I wish it weren't the truth and that I could believe in truth and justice and fairness, and my government and the courts and my fellow men. I wish I could again be back in high school debate in civics with my ideals in place. I wish I could believe in God and in the rule of law, both of which I now realize may be an invention of the smartest and most powerful of mankind to control mankind for special interests. The history of the world tells the true story of human nature that hasn't changed since we started to record the history of man. Human nature is reflected in coporatikons and in government. It can't be otherwise and this is a fact of life that must be faced.

The Patriot Loan Program sponsored by the SBA is a creature of the special interests, the IFA and the Banks and our Government, who also gains, that may help some returning Vets and their families and the other targets of this initiative. However, even the SBA isn't sure because this is a pilot program. The SBA knows, however, that this will be a success for the franchisors and the banks and the lenders who stand only to gain and not to lose from this initiative, and it may produce more jobs for Americans, as well, and more taxes, etc.. for government.

The real failure rate of the franchises that are on the SBA Franchise Registry will not be disclosed to this target group and these vulnerable and naive targets will be exposed to vehicles for fraud that appear to have reasonable SBA Loan Default rates that make them look like good investments.

Richard tells the truth. The only defense is killer due dilligence before and after you sign a franchise agreement with a really tough franchise attorney who will protect your interests. I still believe his $1,000 due diligence NEGATIVE due diligence offer is one of the best deals around and that franchisee prospects will be safe with Richard.

I am going to continue to try to warn about the Patriot Express Loan Program because I do think it will hurt a lot of Veterans and Retired National Guard and Reserve who will be looking for a way to earn a living and will think a franchise, a business of their own, is the answer to the problem. A good and viable franchise opportunity where the odds of success are high can be a solution but a lot of those franchises on the SBA Registry are Vehicles for Fraud that is hidden in the UFOC's.

Tinker! you have been gone for a few days.

Perhaps you don't know that the SBA, through the Federal Register, has now initiated the establishment of the Patriot Express Initiative for the entrepreneurial section of the Nation's military community that are being significantly affected by what is expected to be a protracted war on terror.

This SBA Initiative and special loan will be available to Veterans, National Guard, Reserve, Retired Military and their spouses and is a PILOT program for the SBA.

As you know, Tinker, the failure of the SBA and/or the State Regulators to report the failure of first-generation franchisees anywhere in the UFOC's permits franchisors to disguise the actual and true failure rate of the "proven" business plans that are offered for sale to the public in the form of franchises.

Apparently, franchises are not covered under consumer protection laws of the states and only under INEFFECTIVE FTC and State Regulation that does not require the disclosure of the material fact of the business failure of first-generation franchisees who finance and build the units for the franchisors.

You know that, additionally, the appearance of government endorsement of these franchise opportunities is overwhelming when Fran/Vet discounts and special financing, both, are offered to the military community by the government. While the SBA does have a weak disclaimer on the SBA Registry, the appearance of government endorsement of the franchisees on the SBA registry overcomes the weak disclaimer, especially when prospects are considering those large and very visible franchise networks on the American scene.

It seems unconscionable to me that our government would put the enrepreneurial sector of the Nation's military community, its veterans, at risk by encouraging investment in franchises whose actual and true rate of failure are obscured from the view of the veterans and from the view of the government.

What is going on here?

We can see that the recent SBA Loan Initiative, THE PATRIOT EXPRESS LOAN, to lure the "entrepreneurial sector" of the military community; vets and retirees, National Guardand Reserve Troops, was intended to keep those job numbers high for the next general elections in 2008.

It appears that it isn't enough for the government to support bad foreign policy through the use of our troops, now they want the troops to help them with good job numbers in the next election.

Do you think, Jim, that government is aware that the real failure rate of these franchises that the SBA will push to Veterans through the SBA Registry and the Vet-Fran offer and now, the special initiative pilot loan WILL BE HIDDEN FROM VETS AND THEIR FAMILIES IN THE TRANSFER COLUMNS OF THE STATE UFOC's?

