Madoff's 'victims'

[SHRED]

Anyone find it odd that when people lose their homes due to being swindled by predatory lending that the general climate is "fuck 'em"..."they should have known better".

Yet when the country clubbers lose their life savings by being swindled by Bernie then it's "those poor people". "Bernie is the Devil". "I hope they get their money back".

We worship the "have's" in this country.
Everyone else??
Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps god damn you!

----

[TheCowsCameHome]

1. That is so true.

[KharmaTrain]

2. I'm Not All That Sympathetic...

Many of the people who threw their money to Madoff did so willingly...they saw the 15-20% yields and jumped in both feet. These people knew the risks, yet they put all their eggs in one basket and got burned.

The corporate media loves to frame Madoff as the poster boy for all the excesses of the past 30 years of "deregulation"...hoping when he goes away so will the scandals, just like the 2001 Enron bust faded away after Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling were prosecuted. They surely don't want you to see all those behind the curtain who profited from these market games and insider trading that led to the financial collapse.

No...the corporate media doesn't care about the guy losing his house except when it fits one of their narratives. They want you to bail them out.

[rumpel]

3. thank you. n/t

[Junkdrawer]

4. Vonnegut talked about this many years ago...

Said our culture has long taught us to despise the poor and worship the rich. The crowning irony was a sign he saw at a bar:

"If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?"

[Uben]

5. No, I feel the same about both

It is your obligation to inform yourself about both predatory lenders and scam artists. I trust no one blindly with my money. I have never been swindled out of anything, and that is not a fluke. I am very careful with whom I do business with. One has to assume that everyone is out to get their money and take every step they can to insure their dealings are on the up and up. I have empathy for anyone who gets taken, but I have more empathy for those who lost it all by trying to do it properly and just hit a run of bad luck, ie lay-offs, medical catastrophy, fire, hurricane, etc. Being irresponsible with your money is no one's fault but your own. There are many things that can happen that you have no control of that can break you. Choosing a lender or an investment is not something to take lightly or without great caution, yet some are willing to do so hoping for a positive outcome without doing the requisite research. This is no more than rolling the dice....a gamble that you are likely to lose.

It may sound cold-hearted, but you and I both know it is the truth. You have to stick your neck out to get ahead sometimes, but you don't want to stick it under a guillotine! I have lost money, lots of it, but I knew from the gitgo that was a possibility, so I don't cry about it. I never put all my eggs in one basket, and I never put my life in someone else's hands. Know your limits and spread your risks. If you can't afford to lose it, don't risk it. It really is that easy. It may not make you rich, but it is something you can control.

[End Of The Road]

6. Please don't oversimplify.

His victims: "Not all of them were Palm Beach millionaires."

"A sizable roster of public school teachers, farmers, mechanics and other middle class folk are also among the victims. Many had been enjoying a comfortable retirement until Madoff's arrest in December. Now, nest eggs gone, they are struggling to pay the bills."

http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/business/2009/06/28/D993QH8O0_us_madoff_scandal_victims/

I was one of Sir Allen Stanford's victims, and my husband and I are as working-class as it gets. We had socked away money for twenty-five years for our retirement.

We were very lucky that we didn't own any of Stanford's tainted off-shore CDs, and we got all of our money back in a month. But it was one of the scariest months of our lives, not knowing how to proceed, if we might have to leave our (very modest) home, and alot of other issues.

For Madoff's non-wealthy investors, I have alot of sympathy.

[Turbineguy]

7. In reality

both sets of victims are very much alike. People succumb to high returns and low loan rates for the same reason.

[UTUSN]

8. Yip, MADOFF's pals were trying to win at gambling themselves n/t

[Myrina]

9. Exactly.

Cause if the swindle had continued successfully, ol' Bernie would be on all their Holiday Card lists.

:mad:

[SidDithers]

10. Yup, those "country clubbers" like the Eli Wiesel Foundation for Humanity...

or the Justice, Equality, Human Dignity and Tolerance Foundation, or Steven Spielberg's Wunderkinder Foundation.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/27/wiesel.madoff/index.html
http://www.azcentral.com/business/consumer/articles/2008/12/16/20081216biz-MadoffCharities1216.html
http://www.jehtfoundation.org/news/
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1046916.html

Jewish charitable foundations were particularly hard hit, because Madoff was such a prominent figure in New York's Jewish community.

The disappearance of $billions in assest means that $millions in grants are no longer going to be made.

A ponzi scheme that big affects millions of people, very, very few of which are "country clubbers".

Sid

[Odin2005]

11. That's Freeper thinking.

"it's the victim's fault, they should have known better!" :eyes:

Given the delusional state the financial industry was in at the time I think it is perfectly understandable that people were suckered into it.