My contention has always been that nearly everyone is a crook, it's just a matter of degree AND opportunity. Now, you can say that's an extreme and misanthropic view, but it sure does keep me out of most trouble, now don't it.
Its early. Just wait. Haven't you ever been long, seen a piece of news, and wonder why the stock didn't scream? You wait. A day, a week. If it's fundamental, it'll go. Now look. You got a government filled with limp dicks. 3 Auto Companies that are going to collapse. Only question is, how much of your money are they going to take to Pinto Heaven. A 50 bb $ scandal. Let's just call it 17bb. Whether it's Monday morning, or Jan 2, or Feb10th, this is coming home to roost. Imagine when they go into a nice office on 6 th ave, and walk out with a CEO. You think the money will sit and do nothing? Me neither. I was set up for a collapse. didn't happen. Scratched out a few bucks. It'll come. I don't like it. But I no maka da rulzs.
Well I wouldn't go that far there are still some disinterested and honest people on the face of the earth (maybe not in America though) but clearly when everyone around including the government is obviously trying to cheat you out of your money, your standards start going down. Isn' that the French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau who said: Man is intrinsically good , it is society that corrupts man. Anyway I applaud this guy for his sense of humor and ability to keep a scam operation going for so long, maybe one day this Madoff guy will be the subject of a Hollywood movie. and btw what happened to the 50 bln ? Did he spend it on chicks ?
Sounds like he was trying to fraudulently transfer the last of it before the Fed perp walk. Does he have an Israeli passport? They might want to watch the El Al flights. I hear Marc Rich has some room at his crash pad.
I don't think you know what you're talking about, and I also believe that you're an extreme alarmist. While the total $50 billion was enough to move the market, the fact is it doesn't exist, so there won't be any selloff. Couple that with the lowering of rates next tuesday, and, yeah, we'll be a lot higher.
In 2004, a fund of funds, allocated some money my way. I had great returns for about 9 months, i was up around 150% for the year. Had a real bad oct/nov, scrambled back in december, and ended up with a 96% return for the year. Had a meeting with the fund of funds guy in January 2005 His risk guy was with him, and they were all over my case because my month to month returns were all over the place; eg, +30% one month, +20% a bunch of months, and then losing like 40% in the October November period. He said that I would never get real money from institutions till I lowered my overall returns and had consistent returns like the guy that he allocated the bulk of his fund of funds money to, Bernie Madoff. I asked him what Madoff's return was for that year, and he said 38%. I said why would you want that instead of my 96%? He laughed and said, Madoff never makes him sweat, that he just grinds out winning quarter after quarter, year after year no matter what the market does, and that my results, while good overall, had too much risk day to day. I never could understand how these guys that do what I do, selling strangles, straddles, and other combinations against stock or futures could have such a lack of volatility in their results, especially when the market spiked in one direction for a month or two straight like it did around the election in 2004. Now, I know how. You just have to make up your own results. Gary, what do you think now?
Apparently, it is being reported that what finally sunk Madoff were redemptions that were coming in from the Europeans. The Euro crowd was getting real nervous about the markets, hedge-fund leverage, bubble in Treasuries, etc. and started making a lot of redemptions out of Madoff even though U.S. investors were still drinking from the "Kool-Aid" and content with the "returns". Interesting. But what I really want to know is how you go about blowing $17 BILLION? Where are the Villa's, boats, fast cars and fast women?
A lot more fund redemptions will follow after the Madoff scandal. Who knows how many other ponzi schemes are out there? I anticipate the markets weakening over the next couple of weeks. How could the Madoff fraud have gone on undetected for so long? I read that Madoff's sons turned him in to the authorities. Didn't they have a clue as to what was going on?