You're my wife now, Dave...

Shawnee there was something sweet and innocent about it and it makes me smile, I don't know why.

Was "drowning a fish" one of Jim's sock puppets?

He was a rather large contributor to some prominent D's - This info didn't come out till over the weekend. Then again this is probably fodder for another thread.

Link to recipients

I feel bad that I somehow find it more difficult to feel bad for the mainly ultra rich who lost boatloads of money in this. Although I hate how it is affecting "regular" people who also invested into some of the same things he had some money in and still more who are losing their jobs.

Well shucks.

hummus hummus hummus hummus hummus...

:)

So why fear what accurately describes a problem for about a decade now?

Problem in this particular example is information. Currently not clear is whether any regulations existed to enforce. SEC received numerous tips on this particular hedge fund. SEC has been starved for funds for over a decade. Even after Enron, the Congress tried to double the SEC budget and Harvey Pitts refused to accept the money. Not even known if the SEC investigators had sufficient knowledge or experience to see or understand this fraud. All we know is the SEC did investigate this hedge fund previously due to tips - and did nothing.

Did nothing because their people are not smart enough - have enough experience? Or did nothing because the fraud was legal? Well, one would think after LTCM and that massive emergency $billions bailout, then some regulation would exist. Nope.

Instead, the powers in power stifled regulation, refused to increase the SEC budget, and were promoting more deregulation as the solution to our economic ills. What we now know - those ills were created because finance people must be highly regulated. Even Enron accounting is alive and well.

:grinnylov

Dave's not here.

tw is Cheech?

Cheech is Cheech. And Tommy is Chong. All I wanted to be is the bong. Everyone loves the bong.

People are evil, money grubbing fuckwads, and most of them don't care much who gets screwed as long as they have plenty of cocaine and young bitches with flat bellies to snort it off of.

This dude Ponzi'ed *charitable endowments*, amongst other things. Did he care one fuck about anyone but himself? Nope.

If he had an ounce of decency, he'd slit his own throat.

Everybody seems to think me hopelessly pessimistic when I say "Its all about the money". Except that it *is* all about the money. Nothing else. Ever. At least, not for the people who are in the drivers seat. They're only there because there's something in it for them, some cream to be skimmed, some advantage to be had. No one does it because it is noble, or beneficial for the greater good.

Line the pockets, get out, live good, fuck everyone else.

That was the mission statement for all of the health care facilities I ever worked for. Weird, huh?

Elspode, I think you're a litttle harsh on humanity. There are quite a lot of people who are NOT like that. True, there are quite a few who are (which, incidentally is why I disagree with Radarian Libertarianism) but don't lose hope.

I read they let Madoff out on bail. Is that right? The only reason he should be out is so he can go take a long walk of a small ledge on a tall building. Jump, #$%@er!

It takes a lot of people who don't suck to make up for the relatively few who suck so incredibly heinously.

Absolutely. In an altruistic community, it only takes a few parasites to wreck it, just a couple of percent. Pricks. Gotta weed them out.

Take a read here
JPMorgan Exited Madoff-Linked Funds Last Fall

Have at 'em folks.

There is a belief that hedge fund investors are smarter than the average bear/wealthy enough to not be adversely affected by risk so they are not tightly regulated from the "protect the investor" vantage point. Most hedge funds have pretty hefty initial investment thresholds designed to filter out those not well-off enough to be able to absorb the risk.

In reality, most Ponzi schemes are pretty easy to spot given enough information. And there was enough information available to have led several prominent analysts to publicly question the accuracy of the fund's financial reports.

Hedge funds are risky in an all-or-nothing way. Many times its either a home run or a strikeout.

Hedge funds shouldn't be used as primary investment vehicles anyway. Their primary purpose is to hedge against risks that cannot be offset by diversification such as exchange-rate risk.