The Illusion of Choice

The Madoff scam has little to do with South Africa I know but it serves to highlight the era of greed that has ended with the now stupidly labelled "credit crunch". Does anyone see the similarities between today and the gluttonous era of the 1920s that preceded the Great Depression?

This pyramid scheme spread its tentacles far and wide, affecting virtually everybody who was anybody, showing the true colours of people of influence, like those in liberal Hollywood who proclaim to know (and do not hasten to tell) how to live holier than thou lives - whilst at the same time not hesitating to hitch a ride on the back of a greedy money-making scheme based on the production of false money.

Why does this give me great satisfaction? Many of these 'celebrities' supported the ANC (including financially), promoted anti-apartheid propaganda and to see them hurt in this fashion is a good day in anyone's book. Shame..bwahahaha...!

Bernard Madoff has ripped off these people for - he said - 50 billion dollars. The list of those who were ripped off by Madoff reads like the biggest list of names imaginable. Some of these people I’m really glad he ripped off, people who really got what they deserved.

Take this guy Mort Zuckerman for example. You will see him in the media whining about how much money he lost. Meanwhile I know a driver for the New York Daily News, the newspaper Zuckerman owns, who told me that Zuckerman is out to break the union. This guy was sick, he had a colonoscopy, and when he went to the operation, and the paper did everything to get the guy to quit. This guy Zuckerman is going to get everything he deserves. Too bad he didn’t get more.

Steven Spielberg, another another one who got what he deserved. Did you ever watch his face? He’s got the hangdog liberal face. Mister Sensitivity. Good for him out in Hollywood.

Have you ever noticed that?

Hollywood always talk about greed, they make their movies about the corrupt corporations, about the evil conservative or the Evil Republican, they’re always saying free enterprise is evil because of greed. And yet, they all jumped in on Madoff’s ponzi scheme because they were greedy.

I’m not talking about the ones who lost their IRA’s, I’m talking about the Spielbergs. And that’s what’s so good about it. I’m very glad about it.

Now, there were a lot of innocent people who got ripped off. Some very good charities were hurt by this Madoff. They got in on it because they wanted a return on their retirement, and they got wiped out. But that’s the risk you take when you invest. That shows you that no matter how much you think you’re playing by the rules - what happens? This thief, this goniff of goniffs, ripped them off.

That’s one thing people don’t acknowledge about this Bernie Madoff. This guy used people’s religiosity. That’s how swindlers work. In other words, the people that invested with him went, “oh, he’s Jewish, he’s great, he’s wonderful, he’s the best broker that ever lived, he’s a genius, there never was such a genius” and they trusted him based on his religiosity. Now think about that. That’s how a confidence man works. That’s why people trusted him. He ripped them off based on that. A lot of it was done on word of mouth. So when it comes to your money, don’t trust people just because of their race or religion.

The other thing about this guy is, he’s not behind bars in jail in Riker’s Island. Instead, they slapped an ankle bracelet on him and let him stay in his 7 million dollar penthouse. Now, is that right? Is that justice, is that what this system is? Instead of being in his penthouse, he should be locked up behind bars until his trial. But that’s how corrupt our society is. And that’s really the point. This whole system is so corrupt, economically. There was a big article in the New York Times, about how these traders were making 20 million, 30 million, to make a million dollars it was nothing to them. And how did they do it? They bundled these mortgages - I can’t even understand how they did this it’s so complicated –then sliced, diced, and julianed them and then sold it off as part of a securities package. The fact is, they just made money from pushing paper. There’s no manufacturing involved, there was no tangibility - it was all done by pushing paper. And now the American citizen is completely lost, people who worked hard, played by the rules, and lost half or all their IRA account. They invested, and what did they get? They got absolutely nothing out of it.

And so now, we have to ask ourselves, how corrupt is it? I’ll tell you how corrupt it is. You have Caroline Kennedy here in New York State, which is a disaster anyway, they’re fawning over her, and they’re doing everything to make her the next Senator from New York. A broad who’s never done anything but billed herself as Kennedy’s Daughter. That’s what it is. Her name is Kennedy, her father was assassinated, and that becomes her qualifications.

