Thursday, March 12, 2009

Where Did They Get All Those Billions?

NEW YORK (AP) - Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty Thursday to an epic fraud that robbed investors worldwide of billions of dollars, avoiding eye contact with swindled investors before he was led out of court with his hands cuffed behind his back.
Billions of dollars.

Step back and think about this. Madoff's circle of investors was quite small because it was practically impossible for the average investor to get involved. One had to be recommended, one needed to be invited.

It was a small group of people with billions of dollars they had amassed, investing in what they thought to be an engine of even greater wealth production.

So how did they get their billions? I would bet even money on the fact that most of them are as thieving as Madoff himself. True, TV news has highlighted a few small fry that got caught up one way or another, but none of the big boy victims have stepped up to the plate to complain. That would put the limelight of public scrutiny on them and their activities, something they perhaps cannot afford.

Maybe this is just an example of a circle of greed and theft that brought itself down, and the real victims are those forever unknown and unnamed people who were cheated and robbed by thieving vultures as guilty as Madoff himself.

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