Your 7:58 – I couldn’t agree more.

1. If my father was mugged by some kid with a gun, that kid would probably be dead and my father wouldn’t lose a dime.

2. My father would never be swindled out of everything he has.

Nevermind, the question should be:

Would you rather be dead or be alive with all of your life savings gone?

Every “vicitm” of Ponzi, Madoff, Stanford…Wall Street… thought they could get richer than other people by bucking the odds.

It’s why the casino industry thrives.

“And Nathan, I’m with the others here. There is little if any difference between a mugger and these bozos; in fact, the Madoffs of the world are worse. When you bilk an elderly person out of their life savings, condemning what should be an enjoyable retirement into scraping and begging to get by, you have taken, in effect, their life.”
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In effect is not actually taking their life though.

Tricking someone into GIVING you their life savings obviously costs much more than some mugger taking your cash on hand by threat of deadly force, but again, that is using a deadly weapon and threat of violence.

No matter how you break it down, your life is worth more than everything you have.

Taking someones life is far worse than all their money.

“Madoff and those like him deserve every minute they spend. Worse, it appears there is little chance of getting back what he stole. ”
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Oh yes, I agree. People like this should be punished and punished harshly.

My argument is that there is an obvious difference between tricking someone into giving you their money and taking it by threatening them with their life.

“Stealing is stealing.”
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Yes, I agree. Then when you add in things like a deadly weapon, threats, and violence, it is no longer just stealing.

“If we use your logic, there is such a thing as hate crimes.”
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Not really no. Unless you care to explain my logic and then how it means there is such a thing as hate crimes?

“After all, if you stick a gun in someones face and take his money, that must mean something less than sticking a gun in someones face, calling them a Jew bastid or a gay bastid, then taking their money. Right? Or can you only have it your way.”
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How exactly does insulting someone change anything about the crime?

“Ask the retired people if Madoff didn’t take the their lives when he robbed them. Your logic, as usual, s*cks.”
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But he didn’t ACTUALLY take their lives. Losing your life savings wouldn’t be fun, but again, you are still alive.

There is a difference. Constantly saying my logic sucks doesn’t add anything to the discussion either.

More people to bring down!

The Evil Rich Bas Turds Must Die!

Go for it.

Your answer is in the series of posts above. The answer is no – Obama is a crook in his own right.

Start with Freddy and Fannie. Put them all in jail, even if that means having to remove them from the Obama cabinet.”

2009

The White House turned to an experienced former investment banker Friday to run the federal government’s $700 billion bank rescue effort, selecting the head of mortgage giant Fannie Mae as an assistant Treasury secretary.

Herbert Allison Jr., Fannie Mae’s president and CEO, will replace Neel Kashkari, a holdover from the Bush administration.

Allison, who must be confirmed by the Senate, would bear the title of assistant Treasury secretary for financial stability and counselor to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
He would be in charge of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the fund that has injected billions of dollars into banks in hopes of unclogging credit

While there may be optimism [1] that the era of big bank bailouts is over, the Fannie and Freddie bailout remains in full swing. Freddie posted [2] a $9.9 billion loss for the first quarter yesterday and said it needed $6.1 billion more from the Treasury.
That brings Freddie’s total bailout [3] so far to $50.7 billion. And for Fannie [4] and Freddie together, it’s $84.9 billion.

Over the next 10 years, the government’s rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is expected to cost $389 billion, exceeding the cost of investments in banks and other financial firms by the government’s Troubled Assets Relief Program, according to a recent study by Subsidyscope, a project of the Pew Charitable Trusts. The group based its calculations on Congressional Budget Office figures.

May 13th, 2009

From the Washington Post’s Zachary Goldfarb this morning:

Freddie Mac yesterday reported that it lost $10 billion in the first three months of the year, as investments in mortgages continued to fall in value at the federally run housing finance giant.
The disclosure automatically prompts a $6 billion investment from the Treasury Department to keep the company solvent, bringing Freddie Mac’s bailout total to $51 billion in the first nine months of its government rescue…

“did Obama have a time machine? ”

Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 9, 2009

Fannie Mae reported yesterday that it lost $23.2 billion in the first three months of the year as mortgage defaults increasingly spread from risky loans to the far-larger portfolio of loans to borrowers who have been considered safe.

The massive loss prompts a $19 billion investment from the government to keep the firm solvent, on top of a $15 billion investment of taxpayer money earlier this year.

Fannie Mae said that the losses will continue through at least much of the year and that it “therefore will be required to obtain additional funding from the Treasury.” Analysts are estimating that the company could need at least $110 billion.

http://hamptonroads.com/2008/08/relatives-make-plea-investors-defunct-company-seek-relief

Start with Freddy and Fannie. Put them all in jail, even if that means having to remove them from the Obama cabinet.

http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2008/20081215135013.aspx

Until we all grasp this reality then nothing will be done. I am so sick and tired of the phoniness of people on both sides of the aisle. Go after the criminals not the victims or political parties.

What exactly deregulation did you think Bushco was responsible for that caused the Madoff crime or for that matter the McAulliffe crime with Global Crossing which the left just ignored and continue to ignore. Many lost 402Ks here also.

Was the SEC complicit in allowing this to go on for so long. Go after those who didn’t go after him. The are people with real names. They were his accomplices.

But don’t you think that BushCo’s philosophy that regulators should back off and let corporations “police themselves” contributed to the ease at which Madoff committed his crimes?

And Nathan, I’m with the others here. There is little if any difference between a mugger and these bozos; in fact, the Madoffs of the world are worse. When you bilk an elderly person out of their life savings, condemning what should be an enjoyable retirement into scraping and begging to get by, you have taken, in effect, their life. Madoff and those like him deserve every minute they spend. Worse, it appears there is little chance of getting back what he stole.

Let’s keep in mind, however, that greater regulation would not, I think, have made a difference here. Madoff’s scheme was fraud, pure and simple, and those who are inclined to commit fraud will do so no matter what regulatory scheme is put in place. No scheme is fraud proof any more than any bank is theft-proof. There may in fact be a need for more regulation in the financial industry (perhaps, more than anything else, to limit the size of institutions so that no one is “too big to fail”), but Madoff’s case isn’t, I don’t think, evidence of it. Crooks will always be crooks.