Caroline Kennedy is nothing new in American politics. David Patterson, the governor of New York, he got there because of his father. George Bush, he got there because of his father. Hillary Clinton, because of her husband.

That’s not a democratic republic, that’s an oligarchy. We’re living in an oligarchy being run by a few, raping the system politically, raping the system financially. The people who are doing this do not have any decipherable long-range plan, they’re just a bunch of jackals, who see the carcass and simply devour it. That’s what’s going on. This is a system that is going to have to be radically reformed.

Look at all the money that the Democrats took from Madoff. All the Democrats that are constantly complaining about corruption took donations from this thief.

I would rather that they took it from a small time crook than this. And don’t believe that Chuck Schumer is against Wall Street. There was this big article in The New York Times about how Schumer is in bed with Wall Street. He made sure that everything he’s done in his career is condusive to Wall Street because Schumer knows Wall Street is good for the New York economy. So he’s got to feather the nest for his constituency. And he’s voted for Democrats time and time again with them to aid Wall Street. So whom the hell is he kidding? He ’s another fraud.

As far as the bailout for the auto companies is concerned: I’m all for it. I’m very glad George Bush bailed them out for the simple reason being that as long as these people keep their jobs, I’m all for it. At least they produce something.

What do they produce on Wall Street? Paper shuffling. Phoney Economy. Pushed up. Phoney stock market. Swindled people out of their life savings. A housing market that was inflated.

At least the guys in Detroit produce something tangeable. That’s what we in America do not have - a tangeable economy. What we have, a service economy, is not tangeability. It’s just people who serve. It’s not people who create.

I’m ashamed I ever spoke out against the American autoworker. I don’t care what those guys make, they’re my fellow Americans. I’m not going to be led into this class warfare, divide and rule schere where American citizens, middle class who are American citizens, are the ones who get screwed. The budget for the autoworkers in Detroit is 10% percent of the overall budget for GM. Ten percent, and they’re gong after these guys? Or talking about making givebacks? How about some givebacks from Congress? When is Congress going to give back? They were asking the autoworkers to take a pay or benefits cut.

When was it that these crooked, cheap bastards in Congress ever took a pay or benefits cut? When was the last time Congress said,”we address the American people. We are going to cut our pay. We are making too much for making too little”?

But instead they’re going to go after some poor schmuck who’s on an assembly line.

Do you know that Charles Rangel did not show up half the time in Congress? Could you keep your job if you showed up for work only half the time? Would they pay you? You’d better believe they would not pay you. So, I want Congress to not only take a paycut, but to work the way America works. That will be, a Congressman will get a month off and 10 sick days. Now, supposedly he will be sick (and by the way he will pay for his own retirement fund just like everyone else) and if the Congressman should be sick and use up his ten days, then he can take the rest out of his remaining vacation time. And, after he uses his remaining vacation time, if he doesn’t show up in Congress while it’s in session, and not this three month hiatus because they have to go out and campaign, no, he misses that time he doesn’t get paid. Just like the rest of us.

Let the politicians lead by example. But I don’t think they are capable of doing it. There’s too much money for them to be made. What do you think this whole thing with Blagojevich is? You think that generally there isn’t graft that goes on after a Senator is appointed? Of course there is graft. It goes on because the person appointed to the Senate turns around and makes sure he takes care of the governor of whatever state he’s appointed. At least you can say Blagojevich was honest in a way that he was open in his intention of selling the seat. They sell it anyway through hand-washing, support and indirect patronage. You think they appoint people out of altruism? YOU think appointing Caroline Kennedy is altruistic? She runs up to Harlem to meet with a gangster and a thug, a racial hustler like Al Sharpton, what does that mean?

And that’s what we have. An economy, a political system, and a society that’s bankrupt and corrupt.

The whole system stinks. Our leaders put on a public face for you, they come around, and they say they will overhaul the system. Yet the system is so corrupt they just con people, it’s all an act to let you think they’re doing something for you.