Bye Bye Bernie

In April, 1960, I ventured to the West Side of Manhattan to see the new musical, Bye Bye Birdie, based on the induction of Elvis Presley into the military service. The play became a hit on Broadway and has remained one of Broadway's leading money makers.

Yesterday, the world got a chance to say 'Bye, Bye Bernie' to the crook, scammer, Bernard Madoff who has reportedly stolen $65 billion dollars from hard working, trusting citizens who believed that by giving their money to him for investment purposes, they would come out the better. After all, Bernie Madoff was a chairman of the board of the NASD (National Association of Securities Dealers), was a founder and director of the NASDAQ; even the SEC (securities and exchange commission) called upon him for advice. He was the “Perle Mesta” of the Congressional political investors. The parties which he gave and the parties which he attended in Washington, DC were the deception decoys, the guiding light, of the political hacks who are forever looking for an 'easy dollar', in the slime pit, of all slime pits, the decadence of Washington, DC (District of Criminals). Where was the Oversight, where was the SEC, where was the IRS; they were all busy bowing and kissing his ring, the grandest of all gadflys in the arena of Washington's political escapades.

Instead of putting him in a federal prison, with its 'country club' type atmosphere of golf courses and nice food, whether for 1 year or 150 years, he should be dangling and strangling at the end of a rope. Perhaps, if his fellow securities brokers, analysts, editors of the many periodicals involving the 'greats of Wall Street finance', could see him hanging naked at the end of a rope, instead of seeing him, cocktail glass in hand, entertaining the same people he entertained in his Park Avenue penthouse, looking down on we mere peasants, who struggle each day for subsistence, who clip coupons from the newspaper (not stock certificates), to pay the bills legislated by his friends, all would better understand justice.

For 320 years, the public schools of our great nation used the Bible as the dictum and revelation of God's justice and requirements of morality. But, since such people as Madoff and his ilk have 'purchased' the government, who have no fear of the judiciary or congressional oversight, or even investigations by peers; who actually believe that God chose them to enslave the rest of us, even those who have not lost all trust in their fellow man, we wander in the wilderness of deceit, not knowing that there are those whose conscious meets only the hardness of the diamond as a standard.

Please don't expect the American people to be so stupid that this one man, working totally alone, was capable of this extravagant feat. His family, his many employees, inspectors from government agencies, inspectors from taxing authorities (state and federal), should be immediately sentenced for the enabling and conniving, the destruction of lives, the disintegration of the trust of the public; ALL SHOULD BE IN PRISON. Until all the 'shenanigans' of this largest fraud in American history are exposed, any politically incorrect reporter left, should stay on the job, like a bloodhound, smelling out every rotten lead. There is a tremendous difference in robbing a bank and robbing an individual. There is a tremendous difference in robbing one alive today and those, yet born, who will pay the price of these criminals. The judiciary of this country should start an immediate 'cleansing' (we have heard of ethnic cleansing) of all securities agencies, all banks and other facilities that handle the hard earned money of the public.

I was not a Madoff investor. But, most investors have horror stories to tell of the churning of their accounts, limited partnerships, etc. Don't tell me that SEC, FTC, Congressional Oversight Committees, were not informed of such legal 'picking of pockets'. I can show MANY letters which I wrote to these agencies, protesting both legal and illegal treatment. It is rare to get a reply, but when one does arrive, on expensive stationery, you can depend on one sentence always, “Get yourself a lawyer.” It has been my experience, that most lawyers are 'scared to death' of government agencies. My worst experience, was with limited partnerships, which sales people at Merrill Lynch, peppered among their unsuspecting clients, making huge sums in commissions, for these worthless instruments. Most of the time, if you just assume, that like the figures in annual reports, the numbers are mostly imaginary or concocted by some weird formula, you will pay no attention to any numbers at all. How much better off I would be, if I had never invested one thin dime in the securities market.

Recently, a wonderful, thoughtful, daughter in Jerusalem purchased a new mattress for her mother, not knowing that her mother had 'deposited' around $1 million in her old mattress, which the daughter had hauled away to the dump. The mother disclosed that her money was in the mattress due to her 'horrible experiences' with banks. I can well sympathize, I could write a short dissertation about the $5k I have spent in the past 2 years attempting to get 2 national, no service banks out of my life. (First Citizens, Wachovia) It suffices to say that one was so terrible that I transferred to another, which turned out to be even more terrible than the other.

Last year, one of my friends, who had retired in Florida, was notified of the death of a sister. His two sisters, both retired school teachers, still lived together in the home in which they had been reared. Neither had ever married, and my friend had believed that a nephew was taking care of their needs; it turns out, that he was not. Anyway, when my friend arrived in Virginia to assist with final plans, he said to the surviving sister, “Do you have money for the funeral home?” He said, she just pointed to a closet. In the closet, he found their many years of retirement checks, which they had cashed, but since they did not trust the bank, the money was in shoe boxes in the closet and the total amount (he said he counted every dollar) was nearly $250k. Now, would that have not been an expensive fire, simply because, with good reason, these two educated women did not trust the bank! I believe this type activity will be considered brilliant in the future. I would advise anyone to find some good canning jars and use the dirt in their backyard for their banking system. (Be sure and leave someone the information as to the burial plot)

As a totally blind person, all life activities are a matter of faith, opening a can of food, (occasionally I cook something which I never identify) even taking change from someone at a cash register. I do not own a refrigerator that would hold the money cheated from me over a lifetime of doing business with people who have short changed me. I have this consolation, whether it pertains to me, Madoff, SEC, Congress, or even law enforcement; all will stand before our God of judgment and justice with NO defense attorney.

Let the rivers clap their hands;
Let the hills be joyful together
before the LORD,
For He is coming to judge the earth.
With righteousness He shall judge the world,
And the peoples with equity. (Psalm 98:8-9)