It doesn’t take much these days to incite worry in the business world. Phrases like “recession” and “tax increases” have enough of an impact right now to leave everyone biting their fingernails.

But there is one word that pops up (far more often than you’d like to think), that can cause as much damage as the global economy or the bills that Congress passes.

That one little word causing all the stress: Fraud. 

Basically, it’s the crime of cheating people. And it can be costly. About 5% of a company’s annual revenue is lost to occupational fraud and the median loss by all companies due to fraud is $160,000, according to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) in its 2010 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud & Abuse.

And, while those figures are high, the manufacturing and mining industries see an even bigger increase in their median fraud losses. In manufacturing, that number is $300,000. But mining takes the cake with fraud losses costing around $1 million.

The report, which includes findings from the 2008 and 2009 calendar years, shows that for manufacturers, corruption was the leading fraud scheme and represented nearly 49% of the cases.

Additional findings reveal that 10.7% of the total fraud cases came in manufacturing industries, ranking it second overall. The total number of fraud cases reported by manufacturers is 193, also the second highest.

Switch to mining, and the number of fraud cases reported is 12, which is the lowest total. Those numbers, specifically in the mining industry, show that a large number of cases are unreported and money continues to go right out the door.

It’s not all doom and gloom, though. Thanks to agencies like the ACFE, there are plenty of tips and information available for companies to curtail fraud in the workplace. Some of the first guidelines for battling fraud include setting an ethical tone at the top, establishing a proper code of ethics and carefully screening job applicants.

While the potential for fraud exists wherever there is money to be had, instituting some new policies and being proactive in the approach to company fraud can end up costing less in the end, and benefitting the employer, employees and customers.

If you’re a moderate or just someone who’s not too enthused about either of the two main political parties, you may find this interesting. According to an article on Stateline, third party candidates are making serious impacts on races around the country. Granted, some of these candidates are former senators and office holders so they’re hardly outsiders, but it is rather noteworthy. (Oh, and the full article also discusses Jesse Ventura, so that alone is worth a few minutes of your time):

In this volatile election year, third-party and independent candidates are making serious bids for governor in a diverse array of states. Most of them won’t get many votes, but a fair number stand to influence the results and it’s possible that at least one may make it into office.

In Rhode Island alone, a handful of independents are running. The most prominent one is former U.S. Senator Lincoln Chafee, who served in Congress as a moderate Republican until his defeat in 2006. Polling has showed Chafee either leading the race for governor or modestly trailing Democratic nominee Frank Caprio.

In Massachusetts, state Treasurer Tim Cahill broke with his Democratic roots to run as an independent against incumbent Democratic Governor Deval Patrick. Recent polls show that he could get as much as 10 percent of the vote, which is greater than Patrick’s current margin over Republican nominee Charles Baker.

In Minnesota, Tom Horner is running under the banner of the Independence Party, the successor to the party once led by Jesse Ventura. Horner, a moderate with a Republican pedigree, is hoping to draw Democrats who see their party’s nominee, former U.S. Senator Mark Dayton, as too liberal, and Republicans who see GOP candidate Tom Emmer as too conservative. Horner has been polling at about 14 percent, which is much more than Dayton’s four-point lead over Emmer.

And in Colorado, former Republican U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo, who has been an outspoken opponent of illegal immigration, may end up outpolling the official Republican nominee, Dan Maes, a Tea Party activist who inherited the nomination after the leading GOP candidate stumbled in a plagiarism scandal. Current polls show Tancredo taking 18 percent of the vote, about the same percentage by which Democrat John Hickenlooper, the mayor of Denver, is leading over Maes.

Given the number of these credible outsider challenges, it seems appropriate to look back at recent third-party governors to see how they fared once they won office, given that they lacked a major-party infrastructure and fellow partisans in the legislature.