I’m Not The Only One

I’m using another PC as I’m still waiting for my ISP to transfer my Internet connection to my new apartment.  In the meantime, I feel I must vent at all the Bernie Madoff coverage in the news, especially in the local stations here in New York City.

The rage and incarceration of Bernie Madoff is just another example of how our justice system picks and chooses what is and isn’t legal with little to no regard for consistency.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not defending what he did.  I’m just saying, he basically fooled thousands of idiots by convincing them that they could see a large return through a comparatively smaller investment.   If Madoff is going to jail, then how about locking up all the other organizations that suggest a person can see a gigantic return on a modest investment like the lottery commission of every state (a dollar and a dream my ass) and every casino in the U.S.  How come the people running these organizations aren’t going to prison?

Can anyone explain the difference between Madoff’s promise to his client pool of morons, all of whom are crying fraud and the promise offered by lottery tickets and casinos?  As usual the mainstream media demonstrates their ignorance of finance and economics by casting him to be worse than Hitler, or worse, George W. Bush.

Anyone with any amount of economic or financial literacy can tell that almost all investments that are high yield are also high risk and often require a high investment.  In fact, a high rate of return is usually offered to compensate for the equally high risk associated with the investment to attract a healthy mix of adventurous risk-takers who understand the risks involved and the idiots who don’t understand the risk but see the rate of return and drool.

If people want to put their money into something safe, they can put it into a savings account that pays out 2-3% interest.  If they want a higher return they can put their money into a bank’s certificate of deposit for a nice 5-7% interest rate.  Those are two safe investments.  You want a higher rate or return on your investment?  You’re going to be placing your money at risk.  Unfortunately, buyers of lottery tickets, compulsive gamblers and Bernie Madoff clients do not seem to understand this fundamental fact of investment.

I’m currently in the process of moving so I really haven’t had the time to blog regularly, especially with the inevitable Internet service interruption (scheduled for this Tuesday) associated with moving.  Then there’s the packing, the cleaning, the physical transportation of personal possessions, the unpacking and the eventual restoration of Internet service.  The next time I blog it will be from my new neighborhood.

This post may be a bit late, but so what?

I think by now the whole nation is aware-and amused-by the recent protest by a fringe group of students at New York University who occupied a portion of the campus demanding the university make tuition affordable.

For those unfamiliar with NYU, it is the largest private university in the U.S., ridiculously selective and has an endowment of $2.5 billion.  Among its 350,000 alumni are 31 Nobel Prize winners, nine winnders of the National Medal in Science, 16 Pulitzer Prize winners, 19 Academy Award winners, and the current Presidents of Taiwan and Panama.  NYU has its own student daily newspaper, consists of 16 colleges/institutes and study abroad facilities in eight countries and the tuition for a full-time undergraduate costs around $37,000.  Despite the fact that the University’s headquarters is located in New York City, only 10 percent of the student body are from New York City.

People attend NYU because of its prestigious legacy and its reputation for offering a world-class education.  It looks great on a resume, and some graduates go on to hold positions of great power in the public and private sectors.  Even if you don’t learn a damn thing there, graduates will benefit for the rest of their lives from the extensive network of well-connected and powerful alumni.

Given all these facts, the public was not impressed one bit when a group of radical students called Take Back NYU staged a sit-in protest and refused to leave a portion of the campus until their demands were met.  Among their ridiculous demands for NYU were: (more…)