Add the name Bernard Madoff to the pantheon of big-time thieves. The legendary billionaire hedge fund manager, "the man with the Midas touch," now stands accused of running a massive Ponzi scheme, perhaps the largest in history. Year after year, his investors — somehow, someway, in good times and bad — received a consistent, steady return on their investments. If the accusations against him hold up, Madoff's modus operandi would have embarrassed Carlo Ponzi.
Ponzi, in the early 1900s, defrauded investors by paying out money to old investors — not through legitimate earnings, but through the entry money of new suckers. The music, of course, stopped — as it always does — and the "investments" collapsed, leaving a bunch of people angry and broke.
To many, the Madoffs of the world confirm this "truism": the rich get rich not through hard work, risk-taking or crafty assumptions about the future. No, the rich get rich the old fashioned way: They steal. They profit through inside information, use their clubby network of eyes and ears, get a heads-up when storm clouds appear, and plunder the unsophisticated, and thus cleverly dodge the common misfortunes suffered by the "little guy."
But the overwhelming majority of the soon-to-be-a-lot-less-than-super-rich people did not deal with Madoff. They lost a lot of money while the guardian angels perched on their shoulders let it happen.
Consider the declining fortunes of some of these immune-from-disaster elites:
Indian brothers Anil and Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Capital lost a combined $60.7 billion. Anil dropped $32.5 billion — perhaps making him, worldwide, the biggest loser in today's downturn.
Lakshmi Mittal of Mittal Steel — whose $50 billion net worth last year made him the richest man in India and the fourth-richest in the world — has lost $30.5 billion, sending his net worth plummeting down to about $20 billion.
Sumner Redstone is CEO of National Amusements, one of the largest entertainment conglomerates, which owns Viacom, CBS and all their subsidiaries, among others. His net worth — so far — has declined by more than 80 percent. Forbes, three months ago, placed his net worth at more than $5 billion. Facing a margin call (lenders wanting their money back), Redstone unloaded, fire-sale-like, hundreds of millions in stock to pay it off.
The Google guys, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, are down $12.1 billion this year — nearly half their net worth.
Forbes magazine, in 2006, called Las Vegas casino and real estate mogul Sheldon Adelson the third-richest person in the country.
He has lost $30 billion, perhaps the largest loss on paper in the history of the United States — and this includes John D. Rockefeller's adjusted-for-inflation Great Depression losses.
Eddie Lampert of ESL Investments is sometimes called the "next Warren Buffett." But the Sears Holdings chairman has lost, so far, on paper, $5 billion.
And speaking of the still-gazillionaire Warren Buffett, even he's down $13.6 billion on paper, and thus forced to scrape by with only $48 billion.
No one's passing a hat for any of these people. They're still rich. But this shows that even smart guys' money can go south, Antarctica-like south.
The that-guy's-a-crook headlines aside, most rich folks do it the hard way. They get up early, bust their tails, and work harder than their subordinates. They treat their staff, employees and co-workers with respect. In return, employees enjoy their work, remain loyal and work hard for a boss who shows his appreciation. Decades of work later, the boss suddenly wakes up rich.
The rich consider their success primarily a combination of hard and persistent work. But most are humble enough also to recognize the role of luck — lucky to operate in a place that values free enterprise and risk-taking, with a stable government and an orderly transition of power.
They subscribe to the adage that "the harder I work the luckier I get," without discounting the role of luck, chance and happenstance. But above all — unlike the Madoffs of the world — most successful people value and practice honesty.
Ephraim Diamond, one of North America's largest real estate developers, recently died. A former electrical engineer, this Canadian real estate czar came from a poor immigrant family. He co-founded and ran a wildly successful company called Cadillac Fairview. Business associates, friends and co-workers spoke about him with reverence. One of the company's senior directors said he "reeked of integrity."
Diamond once said, "If scoundrels were aware of the benefits of being honest, they would be honest out of pure rascality."
