You can’t make this stuff up!
Bernie Madoff, having stolen $50 Billion in a Ponzi scheme, claims with his wife that their own $69 million was money he made elsewhere. The late night comedians wonder where the wealth came from:
- Money he saved at Geico?
- Bought all his clothing at the Nearly-New store?
- Money he saved by fully inflating his tires?
- Used green stamps?
- Shoveled walkways for his rich neighbors when it snowed and invested wisely?
- Turned off all lights and kept his temperature at 68 instead of 70 degrees?
- His tithe was so generous that God simply had to reward him handsomely?
This guy is hilarious! It is some kind of Vaudeville act: the smartest, richest guy around tricks all the smartest, richest people out of all of their money. If they make the movie, they will have to bring Grocho Marx back!
Many people don’t get it because they take the whole thing so seriously. Elie Wiesel, who lost his personal fortune and his foundation to Madoff, has spoken with gravity about his wickedness. It would be good for Elie to lighten up and have a big laugh about the whole thing. Unlike the crowds who revere him as a spiritual, moral guru, Madoff did him a big favor: he relieved him of his illusional wealth; deflated his ego and sense of self-importance; scrutinized his soul; prepared him to meet his Maker at his particular judgment (which cannot be too far off given Wiesel’s age); and provided him with a much-needed opportunity to forgive an enemy and bless God (with Job) in a time of trial.
The Ponzi scheme was not such a wicked event in my view: probably a venial rather than a mortal sin. First of all, it is just money; it is not something serious like running a concentration camp, selling pornography, cheating on your spouse, or voting for a pro-abortion candidate. Secondly, he only stole from the rich who were eager to become even richer; he was Robin Hood writ large in technological post-modernity. (Okay, I know he also ruined some good foundations!) Thirdly, our money-obsessed society needed just such a huge prank to unveil the illusions around wealth, status, and security. Lastly, let’s be sympathetic: after you get into a Ponzi scheme for, let’s say a few $hundred million, it is awful hard to back out gracefully. I probably would have done the same in that circumstance: once you tell a little lie, you need to tell a larger one to cover up, and so on ad infinitum. Anyway, doesn’t the whole thing seem like a big game of monopoly? Isn’t that really what finance is all about: a big game to see who dies with the most points? Consider also that this could have turned out differently: if the economy had continued to prosper or the world had come to an end suddenly, no one would have even known and no harm done.
On TV, Madoff is unfazed by the entire thing. He has a slight smirk on his face. In one part of his Jewish mind, he realizes it was a fantastic joke; his competitive side is thrilled that he beat all his buddies at their own game; but in the deeper level of his Hebrew consciousness, he senses himself as an instrument of a providential God, disciplining his recalcitrant, greedy children and calling them to repentance.
Part Grocho Marx; part Jeremiah; and all-time Monopoly champion: You have got to love Bernie Madoff!
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