The Formerly Wealthy Meet the Newly Unemployed

[Joanne98]

by Christopher Brauchli

Men have been swindled by other men on many occasions. The autumn of 1929 was, perhaps, the first occasion when men succeeded on a large scale in swindling themselves.
— John Kenneth Galbraith, The Great Crash

Put in a positive light, so as not to cast a pall over the joys of the Christmas season, Bernard L. Madoff should be viewed as someone who has expanded the consequences of one of the great new traditions of the holiday season to a group that never expected to share in it. The tradition to which I refer is the tradition of corporations large and small alike informing their employees that in the new year they will have more time at home with the family. That news is always accompanied by the news that there will no longer be a paycheck, thus, in most cases, reducing the quality, if not the quantity, of time spent at home with the family.

The timing of the announcement is nothing more than a sad coincidence that results from the conscientious (and usually high paid) executives’ year-end examination of the performance of the company. They cannot be blamed for the fact that Christmas and the year-end coincide. In addition to the sad news imparted by employers of ongoing companies to employees, in 2008 many companies were forced into bankruptcy and retired and former employees learned that pension plan payments and health insurance benefits might be reduced or eliminated because of the company’s misfortune. (People with IRAs and other retirement accounts have seen the value of those accounts reduced by close to one-half thus permitting them to at least partly share in the joys of the season.)

Unaffected by such misfortunes, until recently, were the highly paid executives of these companies. Similarly unaffected were the wealthy who relied on investments, rather than pay checks, to maintain their standards of living. Thanks to Mr. Madoff that has all changed. Whereas the beneficiaries of the imposition of cost cutting measures that have cost them their jobs now have more leisure time, the beneficiaries of Mr. Madoff’s business practices, though having no less leisure time, will find its quality greatly diminished.

Thousands of extremely wealthy individuals have now learned that their wealth has been taken from them by a man who led them to believe for years, if not decades, that their fortunes were safe if entrusted to him. In that respect they were like the long-term employees of corporations who believed that nothing was more important to the executives of their companies than their future welfare and comfort.

Continued>>>>>
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/12/20-7

[formercia]

1. Ghost of Christmas past

[acmavm]

2. All Madoff did was con a bunch of greedy thugs. They're the easiest bunch

to con since that's their business themselves and they'd never dream anyone would use their own weapons on 'em.

[NJCher]

3. not all of them, by any means

There were many Jewish charities. There was the Picower endowment, which funded medical science.

I've been defrauded myself--not by Madoff--but by things that arose from the economic circumstances while bush has been at the helm. It takes a long time to adjust.




Cher

[acmavm]

4. He promised a return too damn good to be true. And they dumped all

their eggs in that basket expecting maximum profits eternally, forever and ever amen. And they trusted the guy blindly just as long as he kept telling them they were making money.

They were lazy and greedy.

[NJCher]

5. wrong, wrong, wrong

I've read extensively on this story and many of them did not even know Madoff was handling their accounts. That is because of a network he had of people who funneled him business.

Consequently, they may have gotten a statement from a certain brokerage firm but it did not say "Madoff" on it.

People had their money in these accounts for varying amounts of time. One guy had just given Madoff 10 million only a week or so before Madoff 'fessed up. Is he, too, lazy and greedy?

One simply cannot say all these people were lazy and greedy. Some of them, yes, but certainly not all of them.



Cher