Bern Baby, Bern!
Posted by: Not The Only One in Media, Government Incompetence, Straight Up Scams, New Yawk, Prison, Economics, Hypocrisy, Government InterferenceI’m using another PC as I’m still waiting for my ISP to transfer my Internet connection to my new apartment. In the meantime, I feel I must vent at all the Bernie Madoff coverage in the news, especially in the local stations here in New York City.
The rage and incarceration of Bernie Madoff is just another example of how our justice system picks and chooses what is and isn’t legal with little to no regard for consistency.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not defending what he did. I’m just saying, he basically fooled thousands of idiots by convincing them that they could see a large return through a comparatively smaller investment. If Madoff is going to jail, then how about locking up all the other organizations that suggest a person can see a gigantic return on a modest investment like the lottery commission of every state (a dollar and a dream my ass) and every casino in the U.S. How come the people running these organizations aren’t going to prison?
Can anyone explain the difference between Madoff’s promise to his client pool of morons, all of whom are crying fraud and the promise offered by lottery tickets and casinos? As usual the mainstream media demonstrates their ignorance of finance and economics by casting him to be worse than Hitler, or worse, George W. Bush.
Anyone with any amount of economic or financial literacy can tell that almost all investments that are high yield are also high risk and often require a high investment. In fact, a high rate of return is usually offered to compensate for the equally high risk associated with the investment to attract a healthy mix of adventurous risk-takers who understand the risks involved and the idiots who don’t understand the risk but see the rate of return and drool.
If people want to put their money into something safe, they can put it into a savings account that pays out 2-3% interest. If they want a higher return they can put their money into a bank’s certificate of deposit for a nice 5-7% interest rate. Those are two safe investments. You want a higher rate or return on your investment? You’re going to be placing your money at risk. Unfortunately, buyers of lottery tickets, compulsive gamblers and Bernie Madoff clients do not seem to understand this fundamental fact of investment.
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