I'm with Rich on this.
Hope the New Year brings a better world with it.
RDB
Richard Del Belso
Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2008 11:33:49 -0800From: sa...@comic-art.comsubject: Re:
[MOPO] WAY OT: What drove Bernie MadoffTo: mop...@sol03.american.eduyes, 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 benefitTo 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 appropriateWhy 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
cameraMaybe Fred Thompson who would rather smoke those big cigars than request
oversight for Wall StreetMaybe 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 folksAt
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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