Bernie Madoff is going to die in jail. The federal judge just placed him in the same classification of those in prisons convicted of capital murder. Mr. Madoff was wrong in his actions, there is no argument there. But the results of the years of misconduct by Madoff should put federal regulators and those associated with Madoff in the cells next door to him.
Madoff and his victims are a result of a greedy society. People hooked their wagon to Madoff’s scam because they wanted the unrealistic gains Madoff offered. The old adage that if it seems to good to be true, it probably is.
I’m not an apologist for Madoff but the reality is that the system should have been on trial right along side of him. There were plenty of red flags that regulators either ignored or sanctioned.
Unless there is a serious change in the system of financial regulations there will be more Madoff’s out there and there will be more financial victims.
The big losers are the rest of us who wind up making up for the losses and the increased costs of legitimate investments.
A wise old neighbor once told me that you should never invest anything in the “Market” that you can’t afford to lose….I think it’s still good advice today.