Bear's Cayman Stash?

[Herbert Spencer]

I always liked the Cimboco Cafe in the Grand Caymans.

http://www.degreediscussion.com/forums/v...087#p47983

How does John Bear manage to finance this lavish lifestyle?  He owns a shopping center that was (and may still be?) used for a brothel.  He brags about peddling his Escher collection to Stills & Nash.  He travels to tax havens throughout the world.

Surely he isn't squirreling away all this dough from sales of his Chip White edited "Bear's Guide to Incompetent Opinions."   Where is he coming up with all this cash?

This is a guy who seems to be living well above his apparent income.  Where is George Gollin to connect the dots all the way to Bear's secret Cayman Island stash??????????  Somebody ought to let the IRS know about this.

Once Bear gets audited by the IRS let's count the seconds until he reverts to libertarian again.

[ham]

I always liked the Cimboco Cafe in the Grand Caymans.

http://www.degreediscussion.com/forums/v...087#p47983

How does John Bear manage to finance this lavish lifestyle?  He owns a shopping center that was (and may still be?) used for a brothel.  He brags about peddling his Escher collection to Stills & Nash.  He travels to tax havens throughout the world.

Surely he isn't squirreling away all this dough from sales of his Chip White edited "Bear's Guide to Incompetent Opinions."   Where is he coming up with all this cash?

This is a guy who seems to be living well above his apparent income.  Where is George Gollin to connect the dots all the way to Bear's secret Cayman Island stash??????????  Somebody ought to let the IRS know about this.

Once Bear gets audited by the IRS let's count the seconds until he reverts to libertarian again.

Although John Bear -the mastermind behind several 'problematic' schools- claimed here once (answering my explicit question) that he had disclosed revenue from 'problematic' schools he owned, promoted or managed for tax purposes, I highly doubt so...
He'd have to declare what sort of income it was...and 'phoney doctorates for sale' might have constituted an offence.
The problem isn't that he's partying with the fat money he made; some herbal viagra, secret FOREX investment schemes and debt refinancing guys may be partying as well...
A sucker born every minute.
The problem is that he's allowed to censor other people's morality or choices and is lent (albeit by a few people only) credibility as an 'authority' and only owned, run or promoted schools he now calls mills, and published a phonebook-style inventory of schools -good, not so good, bad - and formerly of degree mills.
Since he's not a genius, it must be others who are dumb.

[Brian Crawford]

I always liked the Cimboco Cafe in the Grand Caymans.

http://www.degreediscussion.com/forums/v...087#p47983

How does John Bear manage to finance this lavish lifestyle?  He owns a shopping center that was (and may still be?) used for a brothel.  He brags about peddling his Escher collection to Stills & Nash.  He travels to tax havens throughout the world.

Surely he isn't squirreling away all this dough from sales of his Chip White edited "Bear's Guide to Incompetent Opinions."   Where is he coming up with all this cash?

This is a guy who seems to be living well above his apparent income.  Where is George Gollin to connect the dots all the way to Bear's secret Cayman Island stash??????????  Somebody ought to let the IRS know about this.

Once Bear gets audited by the IRS let's count the seconds until he reverts to libertarian again.

Although John Bear -the mastermind behind several 'problematic' schools- claimed here once (answering my explicit question) that he had disclosed revenue from 'problematic' schools he owned, promoted or managed for tax purposes, I highly doubt so...
He'd have to declare what sort of income it was...and 'phoney doctorates for sale' might have constituted an offence.
The problem isn't that he's partying with the fat money he made; some herbal viagra, secret FOREX investment schemes and debt refinancing guys may be partying as well...
A sucker born every minute.
The problem is that he's allowed to censor other people's morality or choices and is lent (albeit by a few people only) credibility as an 'authority' and only owned, run or promoted schools he now calls mills, and published a phonebook-style inventory of schools -good, not so good, bad - and formerly of degree mills.
Since he's not a genius, it must be others who are dumb.

John Bear was dumped by the FBI during DIPSCAM after they discovered he was only providing information about schools he felt were competition against his diploma mills. Unfortunately, the FBI had their eyes closed and never knew Bear owned schools wich wre diploma mills until way into the DIPSCAM investigation. Just like the FBI, the US Secret Service never looked into Gollin's credibility until it was too late and they found out the hard way, Gollin has no clue what he was doing. And that folks, is the short version of the SRU fiasco. They still never brough Shelia Danzig into the mix, which is very interesting being she was the SRU financial backer. Danzig paid the government officials in Liberia an laundered profits for SRU by establishing the IBCs.

[Little Arminius]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that John Bear has openly credited the sale of his business as the sole North American representative of Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh Business School's distance learning program to some publicly traded company for funding his well-earned retirement.  

I've had my disagreements with J.B. in the last five years or so, but overall, history will correctly identify him as a (or the) seminal figure in the explosive growth of distance learning at the university level worldwide. He basically created the field as such and his eponymous Bear's Guide help lead this field out of the Stone Age as well as make it more accessible to the general public.

