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The Wizard of Fraudz

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Every time the economy takes a nose-​dive, we roust up a few frauds and a bevy of humbugs.

This outing’s big villain is financier Bernard Madoff. For decades, Madoff made off with billions of other people’s money by pretending to invest it honestly.

Instead, he paid off early “investors” with the “investments” of later “investors.” To keep the Ponzi scheme going, Madoff had to keep widening the circle of the victims — which meant that he and his boosters had to keep whispering sweet cryptic nothings to awestruck big-​pocketed individuals eager to join an exclusive club.

Some prospects declined. They now say they could get no real information about how he was investing. What? Oracular pronouncements weren’t enough for these skeptics?

Another Delphic entity that pretends to “invest” our money is the federal government. Its masterminds, too, claim to know everything about doing financial magic — but explain nothing. The Federal Reserve, for example, is refusing to comply with media requests for info on the “emergency loans” now being handed to ailing companies.

America’s government officials “know,” somehow, that they can “invest” in decrepit, floundering, washed-​up firms and industries, using money siphoned from actually productive enterprise, while always paying off old government debt with new government debt, adding up to trillions … and somehow everything will turn out all right.

Pay no attention to those men behind the curtain!

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

10 replies on “The Wizard of Fraudz”

The other day at lunch with some business friends the subject of Bernie Madoff came up. I said “How can you steal fifty billion dollars without being in Congress?”, a joke (on us, actually) that everyone got immediately. Without exception we considered Congress to be the nation’s primary Criminal Enterprise.

Yes, and this says nothing about the largest Ponzi scheme in the history of the world.….Social Security. We need an initiative to vote on to eliminate this highway robbery.

Please take a look at Anthony Trollope’s The Way We Live Now (either the book or the BBC movie) to see Madoff’s alter and others behaving the same way in 1875.

Scary, we haven’t learned a thing. Progess is wonderful!

Paul, you are right on with this one. 

Anyone paying attention should easily agree. We (the tax payer) are being legally robbed. Only those who have an agenda or have not listened to both sides would argue with your observation.

TJM

CONGRESS is the “REVERSE ROBIN-​HOODS OF AMERICA” Stealing from the poor to give to the rich.

Congressman Kanjorski of Pennsylvania was featured on Fox News Special with Chris Wallace last June. He received a $10 million earmark/​pork for his family and they bankrupted the business (Fox News didn’t find out what they were doing) in about 4 years.

I believe that Kanjorski violated every Honest concept of the Constitution. And so did those who voted for the earmark/​pork.

The Constitution allows “We the People” to sue members of Congress for; Felony (Bribery), Treason (Act of Deception) Breach of Peace or Misdemeanor. And they can be removed from office, and put in Prison, where they apparently belong.

Thanks Mr. Jacob — and Charlie Klein for his comment. What would it take to sue Congress for
economic/​governmental malpractice ?
I’ll just keep on dreaming.

I live in Pa and now I have sent letters to all my congressmen and Nancy Pelosi that they are traders and are now facing treason for voting for man that is not a US citizen. No matter how we look at it there is no oversite where our money goes. We have to take it on faith and that is not good enough for us now, We need honesty and truth to make “our” tax money is for the right purpose. The Banks have refused to tell what they did with the money and I just found out that Leman/​SAks is giving milions to Obama Inaguration Party.

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