I don't see the problem some are having on this thread. Just because Madoff is not a murderer or heinous criminal of that nature doesn't mean we can't shake our collective fists at his family's thievery. Both he and his wife stole a lot of money and seem inherently unlikable.
Isn't there a strong socioeconomic class component to the media coverage of all this rage? It is essentially a story about an enormous fall from rich and upper middle class status.
Horrific shit happens all the time to the American and the Third World poor. But the poor are just too boring, and people who perpetrate outrages against the poor are boring by extension. Would Madoff be half as infuriating if he was from the Bronx and destroyed a lot of lives there?
@Wrapitup: Madoff is infuriating to me because of the non-profits he defrauded. Many of those non-profits help the poor. His scheme also has had a tremendous impact on charitable giving to organizations that help the poor.
Everyone in a Ponzi Scheme is a schemer. You thought that getting a few percent a year is for suckers? You are a schemer. It's just that you got screwed instead of screwing others because you were greedier than the others. Why should anyone (us suckers?) be sorry for you?
Also, how does one make those millions of dollars to be parted with? Even if it is hard work (as opposed to "investing"), it seems to me that wasting your life on hard work just for the money is pretty depressing life even if you do get to keep the money in the end. You say it's for kids? Whose kids? Your nanny's?
@Niko Bellic: Partially true, but a significant portion of those who lost their $ with Madoff actually had no idea that they were invested with him. They gave their retirement funds to legit financial advisors, who invested it in funds that invested in Madoff. Stories abound of people who had no idea they had lost everything until weeks after the news broke and they got a letter in the mail.
@Heneage: I am not saying there was a significance in being invested with "him". I am saying there was a significance in being invested in such a way that your investments were earning a lot more than they should've been.
If I had millions to lose, I'm sure I would be blinded by fury had Madoff lost it. I also understand that he lost money for people who didn't have millions to invest or lose. HOWEVER, and maybe it's just because I'm from Wisconsin here, I remember when people had the chance to vent at Jeffery Dahmer--and all they had left of a loved one was a head in a freezer. At some point--and I realize it sounds sanctimonious--people have to gain a little perspective about what they have in life vs. what they have or could have lost.
@strunkenwhitey: wholeheartedly agree. like burt over there, telling me bernie's getting precedence over people like pol pot in beelzebub's craw? really?
@johnny_carsick: Yeah but, what did Pol Pot ever do to millionaires? See the difference?
@strunkenwhitey: I am flabbergasted at the response, really. If money does this to you, you should channel this rage into getting some more. Or Fight Clubs.
I know this is bad, but there's something that makes me laugh about Kim Jong Il. We say their missile just plopped into the ocean. He says that it launched a satellite and now everyone in N. Korea is listening to the music it broadcasts.
With of course no radios, iPods, TVs, 'puters, etc because the majority of the population doesn't have electricity.
So are they all listening to the music from giant speakers in space?
This is so Mao swimming the Yangtze that I just can't help but kinda love it.
Those crazy showtune marches represent the entire GDP of North Korea. Instead of growing crops, they write and record that shit and have "marching day" in the square.
My question is: how long can a country continue to exist when the entire population hasn't eaten solid food in thirty years?
@onenotesam: What I wonder is what it will be like when Il dies and if there is some kind of miracle that allows the N.Koreans to join the rest of the world? I think the cultural shock will be almost endless.
Does PETA know they eat dogs? Maybe they can put an end to this madness with a really spirited naked protest and a boycott of all their wannabe Hondas.
@bayktdin: They do know that. So does HSUS. If you join HSUS, they'll send you photos. I don't know why PETA hasn't done a really spirited naked protest and boycott of all their wannabe Hondas.
Maybe we can send some naked PETA girls to the DMZ to participate in the daily dirty looks across the border ritual.
Oh no! A nation run by a deluded man with an odd fixation on his father's legacy has powerful technology and weaponry! Umm... that was us for the past eight years.
@AlannaBanana: I hear ya. But Dubya just never brought teh crazy like Kim Jong Il. That's the difference between a democracy and a dictatorship, I think.
06/30/09
06/30/09
really want to hope that.
06/30/09
Horrific shit happens all the time to the American and the Third World poor. But the poor are just too boring, and people who perpetrate outrages against the poor are boring by extension. Would Madoff be half as infuriating if he was from the Bronx and destroyed a lot of lives there?
06/30/09
06/30/09
"A fool and his money are soon parted."
"Don't put all your eggs in one basket."
"If it sounds too good to be true, it is."
06/30/09
06/30/09
Everyone in a Ponzi Scheme is a schemer. You thought that getting a few percent a year is for suckers? You are a schemer. It's just that you got screwed instead of screwing others because you were greedier than the others. Why should anyone (us suckers?) be sorry for you?
Also, how does one make those millions of dollars to be parted with? Even if it is hard work (as opposed to "investing"), it seems to me that wasting your life on hard work just for the money is pretty depressing life even if you do get to keep the money in the end. You say it's for kids? Whose kids? Your nanny's?
06/30/09
06/30/09
06/30/09
06/30/09
06/30/09
Removing self from soapbox immediately.
06/30/09
06/30/09
@strunkenwhitey: I am flabbergasted at the response, really. If money does this to you, you should channel this rage into getting some more. Or Fight Clubs.
06/30/09
06/30/09
06/30/09
06/30/09
06/30/09
06/30/09
06/30/09
But who's the lucky guy that gets spit out to make room for Bernie? I am going with Brutus.
06/30/09
06/30/09
06/30/09
04/07/09
04/05/09
With of course no radios, iPods, TVs, 'puters, etc because the majority of the population doesn't have electricity.
So are they all listening to the music from giant speakers in space?
This is so Mao swimming the Yangtze that I just can't help but kinda love it.
04/05/09
My question is: how long can a country continue to exist when the entire population hasn't eaten solid food in thirty years?
04/05/09
04/05/09
04/05/09
Maybe we can send some naked PETA girls to the DMZ to participate in the daily dirty looks across the border ritual.
04/05/09
04/05/09