He has not yet taken on the "elder statesman" role in DL, a role which would require him to be above the fray. He has instead chosen, for the time being and for reasons he has kept to himself, to align himself with the RA or No Way crowd in direct contrast to his track record of open-mindedness towards unaccredited but legitimate schools. As someone who has been a big John Bear fan since 1979, and someone who completely bought into the Bear philosophy on higher education (I took two undergrad correspondence courses while attending Iowa full-time), I can sincerely state that I hope that Bear soon bows out of the day-to-day bullshit that comes from associating with a specific faction in this contentious field.

He has led quite a life and hopefully will be able to share some of his experiences and stories in the future. ( providing that the statute of limitations has expired )

[Brian Crawford]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that John Bear has openly credited the sale of his business as the sole North American representative of Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh Business School's distance learning program to some publicly traded company for funding his well-earned retirement.  

I've had my disagreements with J.B. in the last five years or so, but overall, history will correctly identify him as a (or the) seminal figure in the explosive growth of distance learning at the university level worldwide. He basically created the field as such and his eponymous Bear's Guide help lead this field out of the Stone Age as well as make it more accessible to the general public.

He has not yet taken on the "elder statesman" role in DL, a role which would require him to be above the fray. He has instead chosen, for the time being and for reasons he has kept to himself, to align himself with the RA or No Way crowd in direct contrast to his track record of open-mindedness towards unaccredited but legitimate schools. As someone who has been a big John Bear fan since 1979, and someone who completely bought into the Bear philosophy on higher education (I took two undergrad correspondence courses while attending Iowa full-time), I can sincerely state that I hope that Bear soon bows out of the day-to-day bullshit that comes from associating with a specific faction in this contentious field.

He has led quite a life and hopefully will be able to share some of his experiences and stories in the future. ( providing that the statute of limitations has expired )

John Bear is as useless as Gorge Gollin and they are both cut from the same cloth. To paint Bear as some patrach is a joke and a poor one at that. Bear's guides were full of innuendo, personal opinion and his dislike or like of a particular entry based on his personal financial gain. He was not the pinoeer of DE/DL as one may think, there were many people ahead of him, just ask DETC, formerly known as the National Home Study Council.

John Bear laughed as he let the "Good Morning America" camera crews to the places of employment of those he said had degrees from diploma mills. Then he bragged about it on the pedophole supported www.degreeinfo.com web site. Yes, he is someone who should have a bronze statue made in his likeness, right next to Hitler.

Let's not forget his selling doctorates for $50K and his listing Columbia Picific University as the ideal place to study. All while running his own resume reviewing company where he would tell people like me that I have already earned my degree through CPU. Then swiftly send me off to his wife at CPU admissions department so she could get credit for the enrollment if I bought my already earned degree from them.

[ham]

I've had my disagreements with J.B. in the last five years or so, but overall, history will correctly identify him as a (or the) seminal figure in the explosive growth of distance learning at the university level worldwide. He basically created the field as such and his eponymous Bear's Guide help lead this field out of the Stone Age as well as make it more accessible to the general public.

Bear didn't invent antibiotics.
He just published a list of degree mills (he had to be aware of competition...), then, when that became too risky, he turned it into a phone book of schools...good, not so good and bad, re-writing commentaries on selected schools (from good to bad...or from bad to good) according to his best interest.
He made no mystery of associating himself with whomever could help him sell his books...in exchange for 'second hand glory'...frauds, gay teen pornographers, chipped shoulders, deviants...

[Little Arminius]

I've had my disagreements with J.B. in the last five years or so, but overall, history will correctly identify him as a (or the) seminal figure in the explosive growth of distance learning at the university level worldwide. He basically created the field as such and his eponymous Bear's Guide help lead this field out of the Stone Age as well as make it more accessible to the general public.

Bear didn't invent antibiotics.
He just published a list of degree mills (he had to be aware of competition...), then, when that became too risky, he turned it into a phone book of schools...good, not so good and bad, re-writing commentaries on selected schools (from good to bad...or from bad to good) according to his best interest.He made no mystery of associating himself with whomever could help him sell his books...in exchange for 'second hand glory'...frauds, gay teen pornographers, chipped shoulders, deviants...

Wouldn't you like to know what prompted some of those changes? I suspect J.B. has some great stories about what really happened, ... money changing hands, consulting gigs, threats of violence, etc. Bear wore many hats over the course of his long and colorful career. I just wish that he were in a postion where he could write about it. Until he distances himself from the Gang, accurate accounts of events that happened long ago will never make their way into print.

[ham]

Wouldn't you like to know what prompted some of those changes? I suspect J.B. has some great stories about what really happened, ... money changing hands, consulting gigs, threats of violence, etc. Bear wore many hats over the course of his long and colorful career. I just wish that he were in a postion where he could write about it. Until he distances himself from the Gang, accurate accounts of events that happened long ago will never make their way into print.

Ask any cigarette smuggler and you'll get equally interesting stories... (gunshot murder of wrestling star Dino Bravo happened because of his involvement in the cigarette-smuggling business ).

[Fort Bragg]

Ask any cigarette smuggler and you'll get equally interesting stories... (gunshot murder of wrestling star Dino Bravo happened because of his involvement in the cigarette-smuggling business ).

Cigarette smuggling is a very Canadian thing. The last time I was in South Dakota they were like $3.25 a pack. In Canada you can buy the legal ones for $10 - $11 or the illegal ones for around $1 - 200 cigarettes in a ziploc bag for $8- $10.