On Jun 29, 2009, at 7:15 PM, Bill Bartlett wrote:
> More seriously, I guess all this piss and wind from the judicial
> system is an indication that there's no intention of any substantial
> reforms of the financial system to actually put a stop to pyramid
> schemes. No doubt that is seen as impractical, given that the world
> financial industry is pretty much based on them.
>
> Instead, we'll just pretend that there's nothing wrong with the
> system, just a few bad apples. No wonder Madoff has trouble feeling
> sorry for the greedy stupid people he conned. he was just doing to
> them what they were trying to do to others.
Schemers like Madoff are punished harshly because they undermine the legitimacy of the whole pig system, and because they steal from rich people, not poor ones.