I realize what he did was bad but how is it any different than the United States's current social security system? We pay old members of the scheme with the dues of the new members who are forced by law to pay the old members all the while being promised that their payments will be paid by the new members when they're born and eventually earn an income themselves. It would be nice if the law was confined to protecting property rights and not infringing on them as a matter of course.
The differences between social security and savings accounts and a ponzi scheme are:
Truth - we all know how social security works and what bank runs are.
Rate of return - low interest on savings accounts and not much from social security.
Ponzi schemes tend to promise well above average returns and almost never explain how those returns are generated.
That was certainly the case here, the returns were phenomenal and thought to be from brilliant trading strategies.
Why believe a liar that protests he "doesn't give a ____ about his sons"?
Methinks Bernie Maddoff protests too much. I expect to see more attempts to place this idea where it might be picked up and repeated as fact and thereby deflect attention from those of Madoff's children that were in business with him.
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[ 4.3 ms ] story [ 32.4 ms ] threadTruth - we all know how social security works and what bank runs are.
Rate of return - low interest on savings accounts and not much from social security.
Ponzi schemes tend to promise well above average returns and almost never explain how those returns are generated. That was certainly the case here, the returns were phenomenal and thought to be from brilliant trading strategies.
Methinks Bernie Maddoff protests too much. I expect to see more attempts to place this idea where it might be picked up and repeated as fact and thereby deflect attention from those of Madoff's children that were in business with him.