Alexandra Penney is featured on CNN today.
Public reaction to her reaction to having her “life savings” wiped by the Madoff situation surprised her.
This is a great example of how the rules we all play by are specific to our own contexts/situations in life.
In reading the CNN piece and Penney’s writing you might say:
- God, she still has a lot of money
- Why would anyone fall for Madoff
- Madoff isn’t in jail?!
- Why do ponzi schemes work?
- What a whiner
- Madoff should rot in hell
- …
Penney seems to be really offended. The justice seems to be really light on Madoff. Madoff seems to have really had a lot of people who trusted him.
Our perceptions of that reality are 100% dependent on our own history. We will almost always be surprised by others reactions in such conflicting contexts.
Social Mode 
I agree with you, why is the justice system taking it so easy on Madoff.
Didn’t they put Martha Stewart behind bars for far less?
i wasn’t really suggesting they were taking it too easy. The martha situation (and administration of justice) and your perception, the judges perception and all the people screwed or rewarded by martha is contextually different than Madoff.
Impossible to claim who should get it harder or easier.
for my money, 10 mil bail seems pretty high. unless you control 50 bil of others money… hahahaha
Madoff still alive? I figured someone would have bumped him off by now. That would be too good for him. Hope he gets a long sentence to just sit and think about the lives he has ruined the cad!
Our laws bolster White Collar Criminals to continue behaving as they do. It is no wonder that we are in a financial crisis. This Man has stolen 50 billion dollars! Is it a misdemeanor? Why is he still home. A person shop lifting a candy bar from a seven eleven can spend the night in jail. But here is a guy that has destroyed lives and charities, a man that has stolen hard hard earned savings from long years of work, and he’s still living at home in his Manhattan penthouse.
My Korean wife, born and raised in Jilin China says, Madoff would be killed by the State. Shot dead in front of a firing squad.
Maybe our economy would be in a better place, if such severity of punishment was upheld here in the U.S.
There is a list of most wanted that CNN has.
Line them up:
Dick Fuld…
who else.
Keeping them real honest and real scared
I am shocked at a couple of things. 1. Bernie is OUT ON BAIL? Come on – I hope that they waited for the check to clear before sending him home. 2. The schaudenfreude (sp?) displayed towards the victims – very eat the rich. The comments in the Boston Globe about this while I was home were generally “f those dopey rich jews, let them all work like the rest of us” rather shocking – even though Bostonians are infamous for being racist against all types. However, victims of these Ponzi schemes always seem to be driven by greed and accept their “unbelievable” returns without really questioning the logic – yet I don’t question my statements from Fidelity and Vanguard…
My Mum lives in Palm Beach and some of her wealthy pals were upset that they coudln’t get “in” with Madoff. Now of course they are releived, but it made me wonder what his criteria was for choosing his victims. Maybe rich folks who didn’t seem so sharp? Or were busy focusing on their careers and charity work and would allow him to be in full shenanigans mode? I do know many, many 3rd of 4th generation trust fund kids who are completel dopes (especially in Naples UGH – girls is you want to hook a rich dope, that’s where to find them!)- maybe that’s what the bulk of his clients were like. “Really, the money DOESN”T just grow on trees, Wow!”
Mark, they waited until Martha was CONVICTED before they put her behind bars.
Sheesh.
Nobody can spend 50 billions!!!! If Madoff took from Peter to pay Paul, who is Paul ???????