Madoff One Of Many "Cockroaches" Like Him?
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Is Bernard Madoff just the tip of an embezzlement-laden iceberg?
In all likelihood, the alleged scammer of some $50 billion is only the first of his ilk to come to light, says Richard Parker, an economist and professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.
"I think these are like cockroaches or termites," he suggested to co-anchor Harry Smith on The Early Show Thursday. "There are always more that you don't see. ... There's always, in every economy, somebody who's embezzling.
"When times are prosperous and the markets are rising, nobody really notices that they're being embezzled if the embezzler is doing a great job. And the total net psychic wealth of the country rises, because both the embezzler is richer and the embezzlee doesn't know he's lost money.
"But now, in times like ours, the exact opposite happens, and people scrutinize their resources and discover they've been embezzled.
"We're gonna see more after Mr. Madoff. I assure you."
Parker explained that, "From the 1930s up through the 1970s, there was serious due diligence. But for the last 10 or 15 years, there's been exploitation of SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) rules to create these so-called hedge funds, which are meant to be for very wealthy people and aren't scrutinized with the same level of detail as public mutual funds and the like, or public stocks by the SEC. So, the room for fraud is enormous.
"Also, these hedge funds have been reporting 30, 40, sometimes 50 percent return, and the attraction of that kind of money is magnetic. And so people rush to put millions of dollars into them and don't often ask what it is exactly that the hedge fund is doing to make the money."
Parker added, " I think that this will come trickling out fairly quickly next year, as we see more of these hedge funds report out not being able to meet redemptions. I mean, I don't think that any of us thinks the recession is over. I think that the stock market probably hasn't touched bottom. It's not that far away from it, but it's not at bottom. And more money is gonna be lost."
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved. In all likelihood, the alleged scammer of some $50 billion is only the first of his ilk to come to light, says Richard Parker, an economist and professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.
"I think these are like cockroaches or termites," he suggested to co-anchor Harry Smith on The Early Show Thursday. "There are always more that you don't see. ... There's always, in every economy, somebody who's embezzling.
"When times are prosperous and the markets are rising, nobody really notices that they're being embezzled if the embezzler is doing a great job. And the total net psychic wealth of the country rises, because both the embezzler is richer and the embezzlee doesn't know he's lost money.
"But now, in times like ours, the exact opposite happens, and people scrutinize their resources and discover they've been embezzled.
"We're gonna see more after Mr. Madoff. I assure you."
Parker explained that, "From the 1930s up through the 1970s, there was serious due diligence. But for the last 10 or 15 years, there's been exploitation of SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) rules to create these so-called hedge funds, which are meant to be for very wealthy people and aren't scrutinized with the same level of detail as public mutual funds and the like, or public stocks by the SEC. So, the room for fraud is enormous.
"Also, these hedge funds have been reporting 30, 40, sometimes 50 percent return, and the attraction of that kind of money is magnetic. And so people rush to put millions of dollars into them and don't often ask what it is exactly that the hedge fund is doing to make the money."
Parker added, " I think that this will come trickling out fairly quickly next year, as we see more of these hedge funds report out not being able to meet redemptions. I mean, I don't think that any of us thinks the recession is over. I think that the stock market probably hasn't touched bottom. It's not that far away from it, but it's not at bottom. And more money is gonna be lost."
Follow the Madoff Money Trail
A look at the people and institutions that have lost millions in the alleged Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme.
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http://pacificgatepost.blogspot.com/2008/12/is-madoff-really-anomaly.html
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MADOFF IS NOT AN ANOMALY
I used to think that too, re the sins of the fathers... However, if you think about it, everything we do has consequences, many unforeseen, and the consequences of our bad actions very often come back upon our decendants, just as do those of our good deeds. Just look around, community-wise and world-wise.
You don''t have to believe. We''ll be okay without ya, just don''t knock what you don''t get. Palin did NOTHING against you. (Oh that part about anti-abortion, that''s her opinion. I personally don''t kill babies either, but whatever floats your boat.) Bush did make a mistake in Iraq though.
