Posted on 03/15/2009 3:24:09 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Most of Madoff's victims were also his accomplices
By Joe Nocera
Friday, March 13, 2009
NEW YORK: Standing in the security line Thursday morning, waiting to get into the federal courthouse in Manhattan, I started chatting with the man behind me. He looked to be in his early 60s, and though he was well dressed, he looked a little haggard. I asked him if he was a victim of Bernard Madoff, who would soon be pleading guilty to masterminding the greatest Ponzi scheme in history. He said he was.
Did he want to talk about it? He wasn't sure, he said. I asked his name. "I'm not going to give my name unless there is some benefit for me," he said dourly. "I haven't had too many benefits lately."
How much had he lost? I asked. He grimaced. "I don't really want to say," he replied, but conceded that it was a lot.
What was he hoping for today? He shrugged.
As we passed through security, I asked him what role he thought the government should be playing. It was as if I had flipped a switch. Suddenly, his reticence fell away.
"The SEC," he said, referring to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which muffed multiple opportunities to catch Madoff, "they played a big role in this. They have a lot to answer for." He said that the tax code should be changed so that Madoff victims can recoup taxes they paid on profits that turned out to be illusory — no matter how far in the past those taxes were paid. He thought the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, which tries to put at least a little money in the hands of investors whose firms have gone under, should give victims more than the current $500,000 maximum.
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
Ping!
And now we have the Madoff of presidents
(Elie) Wiesel expressed, better than I’ve ever heard it, why people gave Madoff their money. “I remember that it was a myth that he created around him,” Wiesel said, “that everything was so special, so unique, that it had to be secret. It was like a mystical mythology that nobody could understand.” Wiesel added: “He gave the impression that maybe 100 people belonged to the club. Now we know thousands of them were cheated by him.”
snip
“Hedges said: ‘It’s like trying to do your own dentistry. It is a real lesson that people cannot abdicate personal responsibility when it comes to their personal finances.’
And that’s the point. People did abdicate responsibility — and now, rather than face that fact, many of them are blaming the government for not, in effect, saving them from themselves. Indeed, what you discover when you talk to victims is that they harbor an anger toward the SEC that is as deep or deeper than the anger they feel toward Madoff. There is a powerful sense that because the agency was asleep at the switch, they have been doubly victimized. And they want the government to do something about it.”
Gee, this sounds a lot like mortgagees or credit card or debtors we’re hearing about now.
We have a serious problem when government stands to benefit by turning a blind eye to illegal activity. A government that profits from immoral behavior is likewise immoral.
[...] It is a real lesson that people cannot abdicate personal responsibility when it comes to their personal finances."The audacity of these multimillionaires wanting me to pay for their losses astounds me.
And that's the point. People did abdicate responsibility — and now, rather than face that fact, many of them are blaming the government for not, in effect, saving them from themselves. Indeed, what you discover when you talk to victims is that they harbor an anger toward the SEC that is as deep or deeper than the anger they feel toward Madoff. There is a powerful sense that because the agency was asleep at the switch, they have been doubly victimized. And they want the government to do something about it.
Well, to be fair, GWB was running the Ponzi scheme before the Zero.
True, but we can’t have the government responsible for everything... That’s the deal with the devil—you abdicate personal responsibility and rely on the government to protect you, you then have consequences of that.
As the saying goes, “you can’t cheat an honest man”. Many of the victims in this case were a victim of their own greed. It is very tragic and I wish them all the best, but from the media coverage you would think Madoff is worse than Hitler. Way over the top. A bunch of greedy people getting burned in a ponzi scheme and a market crash. It has been happening since the beginning of time.
I see our social security as a bigger fraud than Madoff’s. If you hate what Madoff did, you should really really hate what the federal government is doing to future retirees. It won’t be long until the government trough is not big enough to take even modest care of our retirees, and millions and millions of people who rely on social secuity to feed them, will be out in the cold. Really, who is more evil than Madoff? All of members in Congress, that is who.
“...should give the victims more than the $500,000 maximum...”
Welcome to the free ride on someone else’s strained back.
IMHO
Tragically, 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," Breeden said.
I agree, but I didn't say that the government was responsible for the situation, only that they profited just as Madoff profited. And that is a problem for our government.
From what I had read earlier it was mainly bigotry and personal bias. I guess he really was a self hating you know what...
They were all hurt badly by their own greed but I don't think they should be classed as "victims." They thought they were better than the people who kept their money in federally-insured savings accounts. They were smugly enjoying astonishing returns that turned out to be false. They would not have lost a dime if they have been more concerned with the return OF their money instead of the return ON their money.
I see our social security as a bigger fraud than Madoff’s.
In what way specifically?
After all regardless of how profligate a person is, you just cannot blow that much money of on the old "booze and broads and baubles" and even then the "baubles" would still be of value.
I mean even if one were to "blow" a cool Million a day, it would still take about 2 years and 8 months to get to a Billion and multiply that times 50, well.........?
Thus my curiosity is WHAT happened or what did he do with all that money?
Is there any law against the Secretary of Treasury serving from prison? Madoff is perfect for the job in this administration.
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