@SarahHeartburn: Bastards. Click on the video screen and if you're on FIrefox, for example, you'll get the song on another tab. Meanwhile, I'll try another version.
This is only slightly better than the Weekend at Bernie's defense in which Madoff will pretend to be dead and will be dragged into court with his arms draped over a couple of 80s C-listers.
@VoxPopuli: Whoa--you can get banned from WF? Seriously? Do they ban you from just that one WF or all of them? And is this a lifetime banning or just like for a week or so?
@misslinda: If this is to be believed, they kick you out for good. It's probably an exaggeration or a complete fabrication, but it makes for a good story. It keeps me from sampling the olives anyway
Wouldn't it be great if we passed a law mandating a mandatory life sentence to all white collar crimes that cost individuals or companies more than $500 million? Most of these old white fuckers that do shit like this would be dead by the time they get their first parole hearing, 25 years after their sentence. Added bonus: these crooks must serve time in the same state penitentiary that the rest of us go to for selling crack or robbing a 7-11.
@westie1984: Good thing he's a white citizen too. How the fuck does a monster like this walk out of court with a slap on the wrist? Wreckless driving kills people. (OH don't get me started....)
In other news... related to the economy but not directly related to Madoff, I just saw an ad on cnn.com that says, "THANK YOU AMERICA, FOR INVESTING IN CHRYSLER"
I think the guy who pushed me down and stole my purse is crazy. I mean, who does that? I think the lady who shoplifts lipsticks is crazy. Aren't almost ALL criminals a little crazy?
Clearly, 'ol Bernie was a narcissist. Does that make him crazy? Would that make practically every investment banker and corporate attorney I know crazy? The answer is "yes."
A sounder defense would seem to be that his victims were asking for it. The list of Madoff investors who violated every principle of due diligence and diversification seems to grow every day. Stupid greed always finds a way to lose money. The galaxy of lawsuits that will emerge from this should help to shore up New York's economy.
One question that hasn't been answered yet is whether Madoff was doing any trading at all. Was he sustaining his scheme through actual investments, even if these fell short of providing the returns he offered? It seems hard to believe that it went on this long as a pure Ponzi scheme.
@ifstone: Since there was no independent custodian for the securities he claimed to have bought, sold and held and since the audits were done by an accounting firm that didn't have the staff to do a complicated Form 1040, he might not have traded one share or option ever.
Next time someone asks me to justify my self-destructive, maniacal behavior, I'm so going to say, "It's a proprietary strategy. I can't go into detail."
@azilaw: Exactly. The Jewish version of the Twinkie defense. Too many carbs and fats will drive a man past the limit. Then there's the tzimmies defense. Whatever....
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Why did it happen, and who was to blame?
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Let's see.
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I am going to be known as the echo commenter (or copy cat commenter).
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By the way, what am I having for lunch today? Since we're apparently sharing a brain, I'll leave it to you to decide.
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@AllsWell: OK, that works. I'll go easy on the salt as long as I can have lots of butter.
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[thecompanybitch.blogspot.com]
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No surprise there.
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that is all.
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Clearly, 'ol Bernie was a narcissist. Does that make him crazy? Would that make practically every investment banker and corporate attorney I know crazy? The answer is "yes."
12/28/08
No, but seriously, he should go to jail for quite some time.
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One question that hasn't been answered yet is whether Madoff was doing any trading at all. Was he sustaining his scheme through actual investments, even if these fell short of providing the returns he offered? It seems hard to believe that it went on this long as a pure Ponzi scheme.
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Probably not the case but it would be possible.
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"3 replies by AllsWell, kdollarsign, donner_froh"
Is that his legal team or Santa's new reindeer?
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Kreplach (Yiddish: קרעפלעך, sing. קרעפל, krepl) are small dumplings filled with ground meat, mashed potatoes or another filling
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