Things that make you go, Oy!

I am a member of a couple of minority groups. This being said, I have to admit that I am very hypervigilant of any instance in which a fellow member of one of my minority groups does something that fulfills a stereotype of that group. That is just a long-winded way of me explaining that when I realized that the perpetrator of a 50 billion dollar Ponzi scheme - Bernard Madoff (photo above) - is Jewish, I thought - "oh no, not a Jew."

OK, call me self-loathing. I have thought it and heard it all before. I just can't help it. That is the way I was brought up. In talking with my cousin this weekend, I learned that my mother had the same response to this news story. I guess that the Jewish acorn does not fall far from the tree. This hypervigilance does not always make sense, but it is there. It doesn't even matter to me that Madoff's scheme had great impact on the Jewish population. Here is a bit of the story from NPR's, Tovia Smith:

The alleged pyramid scheme run by Bernard Madoff has wounded the world of Jewish philanthropy. Several charities have already shut down after discovering their endowments had disappeared overnight, and many others are worrying how they will survive without the support of some major philanthropists who were wiped out as well.
In the world of Jewish philanthropy these are what you'd call the go-to givers, the pillars of the community and the ones with their names on buildings — from Steven Spielberg to Elie Wiesel to billionaire Mort Zuckerman, who says he found out by e-mail that $30 million — a portion of his charitable trust — no longer existed.
"I have to put this kind of bluntly," Zuckerman says. "I made the money, contributed to charity. And to find out this kind of money dissipated is just infuriating," not to mention tragic for the community, says Zuckerman, who says he will definitely have to make cuts in his giving.

What exactly is a Ponzi scam? I had to look it up when I heard about it. Wikipedia (I know, but it is easy to get to) - says this about the origin of this term:

Charles Ponzi (1882-1949) was an Italian immigrant to the United States who became one of the greatest swindlers in American history. His aliases include Charles Ponei, Charles P. Bianchi, Carl and Carlo. The term "Ponzi scheme" is a widely known description of any scam that relies on a "pyramid" of "investors" who contribute money to a fraudulent program. He promised clients a 50% profit within 45 days, or 100% profit within 90 days, by buying discounted postal reply coupons in other countries and redeem them at face value in the United States as a form of arbitrage. Ponzi was probably inspired by the scheme of William Miller, a Brooklyn bookkeeper who in 1899 used the same pyramid scheme to take in $1 million.

In reading about Madoff (former nasdaq chair) for the last few days, I found a video clip of a portion of a round-table discussion that included him in October of 2007. It was posted by TPM. The nature of what Madoff is saying is so ironic considering his current situation. I am not going to assume anything about his nervous-looking employee sitting next to him, other than the fact that he is near the boss and on camera. Here is the video below:

So, that is the story. Can any positive note be found in what is being described as the biggest financial fraud in history? Well, at least Madoff isn't gay. I know that this really does not help, but it makes me feel better.