Comments on: Mad About Madoff

By: Basil2

Basil2 — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:21:21 +0000

I think you’re confusing legit risky business with a fraud. It’s not that people are upset with money lost because the business was risky and therefore they lost. It’s that the guy is a crook, misrepresented his books, lied about how he delt with people’s money. You totally missed the point.

By: Intelligent Speculator | Financial Ramblings

Intelligent Speculator | Financial Ramblings — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 22:47:31 +0000

[...] -from FP: Mad about Madoff [...]

By: Weekly Dividend Investing Roundup - June 13, 2009 | The Dividend Guy Blog

Weekly Dividend Investing Roundup - June 13, 2009 | The Dividend Guy Blog — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 11:03:55 +0000

[...] Mad about Madoff [...]

By: Dividend Growth Investor

Dividend Growth Investor — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:28:01 +0000

I agree with you about the whole diversification thing. But you know, when you are retired and you haven’t saved enough , you end up chasing highest yielding stocks.

By: This and That: Choosing an advisor, Currency Hedging and more� | Income Trust | Personal Finance | Real Estate SEO

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:09:54 +0000

[...] Bernie Madoff downfall from a “Jewish T-bill” to an avatar of Hitler has been swift and rapid. Mr. Cheap discusses some of the non-sense surrounding the story. [...]

By: This and That: Choosing an advisor, Currency Hedging and more… | Canadian Capitalist

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:14:20 +0000

[...] Bernie Madoff downfall from a “Jewish T-bill” to an avatar of Hitler has been swift and rapid. Mr. Cheap discusses some of the non-sense surrounding the story. [...]

By: Leslie

Leslie — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 23:33:13 +0000

As someone who worked in high networth wealth management, calling people greedy who put ALL their money into Madoff’s investments would be incorrect. Seriously, sometimes people with money are completely naive about it and are relieved to have someone take it all and manage it for them. I’ve worked with multi-millionaires who inherited a wad of money and sadly burned through it within 18 months–and others who knew they knew nothing and desperately wanted someone to trust to manage it. Bernie Madoff’s most serious crime is betrayal of the trust people gave to him. My dad always used to tell me, you can lock up a thief but what do you do with a liar? It was the worst insult you can give someone to call them a liar. Bernie Madoff was a liar. That he chose to use his deception on rich people is beside the point. Money is ‘stuff’ like anything else, and to lose it is a bad thing, but not as bad as losing faith in your judgment and trust in people. That’s what hurts these ‘rich’ people more than anything, and it’s where everyman can empathize.

By: Thicken My Wallet

Thicken My Wallet — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:24:18 +0000

It was interesting that Madoff simply plead guilty to all charges rather than plead out which either means he’s really sorry and knows he got caught or he refuses to drag anyone else with him down. If its the latter, there may be honor among theives after all.

I am not sure he should get life in jail. If he was a regular guy, he probably would not given he had a clean record, his age, its a white collar crime, he co-operated with the authorites etc. etc. But, who knows, the public is looking for blood in this entire meltdown and he may be the metaphorical bloody post-script to this entire economic mess.

The really sad part of this story is that in a couple of years everyone will have forgotten about him and another Madoff will do the same thing. Madoff is simply an enabler for our collective greed. I am not sure how many of us could have resisted if given the same opportunity to invest.

By: Potato

Potato — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:50:40 +0000

To be fair, they were greedy: Madoff wasn't advertising on TV, he was working at selling himself at parties via reverse psychology AFAIK (not like I was invited to those parties)... he created a mystique around himself and his returns and made people seek him out. People begged him to take their money so they could get in on the action. Some people at least were suspicious of his consistently great returns, and that he might be a crook -- but that he was their crook. I read one story around the time the ponzi scheme first came to light about how someone thought that his time at the NASDAQ had let him discover some exploit in the trading platform or in the market-making process. Here's a similar one from a web search.

By: Mr. Cheap

Mr. Cheap — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:45:18 +0000

RB: As a clarification, I don’t think people who invested with Madoff were being greedy, I think people who invested EVERY CENT THEY HAD (and have now lost everything) with Madoff were being greedy.

The only compensation I think investors should get is what is a portion of what is recovered from Madoff (and his family). I don’t think taxpayers should provide anything (his fund certainly wasn’t FDIC insured .