Saturday, December 20, 2008

Morbid fascination with the Madoff scandal

I did not have any money under Madoff's management but I have a morbid fascination with the unfolding story. I keep reading everything that comes my way about him and his business scam. I know that there are other Madoff's out there but he just seems to epitomize the financial industry's culture of greed and lack of ethics. The trainwreck of individuals who have lost their life savings and are now essentially destitute continues to draw my attention. I'm sorry about the charities and institutions he has hurt but it is the individuals who are wiped out that I keep shaking my head over. They may have thought that they were well diversified only to find that the fund manager had turned everything over to Madoff. I suppose part of what keeps drawing me to this is the knowledge that for all I know my mutual funds (despite what Fidelity or Vanguard may say) may be managed by someone just like him.

Thought for the day:

~ The greed of gain has no time or limit to its capaciousness. Its one object is to produce and consume. It has pity neither for beautiful nature nor for living human beings. It is ruthlessly ready without a moment's hesitation to crush beauty and life out of them, molding them into money. ~ Rabindranath Tagore

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