A smart person recently asked me why we aren't hearing more about the Charlatan King, Jack Madoff.
I admit that I am baffled by this whole story. I do not get what he did, or how he did it. All I know is that he managed to steal fifty billion dollars from a lot of people and somehow vaporize the wealth in the process. I'm not sure any of the talking hairdos at CNBC could explain it clearly either.
Which scares the hell out of me. People like Madoff don't just give investment and capitalism a bad name. They make economically ignorant people like me want to totally avoid investment in anything altogether, forever. People like Madoff make me want to keep my money in a checking account forever, if not just keep it in a safe or well-fortified coffee can in my house.
If somebody can explain Madoff to me, I'd be grateful. It's not enough to tell me that this satanic shark ran a Ponzi scheme. I know that much, I just don't know what that means.