Larry Elder is a syndicated radio talk show host and best-selling author. His latest book, "Stupid Black Men: How to Play the Race Card — and Lose," is available now. To find out more about Larry Elder, visit his Web page at www.LarryElder.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
CREATORS SYNDICATE COPYRIGHT 2008 LAURENCE A. ELDER
|
 |
Comments
|
2 Comments | Post Comment
|
|
Si;...Mr. Madoff is an example, and little more, of all those people who want without work to own the produce of labor... You cannot point out to people all the general corruption of such an attitude, or its ultimate result, the fact that people are squeezed out of their jobs, and onto the street, while those who remain are worked harder and harder until their former lives are lost in a haze of sleepless nights, and endless days... Let us think for a moment what a ten percent gain might represent, what crimes, what abuses, what infidelity to the human spirit... Would you push a man or women into slavery for such a gain??? Would you deprive them of their dignity, their freedom, their rights, or their lives??? That is extreme, to take life for a simple ten percent gain; is it not??? But what if you only deprive people of the necessities of life, fresh air, fresh water, rest, food, security, or livelyhood??? That can be forgiven; can't it??? One thing is clear... If those invested with Madoff did not know where he had invested their loot they did not know what their investment was buying, good, or evil; and the thought of charities not making certain that their money did good at every step of the way to a final benefit is ludicrous... If you want to do good; first do no harm... And, if you really care, do not ruin yourself to do good because from that point on, you need more than you can give...I find it hard to accept that Mr. Madoff could get away with that nonsense for so long... But it points out our problem across the board, and it is this: Economies and governments and laws; all that you can conceive of really, are forms of relationship... But as forms, they structure our behavior... Government structures our behavior, and law structures our behavior, and economies structure our behavior in our relationships... Forms are all done when the structure is only a structure, a form without meaning... Money is such a form, too.... We are finding this form, which we use to distinguish rich from poor does not distingish honorable from dishonorable...These forms do not tell us who we can trust, so the relationship the form should structure is impossible, since we cannot relate with those we cannot trust... And it does not matter that we cannot trust those injured by Madoff any more than we can trust Madoff; because the general distrust that is growing daily in this society is showing our forms to be meaningless shells, empty of morality, inhospitable to humanity.. When they are broken they cannot be put back together... They are like humpty dumpty... They fall, and then we need new ones; but in a sense we need to be made new as well... We cannot desire a new form until we have a new morality, as it is the morality that fills the new form with meaning... Madoff and his victims shared a common morality, however it is styled: a-morality, or immorality, and they deserve their fate as much as he...But we do not... We have all bought into the notion that the vice of greed will surely result in a general virtue; and as much as it is nonesense on its face, we at least were willing to work for our avarice, so we deserve no less than that for which we have slaved...But those who have done nothing but invest undeserved wealth are better off without it, since, if they cannot afford vice they must subsist on virtue....Thanks...Sweeney
Comment: #1
Posted by: James A, Sweeney
Thu Dec 25, 2008 8:27 PM
|
|
|
|
Madoff is a common criminal just like Freddies, Fannies, AIGs, politicians, and BIG 3 and other fat cats with their hands out for Taxpayers money. They all need to be put in state jails (not federal country clubs), throw away the keys (like the latest cartoon). These fat cats must be put away, without the benefit of due process (this is another political hype). America can't afford any more of these thieves!
Government must run like a business or our children won't have a future!
The Politicians and CEOS are responsible for the billions they've taken! Bailouts shouldn't be an option since these CEOS, their 'fat cat executives' and anyone else on the take in politics and these corporations, were never
around 'taking care of business!' Wasn't this their job? Come to think of it, I don't think they knew, or even cared, that Nafta and Cafta would eliminate millions of American jobs! Even to the uneducated person, this would mean "It's time to cut production on automobiles, as people no longer have jobs to buy these high dollar cars with all the bells and whistles! DUH?
Bankruptcy is the only choice for these 'non-caring, lack of common
knowledge, high-dollar fat cats' as without re-organizing, backing up and
starting over, their disasters will put America into Bankruptcy! Then what?
Taxpayers will give politicians, CEOS, executives, and the other fat cats on
the take a couple choices "A one-way ticket across the ocean with only the
clothes on their backs, as their bank accounts, homes, cars, airplanes, and
anything else of value belongs to Taxpayers and must be used to pay off
trillions of dollars of debt they've created!"
And another thing "Why would these high-dollar criminals think they're
American Royalty?" After all, you can't make a 'Silk Purse' from a 'Pig's
Ear' can you? These fat cats are not as good as the ones the court system,
puts in state jails, daily, for robberies, forgeries, and fraud!
Comment: #2
Posted by: Shirley deLong
Sun Dec 28, 2008 2:33 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
