Madoff Conviction Sends Shudders Through the Financial Industry

A hour ago Bernard Madoff pled guilty to what has been described as the largest Ponzi scheme in history.  Is seems that Mr. Madoff bilked quite a few people out of billions of dollars by telling them that he had a secret way of beating the market.  He always paid dividends that were much higher [...]

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What We Need Now Is a Good Ponzi Scheme

It is fashionable in economic and government circles to condemn the tactics of tricksters like Charles Ponzi, a man who made a fortune by using new investors’ money to pay old investors their expected returns on their investments.  The most recent person to become famous in this way is Bernie Madoff, who is thought to [...]

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401k Plans Are Just a Ponzi Scheme

The 401(k) section of the Internal Revenue Service code was approved by the U.S. Government in 1978 and became effective on January 1, 1980. This plan supposedly allows employees to invest in the stock market in order to create funding for a comfortable retirement.  Ever since the 401(k) provision was created Congress has passed [...]

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America’s Ghost Banking System

Now that we have the job stimulus bill about to be signed, I expect our attention will soon turn to some sort of bank stimulus. Wait a minute, didn’t we already bailout the banks? Indeed we did. The problem is that, even though they received billions of dollars and even though the bankers all gave [...]

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