esrosedotblog

WISHFUL THINKINGupdated

Or maybe magical thinking. Whatever.

This guy points out that Bernie Madoff's main co-conspirators were his victims. Their gullibility. That's him in better times. Butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. Such a nice guy. He couldn't be a crook.

Madoff Had Accomplices: His Victims

It is hard to read about people losing their life savings. Hell, it's hard to read about people "losing"* 30-40% of their net worth as most of us IRA and 401K people have. But there is some point where pity stops and schadenfreude begins.

Elie Weisel. A guy who has been milking his holocaust story for decades turns out to be as greedy as anyone else. Less the humble man. More the annoying whiner.

It is amazing that people looking for the fast buck can be so blinded by a con-man who was on the suspect list of any reputable investment house. They never checked.

And some are probably lining up to do it again.

Late Thursday afternoon, I called Richard C. Breeden, the former chairman of the S.E.C. who had recently served as a trustee to get money back for investors who had been involved in a billion-dollar Ponzi scheme that was uncovered more than a decade ago. He had miraculously been able to pay investors close to 60 cents on the dollar, partly by increasing the value of the assets that the scheme was built on. That’s far more than any Madoff victim is going to get. (So far, the Madoff trustee has identified only $1 billion in assets.) Tragically, Mr. Breeden said, some people who had invested in the Ponzi scheme that he helped clean up turned around and gave their money to Mr. Madoff.

“I guess some people never learn,” Mr. Breeden said.

Labels: economy, life