Tuesday, July 20, 2010

About time for another Madoff style ponzi scheme blowup...

  • Goldman made just $2.3 billion in 2008 but paid $4.8 billion in bonuses. Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, Bank of America  combined lost $54 billion in 2008, but paid out $9 billion in bonuses.
  • Morgan Stanley earned $1.7 billion in 2008 with bailout money, and paid out $4.475 billion in bounses JPMorgan earned $5.6 billion in 2008 and paid bonuses of $8.69 billion.
  • Wall Street if asked for a claw back, the funds would likely come from current profits. 
The above is, to the letter, a description of a ponzi scheme. The participants in the scheme are (and have been for years) taking money which is not rightfully theirs and distributing it as they see fit so that they can have their $100,000 a month Hampton's house and lover at the Jersey shore. The reality is that you can not run a business at a deficit where you create NO value for 20, 30, 40 or even 50 years and expect anything more than a ponzi scheme. And ladies and gentlemen that's what we have before us above - a legally regulated and enforced ponzi scheme courtesy of the Fed, past and current presidents and congress.

Who will it be this time?
 
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