If the government knows that four out of five small businesses fail within the first five years, apparently, they are willing to sacrifice the VETS to these statistics.

Isn't this disgusting?

Response from this post.

And why isn't franchising regulated as closely by the FTC as Securities are regulated by the FTC?

How disgusting that the little low-paid and expendable franchise investor on the bottom of the heap supports these business empires with cheap capital and cheap labor, and under the status quo and the law is just an expendable log in the fire of development and speculation in our greedy capitalistic not-so-democratic Republic.

I will think about identifying myself, Richard. But, I would hope that your concern for our veterans who are the targets of Dwyer-Riverside, the private equity firm, would permit you to comment on this matter on Blue Mau Mau so that everyone could benefit.

You know that The Patriot Express Loan Pilot is an effort to stimulare the economy but that there are many vehicles for fraud on The SBA Franchise Registry and veterans will be logs on the fire when they purchase high-risk and unviable franchisees with high risk of failure in the first three years or more. The pilot, however, will be over in June of 2009 and will have been successful for the franchisors, the banks, and the government. But, will the success or failure for the Vets who become franchisees be reported to the public. Will they hide the body bags?

I would love to picket for free outside of the Expo but will have to wait until a show comes to my town (unlikely) because I can't afford to fly out to the West Coast.

It really bothers me that veterans and their families are the targets of franchisors because of the Patriot Express Loan Initiative and I wish there was some effective and efficient way to warn veterans not to be lulled into a false sense of security from the appearance of government endorsement of franchisors with UFOC's and listings on the SBA Franchise Registry, as well as discounts offered under the Fran-Vet initiative. and the special SBA Loan Initiative that is said to be for the purpose of honoring the service of the veteran.

Why shouldn't private parties be able to sell "due diligence" packages at EXPO's or would this make many of the franchisors uncomfortable whose sales force may not even know that they may be selling franchise products with a very high degree of risk of failure to hopeful entrepreneurs who NEED income to support their families.

I am not against franchising if the true and real risk of the investment is disclosed to the new prospect. If the franchisee knows and truly understands the risk involved in the purchase of the franchise and opts to invest knowing the risk involved, as demonstrated by the ZOR-known success or failure of others who have invested in the franchise, this is fair play. The status quo of the process of the sale of franchises and federal government regulation and the State UFOC's does not result in fair play for franchisees.

This is not discretionary money that franchisees can afford to lose. This is the nest egg that prospective franchisees are willing to invest to provide for their futures and to sustain their American Dream.

If Chad is a great and caring guy and veterans are going to be targets of franchisors because of the quick and easy SBA Patriot Express Loan Initiative, is this great and caring guy going to suck veterans into long-term and maliciuous contracts of adhesion in which the veteram franchisees or their families will have low odds of survival? Will the Veterans be provided FranData snapshots in the sales process?

Do franchisors justify the low survival rate of first-generation franchisees in these long-term indenturing contracts as the law of the jungle. Does anyone, anywhere, know the survival rate of first-generation franchisees of Service Brands International or the Dwyer Group? Will Service Brands International get out there and tell veteran prospects how successful this franchise is for first-generation franchisees before these veterans are tricked into signing malicious and indenturing contracts that can destroy their lives?

The writing is on the wall when the committee in Congress is named the US Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. The government is gathering logs to feed the fires of development in the economy and veterans will stand in the front lines. I wouldn't mind if the SBA would guarantee these loans with NO Collateral and no personal guarantees, but the banks wouldn't agree to this, would they?

The malice in the chalice of the franchise industry cannot be hidden forever. There is always a price to be paid.

Congratulations to Dwyer-Owens. I know she is proud to be offering these franchises to Veterans because Dwyer-Owens franchises are safe investments for Veterans and their families.

I am, however, unable to look at any of the UFOC's. Am I looking in the wrong place? I want to help those veterans who are returning to a bad job market and who will be looking for a way to make a living.

I know that the late Mr. Dwyer was responsible for starting Fran-Vet discounts and was proud to have helped veterans and it is good of the new Chairwoman to continue his legacy.

Can anyone help me to access these UFOC's?