Madoff's Ponzi scheme

[cgallery]

This entire family (generations) was wiped-out:

http://www.time.com/time/business/ar...l?iid=tsmodule

I'm going to stick to my chain E-Mail pyramid schemes. Much safer.

Everyone please send me $1 via PayPal. Then post a reply with your E-Mail address and subsequent readers will send $1 via PayPal to the five responders immediately above their post.

I'm gonna make you guys RICH!

[Ed62]

I'm gonna make you guys RICH!

I hope so. Nobody has yet.
Ed

[jackellis]

Sad.

Every time I see a deal that seems to good to be true I'm able to convince myself that it probably is. Not to say I haven't made my share of stupid mistakes, but at least I'm not wiped out. Yet.

[cgallery]

Sad.

Every time I see a deal that seems to good to be true I'm able to convince myself that it probably is. Not to say I haven't made my share of stupid mistakes, but at least I'm not wiped out. Yet.

Though, I sometimes wonder whether life isn't just one big Ponzi scheme.

[pelligrini]

I heard this on NPR this morning. Pretty wild.

I feel no sympathy for the writer though. "There were the usual warnings prior to investing — we all knew it was a risk, we were told make sure we were diversified, blah-blah — but my God, it had been going strong for so long and with such fantastic returns, we had to get in." Too much greed.

[herb fellows]

I will email you a virtual dollar. Please make me virtually rich. Thanks!

[MilDoc]

For the 1 billionth time:

If it sounds too good to be true it probably is not true.

[jhart]

My fortune was lost the old fashion way, through the stock market!!! Not much difference in my opinion

[kbkreisler]

My fortune was lost the old fashion way, through the stock market!!! Not much difference in my opinion

I hear that, my ytd 401k return rate... -48% And I know im in the same boat with a lot of americans.
retirement is still a long way off for me, but its quite a kick in the nads just the same.
You hear "invest heavy if you can because stocks are on sale". From people in the financial sector, But are they just trying to find willing investors to keep themselfs afloat on the descent?
Sure historically the US of A has always bounced back from depression/recession before but look around at the pillars crumbling. Economic history is bieng made setting the tone for a scenario much like the depression, except this time we are in a global marketplace, and perhaps with other countries developing financially the US isn't the global superpower it once was....
I am not a chicken little, But I find myself cinching the belt especially on the level of risk in my portfolio.

[jackellis]

But are they just trying to find willing investors to keep themselfs afloat on the descent?

There are a lot of jobs going down the tubes and a lot of companies are going to earn pretty thin profits this year and next, but it's not Armageddon. Scary? Yes. Good times over? Definitely.

I'm kicking myself because I don't have cash to invest. I'd buy solid companies with solid businesses and solid earnings like IBM, HP, GE, Johnson & Johnson, Waste Management. I would not by speculative companies or companies with idiotic business models like Google, Yahoo. I would not buy the American auto makers.

The way I see it, Warren Buffett did not amass a huge fortune because he was lucky. He was smart. Buy when prices are low and sell when they're high. Unfortunately, most of us do exactly the opposite, which is why he has a fortune and we don't.

[Gator95]

A moderate chance of the complete collapse of western civilization is factored into the current stock prices.