From financial guru that led people to believe that they could make enormous amounts of profit to inmate convicted with a 150 year tag. Bernie Madoff's downfall was very much the outcome of his talent for persuading people like Steven Spielberg to invest in Ponzi schemes that sooner than later were going to be seen for what they were.
In more than one way, the 2008 financial crisis was also the direct consequence of a gigantic Ponzi scheme implemented by lending institutions that offered mortgages to people that they knew from the start were not going to be able to afford to make payments. Overvalued properties, high commissions paid to brokers and also properties mortgaged several times. Very much like in Bernie Madoff's case the sole objective was to make huge gains no matter what.
Could Bernie Madoff have made huge gains without getting involved in fraud? He certainly had the knowledge to rise and stay at the top of his game, but he stabbed himself in the back. The real punishment for a man like him would not have been the years spent in jail, but the awareness of having wasted his skills in such a pitiful and shameful manner.
How many Bernie Madoffs are still out there dealing with American finances? Quite a few, but Bernie Madoff was the one that was famously caught. But Bernie Madoff is a lot more. Bernie Madoff represent the American madness. USA is a country that has debt amounting to trillion of US Dollars that it could never afford to pay. In spite of this, the USA keeps printing banknotes and spending vast resources to finance a military and security apparatus that is unavoidably leading the USA to its downfall.
Wars like World World Two propelled the USA and helped the USA become a financial, industrial and military world power. Now, war could bring the USA crashing down and internal cracks of the edifice are plainly visible. The USA itself has become a gigantic Ponzi scheme.
No comments:
Post a Comment