Former Nasdaq stock chairman Bernard Madoff has had it away on his toes with 50 billion big ones from accounts of New York's rich and gullible - the FBI alleges after allegedly hearing a confession from the 70 year old. It is the largest investor swindle ever blamed on a single individual.
At any other time, this would seem exceptional. But now it just seems like more dust from under the rug. And this on the same day that U.S. republicans refused to bail out the car industry for roughly the same amount. If that provides any sense of scale.
The millions of jobs on the one hand, and one man's avarice on the other. There may well be no direct relationship in that an honest Bernard Madoff would still see Detroit in the sewer, but as an example of the entrepreneurship versus society, it is a bit of a classic, happening when it does.
This is a vast scandal of Albanian crudeness which suckered the most the most sophisticated clients on the planet - allegedly - and was only uncovered becaus the market crashed. So how many other squalid pyramid cons and other frauds can we expect to see emerge over the next few months? Who will be found to be wearing trunks when the tide finally goes out?
And will someone please explain the moral and legal differences between these illegal activites and those of Our Friends in organised crime? This sounds very organised, and very profitable. More so, possibly, than even the Mafia's drug market in the US. Who knows?
What is the difference between Capitalists and Gangsters? The public are less and less clear about which thieves are respectable and which are despicable. And that is a very dangerous situation indeed.
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Christmas Eve Extra.
Victim of Madoff swindle slashes wrists.
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