It is a documented fact that neither the present U.S. Secretary of the Treasury - Hank Paulson - nor the incoming man - Tim Geithner - had a clue about what was happening last year. They didn't seem to understand how America's system of imperial finance - the system that undergirded expanding world trade - actually worked. They seemed completely surprised when it began to crash. Clearly, neither is competent to manage such a system.So we have a suggestion. Why not turn to a man who does know? In all the world, there is one man who has proven that he knows better than anyone, not only how it works...but how to work.
That man is Bernie Madoff. Instead of putting him in jail, put him at the Treasury.
Put Bernie Madoff at the Treasury! [The Daily Reckoning]
Posted by guest , Jan 15, 2009 11:13AM
If you mean to say that Bernie has experience taking people's money and not doing anything with it then he should be put in charge of Social Security...or the IRS
Posted by guest , Jan 15, 2009 11:17AM
The Daily Reckoning is a blind squirrel that found a nut.
Posted by guest , Jan 15, 2009 11:19AM
Throw Bernanke in the mix - he's about to test wether his theory crap works - if it does - great - if not - he'll just go back and make some amendments on his book.
Posted by guest , Jan 15, 2009 11:24AM
too madoff, rather beatoff
Posted by guest , Jan 15, 2009 11:26AM
This reminds me of Slate.com. Make a headline out of something ridiculous ("Mark David Chapman to run Lennon Foundation?") and then write 500 words oh-so-ironically.
Posted by guest , Jan 15, 2009 11:35AM
Madoff will spend a few years in the "can" and then get paid millions as a Ponzi scheme consultant.
Posted by guest , Jan 15, 2009 11:37AM
The US has gotten away with this current hegemonous Ponzi scheme since 1929. Bernie's has only lasted since 1970.
Who do you want running your fraud?
Posted by guest , Jan 15, 2009 11:40AM
Bernie was madefor the SEC. He stays out of jail each year he catches a certain number of people on the Bezzle above the historic benchmark average.
Posted by guest , Jan 15, 2009 11:41AM
Spielberg will do a "Catch Me If You Can" movie on him with Leornardo DiCaprio to recoop his losses...waitaminute
Posted by guest , Jan 15, 2009 11:44AM
Spielberg will do a "Catch Me If You Can" movie on him with Leornardo DiCaprio to recoop his losses...waitaminute
Posted by cy , Jan 15, 2009 11:47AM
Yah. Free trade is the problem. Hopefully they'll pass something like Hawley-Smoot 2. Then everything will be solved.
Posted by guest , Jan 15, 2009 11:51AM
I've read the Daily Reckoning for years and it is one of my favorite reads.
Posted by KevinB , Jan 15, 2009 12:01PM
@12 - I read the DR too, and enjoy it for the usually articulate Bill Bonner's articles, the occasionally hilarious rants of the Mogambo, and its world view. But I agree with @2 - they are pretty much a one-trick pony, who didn't see the oil bubble bust coming, didn't see the US dollar rally coming, and didn't see the gold bull stalling (at the very least). Fun to read but no place to get investment advice.
Posted by Cantillon , Jan 15, 2009 12:04PM
The Damned Soul of Joe Kennedy likes your thinking.
Posted by guest , Jan 15, 2009 12:06PM
Was this supposed to be funny?
Posted by guest , Jan 15, 2009 12:27PM
Not funny at all.
Not because a good Madoff joke isn't funny, but because it's just not a good joke
Posted by guest , Jan 15, 2009 12:29PM
@13. I've read the DR since 2002, and yes, they are pro gold all the time and not a place to get investment advice. However, they readily admit it: the information is free!
They did see the oil bubble coming, in that they (or Bonner), thought that oil was overpriced at $145 but not $100, and maybe they're right about that?
As for gold? Who knows? They don't. However, gold was one of the best performing asset classes last year. And they did call the housing bubble long before anyone heard of Mederith Whitney or Peter Schiff.
Furthermore, they also called the fraud, manipulation, graft, and utter incompentence of Wall Street long before anyone else.
Investing should be fun, Old Sport. It shouldn't be life or death. It's only money.
Posted by guest , Jan 15, 2009 12:41PM
@ 13 -- I agree that is certainly not a newsletter from which to glean investment advice, especially if you are looking for short-term advice.
They always are looking through the prism of Austrian economics, which is fine, but the world is run by Keynesians and New Keynesians. There really is no such thing as a free market anywhere when speaking of macroeconomies---it'd be nice, but people don't like having to pay for their mistakes.
In the very long run (T+20,30yrs), I think a lot of Bonner's prognostications are likely to be proven true.
Posted by KevinB , Jan 15, 2009 1:12PM
@17 - Completely agree investing isn't life or death. The DR is fun to read, occasionally provides some truly interesting insights, and, as you pointed out, it's free!
@18 - Completely agree that in the long run, Bonner is probably right. That's why I'm long gold, and completely out of US stocks. I'm sure the US market will rally at some point - I'm just not sure where that point is. As the original article noted, the US has operated as a giant Ponzi scheme since the 1970's - in social security, medicare, and international trade. I'm not sure when it will collapse (and I hope, for the sake of my two daughters, it doesn't collapse into war), but I'm sure that's going to happen too. I think the appropriate historical quotation is "You can fool some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time".
Posted by KevinB , Jan 15, 2009 1:21PM
Upon reflection, the quotation cited was made before TV and the Internet; it may no longer be valid.
Posted by guest , Jan 15, 2009 1:30PM
Well, if the judge suspends his sentence and gives him 20 years of community service, what's the difference?
Thieves and liars have supposedly been doing community service for over 20 years...it's called Congress.
It takes a village, I reckon.
-The Josey Wales
Posted by Anal_yst , Jan 15, 2009 1:45PM
Like the "Catch me if you can" angle, too bad it'll never work, especially with the idea of catching a certain # or % above historical average: remember, past performance is not guarantee future results (Bernie knows all about this, of course).