An American Tragedy

• George W. Bush elected President
• Nasdaq stock bubble bursts
• 9/11 attack
• Alan Greenspan lowers rates to 1%
• Invasion of Afghanistan
• Department of Homeland security created
• Invasion of Iraq
• Hurricane Katrina
• Home prices double
• Financial derivatives grow to over $100 trillion

From dependence back into bondage (2008 to ????)

• Housing prices collapse
• Financial firms collapse
• Government and Federal Reserve intervene to prop up the worldwide financial system
• Government bailouts of financial firms and auto manufacturers
• Federal Reserve & U.S. Treasury commit over $8 trillion of taxpayer funds
• Barrack Obama elected President
• Immediate borrowing & stimulus packages exceeding $1 trillion are discussed
• Federal Reserve lowers rates to below 1%

Fact is Fiction and TV Reality

"I can't believe the news today

Oh, I can't close my eyes

And make it go away

And it's true we are immune

When fact is fiction and TV reality"

U2 – Sunday, Bloody Sunday

The greatest fraud in the history of our country was exposed in the past week. Bernie Madoff perpetuated a $50 billion ponzi scheme fraud on his formerly wealthy investors. The size of the losses is mind boggling, three times the size of the proposed bailout of the US automakers. His entire investment fund has been a big lie for decades. The immorality of his actions is incomprehensible. Charities have been wiped out, the life savings of entire families have been lost, and innocent lives have been ruined.

The potential sentence of 20 years in a country club prison and a $5 million fine is not nearly equal to the pain caused by this man’s immoral evil actions. This man was well respected by the Wall Street investment community, a prominent Jewish philanthropist, and part of the wealthy high society crowd located in West Palm Beach. This begs the question, if this man has been running this type of scam for decades, how many more cockroaches are out there on Wall Street? After a year of never ending tales of scandal, fraud, lies, greed and mismanagement, this episode should be the final straw which convinces the American public the investment game is rigged and they do not have a chance.

This tragedy is a failure of morality, a failure of regulation, failure of unbridled capitalism and a failure of common sense. Bernie Madoff started his firm Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities in 1960 with $5,000. It started as a classic American success story and is ending as an American tragedy. Mr. Madoff had a spectacular rise on Wall Street. His firm was one of the founding members of the NASDAQ. He emerged as one of the key leaders in the rise of the NASDAQ and eventually became Chairman of its Board. Madoff served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Sy Syms School of Business at Yeshiva University, as well as Treasurer of its Board of Trustees. A college class in ethics in his youth may have benefitted Mr. Madoff’s clients. His firm was one of the top market makers on Wall Street. His estimated net worth grew to between $200 and $300 million.

He adapted easily to his rise from humble beginnings to immense wealth. He owns estates in Roslyn, N.Y., Montauk, Long Island, a luxury apartment that occupies the entire12th floor on Manhattan's Upper East Side valued at more than $9 million. He also owns mansions in Palm Beach and France and is a member of the Palm Beach Country Club. He also possesses a 55-foot fishing boat named "Bull." After this week’s revelations, it seems appropriate that one of George Carlin’s words you can’t say on TV should have been added to “Bull.” His offices were located in the famous “Lipstick” building in NYC. The building is famous for being shaped like a lipstick case. The building could be considered shaped like a less flattering sexual object, and is more fitting to what Mr. Madoff did to his investors.

Source: Wikipedia

The words on Mr. Madoff’s website now seem gravely ironic.

In an era of faceless organizations ... Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC harks back to an earlier era in the financial world: The owner's name is on the door. Bernard Madoff has a personal interest in maintaining the unblemished record of value, fair-dealing, and high ethical standards that has always been the firm's hallmark.

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