Which brings us to [Wilbur Breslin], the Long Island shopping center king. The fact that Breslin has survived the Long Island real estate depression is quite impressive, at least to me. And one day soon, Merrill Lynch may try to cash in on this feat, offering you a piece of Breslin Realty Corp. The main attraction: a projected $2 annual dividend, giving you an 8 percent yield on a $25 share.

My specific problem is a disturbing disclosure made at least four times in the Breslin documents. To wit, that as of June 30, Breslin was in technical default on more than two-thirds of the $180 million of mortgages on the real estate that Breslin Realty would own. The primary reason: Breslin was behind on property taxes. This is not good. Breslin's banks waived the default on Oct. 25, the day before the papers were filed at the SEC.

Hmmm. We know from elsewhere in the document that Breslin has personally guaranteed $72 million of the mortgages, and that all the mortgages will be paid off if everything goes as planned. Is Breslin trying to get public investors to bail him out of underwater loans? Is that why the banks were willing to waive the default? You read documents to learn enough to ask questions like this.