yes, the Madoff scandal is a true tragedy. But not in the way that
Madoff's attorney means it. I'll cut him some slack because he has to
defend his client. Madoff gets no such benefit
To anyone who thinks that the government needs to eliminate
regulations that supposedly "hamper profits", they only need to look
at this case (not to mention the financial meltdown we have experienced).
In this scam however there are numerous criminals who hopefully will
all be prosecuted.
For instance, the SEC.. clearly asleep at the switch. How could they
not see that that Madoff's business was a Ponzi scheme?? The company
operated for something on to 3 decades and every sign was apparently
there to see what was going on: the firm made big profits even when
the best & most storied firms could not. The accountants used had
just 3 employees - one CPA and one secretary who shared a very small
office with 2 desks and an attorney for the firm who lived in
Florida. Madoff's firm had been repeatedly investigated by the SEC
with no findings of fraud.. SAY WHAT??? What freakin set of books did
they examine and did they choose to examine any outside data?? Scandalous!!
His 2 sons who work in the firms say they knew nothing of the fraud..
Come on now. Do any of you believe that line of horse sh*t? What
about any of the other employees? Are they blind & stupid? What
numbers were these idiots crunching on a daily basis? Maybe the
baseball box scores.
Of course, the investors - who are victims - may also have been
complicit, though with ignorance, with either a lack of due
dilligence or eyes full of greed and while I feel sorry for them, I
also have some wisened words for them : only fools get on a ship
without knowing if there are lifeboats aboard. In other words, what
the hell were they thinking?? Did they simply take the words of their
friends who told them how much money they were making and what a good
guy Madoff was? Even if you are a moron, why in the world would you
invest every cent you had in just that single firm? Didn't you ever
hear of "don't put all your eggs in one basket"?
One woman complained that she lost everything she had $2,000,000 that
she had invested with Madoff for the last 28 years. I suggest she may
have made the same amount of money she has now lost over those years
and so her loss may be to "be back at her beginnings". Of course she
also owns a very expensive house. But why would she invest 100% of
her cash in one place? Greed, Ignorance, Stupidity. Please add any
other adjectives you find appropriate
Why was the SEC so poor in finding fault with his business model even
though a highly respected economist began in 2003 to show them how
the firm could not have possibly been anything else but a Ponzi scheme?
No doubt there will be a long trial, many other individuals charged
(including his 2 sons and many of the firm's employees). Many people
who made fabulous returns on their money for 20+ years and have lived
those fairy tale lives that the rich enjoy will now be Cinderellas
washing floors in raggedy clothing and unfortunately they have only
themselves to blame because as we all know, the best person to
protect your interests is no one but yourself..
on to the movie that will be made.. Who do you think will be the best
actor to portray Madoff??
Tom Cruise whose own meltdown is killing his career in the eyes of the public?
Ben Stein whose uncanny resemblance to Madoff with his background as
a financial guru and anti-regulatory weed wacker?
Hank Paulson who has sold us down the road of servitude to the banks
who have stolen our money & given it to CEOs and investors as bonuses
or dividends?
How about Dick Cheney who would happily steal your money and then
laugh in your face - on camera
Maybe Fred Thompson who would rather smoke those big cigars than
request oversight for Wall Street
Maybe the best choice would be to cast a woman - Sarah Palin - as
Madoff. I can see it now ..
Financial Advisor: "Miss Madoff, should we invest this $1.4billion in
valuable assets on Wall Street, or should we use it to buy some
clothes at Saks?"
Sarah Madoff : "Well I think we should invest it in 1200 nice dresses
for me, 400 pairs of shoes, and while we're at it, how about a big
gun and some knives so we can hunt down some Mooses and field dress
them in some nice blue pumps.. That's it - you betcha!"
happy holidays folks
At 08:19 AM 12/26/2008, Bruce Hershenson wrote:
I looked at the cnn site just now and they have an article entitled,
"What drove Bernie Madoff".
It tells about what a brilliant man he is, and it concludes "Several
people who know Madoff say his saga reminds them of a Greek tragedy.
Just like Icarus who tried to fly too close to the sun, Bernie
Madoff destroyed himself in his unending quest for success and
respect. Says Madoff's defense attorney, 'this is a tragedy.'"
This really offends me. He was a crook who has done untold damage to
tens of thousands of people's lives (counting the many charitable
groups he ruined) and he did so in the worst possible way, by being
a confidence man who won their trust and then betraying it.
The people who were swindled have some responsibility, because they
forgot the old adage "if something seems too good to be true, it
probably is", but their doubts were overcome by their basic greed in
wanting those great returns, and in their belief that no one could
be dishonest and operate on that scale.
But this crook is the lowest of the low, and deserves no sympathy
and is not "tragic" by any measure.
What do YOU think?
Bruce
P.S. If one thinks this has nothing to do with movie posters, it
seems an absolute certainty there will be one or more movies made
about this fraud, and that opens the question of what title they
will choose (maybe "The Death of Icarus"?) and who will be chosen to
play the lead role!
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