Posted by wango2007 at 02:51 PM : Dec 18, 2008
When Moses told the children of Israel that he received the two tables of the commandments from the hand of God, they were not obliged to believe him, because they had no other authority for it than his telling them so; and I have no other authority for it than some historian telling me so, the commandments carrying no internal evidence of divinity with them. They contain some good moral precepts such as any man qualified to be a lawgiver or a legislator could produce himself, without having recourse to supernatural intervention. [NOTE: It is, however, necessary to except the declamation which says that God ''visits the sins of the fathers upon the children''. This is contrary to every principle of moral justice.
--- Thomas Paine from The Age of Reason
You''''re absolutely right. I''''ve seen the light. . . .
I''''m running straight to church and repenting my atrocious libertine ways before the Savior, Jesus
Christ.
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Well, it''s about time you saw the light, RapePubliCon. You''ve done enough evil in your life, and it''s time to change.
I was once an atrocious libertine just like you, with your same know-it-all tendencies. But one day I actually opened the Bible and saw it was far different than all the stupid stuff I had said about it.
For example, I learned that there is no talk of any of the churches you mention. The only thing that is required is that individuals repent of their sins and trust Jesus Christ for their salvation. You can read about it that for yourself in the book of the Bible called John, chapter 3, verses 16-21.
You can become a follower of Jesus Christ right now by offering a prayer of repentance, and asking the Spirit of the Living God to come into your life. As the Bible says, "If you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
After you repent of your wrong-doings and become a Christian, you can go to any Bible-believing church where you feel comfortable. You certainly don''t have to be a Republican. I''m not.
Heaven forfend that anyone suggest that Chicago politics might be anything other than on the up and up, or that Obama having been so successful in such an environment might have been actually INVOLVED with any such wrongdoing!!
B.) CONFISCATION AND REDISTRIBUTION OF WRONGFULLY ACQUIRED MONEYS, PROPERTIES AND ASSETS
C.) CESSATION OF AND OPENING UP OF CURRENT, OFFSHORE, AND SECRET BANK ACCOUNTS REQUIRED
We, by our greed and perverted values of acquiring more and more money and material things over better human relations and consideration of others, over consideration of our ecosystems, etc, have created an enormous percentage of crooked, parasitic, individuals in our country, and in turn, set a poor example for the entire world - from the common laborer to our top pols and business leaders.
In addition, our high-government, local and national, elected officials, are all too often in bed with said, crooked business leaders and with ''financier-parasites''.
Severe, long-term prison terms with HARD LABOR as well as executions for many of these so-called investment bankers, brokers, financiers, real estate agents and principles, along with their lawyers and their accountants who wrongfully and/or criminally aided and abetted said crooked, parasitic, ''financiers'', thereby destroying entire futures and entire lives of hundreds of millions of people MUST BE handed down by what is left of our pitiful, corrupt, collaborative, judiciary. If not, we can expect the worst disrespect for our already unfair laws, as well as a volatile and even violent breakdown of our system throughout America.
READ A BOOK, besides your bible. Yeshua bar Yehosef was born around 7-4 "BC" -- if we''''re really keeping count, we should call it more like 2012-2015.
Grow a cerebral cortex. Then go out and get a clue. Once you''''ve developed enough gray matter to produce a synapse or two, READ A BOOK.
Then demonstrate your newfound cognitive capacity by renouncing your addle-minded right-wing politics.
Until then, keep dreaming of a Heaven elsewhere, while you and your ilk destroy our living planet.
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The word Bible, in the context you are using it is a proper noun, and always capitalized. Only the anti-Christan hate-mongers like to spell it "bible." They know better, but is a way they express their hatred and bigotry.
At least you have come around to the idea that Yeshua bar Yehosef, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords and Savior of the World was born around 7-4 BC. The Bible doesn''t provide the exact date and "science" was as lousy back then as it is now. But, of course, we are living in "AD" - the year of our Lord Jesus, give or take a couple years.
Hey... no worry about your slurs against the intellectual capacity of Christian people. We have seen that kind of ugly hate speech lots of times in history. People just like you used that kind of talk the day they put the crown of thorns on the head of Jesus and nailed him to the cross.
You have a Merry Christmas, now.
Who left the nut house unlocked again?