50 Billion Dollar Ponzi Scheme

[arglebargle]

Just another reason why some people are not so enamored of the 'free market utopias' that get promised.

Bernard Madoff arrested over alleged $50 billion fraud

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE4BA7IK20081212?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true

I am on record here (somewhere) saying that the Hedge Funds were where the real high end crooks and connivers had gone to play, since it is so unregulated and (was) so full of money. What's next in the house of cards?

Jim Rogers says the US banks are bankrupt.....

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE4BA5CO20081211

[burmafrd]

The trick is balancing free market with sensible regulations and over sight.
We always seem to go to the extremes and never get it right or really come close.

[Rogah]

Just another reason why some people are not so enamored of the 'free market utopias' that get promised. When I saw the title, I thought this was a thread about Social Security :D

Then I was like oh, wait... social security is about 100 times bigger than the dollar figure listed here :(

[theogt]

He only had about $17 billion in assets, so the $50 billion is way off. Still, that's massive.

[ThaBigP]

Just another reason why some people are not so enamored of the 'free market utopias' that get promised.

Bernard Madoff arrested over alleged $50 billion fraud

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE4BA7IK20081212?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true

I am on record here (somewhere) saying that the Hedge Funds were where the real high end crooks and connivers had gone to play, since it is so unregulated and (was) so full of money. What's next in the house of cards?

Jim Rogers says the US banks are bankrupt.....

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE4BA5CO20081211

While you're busy taking a leak on the free market...of course you ignore the fact that his "scheme" was set up exactly the way Social Security is. In fact, if I were him, I'd use that as my defense. Oh...and you also ignored the fact that he....GOT BUSTED. I'll get back to you after I do some research and find the last time the government and its officials were charged with crimial activity for the SAME THING.

[JBond]

Just another reason why some people are not so enamored of the 'free market utopias' that get promised.

Bernard Madoff arrested over alleged $50 billion fraud

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE4BA7IK20081212?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true

I am on record here (somewhere) saying that the Hedge Funds were where the real high end crooks and connivers had gone to play, since it is so unregulated and (was) so full of money. What's next in the house of cards?

Jim Rogers says the US banks are bankrupt.....

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE4BA5CO20081211

So the guy got caught, right? He cheated and now he is going to go to jail.

Your nuts if you believe the federal government can run banks and auto manufacturers and oil companies better than the experts. Ask the Russians, Cubans and Venezuela how well the theory of centralized planning is working for them.

Welfare, social security, Medicare, and Medicaid are tremendous failures. They are the best the federal planners could come up with and they do not work. They are completely unsustainable financially.

[ologan]

Bringing back up an old topic,seeing as how Madoff pleaded guilty today and was led handcuffed to jail,awaiting sentencing. Can someone,anyone,tell me how in the hell you could lose track of where 50 billion dollars (some say upwards of 65 billion) could disappear to? I've heard they supposedly 'found' 5 or 6 billion,but where in the name of God did the rest go to? Does anybody have a clue???

[BrAinPaiNt]

The trick is balancing free market with sensible regulations and over sight.
We always seem to go to the extremes and never get it right or really come close.

Well that is the problem. Hard to expect people making millions or billions of dollars to regulate the business they are making the money in.

However...it's not much different from the government doing it because they are in bed with those businesses as well.

Either way, smart regulation and making sure it is enforced is the key. Does not mean we need more or less regulation.

Just don't know who is really trustworthy enough to actually make it work.

We have seen abuses by both the free market people running it and the government running.

So who do you really trust to do it right?

[BrAinPaiNt]

Bringing back up an old topic,seeing as how Madoff pleaded guilty today and was led handcuffed to jail,awaiting sentencing. Can someone,anyone,tell me how in the hell you could lose track of where 50 billion dollars (some say upwards of 65 billion) could disappear to? I've heard they supposedly 'found' 5 or 6 billion,but where in the name of God did the rest go to? Does anybody have a clue???

Crazy isn't it.

Now some will think I am trying to change the subject but I am not. I am just giving another example of things just coming up missing and thinking...how can that much of something wind up just missing.

Some other examples involving things for Iraq.

At one time the US could not account for 190,000 weapons sent to Iraqi security forces between 2004-2005. I mean we send that many weapons to the iraqis and they just wind up missing. Not 190 weapons, not 19K but 190k. Just crazy.

In 2007 a pentagon report says that nearly $1 BILLION worth of military equpiment went missing in iraq. Now I don't know if that included the 190k weapons above. But this report came out in 2007 but it did include Tractor trailers, tank recovery vehicles, crates of machine guns and rocket propelled grenades along with some services.

I have also read reports that say between $9 and $12 BILLION dollars have went missing that was sent to iraq for services, equipment and other things. I don't know if this included one or both of the above things.

It is just crazy that so much can just wind up...missing.

[SuspectCorner]

The trick is balancing free market with sensible regulations and over sight.We always seem to go to the extremes and never get it right or really come close.

Regulations? Oversight? wait a dang minute there, skippy.

What are you - wonna those dadburn soshalists?!

[CowboyWay]

It is just crazy that so much can just wind up...missing.

You've never been drunk in a strip club have you?

[ologan]

Crazy isn't it.

Now some will think I am trying to change the subject but I am not. I am just giving another example of things just coming up missing and thinking...how can that much of something wind up just missing.

Some other examples involving things for Iraq.

At one time the US could not account for 190,000 weapons sent to Iraqi security forces between 2004-2005. I mean we send that many weapons to the iraqis and they just wind up missing. Not 190 weapons, not 19K but 190k. Just crazy.

In 2007 a pentagon report says that nearly $1 BILLION worth of military equpiment went missing in iraq. Now I don't know if that included the 190k weapons above. But this report came out in 2007 but it did include Tractor trailers, tank recovery vehicles, crates of machine guns and rocket propelled grenades along with some services.

I have also read reports that say between $9 and $12 BILLION dollars have went missing that was sent to iraq for services, equipment and other things. I don't know if this included one or both of the above things.

It is just crazy that so much can just wind up...missing.

That's pretty staggering in itself,Brain.....Now multiply that by 62,and this is supposedly what he went thru on his own. Where did it go????